Conference “Shenzhen: From Factory of the World to World City”

The International New Town Institute (INTI) has the pleasure of inviting you to the conference “Shenzhen: From Factory of the World to World City”. For the first time, the results of INTI’s international research program will be presented to a Dutch professional audience. The event will be a crash course for anyone working or interested in Shenzhen and other Chinese cities. 

The spectacular story of Shenzhen is well-known: lying adjacent to Hong Kong in the Pearl River Delta, the former fishing village became a New Town in 1980 when the central Chinese government gave it the status of Special Economic Zone. Shenzhen soon became a metropolis and a prototype for both economic and urban reform within China. Shenzhen is a city that has been raising eyebrows for years, because of its fast development and exceptional position.

However, the everyday reality in Shenzhen can be unruly. As a city, Shenzhen mainly thinks in top-down strategies and simply adds new hardware – the sum of infrastructure, buildings and industries – in order to encourage urban and therefore economic growth. It hardly touches upon the question of which existing social dynamics need to be accepted or improved in order to strengthen the city’s potential, let alone the socio-economic conditions that are necessary to successfully regenerate an existing neighborhood or to sustainably extend the city. This means that many policies are not in line with reality, creating a gap between government and society. Shenzhen is currently rethinking its economic future and urban identity. INTI aligned with the innovative forces in Shenzhen and initiated research to understand which social, economic and environmental factors need to be improved to strengthen the city’s potential.

This conference will discuss the major constraints in the current urban planning process in Shenzhen, from which alternative trajectories will be drawn. By exploring new stakeholders, new social and economic values, alternative strategies for redevelopment, and future challenges for the “city of tomorrow” within the Pearl River Delta, “Shenzhen: From Factory of the World to World City” will provide both a detailed overview of Shenzhen’s current planning issues and illustrate viable solutions. The day’s discussions will conclude with possible approaches for international collaboration. 

SPEAKERS

A detailed program will be announced here soon, but these Dutch and Chinese scientists and design professionals will critically present their findings on the formal and informal socio-economic and spatial conditions of Shenzhen:

 Huang Weiwen (Director Shenzhen Center for Design and Deputy Chief Planner, Urban Planning and Land Resource Commission of Shenzhen Municipality)

 Mary Ann O’Donnell (Shenzhen based Artist-Ethnographer)

 Doreen Liu (Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong – Principal NODE Architecture & Urbanism)

 Tat Lam (Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong – Director Urbanus Research Bureau)

 Juan Du (Director of Master of Architecture Program and Assistant Professor Hong Kong University)

 Arnold Reijndorp (Professor of Social-economic and Spatial Development of New Urban Areas, Centre for Urban Studies – University of Amsterdam)

 Stephen Read (Associate Professor, Spatial Planning and Strategy, Faculty of Architecture, Delft University and Technology)

 Markus Appenzeller (Director and Partner MLA+)

 Christine de Baan and JaapJan Berg (INTI) will moderate the conference.

SHENZHEN - ALMERE

Because of her strong personal involvement in the buildup of relations between Almere and Shenzhen, Mayor Annemarie Jorritsma will open the conference. An important result of INTI’s program is the cooperation between Shenzhen and Almere in the field of sustainable urban development, which makes Shenzhen automatically part of Almere’s international “Growing Green Cities” network.

PARTNERS

Main partners within the program in Shenzhen are the Chinese University of Hong Kong, China Development Institute, Shenzhen Center for Design, Urbanus, NODE, City of Almere, Delft University of Technology, University of Amsterdam, CAH Almere and Institute for Housing and Urban Management Studies (IHS).

The conference has been made possible by the generous support of the City of Almere, Creative Industries Fund NL and the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Date: 12 December 2014

Time: 9.30 – 17.30

Location: Schouwburg Almere, Esplanade 10, The Netherlands

Language: English

Entrance (including lunch and drinks): € 35,00 / Students € 5,00

You can buy your ticket directly at the website of Schouwburg Almere