Shen, currently a real estate professor at MIT, is taking over for Arthur Jemison, who left earlier this month.

Mayor Michelle Wu has appointed Kairos Shen, a longtime top planning official under former Mayor Tom Menino, as the next chief of planning.

Kairos Shen’s two decades actively spent shaping the city of Boston’s evolution aren’t over. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Tuesday named the longtime Boston Redevelopment Agency chief planner under equally longtime former Mayor Tom Menino as the new chief of planning – successor role to the Boston Planning & Development Agency director at the new Boston Planning Department.

Mayor Michelle Wu has appointed Kairos Shen as Boston Shen will lead the Planning Department, which was established by Wu in July. “I’m thrilled to welcome Kairos into leadership of Boston’s Planning Department and all the critical functions shaping the built environment for affordability,