Urban China Collective at UPenn

UCC Third Annual Conference
Topic:
Non-western models: Urban and rural China in transition
Time:
3/5 8:00 pm-10:30 pm EST
3/6 8:00 pm-10:30 pm EST

Registration Link:
https://s.surveyplanet.com/Ti_gE2wzP

Description:
In the past four decades, China has created many exceptional “non-western models” while learning extensively from the west. The COVID-19 pandemic not only impacted the global economy and society but also challenged the political systems in many countries. Some of China’s non-western models undeniably limited the virus’s spread and showed their effectiveness in the Chinese social contexts. What non-western models did China invent to develop its urban and rural areas? Where do they intersect and diverge? How do they coexist in balance with adapted ideas? Moving forward, in a transitional era into the New Normal, urban and rural China still face many challenges that call for creative approaches unfound in precedential experiences. What does the New Normal imply for an urban China? What topics need more explorations to improve the daily lives of residents? How can planning, governance, and the economy complement each other towards a common goal?

Panel 1: planning & design:
3/5 8:00 pm-10:30 pm EST

Planners and designers recently showcased many innovative insights through practices in urban and rural China: The Territorial Spatial Planning system attempts to address the conflicts between multi-level planning institutions; The manifesto of Ecological Civilization reveals China’s intention to seek an alternative approach after decades of transformation into an industrial society; The emerging architectural trend towards vernacular form and material also reestablishes the confidence in traditional culture in the design field. Speakers of the Planning & Design panel will discuss the “non-western” efforts from architects, landscape architects, urban designers, and spatial planners under the context of urban China.

8:00 - 8:15
Zhongjie Lin (moderator)
Associate Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania

8:15 - 8:40
Jonathan Barnett | Urban Design in a Changing Climate
Professor Emeritus of Practice, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania

8:40 - 9:05
Tom Leader | Land Values
Founder and Principal, TLS Landscape Architecture

9:05 - 9:15 Break

9:15 - 9:40
Ming Zhang | Facilitate Smart Planning with Cloud-Computing and Crowdsourcing Technologies for Small City-Town Regions
Professor, Community & Regional Planning, School of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin

9:40 - 10:05 Discussion

10:05 - 10:30 Q&A

Panel 2: economy & governance
3/6 8:00 pm-10:30 pm EST

Economists and politicians have been leading the discourse of China’s exceptionality, particularly since the country took off as an economic powerhouse. Today’s international situation challenges China’s position as “the world’s factory” and asks for feasible policies to transform the industrial cities into liveable and suitable cities for a non-manufacturing future. Furthermore, the longstanding urban-rural dichotomy is worth a closer review to mitigate the increasing social polarization. Can financialization of the real estate market be leveraged as tools for issues such as the reliance on land finance preventing urban and rural residents from pursuing affordable lives? What phenomena is China’s thriving internet business creating that impacts the urban and rural space and the lifestyle of residences? The Economy and Governance panel will explore China’s urban development and transformation under the lenses of business and policy.

8:00 - 8:15
Guobin Yang (moderator)
Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania

8:15 - 8:40
Ming Lu | Scattered Population, Depressed Services
Professor, Department of Economics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

8:40 - 9:05
Li Tian | Mobility restriction and its implications on rental housing market during COVID-19 pandemic in China’s large cities
Professor and Deputy Head, Department of Urban Planning, Tsinghua University

9:05 - 9:15 Break

9:15 - 9:40
Scott Moore | Managing China’s Water: Ambition, Crisis and Adaptation
Director of China Programs and Strategic Initiatives, Penn Global

9:40 - 10:05 Discussion
10:05 - 10:30 Q&A

To promote students’ in-depth understanding of the practices in China’s urbanization, Urban China Collective (UCC) at the University of Pennsylvania will organize UCC Virtual Tours during the winter vacation of the 20-21 academic year. These tours are open to all Penn students and alumni. Please register in advance through the links below. Zoom meeting invitations will be sent out 24 hours before the event.

We will be hosting a virtual tour on Jan 8th and Jan 14th. We are excited to invite Penn alumni back to share their experience and career trajectory. It's also a good chance to know about the companies in the industry.

We invited Tencent(smart transportation) in Beijing and SWA(Shanghai). Feel free to join both tours!

1. Tencent (smart transportation) in Beijing
01/11/2021. 10:00am – 11:30am (UTC+8)
01/10/2021. 9:00pm – 10:30pm (EST)
Language: Chinese ONLY
Registration link: https://s.surveyplanet.com/Jljphrss9

2. SWA (Shanghai)
01/15/2021. 09:00am – 11:00am (UTC+8)
01/14/2021. 8:00pm – 10:00pm (EST)
Language: English ONLY
Registration link: https://s.surveyplanet.com/z0jweqnRB

Upcoming virtual event:
Career Talk Series - MCP Panel
Date and Time:
November 12th, 2020
8:00 PM EST - 9:00 PM EST
Registration Link:
https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUlc-msrjwtH9PvmAGH0uySY_MuommW16Op

Event Description:
UCC is thrilled to bring back our signature events, Career Talk Series, this fall semester.

We are excited to invite three MCP alumni back to share their experience and career trajectory. Please join us on November 12th, Thursday 8-9 PM EST.

Upcoming virtual event:
Career Talk Series - MARCH Panel
Date and Time:
November 5th, 2020
8:00 PM EST - 9:00 PM EST
Registration Link:
https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUlc-msrjwtH9PvmAGH0uySY_MuommW16Op

Event Description:
UCC is thrilled to bring back our signature events, Career Talk Series, this fall semester. We will be hosting a virtual career talk every Thursday night in the following three weeks, from October 29th through November 12th.

We are excited to invite three MARCH alumni back to share their experience and career trajectory. Please join us on November 5th, Thursday 8-9 PM EST for the second panel. Feel free to register for all three panels!

Upcoming virtual event:
Career Talk Series - MLA Panel

Date and Time:
October 29th, 2020
9:00 PM EST - 10:00 PM EST

Registration Link:
https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUlc-msrjwtH9PvmAGH0uySY_MuommW16Op

Event Description:
UCC is thrilled to bring back our signature events, Career Talk Series, this fall semester. We will be hosting a virtual career talk every Thursday night in the following three weeks, from October 29th through November 12th.

Our first of the three career talk panels will begin with landscape architecture. We are excited to invite three MLA alumni back to share their experience and career trajectory. Please join us on October 29th, Thursday 9-10 PM EST for the first panel. Feel free to register for all three panels!

City Prism 城市棱镜 - DA League x UCC Roundtable speaker information:

张路健 / Lujian Zhang
Topic: The Future Great Bay Area
China as A Dystopian World

Lujian Zhang is a recent MLA graduate from Upenn, where she was awarded the ASLA Certificate of Honor, and she holds a Bachelor in Landscape Architecture from the Technische Universität Muenchen, Germany. She currently works as a project designer at Coen+Partners, a landscape urban design firm based in Minneapolis.
Her speculative design studio uses an innocent visual language, in a form of a 6 minutes long animation video to speculate the future Great Bay Area China as a dystopian world.

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罗雨翔 / Yuxiang Luo
Topic: The Paradox of Collaboration in City Making

Yuxiang Luo is Director at James Lima Planning + Development (New York), guiding urban and economic development strategies for public, private, and non-profit clients across North America. Prior to joining JLP+D, Yuxiang worked at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget. Yuxiang holds a Master of Science in Local Economic Development with Distinction from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Master in Architecture with Distinction from Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

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孙艳 / Yan Sun
Topic: Architecture Design Practice
and Reflection in China Urbanization

Yan Sun, national senior charted architect, is deputy chief architect of Nanjing Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd. She is currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University. She has long been engaged in domestic architecture project and construction plan.

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甘振坤 / Zhenkun Gan
Topic: Street Design Guildeline
for Bejing Sub-center

Dr. Zhenkun Gan is a lecturer in architecture (Assistant Professor) at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (BUCEA) in China. His current research focuses on urban design, urban renewal, historic village conservation, and rural revitalization. He was a Visiting Scholar at Penn IUR in the 2019-2020 academic year and became an Emerging Scholar of Penn IUR since 2020.

Upcoming virtual event:
City Prism 城市棱镜 - DA League x UCC Roundtable

Date and time:
October 3rd 2020
10:30 AM EST - 12:30 PM EST

Registration Link:
https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAoc-6orDsvGdcOQZYs5NJGkNV0gXppHaGC

Event Description:
As China increasingly becomes more urbanized, many astounding achievements have been made, though many are concerned with the rise of new problems. When considering the matter of urbanization in China, we are able to have the unique perspective of both personally invested participants and bystanders studying the situation objectively abroad. We have growing opportunities for international contact and comparison with Western cities, though all aspects of urbanization are extremely complex, making different urban environments seemingly incomparable across the globe. Each of us are only able to contribute our own angles of observation and analysis. The four individuals sharing their insights on the issue will provide us with rich, dissimilar perspectives coming from architectural design, urban design, visual expression, and public management mechanism backgrounds. People from all studies are invited to participate in this event. We hope you will come join us.