Speaker:  Isabella Jackson, Assistant Professor in Chinese History, Trinity College Dublin The Shanghai International Settlement was the site of key developments of the Republican period: economic growth, rising Chinese nationalism, and the Sino-Japanese conflict. Managed by the Shanghai Municipal Council (SMC, 1854–1943), it was beyond the control of both the Chinese and the foreign imperial […]

Speaker:  Zhang Guanchi, Vermont Law and Graduate School How has the rescaling of the city territories interacted with China’s political and economic transformation? During the country’s rapid industrialization and urbanization, Chinese cities have exhibited a relatively low degree of territorial fragmentation. This study examines the institutional experiments that have reclassified, redivided, and recombined local government territory in […]

Speakers: Huang Binling & Yuan Zhenyu, Shenzhen Sketch Landscape Design More information coming soon. This event series is sponsored by the MIT Sustainable Urbanization Lab, the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning, and the Harvard University Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Presented via Zoom Meeting.Meeting link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/93343229272 Venue

Speakers: Zhang Lei, Renmin UniversityProfessional planning in China has changed over the past four decades, shifting from a focus on market-oriented reforms to a focus on the environment and people-centered practice. This lecture will discuss these changes at three different scales. First, what has changed along with the transition in the urban planning system?  Second, I examine […]

Speakers: Liu Zheng, Associate Professor of Urban Planning, South China University of Technology Greenways are linear green corridors that are planned, designed, and managed for multi-use purposes. The introduction of the greenway concept to China, particularly from the American context, can be traced back to the 1990s. However, widespread development of greenways in China only began […]

Speakers: Sarah Chang, Assistant Professor of History, Miami UniversityThis presentation examines the relationship between urban renewal projects and SOE closures from the late 1990s to today. It uses published government and factory documents, oral history, and ethnography to explore how Chengdu’s urbanizing projects after the 2000s redefined the purpose of urban space, ejected industrial communities from […]

Speakers:  Liu Zhi, Peking University-Lincoln InstituteOver the last few years, the Chinese government has actively promoted urban regeneration action across the country. However, many projects are not justified by demand and struggle to attract investment. Others lack rigorous feasibility studies and economic assessments, posing significant risk of inefficient or wasteful investment. Behind this phenomenon is what […]

Speakers:   Philipp Demgenski, Institute of Anthropology, Department of Sociology, Zhejiang UniversityUnder current Chinese leadership, inner-city redevelopment has shifted from a “demolish and rebuild” (da chai da jian) model to prioritizing heritage preservation (baohu) and “subtle redevelopment” (wei gaizao), with policies prohibiting violent evictions, requiring public interest justification, and promoting transparency in housing expropriation. Drawing on […]

Speaker: Bruce Pang, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Greater China For the past three decades, the real estate sector has been a cornerstone of China’s economic growth, social development, and urbanization. Commercial real estate, in particular, has thrived due to vigorous domestic growth and seamless integration into the global marketplace, resulting in a mature, diverse, and thriving […]

Speaker:  Koji Hirata, Monash University This presentation examines the city of Anshan in Liaoning Province as a case study to explore the interactions between large state-owned enterprises and local governments in Mao-era China. Anshan was home to China's largest steel enterprise at the time, Anshan Iron and Steel Works (Angang). Although Angang was primarily controlled […]

Speaker:  Amy Zhang, New York University After four decades of reform and development, China is confronting a domestic waste crisis. Starting in the early 2000s, Chinese policymakers came to see waste management as an object of environmental governance central to the creation of “modern” cities. China’s cities started experiments with the circular economy, in which […]

Speaker:  Zhao Yawei, University of ManchesterThis presentation explores the intersection of migration studies and urban studies, focusing on the case of Dali, a small city that has experienced urban transformations due to lifestyle migration. During the past decade, newcomers have flocked to this city, some of whom called it Dalifornia as its atmosphere reminds them […]