Category Archives: Conference

Making cultural cities in Asia

Call for Papers: Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Tampa, FL, April 8-12th – 2014

Session Title: Making Cultural Cities in Asia

Organizers
Jun Wang (City University of Hong Kong)
Tim Oakes and Yang Yang (University of Colorado at Boulder)

Discussant
Tim Oakes (University of Colorado at Boulder)

Session Abstract
In an increasingly globalizing world, many ‘ideas’, ‘innovations’, and ‘best practices’ derived from the West have flocked into Asian cities without much critical assessment of their contextual appropriateness and consequences. “Cultural/creative cities” is one such example. However, such occurrences in Asian cities linked to global networks of urbanism have only recently been taken up for examination, as empirical studies on Asian cities are few and far between. As for recent literature on creative/ cultural cities and industries in Asia, a growing body of scholarship has focused on this topic. Yet, less attention has been given to the critical issue of the applicability, transferability, and translation of “creative/cultural cities” from their Euro-American origins to Asian contexts.

Highlighting these issues, we intend to collect various explorations on the question of state-society interrelations amidst the mobility and territorialization of “creative/cultural cities” policies. We contend that the project of producing new urban spatial orders in a global network may be interpreted as a dynamic process:  how the mobile idea of cultural/creative cities has been channeled to and territorialized in Asian cities, and how the mutated or re-invented versions have been territorialized, institutionalized, branded and, perhaps, exported.

On the one side of the spectrum, we call for studies on policy mobility, in particular the political construction of the “web” of communication and the restructuring or rescaling of the state. On the other side, we look for studies that examine the impact of cultural/creative city projects on urban society, in particular the increasingly fragmented social forces, their changing roles in the process, their negotiations, alignments, and resistances.

Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words to Jun Wang (june.wang@cityu.edu.hk) or Yang Yang (yang.yang@colorado.edu) by November 15, 2013. Priorities will be given to those who submit before October 23, 2013. Please feel free to contact them with questions about the session.

See the AAG Annual meeting website

Monique Abud

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

More Posts

Urban infrastructure governance and urban growth

Call for paper, AAG 2014: Urban Infrastructure Governance and Urban Growth

 Urban infrastructure (e.g. electricity supply, water supply, transportation, communication, etc.) is at the very heart of economic and social development of a city. It provides the foundation for virtually all modern-day economic activity, constitutes a major economic sector in its own right, and contributes importantly to raising living standards and the quality of life. With the continuously expanding urban population and land use, governments are confronted with new challenges for planning & governance of urban infrastructure provision. Meanwhile, many cities, both in China and West, are trying to maintain continuous urban growth by providing more and better urban infrastructure. The majority of China’s cities, for example, are building industrial parks to attract internal and external investments.

The aim of this session is to encourage submissions that address any issues related with urban infrastructure planning & governance and the role it plays in urban growth in China and the West. Both theoretical and empirical research contributions are welcome.

Please e-mail the abstract and key words with your expression of intent to Rongxu Qiu or Yin Yang by November 19th, 2013.

 

ORGANIZERS
Yin Yang, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. Email:  yin.yang@ouce.ox.ac.uk

Rongxu Qiu,Department of Geography, University of Lethbridge. Email: rongxu.qiu@uleth.ca

 TIMELINE

October 7th, 2013: Call for papers.

October 23rd, 2013: You can benefit from a reduced registration fee if you register for the conference prior to Oct 23 (you can submit your abstract later).
November 19th, 2013: Abstract submission and expression of intent to session organizers.
November 22nd, 2013: Session finalization.
December 1st, 2013: Final abstract submission to AAG, via www.aag.org.
December 3rd, 2013: AAG registration deadline. Sessions submitted to AAG for approval.
April 8th -12th, 2014: AAG meeting, Tampa Bay, Florida, USA.

More infomamtion at the AAG annual meeting webpage

Monique Abud

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

More Posts

Future cities and space reconfiguration in East Asia

Sans titreThe 12th EastAsiaNet Research Workshop

“Future Cities and Space Reconfiguration in East Asia: Practices and Representations, Risk and Opportunities”

17-18 October 2013, Lyon (Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Sciences Po Lyon), Workshop organized by  L’Institut d’Asie Orientale et l’Institut d’Etudes Transtextuelles et Transculturelles.

Jacqueline Nivard

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

More Posts - Website

Worldbank: 2013 Annual meetings guide to webcast events

The global economy, climate change, and a new World Bank Group strategy to tackle extreme poverty will be hot topics next week. That’s when nearly 10,000 delegates, journalists and civil society representatives gather at the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings. But you don’t have to be in Washington to take in 38 World Bank Group events that will be webcast Oct. 8-12.  Several will be live-blogged or live-tweeted in multiple languages. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter with #wblive and other hashtags connected to events. We’ve compiled a sampling of events and hashtags below.  Check out the full schedule or download the first-ever Annual Meetings app for Apple devices and Android smartphones.

Jacqueline Nivard

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

More Posts - Website

Urbanisation and regional economic development

此国际性的学术研讨会,将由中国社会科学院经济研究所《经济研究》编辑部、贵州省房地产研究院(贵州财经大学房地产研究院)承办。现向社会各界征文。該论坛征文选题聚焦于(但不限于):

  • 城镇化的决定因素
  • 城镇化与工业化、农业现代化的关系
  • 城镇化对结构调整、内需启动、不均等变化、技术进步和收入分配的影响
  • 乡城移民的动机与趋势
  • 城镇化水平和速度的预测
  • 农民工市民化
  • 公共住房问题
  • 城市群发展和城市功能布局
  • 城镇化与区域经济发展的良性互动关系

全部征文将由论坛组织的专家委员会进行评选,入选论文的作者(每篇限一人)将获邀请在论坛上宣读论文,并与特邀参会的知名专家进行学术讨论。优秀入选论文经作者同意后将结集出版。
应邀参会的作者,论坛不收取会务费,并免费提供饮食与住宿;但往来交通费用自理。

  • 论坛举办时间:2013年12月21-22日
  • 论坛举办地点:贵州省贵阳市

论文请按照《经济研究》“投稿须知”写作;并请将作者的相关信息(姓名、工作单位、通讯地址、联系电话、Email等)完整地列于与正文独立的首页。

论文电子版请于2013年11月30日同时发送至fdcyjy@126.com与jjyjbjb@163.com。

论坛将于2013年12月10日前向入选论文的作者寄送正式参会邀请函。

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.

More Posts

Global garbage: excess, waste, and abandonment in the contemporary city

Call for papers

Paris, June 12-13, 2014

Organized by the ASCA Cities Project in collaboration with SENAR and the Amsterdam Centre for Globalisation Studies, this interdisciplinary conference will bring together scholars from across the humanities and social sciences to explore the many ways in which garbage  in its diverse forms and articulations  is being produced, managed, experienced, imagined, circulated, concealed, and aestheticized in contemporary urban environments and across different creative and cultural practices. To what extent are contemporary cities becoming wastelands? In what ways are the global economics of excess and waste reshaping urban communities? How do the ever accelerating cycles of production, consumption, and disposal redirect urban flows of capital, commodities, data, and people? What new types and concepts of waste are produced by mechanisms of time-space compression and intensified global connectivity? How do imaginaries of trash or ruination figure in urban policy discourses and their counter-narratives? And what is the position of waste, dirt, and residue in a pervasive visual culture of excess?

Engaging with these sorts of questions, the conference will explore how, and under what conditions, contemporary forms/sites of excess, waste, and abandonment perpetuate  but also sometimes counter  the imbalances of power often associated with global cities.

More information

Jacqueline Nivard

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

More Posts - Website

Conference on contemporary architecture in China

Tianshushan-tea house 08

Conference on contemporary architecture in China, October 17, 2013

Marlène Leroux and Françis Jacquier will give a conference on urban and architectural practices in contemporary China.

In order to question the meaning of Chinese modernity, Marlène Leroux will discuss the changes in which the architectural and urban production are currently involved.

This conference, organised by “Espace Campus France de Shanghai” will be held in Shanghai.

The conference language is French.

Conference details

C3 Café 黄陂南路 700 号a 栋 105

700 Huangdi south road, Suite A105

October 17, 2013, 7 pm

 

Sebastien Goulard

Ph.D. in political science (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in social sciences (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in international relations (IRIS, Paris), B.A. (Hons) in international political studies (ESE - Nottingham Trent University)

More Posts

“A new round of industrialization and urbanisation” symposium call for papers

中国的城市化一直以来呈现呈“东高西低”格局,然而,为了要加强中国城镇的平衡发展,近年来学界与业界都强调中西部地区城镇化的加速发展,然而,在这新一轮的发展中,政府、市场、企业、人民等各自受到不同的影响与改变,“新一轮的工业化、城市化”专题会议征稿通知 :

  • 截稿时间 : 2013年10月22-26日
  • 文章领域: 人类学、民族学、社会学、历史学、政治学、经济学、管理学、市场营销学等多学科。

 

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.

More Posts

Last home…Funerals in Asian cities

“New perspectives on funerals in Asia” (Regards nouveaux sur le funéraire en Asie)

Conference organised by INALCO, Paris 

September 30, 2013, 9-12 am

 

Programme available online

 

 

Sebastien Goulard

Ph.D. in political science (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in social sciences (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in international relations (IRIS, Paris), B.A. (Hons) in international political studies (ESE - Nottingham Trent University)

More Posts

Smart cities: perspectives from Germany and China

ICT as an enabler for intelligent city development: perspectives from Germany and China

The development of Intelligent Cities is a topic of interest to public policy makers,
researchers, and businesses in both the developed and fast developing worlds.
China has made Intelligent City development a national priority and has already
developed a number of initiatives, not only in major cities such as Beijing and
Shanghai, but in newly developing centers such as Wuxi and Ningbo. Information
and Communications Technology are playing an essential role in these
developments.
The Chinese Academy of Engineering, acatech – the German National Academy of
Science and Engineering, and the Münchner Kreis have all been active in research
and discussions concerning Intelligent City development. In this conference, these
three organizations will bring together academic and business experts to present and
compare research, examples, and future visions both in China and Germany for the
development of Intelligent Cities using information and communication technology as
an enabler. This conference should be of interest to researchers, business
practitioners, but also local, state, and national government policy makers.

Date

September 11 and 12, 2013

Location

Haus der Bayerischen Wirtschaft, Munich, Germany

Registration

Not later than 4 September 2013

Participation fee

€ 420,- per person.

More details on the conference webpage

Monique Abud

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

More Posts

The international symposium on land economy and urbanisation

由北京大学与剑桥大学联合主办,中国区域经济与成长型企业论坛组委会承办的“土地经济与城镇化研讨会”将于2013年9月13日在北京大学经济学院召开。 该研讨会旨在围绕房地产金融、土地经济与政策、城乡二元结构等前沿话题展开交流探讨,并针对中国快速演进的城镇化进程提出国际视角的解读,以期中西合璧的 阐释问题并提出既有理论高度又切实可行的解决方案。

更多相关消息,请参阅 http://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/20130814/103316443760.shtml

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.

More Posts

The symposium on the path and orientation of urbanization in China – call for paper

城镇化作为未来20年中国经济升级转型的动力和未来居民扩大内需的增长点,无论是在十八大报告中还是今年“两会”政府工作报告中都有详细阐述。对于城镇化建设,李克强总理的表述是最为简单明确的:中国城镇化的核心就是农民市民化,实质就是缩小城乡之间的差距,推动中国社会走向共同经济繁荣与共同富裕之路,现在最为关键的是,该通过什么方式来实现这个目标?

为此上海管理科学研究院学术委员会、《解放日报》理论评论部、《文汇报》理论部再次合作主办第十三届学术论文征集活动,主题为:“中国城镇化的路径和方向”。

委员会将邀请专家组成优秀论文评审小组,评选出一等奖一名(奖金人民币贰万元),二等奖二名(奖金各人民币壹万元),三等奖五名(奖金各人民币肆仟元)及若干优秀论文奖。主办单位今年第四季度将在上海举办“中国城镇化的路径和方向”学术研讨会暨优秀论文颁奖仪式,优秀论文将在两报发表并结集出版。

  • 论文征集时间:从即日起至2013年10月31日,命题论文,篇幅不限,电脑打印,来稿必须附上300字左右的内容提要。
  • 来稿地址:上海市中山西路1610号725室,上海管理科学研究院学术委员会,邮编:200235。
  • 联系人:张先生、金小姐
  • 电话:021-64862266-27251
  • 电子邮箱:glxy1610@sina.cn

 

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.

More Posts

New university cities

Yunnan University New Campus, Elosua Miguel

Chenggong University City is situated in Chenggong district, Luoyang town (chenggong qu luoyang zhen – 呈贡区洛羊镇), 24 kilometres from the city proper. It covers an area of 43 square kilometres, almost half the size of Kunming in 2007, which gives an idea of the significance of the project. The plan was approved in 2003 as part of the development of the new East of Kunming city. Ideally, it will attract not only students from Yunnan province, as well as other provinces in China, but also students from abroad, notably from South Asia. Once the project is finished, the new University City will have the capacity to host more than 150 thousand students. The total investment for the project is estimated at 10 billion RMB (1.6 billion USD). Construction work lasted six years, from 2004 to 2010. Seven universities have already moved to the new campus town.

University towns have been proliferating all over the country since the turn of the new century. They are part of a central government plan, launched in 2000, which calls for 50 new university towns to be built in city suburbs. The reasons for this initiative may seem obvious: along with the dramatic increase in the number of students pursuing higher studies, land prices within city centres have soared. This makes it difficult for universities to expand their facilities and capacities. At the same time, selling off old campuses brings sizable capital gains that allow for the acquisition of large terrains in the outskirts of urbanizing cities. (Sometimes it is the government who expropriates the old campus, and the academic institution gets land in the new campus town as a part of the compensation). There is intense competition between universities to attract students, and the curricula have expanded dramatically. Almost every university now offers a degree in business management (including the lucrative MBA). Consequently, capacity has become paramount.

Some of the universities that have moved into new campus cities, such as Yunnan University, are included in Project 211 (the name stands for 21st century, top 100 universities). The aim of the project is to promote the development and reputation of the Chinese higher education system. Both national and local governments are involved, allocating large amounts of funding to different purposes, such as updating installations. There is also the more selective Project 985, which originally included only nine universities (the so-called C9 League), but was enlarged later to thirty-nine, none of them in Yunnan province.

In order to finance its ambitious new campus, Yunnan University has also sold most of the old campuses that were located in downtown Kunming. The only campus that remains is protected as a heritage site. The university was founded in 1923, and was the oldest in West China. It sits in an unmatched location facing Green Lake Park (cuihu gongyuan – 翠湖公园), and is surrounded by venerable ginkgo trees and teeming flora.

Yunnan University

The new University City has been built on arable land, something that some locals frown upon since, allegedly, the project was to include the use of a large area of wasteland.1 Considering the size of the area that is now occupied by the new campuses, it is easy to imagine the enormous expropriation procedures that have been carried out. (Before the University City was built, the area was occupied by five villages). The central government enhanced the plan to build university towns with a number of favourable policies that would help to overcome hurdles such as expropriation procedures or financing. Expropriated farmers remain the biggest issue to be dealt with. Once farmers are dispossessed of their land, they lose their livelihood. The compensation may allow them to buy a new house, but it won’t provide them with a new job. The lack of higher education is a major impediment. A number of training programs are usually implemented to facilitate job reinsertion for farmers (as guardians or gardeners in many cases). According to a survey carried out in 2011, 2) young farmers were optimistic about the construction of the campus city and were willing to join training programs. However, the older ones found it difficult to join these programs and expressed concern about their future. The provision of old age protection schemes would solve this problem, but only partly. When farmers no longer have their land, the dignity of having an occupation is difficult to make up for.

The local government has financed the new University City’s urbanisation work. A number of buses and a new subway line connect the new university town with Kunming.   A large area of the expropriated land will eventually be used to build commercial and residential spaces.  Currently, a number of local vendors, perhaps former farmers, have set up informal stalls to cater to the University City’s new residents.  This is a significant niche market, as the area still lacks many services to satisfy the needs of its new inhabitants.  (The above-mentioned study proposes the implementation of soft financing policies for former farmers willing to become entrepreneurs.)  The name of the new town very precisely describes who these new residents are, at least for the moment: university students.  Streets are almost empty, which is a common feature in many new cities that are urbanised before the need arises. As one Chinese scholar pointed out, “there is more urbanised land than people in China.”  In the case of the new university towns, students seem to have been sent out like advanced parties to settle new territory, even before a number of basic services have been provided for.  Perhaps this is the best way: after all, with classes to attend and individual studying to do, students hardly have time to venture outside the campus in any case.

 

  1. chenggong daxue cheng – 呈贡大学城 http://baike.baidu.com/view/1365972.htm Last retrieved on April 18, 2013. []
  2. miao mingming, zhouyunlong, “daxue cheng” jianshe dui zhoubian nongmin yingxiang diaocha——yi kunming chenggong “daxue cheng” weili – 缪明明, 周云龙, “大学城”建设对周边农民影响调查——以昆明呈贡”大学城”为例. Industrial & Science Tribune, 2011, 10 (1 []

Miguel Elosua

Spanish qualified lawyer; PhD in Chinese Law. UrbaChina Research Officer. Has lived in China since 2006.

More Posts

Urban Environmental Pollution 2013 – Asian Edition

Urban Environmental Pollution 2013 Asian Edition : Creating Healthy, Liveable Cities

 People all over the world are migrating to cities in search of jobs and cultural advantages, especially in Asia. This has resulted in the formation of huge megapolitan areas and surrounding peri-urban environs. In China, a 40 million urban area is planned.

The effects of cities on people are not well-understood. Cities require huge amounts of energy, resulting in large quantities of waste products, causing unsustainable environments. Cities are sources of air, water and soil pollution. Light and noise pollution are now known to adversely affect urban people. The role of urban heat islands and air pollution, PM2.5 and ozone, on human health is beginning to emerge. Lack of green space may have psychological effects for urban dwellers.

We began to explore the nature of the urban environment and pollution on human health and well-being at UEP2010 in Boston in June of 2010. This very successful conference identified many areas of urban life that warranted further investigation. UEP2013 aims to continue the exploration of the urban environment and how we can begin to create a healthy and liveable environment in cities.

 Topics list

  • New information about urban environments and how they function
  • Pollution problems and possible solutions
  • Role of the built environment in alleviating heat islands
  • Human health problems and solutions
  • Role of vegetation in mitigating urban pollution and human health problems
  • Innovative methods for alleviation of urban stress problems

Location

  • Beijing, China

Date

  • 17-20 November 2013

Deadline for abstracts

  • 31 July 2013

Programme Committee

  • William Manning, University of Massachusetts, USA (Chair)
  • Elena Paoletti, National Research Council (IPP-CNR), Italy
  • Claudia Wiegand, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

Local Organising Committee

  • Yong-Guan Zhu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
  • Tong Zhu, Peking University, Beijing, China (Local Chair)
  • Yonglong Lu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
  • Yong-Guan Zhu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Website

Monique Abud

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

More Posts

China – South Asia Expo

China South Asia Expo

The first China – South Asia Expo (an upgrade of the previous South Asian Countries Trade Fair, which was held each year during the past five years) has just taken place in Kunming. The objective of the expo is to promote cooperation and development between China and South Asian countries. The election of Kunming as the venue for the event reinforces its strategic role as the gateway not only to Southeast Asia but also to South Asia as a whole, including India.

It was not by coincidence that the focus of the expo was on India, after Premier Li Keqiang’s recent visit to the country in May, his first overseas visit since taking office in March. In his meeting with India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, both leaders discussed the “Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation” also known as the BCIM trade corridor. Kunming had already been the venue of the Forum for its first meeting in 1999.

The BCIM economic corridor includes Yunnan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and states in Northeastern India, covering 1.65 million square kilometres, with a population of nearly 440 million people. Nevertheless, progress has been lacklustre since the inception of the corridor. Myanmar’s political situation, as well as the border dispute between India and China (the last standoff happened just a few days before the official visit), have hindered its development. As professor Bi Shihong from Yunnan University pointed out in a recent editorial,1 “it’s inevitable for India to open its northeast part, the border region that is politically sensitive. Cross-border trade could not only improve people’s standards of living, but also promote the construction of transportation infrastructure.”

The new China – South Asia expo could be a turning point in the implementation of the trade corridor, once political progress has taken place in Myanmar, and Sino-Indo relations enter into a new phase.

  1. Bi Shihong (2013), Trade corridor helps rejuvenate Asia. Global Times, 3 June []

Miguel Elosua

Spanish qualified lawyer; PhD in Chinese Law. UrbaChina Research Officer. Has lived in China since 2006.

More Posts