On July 23, 2018, the UNC Program on Chinese Cities (PCC) held its first International Forum on Urban-Rural Sustainability on the campus of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A program of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS), PCC brought together some of the more than 250 Visiting Chinese Scholars it has hosted over the past 10 years to discuss “Urban-Rural Sustainable Development in a New Era.”
After introductory remarks by PCC Director Yan Song and a welcome from CURS Director Bill Rohe, nine presentations were made by past Visiting Scholars on topics such as rural revitalization strategies, urban space reconstruction and land use. The presentations, broken into four sessions, were moderated and discussed by fellow Visiting Chinese Scholars. On the following day, Visiting Scholars Yuzhe Wu of Zhejiang University, Xiaoping Zhou of Beijing Normal University and Hui Qian of Zhejiang University City College led a group exploration of potential cooperative research projects.
Other presenters included:
- Xiaokun Gu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- Jie Duan, Shenzhen University
- HongPing Lian, Beijing Normal University
- Xiangmei Li, Hubei University of Economics
- Huafu Zhao, China University of Geosciences (Beijing)
- Wenyue Li, Tsinghua University
- Weiyan Hu, Huazhong Agricultural University
- Chuanhao Tian, Zhejiang University
The PCC was established by Song to develop an internationally-recognized research agenda to better understand the impacts of rapid metropolitan development on China’s built and natural environments. A three-part agenda guides the research activities of the PCC: documentation of China’s urbanization process; analysis of China’s urbanization policies and practices; and global implications of Chinese urbanization.
