Category Archives: Call for papers

CFP – Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development

International Conference 2015 on Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development

Date

August 7-9, 2015

Location

National Taipei University of Technology Library, 國立台北科技大學, No. 1號, Section 3, Zhōngxiào East Road, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 10608

Smart city governance

The concept of smart city is suggested as a new style of city for providing sustainable growth and encouraging healthy economic activities to reduce the burden on the environment while improving the QoL (Quality of Life) of city residents. Many experimental projects are currently being carried out in the world, which are varied and divers. Many researchers also be actively involved in vitalizing smart city activities and improving the QoL of residents using ICT-representative technology (Information and Communications Technology). For promoting the establishment of smart cities, SPSD2015 is intended to gather researchers and planning consultants who will share their own ideas and the latest results of research and successful case studies in smart city
governance.

Kuanghui PENG, PhD, Professor
Conference 2015 Chairman,
National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei

Brian PAI, PhD, Assoc. Professor
Conference 2015 Vice Chairman,
National Chengchi University, Taipei

Topics

Smart city management；

Smart infrastructure planning;

Smart mobility society, life style and community;

Human behaviors, Spatial analysis and urban modelling;

Sustainable development indicator, spatial analysis and urban modelling;

Sustainable society and community development;

Sustainable society, smart city and planning framework;

Important Dates

For full paper submission and afterconference publication:

Deadline for abstract (no more than 800 words)：15th Feb, 2015
Extended to 10th, March (Due to Asian Lunar New Year).

Notification for the acceptance of abstract：28th Feb, 2015
(For the submissions until 10th, March, extended to 20th, March).

Deadline for full paper：15th April, 2015
There will be a review process for afterconference publication and deadline for revised manuscripts

For abstract only and oral presentation
Deadline for abstract (no more than 800 words)：15th May, 2015
Notification for the acceptance of abstract：15th June, 2015

More information

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

CFP: Special issue on “The economics of wellbeing in China”

Leave a reply

Call for papers – Special issue in Social Indicators Research
The economics of wellbeing in China

Guest editors

Zhiming Cheng, The University of Wollongong, Australia

Vinod Mishra, Monash University, Australia

Ingrid Nielsen, Deakin University, Australia

Russell Smyth, Monash University, Australia

Ben Wang, Macquarie University, Australia

China is currently the second largest economy in the world. Many, relatively unique, socioeconomic and behavioural phenomena exist in China. Studying these phenomena will not only deepen our understanding of the Chinese economy and Chinese society, but will also provide new insights about how China, and her residents, are shaped by, adapt to, and transform social and economic forces. The different socioeconomic and institutional context of China vis-à-vis that of the West provides opportunities for evaluating, extending, and creating theories of wellbeing.

With this Special Issue we seek to expand our knowledge of wellbeing in China. Submissions should address the broad area of wellbeing through adopting a methodological approach grounded in economics or an allied discipline. Submissions that are interdisciplinary in that they draw on behavioural insights from economics and other disciplines or adopt approaches that inform economics using insights from other disciplines are particularly welcome.

We interpret economics broadly in this context to mean methodological approaches used in economics and allied disciplines and empirical approaches/methods typically employed by economists and researchers in allied disciplines. It would be ideal if we could pull together a group of papers in which traditional methods used in economics were informed by other disciplinary approaches or the papers showed how economics could improve methodological approaches in other areas. An example of the former might be how the use of multi-item indicators can provide insights over and above single item indicators of wellbeing, typically used by economists. An example of the latter might be how causation can be established with observational data on subjective wellbeing using instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, difference-in-difference or propensity score matching. These methods are commonly used in economics, but are relatively less used in some other social sciences. These issues could be illustrated using Chinese applications.

We are particularly interested in studies that:

Explore the psychometric properties of established measures of subjective wellbeing in China and their determinants or re-examine issues previously explored by economists using psychometrically validated measures of wellbeing

Use experimental methods and/or statistical approaches to address the causal relations between wellbeing and other variables

Examine wellbeing in the workforce and its relationship with organisational or societal outcomes

Develop new theory to understand wellbeing in the Chinese context

Examine issues with strong policy relevance such as urbanization, ageing, rural-urban migration, hukou reform, China’s one-child policy, education or other aspects of social and economic changes

Examine the socioeconomic integration of marginalised groups in Chinese society such as ethnic minorities, the urban poor or rural-urban migrants

Provide insights into growing urban income inequality or consumerism in China

Examine aspects of wellbeing of overseas Chinese in regions such as Africa and Europe and, in particular, address issues of integration for these groups with host communitiesHowever, submissions are by no means limited to these topics.While we welcome both theoretical and empirical studies and, in particular, studies that extend theory through application to Chinese phenomena, studies must have application or potential application to improving our understanding of wellbeing in China. Purely technical modelling or survey papers will not be appropriate.We welcome empirical papers that use a range of different data sources. These include studies that:

Utilize data collected in fieldwork

Use lab and field experiments, including natural experiments

Utilize newly available (panel) data such as the China Family Panel Studies, China Household Finance Survey, Rural-Urban Migrants in China or the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey

Submission Process and Deadline

Submission of final paper to the Special Issue: July 30, 2015

Authors should submit their papers through http://www.editorialmanager.com/soci/

Select Special Issue: Economics of Wellbeing in China when choosing article type

Manuscripts should be prepared following the Social Indicators Research instructions for authors: http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/journal/11205

Enquiries can be made by emails to sirchina2015@gmail.com

All submissions will be subject to normal double-blind peer reviews and editorial process in accordance with the policies of Social Indicators Research. Papers submitted to the special issue will be first reviewed by the guest editors and a decision will be made concerning which papers best contribute to the Special Issue.

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

CFP RGS 2015: ‘Smart’ and ‘Eco’ urbanism(s)

Leave a reply

Urban Sustainabilities I: interrogating ‘smart’ and ‘eco’ urbanism(s)

‘Smart’ cities and ‘eco-cities’ are increasingly being packaged as ‘solutions’ to the demand for urban sustainability. This session aims to critically engage with the increasingly dominant, pervasive and hegemonic discourses and paradigms around proposals which place ‘eco’ and ‘smart’ at the forefront of conceptual and policy approaches to the sustainable city in the contemporary urban context. While the following session – Urban Sustainabilities II (see below) – delves deeper into the actually existing iterations of ‘eco’ and ‘smart’ urbanism, this session focuses more closely on these ideas as increasingly central to discourses and strategies focused on making the city ‘sustainable’.

We encourage papers focusing on a critical analysis of urban sustainability from a wide range of theoretical, conceptual and empirical perspectives. Although the session is focused on debating the underpinnings of urban sustainability discourses and ideals, we also encourage contributions that focus on geographically-specific settings and paradigms.

Topics may include, but are not limited, to, the following:

Eco-urbanism;

Eco-cities;

Smart cities;

Analysing and debating the ‘meanings’ and ‘signifiers’ involved in sustainable urbanism;

‘Sustainable urbanism’ paradigms in specific regional or national geographies;

Sustainable urbanism and the post-political;

Theoretical approaches to urban sustainability with a focus on ‘eco’ and ‘smart’

Neoliberal sustainable urbanism;

Social sustainability in the eco-city/smart city;

New and existing inequalities in the eco-city/smart city.

Potential contributors are invited to send abstracts of not more than 150 words to federico.cugurullo [at] manchester.ac.uk and federico.caprotti [at] kcl.ac.uk by 11 February 2015.

Urban sustainabilities II: interrogating sustainable urban designs

In light of the environmental malaise affecting contemporary cities, urban design has recently emerged as a leading medium to achieve sustainability on an urban scale.

There is a substantial body of evidence indicating the correlations between the design of cities and their environmental impact. The concept of sustainable urban design rejects the Modernist fracture between nature and the city, and embraces the idea of cities shaped to be in balance with natural environments.

In practice, the proliferation of theories of sustainable urban design has led to the production of a number of heterogeneous urban projects characterized by the absence of a common denominator. Examples of sustainable urban design include low-tech approaches to urbanization such as compact cities, green infrastructure and bioregionalism, as well as high-tech solutions redolent of the smart city philosophy.

This section aims to add empirical and theoretical richness to the understanding of sustainable urban design by examining and evaluating practices and theories of sustainability-focused urban design from across the world.

Papers in this session are encouraged to focus on specific cases and projects, and to employ either individual case studies as a basis for discussion, or a comparative approach if preferred. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Eco-cities

Smart cities

Green architecture and infrastructure

Bioregional architecture and planning

Urban regeneration

Potential contributors are invited to send abstracts of not more than 150 words to federico.cugurullo [at] manchester.ac.uk and federico.caprotti [at] kcl.ac.uk by 11 February 2015.

More information about the Annual International Conference 2015

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

Heritage movements in Asia

Leave a reply

Original contributions invited to be considered for inclusion in an interdisciplinary collection of essays about contemporary heritage movements in Asia.

Editors

Dr Ali Mozaffari, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australia-Asia-Pacific Institute, Curtin University (Australia)

Dr Tod Jones, Senior Lecturer in Geography, School of Built Environment, Curtin University (Australia)

The Scope of the Volume

This book examines the formation of heritage movements within contemporary Asian societies. Heritage is a social process with linked tangible and intangible aspects. It has been defined as the use of the past for the purposes of the present, which indicates its potential for formation and contestation of collective identities at multiple geographical and hierarchical scales, from neighbourhoods to nation-states and global networks. Heritage processes vary according to cultural, national, geographical, and historical contexts. Heritage politics reveals the variety of responses by public and privately constituted groups to certain global challenges of late modernity including nationalism, pluralism, state-society relations and the influence of a growing middle class. Activists and activist groups have long engaged in the process of heritage production and designation. Their activities, although varying in degrees of organisation, are made possible through the shifting limits of the public sphere. Also, they must be considered in a broader context of evolving discourses of cultural and national identity, cultural policies of the state, and the political opportunities it provides for participation. This book will examine instances collective activism in heritage under the rubric of heritage movements. As a working definition, a heritage movement comprises collective challenges (to elites, authorities, other groups or cultural codes) by people with a common purpose and solidarity to protect and conserve heritage as conveyor and basis for collective identity, through sustained interactions with elites, opponents and authorities.

The book takes a broad interpretation of the geographical expanse of Asia; the boundaries of which may be loosely located in the west in Iran and the Persian Gulf, Central Asia and Afghanistan and in the east and China and Indonesia. Within this broad geographical expanse, various nation-states have witnessed rapid change as a result of economic growth and development, the creation of new states, and variable economic growth.

In speaking of contemporary Asia, we note that the timing of these movements too varies among these countries, although in most instances they seem to have appeared in the past 30 years. For example, the post-Soviet era and subsequent geopolitical transformations in the region (and beyond) have brought a change in the balance of political and cultural power. For instance, recent developments in Central Asia have encouraged expressions of various dormant and re-invented identities. While officially heritage continues to be designated, formed and managed by the state, other citizen groups and societies are forming who engage with the state or even pursue their own alternative heritages. In instances these groups may refer to historical (such as Persian) affiliations or religious (such as Muslim) roots or a combination of the two. The activities of these groups may be designated under the rubric of heritage movements.

This book is premised on three observations. First, contemporary heritage movements in the region occurred within the state defined spectrum of political opportunities and often engaged with state and international heritage projects within their respective countries. Second, many of these movements are recent and may become more prominent as international perspectives on heritage has advocated for the importance of participatory processes. Third, heritage discourses in the region seem to have been influenced by the increasing number of professionals in heritage or related professions (architecture, design, and archaeology) with knowledge of approaches to heritage in Europe in particular.

This book explores state-society relations through heritage, the political opportunities that are presented (or accidentally created) for public participation in heritage and identity making and the reaction and or reception of cultural policies of the state. It also examines relationships between different groups, changing communication technologies, and international networks. As such chapters are inspired by the application (explicitly or implicitly) of concepts articulated in social movements theory in the field of cultural heritage.

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

More Posts - Website

CHESS Young Scholars Conference 2015 – Responding to China’s Environmental Crisis: Interdisciplinary Approaches

Leave a reply

Place

Vienna, Austria

Date

27 – 28th Feb 2015

Deadline

30th Nov 2014

Organized by CHESS (China and the Environment in the Social Sciences) Hosted by the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna, Austria Keynote speaker: Yu Xiaogang, Green Watershed

Submissions are welcomed for the inaugural CHESS Young Scholars Conference to be held at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna on 27-28 February 2015.

Organizers

CHESS (China and the Environment in the Social Sciences) is an interdisciplinary research network for scholars from across the social sciences with research interests relating to environmental issues in China. Both the network and the conference provide a forum for graduate students and young scholars to discuss ideas, exchange information and to strengthen professional networks across the field.

Context

China faces a multitude of environmental challenges, ranging from biophysical impacts of climate change, deforestation and water scarcity, to impacts on health and social stability resulting from pollution, land contamination and overexploitation of natural resources. Rapid industrialization and lax environmental oversight have exacerbated these problems exponentially, leaving the country in a position of acute environmental crisis and unsustainable development.

Goals

The CHESS Young Scholars Conference 2015 aims to investigate and formulate new theorizations of environmental dynamics in China through a critical analysis of actors, institutions and processes across and between spatial dimensions from the local to the international level, taking into account the political, economic and social contexts in which they operate. A key element of the conference is the broad interdisciplinary nature of its panels, drawing from across the social sciences in order to utilize a diverse array of theoretical and methodological approaches. To allow for a holistic perspective, contributions from political science, sociology, economics, anthropology, law and other disciplines addressing environmental issues in the PRC and/or Taiwan are highly encouraged.

Topics

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

China on the world stage: international environmental and climate change diplomacy

Environmental governance in rural and urban areas

Changing roles of state, market, and civil actors

The Chinese environmental movement: actors and trends

Greening China’s economy: tools, policies, and marketization strategies

Options for further collaboration and possible joint publications will be discussed during the conference.

More information

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

More Posts - Website

Food safety and food security in Asia

Leave a reply

Panel on food safety and food security in Asia as part of the third Global Asias Conference, to be held at Penn State University on April 9-11, 2015.

Papers on issues of health and national security in connection with networks of food production and distribution are encouraged in any discipline or national focus within Asia.

Please send a 250-word abstract and brief c.v. to Jessamyn Abel at jessamyn.abel@psu.edu by November 15, 2014. The panel description is pasted below, followed by a general description of the conference.

Asia in the Global Food Chain

The global expansion of food supply networks, while delivering a variety of foods around the world, has also heightened concerns about food safety and security. In the market-opening mood of the 1990s, worries about Japan’s food security fueled support for import barriers on staple foods, and the looming threat of an influx of foreign rice sent Japanese consumers into an anxious frenzy of stock-piling domestic grain. More recently, one tainted food scandal after another has inspired bans on imports of food from China, while spurring wealthy Chinese to import suitcases-full of goods like infant formula. For centuries, the absence, availability, and provision of food has been a key element in the vibrancy of overseas Asian communities and the ability of immigrants to feel “safe at home” in their adopted country. This panel will explore the intersection between issues of food safety and security and Asia’s place in global networks of immigration and trade.

Global Asias 3

Penn State’s Department of Asian Studies announces Global Asias 3, a conference to celebrate the launch of a new journal, Verge: Studies in Global Asias (published by the University of Minnesota Press).

Read more

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

More Posts - Website

Call for Papers: The Social and Cultural Impact of Migration in China

Leave a reply

Session: The Social and Cultural Impact of Migration in China

2015 AAG Annual Meeting

Location

Chicago

Date

21-25 April

Organiser

Youqin Huang (State University of New York, Albany)
Shenjing He (Sun Yat-Sen University, China)

Summary

China is in the midst of an urban revolution, with hundreds of millions of migrants every year. Existing research on migration has mostly focused on migrants themselves and their economic strategies, while their family’s wellbeing, their identity, rights, and citizenship remain under researched. In this session, we hope to join the emerging research shift from focusing on migrants and their economic strategies to the non-economic impact of their migration on people, especially their families (children and parents), and places.

Topics

We welcome papers that address any issues related to the social and cultural impact of migration.
Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Wellbeing of their children
• Wellbeing of their parents
• Wellbeing of migrants
• Rights and citizenship of migrants
• Identity of migrant children
• Identity of migrants
• Household formation and family life
• Cultural impact on the origin and destination

Submission

If you would like to participate in this session, please send an abstract (max. 200 words) and contact details including affiliation and e-mail address to Youqin Huang (yhuang@albany.edu) or Shenjing He (heshenj@mail.sysu.edu.cn) by 15 October 2014. All accepted contributors will then need to register for the AAG conference online at the AAG website by 31 October 2014 ahead of a session proposal deadline of 5 November 2014.

Aurélia Martin

Chargée de communications et des médias pour l'UMR Chine Corée Japon (CNRS)

Sustainable City 2014

Leave a reply

The International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability addresses all aspects of the urban environment aiming to provide solutions leading towards sustainability.

Date

23-25 September, 2014

Location

Certosa di Pontignano, Siena, Italy

Organisers

Wessex Institute of Technology, UK
University of Siena, Italy

The Conference addresses the multi-disciplinary aspects of urban planning; a result of the increasing size of the cities; the amount of resources and services required and the complexity of modern society.

Most of earth’s population now lives in cities and the process of urbanisation still continues generating many problems deriving from the drift of the population towards them. These problems can be resolved by cities becoming efficient habitats, saving resources in a way that improves the quality and standard of living. The process however, faces a number of major challenges, related to reducing pollution, improving main transportation and infrastructure systems. New urban solutions are required to optimise the use of space and energy resources leading to improvements in the environment, i.e reduction in air, water and soil pollution as well as efficient ways to deal with waste generation. These challenges contribute to the development of social and economic imbalances and require the development of new solutions.

More information at: http://www.wessex.ac.uk/14-conferences/sustainable-city-2014.html

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

Special Feature on Internet Governance in China

Leave a reply

China Perspectives and Perspectives Chinoises: Call for papers

Much less is known, however, about the more diversified forms of power that are embedded in Internet governance, broadly conceived as the incremental conception, implementation, regulation, management and uses of Internet networks and services. Political positions and ideological visions are embedded in technological choices, from the layout of physical networks and routers to the development of applications like search engines or expression platforms. The crafting, implementation and interpretation of regulatory measures are also of crucial importance in framing the users’ agency, and so do business models, funding or pricing issues among other aspects.

These issues are not only in the hands of central and local governments, but also of a variety of more or less independent agencies like registrars, self-regulation associations, private companies, individual developers and hackers. Users, either individually or collectively, also contribute to building the characteristics of the Chinese Internet, as they may adopt or not online services, complain about particular features or even use them in a way that was not foreseen by the developers or regulators. In other words, these various aspects of Internet governance offer insights on the complex and often ambiguous (power) relationships between the local and central government, private actors and Chinese citizens.

It is all the more important to further document these aspects as China has become more assertive on the global stage, and now strives to push Chinese interests through technological standards, economic and cultural domination and global Internet governance schemes. As a result, Chinese positions carry increasing weight on such global issues as net neutrality, copyright, privacy, or freedom of speech, to mention but a few.

China Perspectives thus plans to publish a special feature on Internet governance in China, which will cover these aspects from a multidisciplinary perspective, including law, political science, political economy, political sociology, communication, or international relations.

Contributions are welcome on such topics as:

the political and ideological foundations of Internet development in China

the political stakes of technological choices

the central / local relationship within the Chinese administration and Internet service providers

the role of businesses

the political economy of the Internet in China

the motivations and stakes of the Chinese positions on global Internet governance innovative usage of Internet services, apps etc.

the maker / hacker movement and its role in the development of the Chinese Internet (list not exhaustive)

More information

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

More Posts - Website

The resilience of vernacular heritage in Asian cities

Leave a reply

Call for papers

This conference focuses on the interplay between cultural practices and the production of urban space and place-making that creates the living vernacular heritages of neighborhoods and communities of the city. Emphasis is given to community efforts and collective empowerment through heritage preservation practices that are found to enhance sustenance of the natural environment as well as resilience towards environmental threats. The attention given to the vitality of vernacular heritage for its own sake and in creating foundations for disaster resilience is an as yet understudied dimension of research on such contemporary issues as the right to the city and spatial justice. Papers on disaster risk reduction for monumental heritage preservation would also be welcomed as long as they discuss the role of ordinary people and communities in constructing their everyday lives in and around these monuments, through which the monuments become meaningful spaces for their everyday life-spaces.

Among the contemporary challenges to the resilience of cities in Asia are those that arise from the disarticulation of relationships among cultural heritage preservation, the production of the urban built environment, and the capacities of ordinary people to engage in city-making by and for themselves. Heritage discourses tend to focus on sites thought to be of World Heritage importance while paying little attention to the living heritages of neighborhoods, artisanal craft and art districts.

Deadline

31 July 2014

More information

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

More Posts - Website

Call for papers: Ideas of the city in Asia

Leave a reply

Call for papers for “Ideas of the city in Asia” for the annual one-day seminar “Asian Metropolises”, organised by IPRAUS and DSA “Architecture and Urban Projets”, which will take place at ENSA Paris-Belleville (60 Bd de la Villette, 75019 Paris) on 24 May 2014.

Scientific coordination: Adèle Esposito (Associated lecturer at ENSAPB / Lecturer at Leiden University)
Scientific council : Adèle Esposito, Anne Grillet-Aubert, Charles Goldblum, Sabine Guth, Nathalie Lancret, Bernadette Laurencin, Francis Nordemann

Contemporary urban phenomena in Asia can no longer be understood through the concepts long used to define what a city is, and to distinguish it from what it is not (for example, contrasting “urban” with “rural”). These concepts have become obsolete in the face of radical urban transformation, which marks the entry of these cities into the modern world, and which seems to call into question the very idea of “city” as a recognisable physical entity. The seminar day on “ideas of the city” in Asia will consider the evolution of meaning attached to these concepts and representations associated nowadays with Asian cities as spatial, political and social entities.

The seminar’s objective is to find the keys to understanding complex urban realities in Asia, and to offer suitable theoretical and methodological tools to study these realities. The speakers will attempt to show whether, and to what extent, urban planning reflects thoughts on the future, elaborated from the urban planners heterogeneous cultural horizons, and rooted in different ethical, political and philosophical schemes. Does the discussion around the concept of city, today disseminated at a global level by international organisations, influence professional thinking? How do the players involved in various urban capacities describe a city where “life is good” and imagine an “urban future”? What are the ideals pursued by the architects, urban planners and public players? Contributions may focus on the appearance of brands (such as the “creative city” or “smart city”), which express social aspirations, but which, at the same time, reinforce global competition between cities.

Speakers may also explore how urban planning creates a relationship with past heritage. In modern times, urban planning cannot ignore inherited patterns and legacies, even if this relationship is sometimes expressed in terms of denial. It is therefore appropriate to examine how urban plans contribute to breaking off from legacy, or, on the contrary, are revitalised by spatial and cultural heritage of cities. To what type of heritage do we attribute value in the making of the contemporary city, and why? Speakers may analyse the politics and heritage projects, but, more broadly, they will examine how urban planning is inspired or incorporates heritage, and what logic underlies this reference set.

The seminar welcomes contributions that analyse urban planning documentation and their relationship with their theoretical, discursive and ethical foundations from various disciplinary perspectives. The authors are especially encouraged to examine the reactivation of inherited urban models, some ancient, in contemporary city plans; contemporary usage of heritage, the manipulation of urban history by the selective erasure of certain legacies, and promotion of others; the role of heritage in urban strategy; the analysis of discourse concerning the image of the city; contemporary utopias and urban ideals; and the “virtualisation” of the city, designed as a screen for economic activities and a platform for technological development.¹

Please send proposals (max. 2500 characters including spaces) before 28 March 2014 to adelee sposito@yahoo.fr.

See original full call posted on the China Centre’s blog (in French).

Translation by Aurélia Martin. [↩]

Aurélia Martin

Chargée de communications et des médias pour l'UMR Chine Corée Japon (CNRS)

Call for papers: Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies

Leave a reply

Submissions are invited from graduate students for a special issue of the Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies (GJAPS): Urban Futures in the Asia-Pacific (Simon Opit, editor, University of Auckland, New Zealand).

Cities are centres of economic, social, political and cultural activity, but they can also be areas of intense poverty, unhealthy environments, dangerous spaces and captivity. With the current unprecedented rates of growth in the Asia-Pacific unlikely to abate it is of great importance that we maximise the potential of urban spaces while avoiding the multitudinous harm that cities can cause. The Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies is calling for papers that provide perspectives on the possible future of urban spaces in the Asia-Pacific.

Such a theme is open to both quantitative and qualitative perspectives on urban spaces and encourages artistic, empirical or theoretical contributions that relate to, but are not limited to any of the following major themes:

Examining urban policies that are argued to promote sustainable urbanism and create more resilient, liveable urban spaces.

Assessing the potential of future technologies and/or transport initiatives that offer solutions to urban problems.

Investigating layers of urban governance structures and how they impact on urban environments and their development, either as a constructive or restrictive force.

Analysing our understandings of urban spaces and providing critical review of the current values that underpin urban practices.

Detailing and evaluating methodological innovation in the field of urban studies, including new tools and technologies that provide novel ideas and a better of understandings of our urban world.

Contributions are welcome from all fields, including: social sciences and the humanities, architecture and planning, politics and policy analysis, or any other form of urban study.GJAPS interprets the designation “Asia-Pacific” in the broadest sense, to encompass East, Northeast and Southeast Asia, the Malay Archipelago, Australasia, Polynesia and Oceania, the West Coast of the Americas, including California, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, British Columbia, Central and South America.Submissions should be received by 1st of April 2014.

More info here

GJAPS website

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

Call for papers: International Conference on Migration, Borderlands and Development at Yunnan

Leave a reply

Call for Papers: International Conference on Migration, Borderlands and Development organized by the Institute of Ethnic Studies (INR) at Yunnan University and the Interculturalism, Migration and Minorities Research Centre (IMMRC) at the Catholic University Leuven in collaboration with the International Metropolis project, to be held at Yunnan University in Kunming, Yunnan, P.R. China, on April 17-18, 2014.

Aims and objectives

We are seeking critical and creative contributions focusing on the topics of migration, borderlands and development from a wide range of disciplines in social sciences and humanities. Within the migration/mobility contexts, borderlands and development are central interrelated concepts. Borderlands refer to both physical as well as imagined places. Borderlands emerge with border crossings by voluntary migrants in search of a better life.

Contrarily, its emergence might also be the unplanned outcome of political and economic crisis, securitization of borders, and restrictive migration and integration policies of nation states and changing into a temporary in-between buffer zone. Moreover, as imaginary places borderlands refer to the creative and political responses of people who are positioned in the margins of well-established majorities, and therefore in search of recognition. Therefore, an understanding of borderlands must incorporate a link between the emergence, flexibility, and changeability of borders and boundaries (constituting the borderlands), the mechanisms of maintenance and change, and processes of resistance, hybridization, and creativity. It must equally incorporate the variety of linkages between space, body, and objects. The nexus development and borderlands can lead to both human and regional development in bothmaterial and nonmaterial forms as a result of border crossings and borderland dynamics. These might lead to increased marginalization, but under particular circumstances it might also lead to new economic opportunities, such as transnational investments, transnational entrepreneurship, niche developments, etc. Such developmental dynamics evidently impact the well-being or the lack thereof of migrants.

The conference will address these issues, but will also interrogate local, regional and national policy interventions. Which policies at whatever side of the border, help foster the proliferation of economic opportunities? How do local, regional and national authorities channel transborder mobilities? What ethnic and national diversities are at
play in these borderlands and which policies contributes to the creation of a ‘diversity dividend’ of sorts?

More information on H-Asia

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

More Posts - Website

Coming of an age: Trends and issues in housing in Asian cities

Leave a reply

H-ASIA – Call for chapter proposals: Trends and Issues in Housing in Asian cities Urmi Sengupta, Annapurna Shaw Projected to be published by Routledge

For many countries in Asia, the future of housing is now. This future is closely linked to successful theoretical advancement and policy practice in housing studies. Well-provided housing is the bedrock of a community because of associated social and economic benefits. Housing and property have long been economic drivers leading many households to better lives, but also, collectively, improving the economic base of the country or the city. For the past decade or so Asia has provided a fertile ground for new experiments in housing with surprising results in areas of housing privatization, subsidy regime and ownership structure. They have taken place within the context of dynamic demographic and economic shifts, serious reconfiguration in political and financial structure and changing aspirations. On the other hand, globalization has affected many Asian housing systems to different degrees and in various dimensions, which, in turn, has caused many countries to aggressively manage risks and alter strategies. These changes can be summarized by three broad trends: First, rapid regulatory and financial reforms coupled with the growing private sector in a productive and profitable role increasingly driving housing growth by providing greater choice and variety of housing. Second: the shrinking role of public housing in relative terms with only a limited number of state-owned enterprises that are profitable and competitive. This fits in with the overarching trend towards stronger governance with corporate ethos and ambitions exerting significant leverage over the allocation of resources in the economy as a whole; and third: attempts from low income communities to acquire land or regularize encroached land and build their own housing and related infrastructure as a co-operative or individually or with the help of NGOs and /or the state. These trends have produced a diversity of results with varying impacts on different economic groups in the city, its social milieu and land uses and they also vary within countries in the Asian region.

Thus within the high income Asian countries, the middle income South-East Asian countries, China, India and the smaller and poorer countries of South Asia the housing efforts of the last decade show interesting similarities and contrasts. So far, however, there is a lack of research on how these trends can be articulated on a pan-Asian scale and what it means for the future.

Read the full text on the announcement of H-Asia

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

More Posts - Website

Workshop on regional, urban, and spatial economics in China

Leave a reply

“International workshop on regional, urban, and spatial economics in China” will be held at Fudan University in Shanghai. This workshop is organised by China Center for Economic Studies, Fudan University.

The workshop will include the following topics:

Investment and regional development
Labor market and inter-regional, rural-urban migration
Urbanisation and urban development
Regional disparities and coordinated development
Agglomeration and New Economic Geography
Sprawl and environmental issues
Environmental and sustainable development

Draft or abstract submissions (paper draft preferred) should be sent in English to ccesconference@fudan.edu.cn.

The workshop will be held on June 6 and 7 2014 (Friday/Saturday), Shanghai Fudan University, China.

Abstract submissions deadline: 1 March 2014.
Notification of acceptance: 1 April 2014.
Complete paper submissions deadline: 15 May 2014.

For more information: 中国区域经济研究网

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

International Conference 2015 on Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development

Call for papers – Special issue in Social Indicators Research The economics of wellbeing in China

Guest editors

Submission Process and Deadline

Urban Sustainabilities I: interrogating ‘smart’ and ‘eco’ urbanism(s)

Urban sustainabilities II: interrogating sustainable urban designs

Editors

The Scope of the Volume

Place

Date

Deadline

Organizers

Context

Goals

Topics

Asia in the Global Food Chain

Global Asias 3

Session: The Social and Cultural Impact of Migration in China

Location

Date

Organiser

Summary

Topics

Submission

Date

Location

Organisers

China Perspectives and Perspectives Chinoises: Call for papers

Call for papers

Deadline

Aims and objectives

H-ASIA – Call for chapter proposals: Trends and Issues in Housing in Asian cities Urmi Sengupta, Annapurna Shaw Projected to be published by Routledge

Call for papers – Special issue in Social Indicators Research
The economics of wellbeing in China