RSAI  NEWS

Sub-Forum: Urbanization － Sustainable Planning and Diversity

At the occasion of the Beijing Forum 2013, a sub-forum on Urbanization – Sustainable Planning and Diversity will be jointly organized by the Beijing Development Institute and the Center for Sociological Research and Development Studies of China, Peking University，and the Regional Science Association International (RSAI). The event will take place in Beijing, China from 1-3 November 2013.

Thematic Description

Cities provide habitats for more than half of the world’s population, and the world’s urbanization process has kept an even faster pace with the emergence of the new economy of the 21st century.  Cities, as a new social structure, are not only the driving force of the regional economy, but also the decision-making cores for socioeconomic development, with intense concentration of political resources. China is among the countries taking urbanization as one of the development priorities, and it is particularly the case after the 18^th National Congress of CPC that set up urbanization as one of the most important areas of governance in the new era. In addition to the industrialization and informatization, urbanization has emerged as another key carrier for building a better welfare of the nation.  As the point of departure for economic restructuring and development transformation, urbanization triggered the first wave for major social changes after the economic reform. Through this process, a shift occurred from small-scale urbanization supported by township industry and commerce, to a large-scale urbanization process characterized by the integrated development of clusters of cities as in  Changjiang Delta, Zhujiang Delta and Bohai Ring regions. This urbanization trajectory illustrates the diverse development paths of China’s urbanization.  For the long run, urbanization will remain a key element in China’s development.

The urbanization-driven development path has changed the way we live.  More and more people enjoy modern amenities of urban civilization, but we are suffering the negative impacts from the degraded ecological environments in cities. As we accumulate increasing economic wealth in cities, we have lost the foundation of the economic development –i.e., the ecological wealth, which has become a key factor constraint on sustainable development and resilient societies.  Therefore, rebuilding a rational ecological culture to restore our ecological wealth is now the most important measure toward a sustainable development of cities.  Successful actions in restoring the ecological wealth will need support from well-designed public policies and urban design principles to reshape participatory and multiple dimensional urbanization modes. This will also need a better integration of urban development elements to shape a new order of the urbanization process.  At the same time, the whole urbanization process is also heavily influenced by the accompanying globalization trends, and brings in new dimensions of the complexity of any urbanization process. This raises the importance of expended international communications for better cultural interactions, scientific and technological exchange, and sharing of lessons learnt.

Under the broad context of urbanization in China and the world, the sub-forum will review the best practices and lessons learnt, and look for possible pathways ahead for urbanization. The dialogue will be organized around the core issues of effectiveness of policy instruments and urban planning measures for sustainable city development, and social organization and governance strategies over a long term vision of urbanization.  In addition, the discussions will also be extended to concerns for diverse paths for urbanization development in terms of the socio-eoconomic and political processes of urbanization, spatial structure, demographic distribution and the coordination among human activities in cities.  The ultimate purpose of such extended discussion will contribute to the rational selection of development paths best suited for individual regions with their own characteristics of economic structure, wealth distribution, human resources and livelihoods.  Furthermore, urbanization will not only be depicted through the physical density metrics of social organizational factors, but also in alternative ways that play an important role in redefining the urbanization concept as a socio-economic construct.  These are all fields of interests to all stakeholders in urban development.

The dialogue will be open to decision-makers, urban planners and managers, as well as to experts and scholars interested in the subject.  Through the policy-science dialogue and scientific and technical presentations and discussions, the sub-forum aims to strengthen the global dialogue and communication to explore healthy urbanization modes, and ultimately build effective, beautiful, and livable cities for all.

The Sub-Forum will have the following tentative topics of discussions:

1. Urbanization and Ecological Culture: Policy-Science Dialogue;
2. The Urbanization Paths: Retrospect and Prospect;
3. Green Urban Planning: Theory and Methods;
4. Diversity of Urbanization I: Rational Choice of Development Roads; and
5. Diversity of Urbanization II: Space, Population and Human Activities.

Application Process

The forum welcomes interested scholars, politicians and city managers to join our debate. You are required to submit your application form with the abstract of your presentation by the end of July 2013. The selection results will be announced in early August 2013, followed by an official invitation from the Secretariat of the Beijing Forum. In order to simplify the application process, please send your application and abstract directly to us by email (the Organizing Group for the City Sub-Forum, Beijing Forum). Official invitation and logistical arrangements will be taken over by the Secretariat of Beijing Forum following the selection process for this sub-forum. However, we will continue to work closely with all the selected participants on academic matters. We will also send you further instructions on online submission of full papers, official registration, etc., and provide any further assistance to accommodate your participation in this event.

Financial Assistance

All selected participants will receive full financial assistance covering their travel and accommodation costs.

Contact Information

CAI Mantang, Ph.D.

Coordinator

City Sub-Forum/Beijing Forum 2013

Email: mtcai@pku.edu.cn

Tel.:  +86-139 1110 3260

More News in www.regionalscience.org