About Dylan

Chinatown in Victoria, BC (Photographs by Dylan Di)

Master of Urban Planning, Class of 2024, Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California.

Los Angeles, California, United States

Bachelor of Arts, Class of 2022, Major in Geography (Environment and Sustainability), Minor in Urban Studies,

Department of Geography, The University of British Columbia.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Qichen (Dylan) Di is a student pursuing a Master's degree in urban planning at Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California. He obtained his bachelor's degree in geography and urban studies from the University of British Columbia. He is also a research assistant at Urban Data Lab in USCPrice for the 2022 Fall term.

Dylan's interest is the dynamic development of transportation patterns across cities and how the planning history shaped the justice-related issues in urban areas. His GIS and statistics training experience helps him visualize cities' evolution. He is also interested in the immigrant histories in North American neighborhoods and related policies. Dylan's working experience gave him a broad view of the global urban planning agenda, especially in Asia-Pacific cities. His recent significant research was on spatial accessibility of facilities in China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City using GIS and the accessibility's impact on living justice.

Besides, Dylan is involved in environmental impact assessment, meteorology, conservation, and Asian culture study during his study. He participated in several student research seminars and activities in UBC Geography. He led two undergrad research programs, a pollution analysis in Abbotsford and Prince George, BC, and a policy prediction for City of Vancouver's plastic ban. He received nominations from UBC Undergraduate Conference of Chinese Studies 3MT Competition twice and won the People’s Choices prize for his speech on modern Chinese movie study in 2022.

Dylan also actively participates in student activities, specifically the Model United Nations popularization among Chinese high school students. He co-founded Phoneix Studio Educational Institute, a leading institute in student activities and leadership education in Northern Anhui, China. He has taken administrative and academic positions in regional and provincial Model United Nations conferences since 2016.