Bing Wang, associate professor in practice of real estate and the built environment, has been awarded a 2016 Best Paper Prize by the American Real Estate Society (ARES). Wang will be formally honored at the ARES annual conference in April 2017.
Wang’s paper is entitled “Micro Housing as Urban Development Model in a Shared Economy,” dissecting development patterns of micro housing in the United States through the examination of pricing structure of micro‐housing developments, and comparing it to conventional market‐rate apartments. The report also establishes a set of analytical metrics to evaluate the potential of micro‐units and their development as a possible future residential development model.
Through empirical data, statistics, and a series of spatial analyses, including GIS mapping and regression modeling, Wang’s research intends to shed light on how micro‐unit and micro housing residential developments are emerging as social and economic catalysts to foster a unique phase of urban revitalization that is grounded in the synergetic fusion of place, community and innovation in a shared economy.
Wang’s academic research focuses on the interplays between formal representations of the built environment and its underlying capital forces, social structure and economic engines. In addition to teaching design and real estate courses at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Wang is the director/area coordinator for the Master in Design Studies concentration in Real Estate and the Built Environment. She is a faculty co-chair for Real Estate Management: Design, Finance and Leadership program, a joint program between the GSD and Harvard Business School, and a faculty co-chair for the GSD’s Advanced Real Estate Development program.
Wang’s academic research and pedagogical focus are reinforced by her multi-disciplinary professional practice. She worked as an investment consultant at Lehman Brothers and is one of the founding principals of KaiLong REI and YoungYou Investments LLCs, private equity companies based in Shanghai, focusing on investments in real estate industry and equity investments in media production companies respectively. Her design firm, HyperBina Design Group, has undertaken projects of both architectural and urban scales.