Publications

Papers, Grants, Service & Design Background

For the most up-to-date list, see my Curriculum Vitae and Google Scholar profile. 1,564 citations  ·  Mar 2026

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles

2026
MINGLE: VLMs for Semantically Complex Region Detection
Liu, L., Kudaeva, A., Cipriano, M., Al Ghannam, F., Tan, F., de Melo, G., & Sevtsuk, A.
Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 40(45).
DOI
2026
Spatial Distribution of Foot Traffic in New York City and Applications for Urban Planning
Sevtsuk, A., Basu, R., Liu, L., Alhassan, A., & Kollar, J.
Nature Cities, 1–10.
DOI
2026
Reconceptualising Regional Boundaries: Depicting Blurred Regions in China Through Individual Mobility Data
Zhang, H., Liu, L., Wang, P., & Zhao, J.
Computational Urban Science, 6(1), 5.
DOI
2026
START: Spatial and Textual Learning for Chart Understanding
Liu, Z., Gao, X., Niu, F., Gao, Q., Liu, L., & Piramuthu, R.
IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV).
arXiv
2026
Decoding Human Safety Perception with Eye-Tracking Systems, Street View Images, and Explainable AI
Kang, Y., Chen, J., Liu, L., Sharma, K., Mazzarello, M., Mora, S., Duarte, F., & Ratti, C.
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 123, 102356.
DOI
2025
A Sidewalk-Level Urban Heat Risk Assessment Framework Using Pedestrian Mobility and Urban Microclimate Modeling
Colaninno, N., Basu, R., Hosseini, M., Alhassan, A., Liu, L., & Sevtsuk, A.
Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 52(5), 1071–1090.
DOI
2024
Clarity or Confusion: A Review of Computer Vision Street Attributes in Urban Studies and Planning
Liu, L., & Sevtsuk, A.
Cities, 150, 105022.
DOI
2022
An Urban Infrastructure Assessment System Built on Geo-Tagged Images and Machine Learning
Zhang, D., Yi, H., Chen, Y., Jiang, N., Shao, J., & Liu, L.
Computational Urban Science, 2(1), 1–21.
DOI
2020
The Spatial-Temporal Dynamics of Daily Intercity Mobility in the Yangtze River Delta: An Analysis Using Big Data
Cui, C., Wu, X., Liu, L., & Zhang, W.
Habitat International, 106, 102174.
DOI
2018
Measuring Human Perceptions of a Large-Scale Urban Region Using Machine Learning
Zhang, F., Zhou, B., Liu, L., Liu, Y., Fung, H., Lin, H., & Ratti, C.
Landscape and Urban Planning, 180, 148–160.
DOI
2018
STREETALK: A Navigation System for Pedestrians and Cyclists
Liu, L., Zhang, F., Zhou, B., Wang, Z., & Li, Y.
Landscape Architecture Frontiers, 6(2), 94–101.
DOI
2017
How Green Are the Streets? An Analysis for Central Areas of Chinese Cities Using Tencent Street View
Long, Y., & Liu, L.
PLOS ONE, 12(2), e0171110.
DOI
2016
C-IMAGE: City Cognitive Mapping through Geo-Tagged Photos
Liu, L., Zhou, B., Zhao, J., & Ryan, B. D.
GeoJournal, 81(6), 817–861.
DOI
2014
Recognizing City Identity via Attribute Analysis of Geo-Tagged Images
Zhou, B., Liu, L., Oliva, A., & Torralba, A.
European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), 519–534.
DOI

Book Chapters

2018
The Recognition of CAZ in Shanghai Based on Evaluated POI
Liu, L., & Liu, Z.
Big Data Support of Urban Planning and Management: The Experience in China, 99–112.
DOI

Manuscripts Under Review

2026
Sidewalk Occupancy Prediction via 2D-3D Consistency Learning with Pseudo Labels
Ma, Y., Lin, J., Liu, L., He, H., Ricketts, L., Squicciarini, B., Liu, Y., & Zhou, B.
Under Review Submitted to the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV).

Manuscripts in Preparation

2026
Where Pedestrians Interact: Mapping Street-Level Sociability across U.S. Cities
Liu, L., & Sevtsuk, A.
In Preparation
2026
Are Richer Visual Representations Always More Human-Aligned in Urban Experience?
Liu, L., Tan, F., & Duarte, F.
In Preparation

Technical Reports & Benchmark Papers

2025
Exploring the Challenges of Humanity's Last Exam
Liu, L., Gao, X., Gao, Q., & Piramuthu, R.
Technical Report Applied Scientist PhD Internship, Amazon AGI, Sunnyvale, CA.
View upon request
2024
ABCxM: A Benchmark for Multimodal Models Playing Scores to Music
Liu, L., Gao, X., Gao, Q., & Piramuthu, R.
Technical Report Applied Scientist PhD Internship, Amazon AGI, Sunnyvale, CA.
View upon request
2024
VIS: A Benchmark for Foley Models and Visually Indicative Sounds
Liu, L., Gao, X., Gao, Q., & Piramuthu, R.
Technical Report Applied Scientist PhD Internship, Amazon AGI, Sunnyvale, CA.
View upon request
2024
ELSA: Evaluating Localization of Social Activities in Urban Streets
Hosseini, M., Cipriano, M., Eslami, S., Hodczak, D., Liu, L., Sevtsuk, A., & de Melo, G.
arXiv preprint.
arXiv
2020
Assessing Physical Environment of TOD Communities around Metro Stations: Using Big Data and Machine Learning
Fang, W., Liu, L., & Zhou, J.
World Bank, Washington, DC.
DOI

Additional papers written in Chinese are listed in the Curriculum Vitae only.

Grants & Funding

Research Grants

Principal Investigator "Observing the 'Sidewalk Ballet': Leveraging LMMs to Detect Social Interactions in Large-Scale Urban Imagery Datasets" (CIS250088), Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS), Alexandria, VA. ~$140,000 Jan 2025 – Jan 2027
Subproject Principal Investigator National Key Research and Development Program of China — "Multi-dimensional Street Quality Enhancement and Coordinated Control Technology Platform Construction" (Project No. 2023YFC3805305-03). RMB 1,000,000 Dec 2023 – Nov 2026
Co-Principal Investigator "Moments: Leveraging Continuous Visual and Auditory Experiences to Assess Urban Attraction" (CIS250360), Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS), Alexandria, VA. ~$11,000 Oct 2025 – Oct 2026

Internal Grants

OGE Conference Grant, Office of Graduate Education, MIT. $1,000 2025
Graduate Student Career Exploration Grant, Career Advising & Professional Development (CAPD), MIT. $1,500 2025

Academic Service

Journal Reviewer

Cities, Nature Cities, Sustainable Cities and Society, Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, Journal of Transport and Land Use, Transactions in Urban Data, Science, and Technology, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Computational Urban Science, Landscape and Urban Planning, International Journal of Digital Earth, and others (20+ reviews).

Committee & Other

Committee Member Urban Imagery Committee, Urban Planning Society of China (UPSC)
Listed Expert Shanghai Science and Technology Talent Expert Database
Mentorship Peer Application Support (PASS) — supporting diversity in graduate admissions, MIT (2022, 2023, 2024)

Design Portfolio

A collection of architectural and urban design work from my undergraduate years at Tongji University (2008–2011), spanning city redevelopment, regulatory planning, structural design, and community architecture.
View Portfolio → PDF version available upon request