China has continued to urbanize in a rapid pace, and especially in the past years, the development has increased drastically. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development expects more than 300 million Chinese, who are now living in more rural areas to move towards or into cities within the next 10 years. Business opportunities and investment, the current job market, access to a broader education and more comfortable housing are only some of the reasons pushing forward urbanization.
 
How can we prepare for the future, if urbanization continues with such a fast pace? What do we need to change in our strategies for the next years? What can we expect and how does urbanization affect us within the decision making for our future strategies?

With this workshop we aim on bringing together the experts and researchers, who will actively exchange and share their expertise on a broad variety of issues regarding the future development of urbanization. 

Program

9.00am    arrival / registration

INTRODUCTORY SESSION

9.30am    Welcome and introduction
by Pascal Marmier, CEO swissnex China

9.45am     Intermediate Cities. An international perspective
by Jean-Claude BOLAY, EPFL – École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

10.00am    The challenge for the Governance of City-Regions in China
by Giulio VERDINI, XJTLU – Xi’an Jiaotong – Liverpool University

10.30am   coffee break

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

11.00am    Future directions of urbanization in the next 13th Five-Year Plan
by LI Shantong, DRC – Development Research Center of the State Council of China

11.15am    Recent Selected Projects – Low-Carbon Cities
by Philippe ZAHNER, SCD Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

11.30am    Reconceptualizing migration in second and third tier cities in China
by Prof. ZHANG Li, TONGJI University Shanghai

11.45am    Q&A Session

12.00am   Lunch

CASES

1.30pm    Dengfeng (Henan) and Dujiangyan (Sichuan): Archetypes of mid-sized Chinese cities
by Marlene LEROUX, EPFL – École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

1.45pm    Social mobility and the rising Chinese middle class in different cities
by Chen CHEN, Tongji University Shanghai

2.00pm    Bengbu (Anhui): Administrative readjustment and industrial upgrading
by Anna GUO, XJTLU – Xi’an Jiaotong – Liverpool University<

2.15pm    Q&A Session

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

2.30pm    Future Research Agenda
2.45pm    Potential Funding/Dissemination/Joint Activities
3.00pm    Conclusions & next Steps
3.30pm    End of the workshop