China is urbanising at an unprecedented rate. If the current trend holds, China’s urban population could top one billion people in the next two decades. With the national policy promoting and guiding the process, urbanisation in China is perhaps the biggest experiment of human settlement in history, with profound social, economic and environmental implications. In March 2014, China released its National New-type Urbanisation Plan. Can China successfully navigate through this uncharted water, and realise its urban dream? What drives the process, and what are the key policy challenges?

About the Speaker

Bai Xuemei (BSc, Peking University; PhD, The University Tokyo) is a professor of Urban Environment and Human Ecology at Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University. Before joining the ANU in 2011, she was a Senior Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO, a Senior Research Fellow at Institute of Global Environmental Strategies in Japan, and a visiting professor for two years at Yale University. Her research focuses on urbanization, urban system dynamics and governance, and sustainability transition. She served as the Vice Chair of International Human Dimensions Program, and is a Member of Future Earth Science Committee.

After the Seminar

To allow for informal discussion, the seminar will be followed by a dinner with the guest speaker at 6:15pm. The location of the restaurant will be announced at the seminar. All are welcome, though those who attend will need to pay for their own food and drinks. As reservations must be made at the restaurant, please RSVP by noon of the day before the seminar to jasmine.lin@anu.edu.au

The ANU China Seminar Series is supported by the China Institute, the Research School of Asia and the Pacific, and the Australian Centre on China in the World at The Australian National University.