ESRC/CASS Urban Transformations - Urban Development, Migration, Segregation and Inequality

Urbanization and urban transformation in China is one of the most important aspects of global development in the 21st century. The fast speed of changes and the complexity of development in major Chinese cities pose a great challenge to urban researchers in China. This proposed International Centre Partnership will bring together researchers from three leading urban research organisations: the Urban Big Data Centre at University of Glasgow, the Applied Quantitative Methods Network at University of Sheffield, and the Institute of Urban and Environmental Studies at CASS. It will conduct collaborative and comparative research on three important and interrelated urban development issues of migration, segregation and inequality, and will make significant contributions in research findings, new methods, theoretical development and policy impact.

This partnership will fulfil the core aim of the Newton Fund, trough the development of close scientific and innovative research collaboration and promoting the economic development and welfare of Chinese people, especially the 250 million migrant workers living in cities and towns.

In order to achieve the above aim and project objectives, our partnership activities will include research training through workshops, summer school and international symposium with people mobility in both directions in every year; a series of collaborative and innovative pilot research projects; and several important knowledge exchange and impact events and activities to influence future research agenda and government policy development.

The partnership include a total of 27, from University of Glasgow, University of Sheffield, and Institute of Urban and Environmental Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It will involve a large number of other researchers, early careers and PhD students from these institutions and beyond, and government officials, policy makers, and civil society representatives.

The ultimate beneficiaries will be city residents, especially migrant workers and low income communities in Chinese cities. However, policy makers in central government and policy makers and practitioners in local government are more immediate research 'customers'. Given the broad compass of the research, the policy community will extend across traditional boundaries between planning, housing and interior ministry functions. In China central agencies will include the Ministry for Housing and Urban-Rural Development; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Ministry of Civil Affairs. Similar departments/bureau could be found at municipal level. As the central government think tank, IUE has strong links with these central and local angencies. In the UK the Department of Communities and Local Government; in Scotland, the Cabinet Secretary's Office for Finance and Sustainable Growth have strong interests in these topic areas. Other beneficiaries will include national and local third sector and civic organisations concerned with neighbourhoods and urban development, the housebuilding industry and social justice. At the supra-national level, this research will provide useful intelligence for agencies such as UN Habitat, and the World Bank.

Stakeholder Engagement: We will establish two Policy Stakeholder Groups, one in each country, to help us refine and implement the project. We will invite key policy makers from the relevant government ministries and practitioners from municipal governments to be members, as well as other urban policy researcher, including from outside the academy. Several project Impact Workshops will be held with the Stakeholder Group members at every stage. Members will be invited to attend the local events and help shape the project outputs and communication strategies.

We have planned network meetings, seminars, workshops and an international symposium, a summer school on research methods. These will spread out over the three year period, rotated from the three different cities. Policy Stakeholder Group members will be invited to participate and give speaches. Between these workshops, research teams will hold research seminars at their own institution to report the progress and findings to local academic and policy maker audience. The main symposium in year three on Urban Transformation will be a major international research communication event, advertised early to attract large participation, and centred on the research findings. We will invite policy makers from both countries to participate and also issue a general call for papers.

At the international level, this partnership will provide useful information on the key world challenges of how to accommodate migrant population in ciites, maintain social order and stability, and promote justice and equality. At the national level, agencies will benefit from new ideas and intelligence that can be used to improve understandings of how their cities are performing. It will help to inform macro urban policy and social development, in relation to the role of cities in society and their national and international economic competiveness. At the urban level it is expected that this partnership will inform city-specific policy development and practice development in key areas such as urban planning, the leverage of urban development, service and infrastructure planning and delivery. For the private development industry policy change may give rise to greater certainty and an improved capacity for risk management in relation to new urban extensions. Residents in cities will ultimately benefit from improved social integration and greater planning responsiveness. In particular the aspirations of migrants and their likely future trajectories will be better understood, with potential gains for their well-being and quality of life, as well as their societal contribution.