Call for Papers
Conference on Urban Development in China
25-26th June, 2015
Suzhou, Jiangsu, P. R. China
Along its fast paced economic growth in the last decades, China went through a fast urbanization process since 1977, going from a mostly rural country to an urban society. While China is not the only emerging economy that went through a fast paced urbanization process, some specificities of the Chinese context lead to unique features and challenges. Perhaps one of the best well known feature of the Chinese economy is the household registration system, hukou, which, by limiting mobility of migrants (both rural-urban and urban-urban), affects agglomeration economies and urban growth. Furthermore, the hukou system, by limiting access to public services for migrants, resulted in a segmented urban labour market, where migrants are at a disadvantage relative to local resident, leading to increased income inequality within cities. Another feature of the Chinese economy that has affected urbanization is the reliance on public investment by both public companies and local governments. This has lead to excess public investment in some cities, leading to appearance of "ghost towns", and well as a housing bubble in other places. The current investment policy has also affected the urban structure, with some excessively large cities, particularly when compared with the next level cities, leading to increasing income inequality across cities and provinces. Demographic changes, driven by the one child policy, will be one of the major challenges that China will face in sustaining economic growth and urbanization. To address these issues, the Chines Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction have launched projects under several smart cities projects, to make cities more efficient and competitive through the use of technology.
We would like to invite the submission of papers for the 2 day conference, to bring together Western and Chinese researchers to discuss the past of future of urban development in China. Contributions in the following areas are especially welcomed:
- Regional and Urban Growth
- Demography, Internal Migration and Urban Labour Markets
- Inter and Intra Regional Income Inequality
- Smart Cities, Innovation and Competitiveness
- Urban Housing Markets
- Transport and Infrastructure
- Regional Policies in China
Keynote Speakers:
- André Rodriguez-Pose - Professor of Economic Geography at London School of Economics; President of the Regional Science Association International
- Kaizhong Yang – Professor of School of Government at Peking University; President of the Regional Science Association of China
- Mark Roberts – Senior Economist at the World Bank
A joint conference organized by:
- Regional Science Association International (RSAI)
- Regional Science Association of China (RSAC)
- Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy, and Society (CJRES)
Hosted by:
- International Business School Suzhou (IBSS)
- Xi'an Jiao tong – Liverpool University (XJTLU)
Organizers:
- Steven Brakman, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
- Tiago Freire, International Business School Suzhou, China
- Charles van Marrewijk, International Business School Suzhou, China
- Kaizhong Yang, School of Government, Peking University, President of Regional Science Association of China, China
- Jiuwen Sun, School of Economics, Renmin University of China, Excutive President of Regional Science Association of China, China.
- Yuyuan Wen, School of Economics, Renmin University, China
Dates:
- Thursday, 25th of June, 2015
- Friday 26th June, 2015
Submissions:
Researchers interested in participating should submit an abstract (up to 500 words) and full paper by the 15th of April through the following website - http://events.digitalpapers.org/udc. The working language of the seminar will be English. Only papers written in English will be considered. Presenters will be informed of the decision by the 1st of May.
Travellers to China are reminded that they must obtain a travel visa.
The PDF version of Call for Papers can be downloaded here
Transportation instruction can be downloaded here
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Should you have any questions, please contact Dr. Tiago Freire at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
See more at: http://academic.xjtlu.edu.cn/ibss/research/conference?menuCode=040.005#sthash.AIvRs3lS.Z0zzkNV6.dpuf