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