赖世刚于1990年在美国伊利诺大学香槟校区获得区域规划哲学博士学位，并曾在台北大学不动产与城乡环境学系(终身特聘教授)及同济大学建筑与城市规划学院(高峰计划教授)任教。目前为浙江大学公共管理学院兼职教授(曾为思源讲座教授)。赖世刚为Journal of Urban Management及《复杂学》期刊的创刊主编以及《复杂学研究社》的创办人，并曾担任“中华城市管理学会”创会理事长。他的主要研究领域为城市复杂性、规划行为以及复杂学。过去35年，赖世刚曾经在国内外知名期刊发表学术论文近100篇以及专著近10本，包括《城市发展研究》、Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science、Land Use Policy、Cities、Habitat International、Annals of Regional Science、Omega以及Decision Sciences等等。最新专著Planning within Complex Urban Systems由英国Routledge出版社于2021年出版，并收录在Routledge Research in Planning and Urban Design系列丛书中，英国皇家学会院士Michael Batty及清华大学杰出访问教授Peter Nijkamp评价该书是城市规划科学发展的重要里程碑著作。

Shih-Kung Lai received his Ph.D. in regional planning from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaig in 1990. He has taught in the Department of real estate and urban and rural environment of Taipei University (lifelong distinguished professor) and the school of architecture and urban planning of Tongji University (Professor of peak planning). At present, he is an adjunct professor in the school of public management of Zhejiang University (once Siyuan lecture professor). Lai  is the founding editor of the Journal of urban management and complexity, the founder of complexity research society, and once served as the chairman of the founding Committee of "China Urban Management Society". His main research fields are urban complexity, planning behavior and complexity. In the past 35 years, Lai  has published nearly 100 academic papers and nearly 10 Monographs in well-known journals at home and abroad, including urban development research, environment and Planning B: Urban analytics and city science, land use policy, cities, Habitat International, annals of regional science, Omega and Decision Sciences. The latest monograph planning within complex urban systems was published by Routledge press in 2021 and included in the Routledge Research in planning and urban design series. Michael batty, academician of the Royal Society and Peter Nijkamp, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Tsinghua University, commented that the book is an important milestone in the development of urban planning science.