Mr Ruoran Cheng

Mr Ruoran Cheng

PhD Student

Department of Economic History

Room No
SAR 4.04
Connect with me

Languages
English, Mandarin
Key Expertise
Economic History, Economic Geography, Digital Humanity, Historical GIS

About me

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Economic History at the London School of Economics and Political Science, supervised by Joan Rosés and Kent Deng. I get a BS in geography at The Ohio State University, and a MS in Transportation Engineering at The Northeastern University.

My research lies at the intersection of historical GIS, digital humanity, economic history, economic geography, and development.

My work focuses on transportation networks in both historical and contemporary China and their relationship with urban development over the past 10,000 years, from the origins of civilization to the present day. I am particularly passionate about collecting and utilizing historical GIS data on transportation routes, cities, and archaeological sites, aiming to uncover long-term patterns that connect transport routes, cities, and the evolution of civilization.

Another field I am working on is the social elite network in 11th-century China and how their activities would impact the spatial variation of state capacity (ability for taxation) within the empire.

Recently, I have also been working on using AI to analyze the archaeologically excavated artifacts and their decorative patterns, with the aim of reconstructing the spatial and temporal aspects of human civilization's evolution.

Dissertation Title

  • Transportation network and spatial distribution of economic activities in the past 10000 years China

Dissertation Supervisor

  • Professor Joan Roses

Expertise Details

Economic History; Economic Geography; Digital Humanity; Historical GIS; The Origin and Evolution of Civilization