The UGent is organizing a China Lecture Café on China’s urban transition from a world cities perspective on Thursday 7 March from 18:00 to 20.00 h. in KANTL (Koningstraat 18, Gent).
Speaker is Prof. Frank Witlox, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography.

Many economic and societal changes in contemporary China have a clear-cut urban dimension. One of these dimensions is the very uneven way in which China’s ‘megacities’ are being integrated in the world economy: there are many megacities in China, but only a limited number of ‘world cities’ are intensively used by key economic actors as bridgeheads between China and the global economy. In this lecture, UGent research carried out in the context of the ‘Globalization and World Cities’ (GaWC) network is used as a starting point to assess this world city function. An overview of the uneven position of Chinese cities is presented, and subsequently used to reflect on the main causes and consequences of this situation.

Frank Witlox holds a Ph.D. in Urban Planning (Eindhoven University of Technology), a Master’s Degree in Applied Economics and a Master’s Degree in Maritime Sciences (both University of Antwerp). 

A free sandwich meal will be provided. Subscribing is free of costs, but mandatory, via https://webapps.ugent.be/eventManager/events/LectureCafes The Lecture Cafés are a joint initiative of the UGent China Platform, the India Platform and the International Office of the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering.