Qiran Shang is a PhD candidate in history and theory of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, with an interest in the history of everyday urban landscapes, queer spaces, and space-making practices of “non-architects” in shaping the built environment. Her dissertation examines spaces of social dance in 1920s Berlin, 1960s San Francisco, and 1980s Shanghai, analyzing the spatial tactics that made these into dissenting spaces of marginalized communities. Before coming to Penn, Shang obtained a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Southeast University in China.
