Created in 2008 to open up new venues for a dialogue between France and China on planning issues, the Sino-French Centre for Urban, Regional and Planning Studies has been actively involved in organizing exchange seminars in France and China. The Centre is supported by University Paris East-Créteil and Nanjing University. This year seminar will raise two issues: "rural transformation under the process of urbanization" and "mixing methodological approaches in the field of urban studies".

Presentation

Created in 2008 to open up new venues for a dialogue between France and China on planning issues, the Sino-French Centre for Urban, Regional and Planning Studies has been actively involved in organizing exchange seminars in France and China. The Centre is supported by University Paris East-Créteil and Nanjing University. This year seminar will raise two issues: "rural transformation under the process of urbanization" and "mixing methodological approaches in the field of urban studies".

Program

Opening addresses (9 h 30 - 10 h)

• Prof. Claire SOTINEL, Vice-President in charge of International Relations, University of Paris East-Créteil
• Prof. Corinne LARRUE, Head of Paris School of Planning, University of Paris East-Créteil

Rural transformation under the process of urbanization (10 h – 12 h 30)

Host : Dr. Julien ALDHUY, Paris School of Planning, University of Paris East-Créteil

Rural China has been deeply transformed under the effect of a long-lasting process of urbanization. In order to balance urban/rural development and to insure a more homogeneous allocation of resources, public policies in China are promoting an integrated planning scheme. Such a strategy has led to the establishment of new procedures in the production of local and regional plans that are supposed to better address needs in the urban peripheries. Recent programmes aimed at supporting the development of villages – like the “beautiful villages” movement – have gained momentum. To what extent lifestyles in rural China have changed? How current development strategy and new planning procedures are accelerating the integration of villages in the urban realm?

• Prof. Hongyang WANG, Nanjing University “The holistic logic of contemporary rural revival: Implications from a Sino-French comparative study on rural revival”
• Dr. Hui QIAN, Nanjing University “The revival of rural China: A case study of ‘Beautiful Village Movement’ in Jiangning District in Nanjing” 
• Dr. Emmanuel BREFFEIL, Naidao Research Center “Challenges of the national concept of “Beautiful villages” : evidences from a research-action program in Zhenbiancheng, Hebei”
• Dr. Yuanyuan GU, Nanjing University “The metaphor of spatial power: A case study of traditional rural settlement of Chaoshan area”

Mixing methodological approaches in the field of urban studies (14 h -16 h 30)

Host : Dr. Julien ALDHUY, Paris School of Planning, University of Paris East-Créteil

Along with the blossoming of social sciences in the Chinese academic field as well as the multiplication of data and knowledge on cities in China, new methodological issues can be raised on the most effective way to conduct research and highlight new phenomenon. Quantitative and qualitative methods have always gone hand in hand to draw the complexity of the urban reality.

• Dr. Shan YANG, Nanjing University “Overflowing the boundary: The Spatial Publicness of Zhongyuan MRD in Shanghai” 
• Dr. Florine BALLIF, Paris School of Planning, University of Paris East-Créteil “Photographic approach in urban studies: analyzing the limits”
• Dr. Jianxi FENG, Nanjing University “The Behavior and determinants of urban residents in the special temporal-spatial context of China”
• Dr. Beixiang SHI, Nanjing University “The Quantitative Research on the Hard Core-Agglomeration Phenomenon of Asian Urban Central Districts”