Dr Johan Vaide is an urban sociologist and senior lecturer in sociology.
Johan has a teaching background in sociology, urban studies and urban planning, qualitative methods in diverse social science disciplines, design and sustainability, strategic communication, cultural studies and gender studies. Johan is program coordinator for a bachelor program in international social sciences specializing in global studies.
Dr Vaide has been working with urban China since 2003. In his PhD thesis “Contact Space: Shanghai. The Chinese Dream and the Production of a New Society”, Johan analyzed Shanghai’s opening up reforms with the use of spatial and postcolonial perspectives. Currently, Dr Vaide is examining everyday use of platforms, such as Chinese super-app WeChat, through the lenses of platform urbanism and ethnography.