The RSA awarded me with a travel grant to attend the 10th International Association for China Planning Conference: Governance and Planning in Transitional China. The conference took place in Beijing from June 30 to July 3, 2016. It was organized in conjunction with Peking University, and was co-organized by The Regional Science Association of China, and Beijing Jiaotong University. This conference brought together planners, designers, scholars, scientists, and government officials from both China and all over the world to exchange their ideas on governance and planning in transitional China. The topic of “Governance and Planning in Transitional China” has been presented by more than 200 participants in 48 panels from multiple perspectives as well as from multiple disciplinary backgrounds.
The conference started on Friday evening with the registration and the welcome reception. The opening ceremony started on Saturday morning and was followed by three keynote presentations. Three keynote presentations are “Big Data: Big Models for Urban Planning” by Prof. Stewart Fotheringham, “Metropolitan Governance and Finance: International Practice and Reform Options for China” by Prof. Roy Bahl, and “Urban System Dynamics in China” by Prof. Kaizhong Yang. These keynote presentations addressed theories, empirical studies, and methods on governance and planning in transitional China, which have been my interests and concerns.
I presented my paper titled “Urbanization and Industrial Development: Spatial Patterns and Dynamics of Migration and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in China” on Sunday morning. My talk presents spatial patterns and trajectories of FDI and migrant workers, and examine forces influencing FDI location, especially different urbanization agglomeration economies related to migrant workers. At the end of my presentation, I presented the RSA slides to acknowledge RSA travel funds, introduce the benefits of being a RSA membership including funding and awards, conferences and events, networking and publications, and other academic opportunities. The RSA materials were also shown to audiences for their information. It turns out it was quite effective. During the conference session break, several participants took the materials and inquired me about RSA and its membership.
This conference has certainly expanded my knowledge and understanding of governance and planning in transitional China. I had a nice experience to introduce the RSA and I will continue to be a communicator role to inform more persons about the RSA and its membership.