Qiyang Xu is a program coordinator for the Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC) and smart cities initiatives led by the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice. She helps client cities to better adopt evidence-based and smart solutions for integrated urban planning, and facilitates the growth and operations of the two programs. Between 2011 and 2015, she worked on open data initiatives and provided geospatial consultancy to projects in various sectors, e.g. ICT, transport, environment, urban and governance. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geoscience from Zhejiang University in China, a Master’s degree in the same field and an MBA from University of Maryland, College Park.