Dr Pengyuan Liu
- Lecturer in Digital Planning (Urban Studies & Social Policy)
email:
Pengyuan.Liu@glasgow.ac.uk
pronouns:
He/him/his
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910Biography
My name is Pengyuan Liu, and currently, I am working as a Lecturer (Assistant Prof) in Digital Planning at the University of Glasgow. My expertise lies in the field of quantitative urban geography, where I specialised in GeoAI and urban digital twin research. I hold a PhD in Geography from the University of Leicester, UK. Before joining the University of Glasgow, I was a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher and Coordinator at Future Cities Laboratory, Singapore-ETH Centre. In 2023, I contributed as a Lecturer in Human Geography and Urban Planning at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology. My journey also includes valuable postdoctoral research experiences at the NUS Urban Analytics Lab and the University of Helsinki.
I am passionate about integrating Geospatial Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Twins into urban studies. My work focuses on developing theories, algorithms, and models that advance this integration. Additionally, I am an advocate for the open data initiative in academia, demonstrated by my role in organising international academic conferences for OpenStreetMap, including the 2022 State of the Map (Academic Track) and 2023 OSMScience. My aim is to foster innovation in urban studies through cutting-edge research and collaboration, contributing to the development of smarter, more sustainable urban environments.
I am always keen to explore collaborative opportunities and welcome inquiries from prospective Ph.D. students who are passionate about pushing the boundaries of Urban Science and GeoAI. Please feel free to contact me via Pengyuan.Liu@glasgow.ac.uk for any collaboration, discussion of ideas, or Ph.D. student opportunities. I’m always happy to start a conversation over a coffee break!
Please check my Google Scholar and ResearchGate for my previous publications, and follow my LinkedIn and personal website for my recent activities.
Research interests
- Geospatial Data Science and Spatially-Explicit GeoAI
- Explainable AI in Urban Science
- Urban Analytics and Digital Twin
- Urban Sensing and Digital Geographies
- Urban Sustainability and Micro-climate Studies
- Urban Justice and Human-Environment Interaction
Research groups
Publications
2026
Zhou, Kun, Chen, Yang, Liu, Pengyuan 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Hou, Yujun and Biljecki, Filip
(2026)
A comprehensive vision-based framework for understanding nation-wide urban socio-demographics.
Cities, 179,
107657.
(doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.107657)
Wang, Yuan, Ramsay, Emma E., Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Luo, Yuhang, Fung, Tze Kwan, Stouffs, Rudi and Hamel, Perrine
(2026)
Linking buildings and cities: advancing the InVEST Urban Cooling model with building height and local climate zones to assess urban overheating and nature-based benefits.
Applied Geography, 196,
104174.
(doi: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.104174)
Lyu, Haonan, Duan, Jin, Yao, Jing ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8677-8248, Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Sinclair, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8666-2528, Peng, Wangchongyu and Shi, Haochen
(2026)
Examining local shrinkage in a growing city: nighttime light signals and multiscale spatial associations in Nanjing, China.
Frontiers of Architectural Research,
(doi: 10.1016/j.foar.2026.08.012)
(Early Online Publication)
Zhang, Lu, Cao, Yihao, Zhao, Chunhong, Wei, Shuang, Wang, Yichen and Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910
(2026)
City function matters: Identifying influential factors of urban thermal comfort.
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 129,
102482.
(doi: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2026.102482)
Wang, Yuan, Yi, Shengao, Li, Xiaojiang, Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Yang, Zhiwei, Bardhan, Ronita and Stouffs, Rudi
(2026)
From physical surfaces to human-centric heat stress: LST and UTCI heat mapping reveals nonlinear effects of urban morphology.
Sustainable Cities and Society, 148,
107659.
(doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2026.107659)
Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Yap, Winston, Hou, Yujun, Lei, Binyu, Stouffs, Rudi and Biljecki, Filip
(2026)
A graph-based human-centered GeoAI for understanding street-level environment and traffic accident frequency with street view imagery.
Journal of Urban Technology,
(doi: 10.1080/10630732.2026.2665592)
(Early Online Publication)
Kong, X. et al. (2026) UAV-based built environment perception: progress, challenges, prospects, and regulatory contexts. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 150, 105324. (doi: 10.1016/j.jag.2026.105324)
Wei, Xiaobing, Biljecki, Filip, Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Lei, Binyu, Van de Weghe, Nico and Huang, Haosheng
(2026)
Modeling adolescents’ perception of cycling safety: a new approach using graph neural networks and street view imagery.
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 128,
102454.
(doi: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2026.102454)
Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Wang, Yuan, De Sabbata, Stef, Lei, Binyu, Biljecki, Filip, Tang, Jing and Stouffs, Rudi
(2026)
Living upon networks: a heterogeneous graph neural embedding integrating waterway and street systems for urban form understanding.
Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 53(2),
pp. 453-469.
(doi: 10.1177/23998083251358527)
Lei, Binyu, Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Fujiwara, Kunihiko, Frei, Mario, Miller, Clayton, Chua, Yun Xuan and Biljecki, Filip
(2026)
Multidimensional analysis of human outdoor comfort: Integrating just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs) in urban digital twins.
Cities, 168,
106443.
(doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2025.106443)
2025
Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Chen, Yang, Liang, Xiucheng, Li, Hao, Biljecki, Filip and Stouffs, Rudi
(2025)
A graph neural network for small-area estimation: integrating spatial regularisation, heterogeneous spatial units, and Bayesian inference.
International Journal of Geographical Information Science,
(doi: 10.1080/13658816.2025.2597971)
(Early Online Publication)
Luo, Junjie, Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Kong, Xinya, Shen, Junru, Wu, Qiaoqiao and Xu, Da
(2025)
Urban digital twins for citizen-centric planning: a systematic review of built environment perception and public participation.
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 143,
104746.
(doi: 10.1016/j.jag.2025.104746)
Articles
Zhou, Kun, Chen, Yang, Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Hou, Yujun and Biljecki, Filip
(2026)
A comprehensive vision-based framework for understanding nation-wide urban socio-demographics.
Cities, 179,
107657.
(doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2026.107657)
Wang, Yuan, Ramsay, Emma E., Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Luo, Yuhang, Fung, Tze Kwan, Stouffs, Rudi and Hamel, Perrine
(2026)
Linking buildings and cities: advancing the InVEST Urban Cooling model with building height and local climate zones to assess urban overheating and nature-based benefits.
Applied Geography, 196,
104174.
(doi: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.104174)
Lyu, Haonan, Duan, Jin, Yao, Jing ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8677-8248, Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Sinclair, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8666-2528, Peng, Wangchongyu and Shi, Haochen
(2026)
Examining local shrinkage in a growing city: nighttime light signals and multiscale spatial associations in Nanjing, China.
Frontiers of Architectural Research,
(doi: 10.1016/j.foar.2026.08.012)
(Early Online Publication)
Zhang, Lu, Cao, Yihao, Zhao, Chunhong, Wei, Shuang, Wang, Yichen and Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910
(2026)
City function matters: Identifying influential factors of urban thermal comfort.
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 129,
102482.
(doi: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2026.102482)
Wang, Yuan, Yi, Shengao, Li, Xiaojiang, Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Yang, Zhiwei, Bardhan, Ronita and Stouffs, Rudi
(2026)
From physical surfaces to human-centric heat stress: LST and UTCI heat mapping reveals nonlinear effects of urban morphology.
Sustainable Cities and Society, 148,
107659.
(doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2026.107659)
Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Yap, Winston, Hou, Yujun, Lei, Binyu, Stouffs, Rudi and Biljecki, Filip
(2026)
A graph-based human-centered GeoAI for understanding street-level environment and traffic accident frequency with street view imagery.
Journal of Urban Technology,
(doi: 10.1080/10630732.2026.2665592)
(Early Online Publication)
Kong, X. et al. (2026) UAV-based built environment perception: progress, challenges, prospects, and regulatory contexts. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 150, 105324. (doi: 10.1016/j.jag.2026.105324)
Wei, Xiaobing, Biljecki, Filip, Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Lei, Binyu, Van de Weghe, Nico and Huang, Haosheng
(2026)
Modeling adolescents’ perception of cycling safety: a new approach using graph neural networks and street view imagery.
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 128,
102454.
(doi: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2026.102454)
Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Wang, Yuan, De Sabbata, Stef, Lei, Binyu, Biljecki, Filip, Tang, Jing and Stouffs, Rudi
(2026)
Living upon networks: a heterogeneous graph neural embedding integrating waterway and street systems for urban form understanding.
Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 53(2),
pp. 453-469.
(doi: 10.1177/23998083251358527)
Lei, Binyu, Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Fujiwara, Kunihiko, Frei, Mario, Miller, Clayton, Chua, Yun Xuan and Biljecki, Filip
(2026)
Multidimensional analysis of human outdoor comfort: Integrating just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs) in urban digital twins.
Cities, 168,
106443.
(doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2025.106443)
Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Chen, Yang, Liang, Xiucheng, Li, Hao, Biljecki, Filip and Stouffs, Rudi
(2025)
A graph neural network for small-area estimation: integrating spatial regularisation, heterogeneous spatial units, and Bayesian inference.
International Journal of Geographical Information Science,
(doi: 10.1080/13658816.2025.2597971)
(Early Online Publication)
Luo, Junjie, Liu, Pengyuan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5443-5910, Kong, Xinya, Shen, Junru, Wu, Qiaoqiao and Xu, Da
(2025)
Urban digital twins for citizen-centric planning: a systematic review of built environment perception and public participation.
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 143,
104746.
(doi: 10.1016/j.jag.2025.104746)
Prior publications
Article
Liu, P., Xu, Z., Sheng, Z. (2026) A positivity-preserving subspace method based on neural networks for solving diffusion equations in the weak form Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 03770427 (doi: 10.1016/j.cam.2026.117406)
Li, W., Chi, J., Wu, J., Zhang, X., Zhang, J., Zhai, W., Liu, P., Herr, C.M., Stouffs, R. (2026) Associations among park features, physical activities, and sensory perceptions from online reviews: A domain-specific named entity recognition model Ecological Informatics Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 15749541 (doi: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2025.103548)
Siyu Li, Filip Biljecki, Pengyuan Liu, Rudi Stouffs (2025) Drivers of day–night intra-surface urban heat island variations under local extreme heat: A case study of Singapore Sustainable Cities and Society Crossref. (doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2025.107000)
Siyu Li, Pengyuan Liu, Rudi Stouffs (2025) Fine-grained local climate zone classification using graph networks: A building-centric approach Building and Environment Crossref. (doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112928)
Yuan Wang, Pengyuan Liu, Rudi Stouffs (2025) Revealing the impact of 2D/3D urban morphology on spatial heterogeneity of diurnal and nocturnal UHI through X-GeoAI driven analytics Crossref. (doi: 10.5194/icuc12-888)
Sijie Yang, Adrian Chong, Pengyuan Liu, Filip Biljecki (2025) Thermal comfort in sight: Thermal affordance and its visual assessment for sustainable streetscape design Building and Environment Crossref. (doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112569)
Binyu Lei, Pengyuan Liu, Xiucheng Liang, Yingwei Yan, Filip Biljecki (2025) Developing the urban comfort index: Advancing liveability analytics with a multidimensional approach and explainable artificial intelligence Sustainable Cities and Society Crossref. (doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2024.106121)
Pengyuan Liu, Binyu Lei, Weiming Huang, Filip Biljecki, Yuan Wang, Siyu Li, Rudi Stouffs (2025) Sensing climate justice: A multi-hyper graph approach for classifying urban heat and flood vulnerability through street view imagery Sustainable Cities and Society Crossref. (doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2024.106016)
Luo, J., Liu, P., Xu, W., Zhao, T., Biljecki, F. (2025) A perception-powered urban digital twin to support human-centered urban planning and sustainable city development Cities Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 02642751 (doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2024.105473)
Liu, P., Lei, M. (2025) Fictitious finite integration method for solving time fractional fourth-order equations Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 09557997 (doi: 10.1016/j.enganabound.2025.106446)
Siqin Wang et al. (2024) Mapping the landscape and roadmap of geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) in quantitative human geography: An extensive systematic review International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation Pengyuan Liu. ISSN 1569-8432 (doi: 10.1016/j.jag.2024.103734)
Liu, P., Zhang, Y., Biljecki, F. (2024) Explainable spatially explicit geospatial artificial intelligence in urban analytics Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City Science Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 23998083 23998091 (doi: 10.1177/23998083231204689)
Ma, H., Zhang, Y., Liu, P., Zhang, F., Zhu, P. (2024) How does spatial structure affect psychological restoration? A method based on graph neural networks and street view imagery Landscape and Urban Planning Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 01692046 (doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2024.105171)
Liu, P., Lei, M., Yue, J., Niu, R. (2024) Improved Meshless Finite Integration Method for Solving Time Fractional Diffusion Equations International Journal of Computational Methods Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 02198762 17936969 (doi: 10.1142/S0219876223410025)
Lei, B., Liu, P., Milojevic-Dupont, N., Biljecki, F. (2024) Predicting building characteristics at urban scale using graph neural networks and street-level context Computers Environment and Urban Systems Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 01989715 (doi: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2024.102129)
De Sabbata, S., Liu, P. (2023) A graph neural network framework for spatial geodemographic classification International Journal of Geographical Information Science Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 13658816 13658824 (doi: 10.1080/13658816.2023.2254382)
Zhang, Y., Liu, P., Biljecki, F. (2023) Knowledge and topology: A two layer spatially dependent graph neural networks to identify urban functions with time-series street view image ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 09242716 (doi: 10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2023.03.008)
Chen, Y., Liu, P., Zhao, J., Huang, K., Yan, Q. (2023) Shallow-Guided Transformer for Semantic Segmentation of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Imagery Remote Sensing Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 20724292 (doi: 10.3390/rs15133366)
Liu, P., Zhao, T., Luo, J., Lei, B., Frei, M., Miller, C., Biljecki, F. (2023) Towards Human-centric Digital Twins: Leveraging Computer Vision and Graph Models to Predict Outdoor Comfort Sustainable Cities and Society Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 22106707 (doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2023.104480)
(2022) Extracting locations from sport and exercise-related social media messages using a neural network-based bilingual toponym recognition model Journal of Spatial Information Science Pengyuan Liu. (doi: 10.5311/JOSIS.2022.24.167)
Liu, P., Biljecki, F. (2022) A review of spatially-explicit GeoAI applications in Urban Geography International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 15698432 1872826X (doi: 10.1016/j.jag.2022.102936)
Luo, J., Liu, P., Cao, L. (2022) Coupling a Physical Replica with a Digital Twin: A Comparison of Participatory Decision-Making Methods in an Urban Park Environment ISPRS International Journal of Geo Information Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 22209964 (doi: 10.3390/ijgi11080452)
(2021) A graph-based semi-supervised approach to classification learning in digital geographies Computers, Environment and Urban Systems Pengyuan Liu. (doi: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2020.101583)
Chen, C., Zhou, C., Liu, P., Zhang, D. (2020) Iterative Reweighted Tikhonov-Regularized Multihypothesis Prediction Scheme for Distributed Compressive Video Sensing IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 10518215 15582205 (doi: 10.1109/TCSVT.2018.2886310)
Conference Proceedings
Liu, Y., Li, S., Liu, P., Zhang, Y., Stouffs, R. (2026) From Pixels to Predicates: Structuring urban perception with scene graphs Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia Scopus - Elsevier. ISBN 9789887135906 ISSN 27104257 27104265
Wang, Y., Hamel, P., Ramsay, E.E., Liu, P., Stouffs, R. (2025) Impacts of building height and local climate zones on the performance of the InVEST Urban Cooling model Iop Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 17551307 17551315 (doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/1554/1/012047)
Chen, C., Liu, P., Zhou, Y., Zhou, C., Zhang, D. (2023) Adaptive Reconstruction for Block-based Image Compressed Sensing via A Texture-gated Network Chinese Control Conference Ccc Scopus - Elsevier. ISBN 9789887581543 ISSN 19341768 21612927 (doi: 10.23919/CCC58697.2023.10241238)
Liu, P., De Sabbata, S. (2019) Estimating locations of social media content through a graph-based link prediction ACM International Conference Proceeding Series Scopus - Elsevier. ISBN 9781450372602 (doi: 10.1145/3371140.3371141)
Other
Liu, Y., Li, S., Liu, P., Zhang, Y., Stouffs, R. (2025) From Pixels to Predicates Structuring urban perception with scene graphs Arxiv Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 23318422 (doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2512.19221)
Yang, S., Chong, A., Liu, P., Biljecki, F. (2024) Thermal Comfort in Sight: Thermal Affordance and its Visual Assessment for Sustainable Streetscape Design Arxiv Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 23318422 (doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2410.11887)
Lei, M., Liu, P., Hon, Y.C. (2023) An Improved Finite Integration Method for the Time Fractional Diffusion and High Order Equations Ssrn Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 15565068 (doi: 10.2139/ssrn.4573557)
Ma, H., Zhang, Y., Liu, P., Zhang, F., Zhu, P. (2023) How does spatial structure affect psychological restoration? A method based on Graph Neural Networks and Street View Imagery Arxiv Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 23318422 (doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2311.17361)
Book Section
Liu, P., Hou, Y., Lei, B., Liang, X., Biljecki, F. (2025) GeoAI and Urban Geography Springer Geography Scopus - Elsevier. ISSN 2194315X 21943168 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-87421-5_18)
Book
Pengyuan Liu (2022) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022 Pengyuan Liu. (doi: 10.5281/ZENODO.7004791)
Grants
1. 2026 University of Glasgow Early-career Mobility Scheme (PI): ￡4,098.00
Supervision
- Yunlong Liu --- 1st supervisor
- Qin Li --- 1st supervisor
- Jiazhi Zhu --- 2nd supervisor
- Haonan Lyv --- 3rd supervisor
- Shunyu Yao --- 3rd supervisor
- Zhu, Jiazhi
Leveraging GeoAI for Flash Flood Susceptibility Prediction
Teaching
Module Convenor for:
1. Digital Planning Systems and Tools URBAN5144
2. Smart Cities and Infrastructure URBAN5151
3. Fundamentals of GIS for Planning, Property, and Policy (10 credits) URBAN5114
Additional information
1. Committee for GIScience Research Group (GIScRG) at the Royal Geographical Society with IBG
2. Associate Editor at City and Environment Interactions (Elsevier)
