Call for Participants: China’s Global Urban Presence

Manchester Urban Institute

The University of Manchester

Manchester, UK

This workshop is being organised under the auspices of the AGORA project (‘The age of infrastructure: China as a global urban agent’, funded by the University of Manchester Research Institute), which seeks to explore how Sino-centric visions and activities around connectivity and infrastructural development reconfigure relations between cities, regions and nation states.

AGORA investigates initiatives that integrate frontiers of resource extraction with dedicated centres of production (such as special economic zones), linked to China via a growing global intermodal logistics network. It highlights the existence of a particularly urban form of transregional development, where growth is achieved through connectivities between economic hubs. Our starting point is that understanding China’s global infrastructural presence can reveal wider contradictions and contingencies in the changing planetary relationship between cities, states and market-led development. The project involves case study work and network building among relevant stakeholders in academia, government, business and the third sector.

The workshop will offer opportunities for discussing current intellectual challenges, creating a transnational network on the topic, as well as developing joint research funding proposals.

Speakers

Professor Susanne Brandtstädter, University of Cologne

Presentation Title: BRI and the ‘Chinese Dream’: Roads and Civilizational Projects in China

Dr Rocco L. Bubbico, European Investment Bank

Presentation Title: Infrastructure investment: the double challenges for Europe

Dr Ferenc Gyuris, Eötvös Loránd University

Presentation Title: East Central European perspectives on large-scale Chinese infrastructure projects

Professor Giles Mohan, The Open University

Presentation Title: Below the belt? Territory, infrastructure and development in China’s international rise

Professor Anupam Nanda, The University of Manchester

Presentation Title: Multi-dimensional Impact of Large-scale Infrastructure on Real Estate Market

Dr Ijlal Naqvi, Singapore Management University

Presentation Title: CPEC, Sahiwal Coal, and the Infrastructural State in Pakistan

Professor Marcus Power, Durham University

Presentation Title: China-Africa engagement and the emergent spatialities of post-development

Dr Alexander Roy, Manchester Airports Group

Presentation Title: Developing the Manchester–China relationship: a case study of Manchester Airport

Mr Sheng Ying, UN-Habitat China

Presentation Title: Smart infrastructure promotes urban sustainability

Call for participants

A limited number of places are still available, and we are able to provide bursaries for early career participants. To express your interest in attending please email Dr Helen Zheng at helen.zheng@manchester.ac.uk by the 25th October 2019, noting your name and affiliation and a short paragraph about why you would like to attend.