11.S945 Urbanizing China: A Reflective Dialogue
Department
of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT, Fall 2013
W9/4
Multiple Interpretations: Urbanization
out of Sync (Jinhua Zhao)
M9/9
Is China an Outlier? ChinaÕs
Urbanization in the Historical and International Contexts (Liyan
Xu)
W9/11
Fundamentals: Hukou
and Migration (Jinhua Zhao)
M9/16
ChinaÕs Land use and Public Finance
Institutions (Liyan Xu)
W9/18
Land Quota Market in Chongqing
and Chengdu: De-spatialize Land Transfer (Yuan Xiao)
M9/23
Brownfields in Beijing Chemical Plant: How Cities Recycle Industrial Land (Xin Li)
W9/25
Integrating the Proposed Property
Tax
with the Public Leasehold System (Yu-Hung Hong)
M9/30
and W10/02 Module Summary and Student Presentations Phase 1: Ideas
M10/07
Dispersion of Urban Agglomeration through High
Speed Rail (Wanli Fang)
W10/09
Managing Car Ownership in
Mega Cities (Jinhua Zhao)
W10/16
Costs of Air Pollution: Focusing on
its Human Health Damage (Kyung-Min)
M10/21
Advancing Low-Carbon
Cities: Pathways through CERC (Shin-Pei Tsay)
W10/23
Module Summary and Student Presentations Phase 2: Proposals
M10/28
Progress in Energy
Efficiency: Technology, Policy and Market (Yang Yu)
W10/30
Financing Urban Access:
Transportation, Form and Land Grabbing (David Block-Schatcher)
M11/04
Untangling Complex Urban Issues through Emerging
Big Data (Shan Jiang and Yi Zhu)
W11/06
and W11/13 Module Summary and Student Presentations Phase 3: Literature
M11/18
Drifting and getting stuck: Migrants in Chinese
cities (Weiping Wu)
W11/20
Urbanization vs. Citizenization: Self-employed
Migrants in Wangjingxi Market (Yulin Chen)
M11/25
Spatial Justice in Affordable
Housing Design in Ningbo (Yi Dong)
W11/27
Preserving BeijingÕs
Spatial Tradition in Rapid Urban Development (Hui
Wang)
M12/02
Aging Society: Offering
Care to the Elderly in the Confucius Society (Joan Retsinas)
W12/04
Forging Greater XiÕan: New Regional
Strategies and their Urban Outcomes (Kyle Jaros)
M12/09
Social Housing in China--
Explorations, Practices, and Dilemmas (Yifan Yu)
W12/11
Alternative Narratives of ChinaÕs Urbanzation
Jinhua
Zhao, MIT
Abstract: China urbanized 350 million people in the
past 30 years and is poised to do it again in the next three decades. ChinaÕs
urbanization is immense and rapid but largely Òout of syncÓ. This talk will
present seven different interpretations of China's urbanization, and reckon
that China is progressing at significantly different paces along these
dimensions. It is the dis-synchronization that results tensions and
discontinuities between people and land, between economy and environment,
between urban financing and urban form, and between locals and migrants.
Readings:
l
ChinaÕs Great Uprooting: Moving
250 Million Into Cities and Pitfalls Abound in ChinaÕs Push
From Farm to City New York Times 06/2013, 07/2013
l
Introduction: Becoming Urban in China, John Friedmann (2006) China's Urban Transition
l
Introduction, Weiping Wu and Piper Gaubatz
(2013) The Chinese Cities
Liyan Xu, MIT
Abstract:
China has been experiencing an urbanization process that is unprecedented in
terms of speed, scale, and scope. This session begins with a review of fundamental
urbanization theories, followed by a presentation showing the basic facts of
ChinaÕs urbanization in the past sixty years, especially in the recent three
decades. Putting China in the historical and international contexts, the
analysis will go on to evaluate ChinaÕs urban transition from the perspectives
of population, land use, and economic performance. The session concludes with a
remark of the uniqueness of ChinaÕs urbanization, and asks questions on the future
of urbanization that serve as food for thoughts for the remaining sessions.
Bio: Liyan Xu is a third-year doctoral student at the Department of
Urban Studies and Planning of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His
research interests include urbanization and regional development in China, and
the related land use and public finance issues. Before coming to MIT, Liyan had worked as a planner and project manager in
Beijing, with experiences of 20+ projects on regional, urban, and land use planning.
Liyan graduated from the Yuanpei
Pilot Program in Science in Peking University and was awarded a BachelorÕs
Degree in Engineering, and then obtained his Master Degree in Economic
Geography from the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences in Peking
University.
Readings:
l
Required: Chen, M., Liu, W., & Tao, X. (2013). Evolution
and assessment on ChinaÕs urbanization 1960–2010: Under-urbanization or
over-urbanization? Habitat International, 38(0)
l
Suggested: Trends in Urbanization and Urban Policies in OECD
Countries: What Lessons for China? OECE and China Development Research
Foundation (2010)
Jinhua
Zhao, MIT
Abstract: Notwithstanding China's long urban history,
the country remained largely an agrarian society until very recently. But urban
superiority has taken hold since the turn of the twentieth century. Despite
efforts to reduce the distinction between city and countryside after the
Communist Party took power in 1949, an urban– rural divide forms the
basis of the broadest kind of social inequality. Rural areas continue to have
the poorest of the poor and lag behind in health status, nutrition, education,
life expectancy, and overall living standards. Under market transition and
globalizing forces, however, population mobility has grown drastically. Close
to 200 million migrants have left the Chinese countryside for cities since
1983. This recent migratory flow is perhaps the largest tide of migration in
human history. It has become a prominent feature of China's economic transition
and is changing the face of the country (Fan 2008). This chapter outlines how
the persistent urban– rural divide has formed historically and then has
been reinforced by a set of socialist institutions. Particularly critical is
the household registration system (hukou). The
chapter also shows how a confluence of rising agricultural productivity and
globalizing forces in urban manufactures opened the flood
gate of migration in the early 1980s. Since then, migrant workers and
entrepreneurs have provided substantial human impetus for the rapid
modernization of cities. But most of them continue to face barriers to settle
there permanently and exhibit a temporary or circular pattern of mobility.
Readings:
á
Chapter 5,
Urban-rural divide, socialist institutions, and migration, Wu and Gaubatz
(2013) The Chinese City
á Kam Wing Chan (2013) Urbanization and the Chinese Dream Caixin Online
Liyan Xu, MIT
Abstract: This session
introduces ChinaÕs basic land use and public finance institutions, which serves
as basic knowledge background for the remaining sessions. Details include: the
Constitutional and other legal basis of ChinaÕs land use system; the
urban/rural dichotomy of land property rights; the current bid invitation, auction
and listing system in urban land transfer; ChinaÕs public finance framework
after the 1994 financial reform; the Òland finance systemÓ and its variations;
and the Shenzhen and Chongqing cases of local land use and public finance
reform.
Readings:
á
Introduction of ChinaÕs Local Public Finance in Transition,
Man and Hong ed., (2011) The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
á
On the optimal
city size. K.J. Button. The Theory of City Size and Spacing. Urban Economics.
1976. MacMillan. Bristol. Ch6
á
John R. Harris
and Michael P. Todaro. 1970. "Migration,
Unemployment, and Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic
Review, 60 (1) (March): 126 142
Yuan Xiao,
MIT
Abstract:
China's meteoric economic growth has been taking place with a set of property
rights institutions that distinguish and disconnect urban and rural worlds.
Local governments acquire land cheaply from peasants and leverage it to attract
businesses and investment. This
Òland grabÓ has been an important source of revenues for local governments
since the late 1990s.
However, it has become increasingly unsustainable because of the huge
inequality, intense social conflicts, and economic inefficiency it has created.
The central government of China has issued strict policy measures to curb land
conversion by local governments. In response, a new institution has
emerged—the land quota market. These markets are developed by local
governments to trade "land development quotas," in contrast to
markets that trade actual land parcels. Quotas are created by
tearing down low-density farmhouses, and packing peasants into high-rise
apartments. The development rights of the old parcels are then sold in a
market. This new quota market has changed the calculus of land values: instead
of location advantage, land value is now more dependent on the spatial density
of existing farmhouses so that even land in the hinterlands is affected by
urbanization. My dissertation asks how this mode of land commodification is
different from the previous mode from spatial and political economy
perspectives, and why it works to solve the dilemma of development versus
social equality faced by local governments. This research takes the approach of comparative
case studies, backed by qualitative and quantitative data collected from 6
Chinese cites.
Bio: Yuan Xiao is a doctoral candidate at the
Department of Urban Studies and Planning of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT). Her research interests include property rights theories and
practices, urbanization, land markets as well as urban and regional economics.
Yuan Xiao's dissertation studies the latest land policy innovation in China, the land quota markets which have de-spatialized land transfers and have important social and
economic implications for Chinese urbanization. Prior to coming to MIT, she
worked for three years with the World Bank Institute in Washington D.C.,
focusing on capacity building and training programs in the field of urban
management and planning for developing countries. Yuan obtained her master's
degree in Political Science from University of Toronto, Canada. She was awarded
a BachelorÕs Degree in International Politics and a concurrent BachelorÕs
Degree in Economics from Peking (Beijing) University, China.
Reading:
á
Hsing, You-tien. 2010. The Great Urban Transformation: Politics
of Land and Property in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Chapters 4 and
7)
Xin Li, Columbia University
Abstract: Following
stories of a land redevelopment project over an eight-year period, I
demonstrate a shift in China's environmental governance from a top-down
command-and-control regulatory regime to a multilevel system
that facilitates consensus building and public participation in
environmental policymaking. In addition, I argue that the shift with respect to
brownfields occurred not simply because of improvements within the
environmental apparatus, but because of recent land market reforms.
Bio: Xin Li is a visiting assistant professor in the Graduate
School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University.
Her research explores crucial issues linking economic development,
environmental protection, and technological innovation in different
institutional settings. Through comparative approach, Li is particularly
interested in economic restructuring in rapidly deindustrializing regions,
environmental and social problems accompanying fast urbanization, and land
conflicts arising from rampant urban expansion. Her current work primarily
focuses on China, where she examines how brownfield issues in Chinese cities
were and currently are managed during industrial sitesÕ redevelopment
process. She investigates these issues by analyzing the progress of
brownfield legislation, property rights of former industrial land,
environmental governance related to land contamination, brownfield
financing mechanisms, and power balances among stakeholders. Dr. Li has a
PhD degree in Urban and Regional Studies from Massachusetts Institute of
Technology; a MasterÕs degree in Urban Planning from the University of
Michigan at Ann Arbor; and a B.A. in Economics from Renmin
University of China.
Readings:
á Li 2013,
Environmental Governance of Brownfields in Deindustrializing Regions:
Implications of a Land-Redevelopment Case in China, Working paper
á Jenkin et al 2009 Policy
Monitor—The Evolution of Solid and Hazardous Waste Regulation in the United
States, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, volume 3, issue 1, pp.
104–120
Yu-Hung
Hong, Land Governance Laboratory
Abstract:
The Chinese government has been experimenting with the idea of taxing both land
and buildings to raise public funds for financing local expenditures. The primary goal is to lower the heavy
reliance of municipalities on land leasing revenues that has created both
fiscal and spatial concerns in China.
The talk will explore why the proposed property tax reform may be able
to alleviate these concerns and how political and institutional constraints
such as property relations and government transparency might have blocked the
reform. The presenter will also
propose some conceptual ideas to soften these institutional constraints.
Bio: Yu-Hung Hong is the founder and
Executive Director of Land Governance Laboratory where he studies the use of
land tools to facilitate open and inclusive decision making processes for land
resource allocation in developing countries. He is also a Lecturer of Urban
Planning and Finance at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and
Visiting Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. He earned his Ph.D. in
Urban Development and Masters in City Planning from the Department of Urban
Studies and Planning at MIT. His research focuses on property rights and
obligations, land readjustment/sharing, and local public finance. Specifically,
he is interested in investigating how governments can capture land value
increments created by public investment and community collaboration for
financing local infrastructure and durable shelters for the poor.
Reading:
Hong
and Brubaker (2010) Integrating the Proposed Property Tax with the Public
Leasehold System, Chapter 9, ChinaÕs Local Public Finance in Transition, Edited
by Man and Hong.
Wanli Fang, MIT
Abstract: This research estimates transport infrastructureÕs
influence on the productivity, scale and distribution of urban economic
activities through changing intercity accessibility, using ChinaÕs high-speed
rail (HSR) as a specific case. The GIS-based spatial analyses of the network
accessibility measured by three alternative indicators consistently illustrate
that, the extensive transport investments during 2001-2010 have reduced the
disparities in accessibility among cities in China, with the coefficient of
variation dropping by nearly 50%. Differently, estimations from the panel data
models shed light on the complexity in the relationship between accessibility
and economic activities, which consists of both generative and redistributive
components and simultaneously leads to convergent and divergent economic
outcomes among regions and across cities of different sizes. Yet, empirical
evidence denies the saturation effects of accessibility. Extended estimations
using different instrument variables (IV) partially relieve the concerns on endogeneity issues. The findings lead to important policy
implications for decision-makers. First, China has not exhausted the
agglomeration benefits dispersing through transport infrastructure given the
remarkable regional disparities. Second, for the appraisal of major transport
projects including HSR, it is reasonable to extend the standard cost-benefit
analysis to include the generative benefits; to evaluate the impacts on
regional disparities based on redistributive effects; and to avoid overbuilding
through identification of saturation effects.
Bio: Wanli Fang
holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from MIT. She studies international
development issues from the perspectives of urban and regional economics and
public finance. Her dissertation systematically assessed the impacts of
transport infrastructure investments on the efficiency, scale and distribution
of urban economic activities, using ChinaÕs high-speed rail as a specific case.
Since 2010, she has served as a consultant for the World Bank on a variety of
financial aid and technical assistance projects on urbanization, transport
investments, economic development and municipal finance. She will be a
co-instructor of introductory economics and regional economic modeling classes
at DUSP, MIT starting September 2013.
Required reading:
á
Banister,
D. (2007). Quantification of the Non-Transport Benefits Resulting from Rail
Investment. TSU Working Paper Series. Oxford
Further readings:
á
Evers,
G. H. M., P. H. Meer, et al. (1987). "Regional impacts of new transport
infrastructure: a multisectoral potentials
approach." Transportation 14(2)
á
Givoni, M.
(2006). "Development and Impact of the Modern High-speed Train: A
Review." Transport Reviews: A Transnational Transdisciplinary
Journal 26(5)
á
Lakshmanan, T.R.(2011). ÒThe broader economic consequences
of transport infrastructure investmentsÓ, Journal of Transport Geography 19(1)
Jinhua
Zhao, MIT
Abstract:
The astronomical growth in private cars in China, which surpassed the US to
become the largest automobile market in 2009, has led to very visible
environmental crises and congestion. But the nationwide increase conceals
crucial policy differences between cities that influence effectiveness,
revenue, efficiency, equity and public
acceptance. While Shanghai and
Beijing each had about 2 million motor vehicles in 2004, by 2010 Beijing has
4.8 million whereas Shanghai has only 3.1 million. BeijingÕs growth rate was
15% annually, twice that of Shanghai. Extraordinary growth calls for
extraordinary measures. Chinese cities offer many such examples in managing
their automobiles: from restricting half of BeijingÕs vehicles from being used
during the Olympics to charging over USD10,000 to
register a Shanghai car license through bidding. Boldness in both infrastructure
development and policy design seems commonplace in ChinaÕs urban transportation
arena. This talk, however, will present some of the subtleties in these bold
designs using Shanghai license auction policy and BeijingÕs license lottery
policy as a case. Subtleties exist in public attitude towards government
policies, in policy details including pricing mechanism and purposeful policy
leakage, and in the contrasting equity and efficiency orientations (superficial
fairness in BeijingÕ lottery vs. efficiency-orientation of ShanghaiÕs auction).
Governments, at least in some cities, are more skillful in synergizing planning
and market mechanisms and they do gauge the public and become more amenable
though still sensitive. Policymaking and public response are increasingly
two-way interactive.
Reading:
Zhao,
J., T. Chen and D. Block-Schachter (2013) Superficial
Fairness of Beijing's Vehicle License Lottery Policy
Kyung-Min
Nam, MIT
Abstract: One of the consequences of ChinaÕs rapid
economic growth is increased urban air pollution, which is strongly associated
with rising fossil energy use. Costs of air pollution in China are estimated to
be substantial. For example, the World Bank estimated that in 2003 excess
particulate matter concentrations alone caused an economic cost of US$55
billion (or around 4% of ChinaÕs gross domestic product) to ChinaÕs economy.
Accordingly, China's government has recognized urban air pollution as a serious
constraint in its pursuit of sustainable development, gradually strengthening
air quality regulations. In light of increasing attention to the topic, my
presentation aims to provide a review of urban air pollution issues in China,
together with a brief introduction to methodological progress in the
field.
Bio: Kyung-Min Nam holds a Ph.D. in
international development and regional planning from MIT, and is currently a
postdoctoral associate in the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of
Global Change. Dr. NamÕs interests
are in the institutional and policy dimensions of economic and environmental
sustainability, and his current research focuses on the analysis of synergistic
effects of air pollution control and climate policy and the development of an
urban growth model based on new economic geography theories. His recent
publications include ÒOut of Passivity: Potential Role of OFDI in IFDI-based
Learning Trajectory (2013, Industrial and Corporate Change),Ó ÒCity-Size
Distribution as a Function of Socioeconomic Conditions: An Eclectic Approach to
Downscaling Global Population (2013, Urban Studies)Ó, and ÒHealth Damage from
Air Pollution in China (2012, Global Environmental Change).Ó
Readings:
á
Required: Matus, K., Nam, K.-M., Selin, N.E., Lamsal, L.N.,
Reilly, J.M., Paltsev, S. (2012) Health
Damages from Air Pollution in China. Global Environmental Change 22(1)
á
Suggested: Silver
Lining in ChinaÕs Smog as It Puts Focus on Emissions, New York Times, 2013
Shin-pei Tsay, TransitCenter
and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace;
Bio: Shin-peiÕs experience
in policy and practice converges on transforming the built environment so that
it is more accessible, equitable, and sustainable. She has held leadership
positions in private and non-profit research, advocacy, urban design, community
development, and technology organizations, including Project for Public Spaces,
ZGF Architects, and Transportation Alternatives, and was most recently the
director of cities and transportation in the energy and climate program for the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She is also a co-founder and
director of Planning Corps, an organization that matches urban planners with
community-based projects. Shin-pei serves on the
boards of Transportation Alternatives and of the Brooklyn Public Library, is
published extensively, and frequently collaborates on creative projects for the
public good. Shin-pei holds a bachelor of arts in
government with distinction from the College of Arts and Science at Cornell
University and a master of science in cities, space, and society from the
London School of Economics and Political Science.
Reading: A New Focus for U.S.-China Cooperation: Low-Carbon Cities
Yang Yu,
Stanford University
Abstract:
The recent growth of China's automobile industry has been tremendous. From 2005
to 2011, the sales number of passenger vehicle increased over 300%. However, in
the same period, the motor gasoline consumption only increased about 55%.
Possible explanations for the differences between these two numbers include the
car models in ChinaÕs market become more energy efficiency and consumersÕ
preference switch towards more energy efficiency cars. In this presentation, I
will introduce our work about teasing out the technological progress of energy
efficiency in the ChinaÕs automobile sector and the innovation of Chinese
consumersÕ preference about cars. Also, I will summarize the policies related
with fuel efficiency in China during last decades and discuss the relation
between policymaking and the development of the market. Our main conclusion includes:
á
Before 2007, average
fuel efficiency in China was degrading; after 2007, we see improvement in fuel
efficiency.
á
Until 2007,
technological change pattern varied across different sources; From 2008, technologies from all sources have similar trend.
á
Chinese domestic
technologies and foreign technologies differed in their fuel efficiency trends.
Aggregately, nearly all foreign technologies were a slight but statistically
significant better than Chinese domestic technology. However no foreign
technologies improved faster than domestic technology.
Bio: Yang Yu is a Ph.D. Candidate in Stanford and his
current research include the energy consumption in transportation sector in
China, electricity market reform in transit countries and the integration of
renewable energy into power grid.
Reading:
á
Fuel Consumption and
Technological Progress in Chinese Automobile Sector, Yang Shu,
Yang Yu, Yueming Lucy Qiu, working paper.
David
Block-Schachter, MIT
Abstract: The need to finance urban access to meet the mobility
needs of the developed and developing world in a sustainable fashion is
undeniable. But that collection in turn is sure to impact travel and location
behavior. Financing is pricing, and pricing influences behavior. This work
focuses on the impacts of the financing collection mechanism on accessibility
as a means to bridge the gap between land-based financing and mobility-based
financing. After examining the theoretical effects of pricing on accessibility,
we focus on two Chinese cases. The first case emphasizes the emerging diversity
of vehicle ownership policies in Chinese cities that indirectly influence
location choice and urban form via car ownership and travel behavior, and is
based on first-hand data and empirical behavior. The second case focuses on
land sales that have a direct influence from finance to urban form in terms of
the pace and location of the development, and speculates on the influence on
accessibility. Of importance is the data we bring to
bear to examine the impacts of these policies on the distribution of accessibility
between migrants and residents, rich and poor, and car owners and non-car
owners. ChinaÕs extraordinary growth provides an ample canvas upon which to
study the effect of financial mechanisms on accessibility.
Bio: Dr. Block-Schachter
is a Research Associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering at MIT focused on transportation policy, planning, and operations.
He holds Master of Science, Master of City Planning, Ph.D. degrees from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BachelorÕs degree from Columbia
University.
Reading:
á
Zhao, J., D. Block-Schachter and D. Wang (2013)
Behavioral Impact of the Financing Collection Mechanism on Accessibility: Two
Cases from Chinese Cities
Shan Jiang
and Yi Zhu, MIT
Abstract: As the proliferation of urban sensing, social media
and location-based
devices in Chinese cities generate roaring streams of spatio-temporal
registered
information and attitudinal data, time has come to discover how these big datasets
can enrich our understanding of complex urban issues, as well as the interactions
among policy makers and citizens. In this talk, we will touch on the current
states of urban sensing technologies, crowd-sourcing and crowd-sensing
applications, and social media applications. Through the examples including
bicycle-sharing program, weibo usage, air-quality
applications and taxi records, we are intended to stimulate the discussions on
the causalities behind the data, and the effects of the emerging information
and social network on the decision making and planning processes in Chinese
cities.
Bio: Yi Zhu is currently a PhD Candidate of
Urban Studies and Planning at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His primary research interests are in urban
transportation planning, Geographical Information System (GIS), urban growth
modeling and scientific visualization of big data. Yi was born in China, where
he received his Bachelor degree in Transportation Engineering in 2002. Afterwards,
he got dual degrees in urban planning and civil engineering from the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has been working in the Strategic Options for
Transportation and Urban Revitalization (SOTUR) project within the MIT-Portugal
Program (MPP) and the Future Urban Mobility (FM) project within the SMART
program during his study at MIT.
Bio: Shan Jiang is
a PhD candidate in the Urban Information Systems (UIS) Group at DUSP. Her
research interests lie in the fields of urban spatial analytics, geographic
information systems (GIS), and the use of information and communication
technology (ICT) in urban planning and transportation planning (e.g., land use
and transportation, human mobility and travel behavior, public transport, and
sustainable development). Her research asks the questions (1) how can planners
use ICT to understand the spatial distributions of economic activities and
patterns of human activities and mobility, and their interrelationship at the
micro- and macro-level; and (2) what can be done by the public sectors to
promote sustainable development by regulating, influencing, and altering
behavior of different agents in both short- and long- terms. She leads the
student interest group-- China Urban Development at MIT, and has organized with
fellow students in the group many public lectures on key issues of urban
development in China over the past two years.
Weiping Wu, Tufts University
Abstract: Residential mobility patterns are an important indicator of the
future socioeconomic standing of rural–urban migrants in the urban
society. In Chinese cities there are significant barriers for migrants to
settle permanently. Given this context and housing choices available to
migrants, what types of housing career do they follow once in the city? Drawing
from survey data from three large cities, this paper studies migrant
intra-urban residential mobility through three lenses—temporal patterns,
spatial trajectories and tenure shifts. The majority of
migrants are renters and remain so despite a lengthy residence in the
cities. They experience a high level of mobility over time, but the
trajectories of their moves are spatially confined and involve few tenure
shifts.
Bio:
Weiping Wu, a professor of urban and environmental
policy and planning at Tufts University, holds a Ph.D. in Urban Planning and
Policy Development from Rutgers University, and a MasterÕs degree in Urban
Planning and a bachelorÕs degree in Architecture from Tsinghua University
(China). She is a former editor of the Journal of Planning Education and
Research, and a visiting Zijiang Chair Professor at
East China Normal University in Shanghai. At Tufts, she also is a senior fellow
in the Center for Emerging Market Enterprises at The Fletcher School, and the
coordinator of the undergraduate Minor in Urban Studies program. Previously,
she was a professor of urban studies and planning and international studies at
Virginia Commonwealth University, a consultant to the World Bank, and a fellow
in the Public Intellectuals Program of the National Committee on United
States-China Relations. She also serves on the editorial boards of Journal of
Urban Affairs, Open Urban Studies Journal, Journal of Urban and Regional Planning
(Chinese), and World Regional Studies (Chinese).
Her research is concerned with how migration affects the socio-spatial
reconfiguration of cities, how planning and policy influence citiesÕ economic
vitality and infrastructure building, and how higher education transfers
knowledge and innovation to industry. With a record of substantial scholarly
and publication activities (in books, articles, chapters, and policy and
consultant reports), she contributes to a better understanding of urban
dynamics in developing countries, and China in particular. Methodologically,
she combines large-scale surveys, in-depth interviews, and statistical and
spatial analysis. The National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of
Education, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Lincoln Institute
of Land Policy, and World Bank have provided funding support for her research.
She has (co)authored and co-edited six books, the most
recent published by Routledge titled The Chinese
City.
Reading:
ÒDrifting and Getting Stuck: Migrants in Chinese Cities.Ó City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture,
Theory, Policy, Action 14,
1 (February 2010): 10-20
Yulin Chen, Tsinghua University
Abstract: Over the last decade, each year there were 10 million
Chinese people moving from countryside to city. Thanks to the Hukou system, a large portion of this population is temporary rural-urban migrants, also called as rural migrant
workers. In this speech, I will first give a review of the Hukou
system and its profound implications in China. Then I will discuss the
characteristics of migrant settlements in China as well as some unique features
of ChinaÕs urbanization patterns compared with western countries. Third, I will
introduce my ongoing study on a group of self-employed migrants working in a
vegetable market in Beijing. The market has recently been torn down to give
space for a modern housing development project. The study focuses on the impact
of this event on various aspects of the lifestyle changes and challenges to
those self-employed migrants (e.g., working, living, income, family, etc.), so
as to reveal the micro-level mechanism of the spatial ÒurbanizationÓ affecting
the ÒcitizenizationÓ of migrants in China. Based on
this analysis, I will close my speech by making suggestions to the government
for managing urbanization with a better approach.
Bio: CHEN Yulin is
an assistant researcher at Department of Urban Planning in Tsinghua University.
With the background of urban planning and sociology, Yulin
studies ChinaÕs urbanization from the view of citizenization
and its urban spatial response. Yulin has organized
nationwide investigations on migrants in China, and has been the sub-task
leader in ÒResearch on the Population Migration and CitizenizationÓ
and ÒStudy of Multi-Urbanization Development Strategy in ChinaÓ.
Reading:
á
Eckstein,
Susan 1990, Urbanization Revisited: Inner-city Slum of Hope and Squatter
Settlement of Despair [J]. World Development 18 (2)
Yi Dong,
Partner, DC Alliance; Lecturer, Tongji University
Abstract: This talk will be based on the selected works of
affordable housing design practice of DC-Alliance in Ningbo, including the
resettlement of farmers and the social security housing for talents. It will
focus on the idea of Òspatial justiceÓ, which projects the Òsocial justiceÓ
concept onto space. These projects will demonstrate what architects can do
within the limits of their competence and ability for the affordable housing
development in the course of ChinaÕs rapid urbanization, and how to balance the
relationship between space resource, aesthetic conception and life style in a
"fair" way. The talk will discuss how public housing projects feed
back to the city from the aspects of space and function. It will conclude with
Dr. DongÕs reflection on the strategy of development and public policy support
for these projects, which indicates the attitude from the governments.
Bio: Dr. Yi Dong is a Lecturer in the College
of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji
University, where he received his Ph.D in 2011. He
practices as the Partner of DC Alliance, an architecture firm based in
Shanghai. Focused on affordable housing in China, Dr. Dong leads his design
team in several award-winning projects in Ningbo, Zhejiang, including Ningbo
Eastern New City Economical Housing project, which was selected for the best
residential project in the ÒGood Design is Good BusinessÓ award in the Business
Week/Architectural Record China Award 2008; and the Ningbo Yinzhou
Talent Apartments project, which won the special award for residential
buildings of the Third China Architecture Media Awards in 2012 and reported in
Architectural Record in 2013/03.
Readings:
á
Ningbo
Eastern New City Economical Housing
Hui Wang, Tsinghua University
Abstract: Beijing, the capital city of the PeopleÕs
Republic of China, is the national center of politics and culture as well as a
well-known city with a long history in the world. Now as a fast-urbanizing
city, Beijing is confronted with challenges and opportunities as well as many
problems. There exist various types of conflicts between the old city and newly-built areas. Inside the old city, there are visible
conflicts where historical and cultural areas are constantly eroded. Outside
the old city, there are invisible conflicts where the new development areas
spread disorderly.
In order to help students achieve a comprehensive
understanding of the conflict between protection and high-density development
from a long-term developmental perspective, this section will begin with an
introduction of an investigation of the spatial situation in Beijing central
city. On the basis of in-depth investigation and analysis, the key issues of
high-density and high-density development in Beijing especially the conflict
between the old city and the new development areas will be summarized and
discussed.
In the future, how can we highlight the cultural
characteristics and make full use of historical and cultural value of the old
city? And how can we solve the contradictions between the old and the new and
promote historical and cultural environment protection? These issues will then
be discussed.
Bio:
Hui Wang is an Associate Professor in School of
Architecture at Tsinghua University. Specializing in architectural and urban
design theories and practice, Hui Wang has been
engaged in teaching and research in Tsinghua University. He has written several
books, including Form and Meaning of
Architectural Aesthetics and Administration
Spaces in Beijing. He holds a doctorÕs degree in architecture from Tsinghua
University. At MIT, he will undertake an aesthetic study of urban design in
Chinese cities, focusing on the form of buildings and public spaces, the
mechanisms that affect form, and aesthetic cognition.
Joan Retsinas
Abstract:
Aging in China: Beyond Confucius
Every
society must decide: how to care for dependent elderly? In traditional
societies, like China, the family has filled that role. Indeed, Confucius
cautioned that children should not live far from their parents. TodayÕs China
no longer fits that traditional model. The one-child family, the migration to
new burgeoning cities, the capitalist goal of profits
– all have eroded the family-as-bulwark. China today must figure out how
to care for 185 million people, projected to soar to 487 million by 2053.
This
course will discuss the options for China, drawing on parallels with the United
StatesÕ experience in providing for its aged population. The course will
discuss the feasibility, as well as the pros and cons, of such Western
solutions as pensions, subsidized elderly housing, assisted living, nursing homes. It will discuss possible roles for the
government, for the private sector, and for nonprofits. The course will ask
students to engage in role-playing. In conclusion, students will speculate on
the likely evolution of ChinaÕs approaches.
Bio:
Joan Retsinas, AB Bryn Mawr,
PhD (sociology) Brown University, has taught in the Department of Family Medicine at Brown, and as an adjunct at The George
Washington University, Rhode Island College, and TuftsÕ School of Occupational
Therapy. Most recently she was managing editor of the monthly professional
journal of the Rhode Island Medical Society. She has written on health policy,
aging, and small business. Currently she writes regular columns for the
Progressive Populist and PrimeTime Magazine, and is a
contributing writer to Aging Today, the newsletter of the American Society on
Aging.
Required Reading:
á
China:
Who Will Care for the Elderly?
á
Aging
China Draws Bets on Senior Housing
Suggested
further reading: Leslie Chang's Factory Girls: From Village to City in a
Changing China
Kyle Jaros, Harvard University
Abstract: Over the past decade, efforts
to build integrated urban regions around large cities have been taking shape
across much of China. These central- and provincial-level Òmetropolitan
circle,Ó Òcity cluster,Ó and Òeconomic regionÓ policies aim to address regional
governance issues and enhance regional competitiveness through coordination of
neighboring citiesÕ planning, policy-making, and project implementation. Some
scholars have hailed these new efforts to think regionally. Others have
questioned the efficacy of such plans, pointing to implementation difficulties.
Other experts have argued that such policies are really ÒbannersÓ for
attracting state support and extending the reach of higher-level bureaucrats.
What has remained less clear amid debates about the new wave of urban-regional
initiatives is how such policies have been reshaping urban areas, urban life,
and urban governance in practice.
Through a case study of the XiÕan-Xianyang integration initiative, we will try to get a
better sense of why Chinese policymakers have turned toward new modes of urban
and regional policy-making, and how this is remaking urban landscapes. Far from
being empty slogans, national and provincial policies for building a bigger,
more integrated, and more competitive ÒXiÕan International MetropolisÓ appear
to have had major consequences in practice – for approaches to urban
planning and new town development, for the building of public infrastructure,
and for urban service provision and living environments. It is more debatable,
however, whether policies in XiÕan are achieving their stated aim of building a
more rational system of urban governance and laying a more sustainable
foundation for urban growth.
Bio: I am a Ph.D. candidate in the
Department of Government at Harvard University (graduation expected 2014) whose
research interests include Chinese politics, the political economy of
development, and the politics of urban and regional policy and planning. My
current research examines the impact of state institutions and political actors
on urban and regional growth patterns in China and other large developing
countries. In my dissertation project entitled ÒThe Political Economy of
Metropolitan Focus in China,Ó I examine the political and administrative
dynamics surrounding the rapid rise of large metropolitan centers across China
since the late 1990s and explore why there has been variation over time and
across provinces in Òmetropolitan focus,Ó or the extent to which development
policies favor top cities over other areas. In a related research project, I
examine the multilevel politics of urban planning and governance in China's
heartland metropolis of Xi'an. I earned my undergraduate degree from Princeton
University in 2005, majoring in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs and earning a Certificate in Chinese Language and
Culture. I have also studied at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (2005-2006) and been
a senior visiting student at the School of Government of Peking University
(2011-2012).
Reading:
á
Xu,
Jiang. ÒGoverning City-regions in China: Theoretical Issues and Perspectives
for Regional Strategic Planning.Ó The Town Planning Review 79,
no. 2/3 (2008)
Yifan Yu, Tongji University
Abstract: Since the
implementation of housing reform in the 1990s, China's urban commodity housing
market has been gradually established and is now relatively well developed.
Meanwhile, urban social housing in the country has also continuously undertaken
explorations and practices, formulating its own system of policies and building
techniques, albeit at a comparatively slower pace and has yet to fulfill the
enormous needs of the citizens in reality. However, with strong interventions
and directives set by the central government in recent years, there has been a
surge in the quantitative production of social housing, resulting in the
emergence of new and unexpected dilemmasÉThrough interpretations of ChinaÕs
social housing policies and a presentation of various social housing case
studies, the lecture seeks to provide a systematic summary and analysis of the
contemporary urban social housing system in China and its developments.
Bio: One of the most
achieved scholars in the field of social housing in China, Yifan
YU is a Professor at Tongji University Department of
Urban Planning and the Vice-President of the Urban Planning Association of
Shanghai. She is also a Research Project Director at the Natural Science
Foundation of China, as well as a Research Fellow of UniversitŽ
Paris-Sorbonne. Her publications
include ÒThe Morphology of HabitationÓ, ÒSocial HousingÕs
Double-Marginalization TrapÓ, and ÒApproaches to Urban DesignÓ etc. She
received her PhD from Ecole des Hautes
Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris.
Jinhua Zhao,
MIT
Abstract: Multiple, often highly
contrasting, stories can be told about China's urbanization. While we are
drawing the Urbanizing China course
to the end tomorrow, we will present in the last dialogue "Alternative
Narratives of China's Urbanization", and collectively re-package the
26 dialogues,
17 guest speakers,
20+ class videos
and 200+ idea
notes in different frames of reference following these
narratives.