Playing Simcity as a kid, I always found that it was much easier to build a city from scratch rather than

build upon
something that already existed. Studying urban revitalization in Geography at school, I realized that this was also
true of real life. For instance, as a Shenzhen kid, I have witnessed the imbalanced urban development with the
newly reclaimed coastal districts becoming more prosperous and gradually surpassing the good old ones,
showcasing the exact same pattern. It is simply whimsical to see knowledge from books unfold and take shape in
the physical world in a span of a decade. This sparked my initial interest to explore the crossover of geography and
economics against the backdrop of urban renovation to enable my community accommodate more residents and
sustainably develop the local economy.

It appears at first glance that the study of economics and geography are distant, however, after learning both
courses at Alevel, urbanization and urban renovation are pivotal themes in both geography and economics.
Reallocation of scarce resources to satisfy sustainable development in the concern of environmental constraints
and population dynamics is the priority of urban growth. Environmental degradation forcing policies that can
tackle issues like negative externalities or market failures to be promulgated.

Observing and contemplating these economic realities encouraged me to join the National Economic Challenge as
a Team Leader to explore China’s dual-control energy consumption policy and gained a more thorough
understanding of sustainable development. Based on the International Monetary Fund Staff Climate Note, I
analyzed the carbon capture scheme for an Allowance Trading-based carbon market through the TOPSIS
algorithm and quantified the market value of Corporate Social Responsibility as a prediction of the total market
value of Carbon Emission. The two approaches combined can be effective to assess the long-term urban
redevelopment policies since decisions makers may choose the most suitable methods after access to complete data
on urban area. Besides, my mathematical skills were enhanced when I used a matrix for the TOPSIS algorithm to
allocate carbon emission rights and produced carbon allowance weights for factories.

Development in general is certainly much more complicated than a game, but the rewards of doing it right are
infinitely more fulfilling. Therefore, I possess a strong inclination towards comprehending the geographical
dimensions of economic activities, resource utilization, and the pursuit of urban sustainability. Consequently, I
aspire to further delve into the human-economic interactions in my forthcoming academic pursuits.