Following the two-weeks of the Fellows’ residency in China, the ICI hosted an international conference in partnership with the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing. The conference began with opening remarks by Benjamin Lee, Provost of The New School, and Pan Gongkai, President of CAFA, both emphasized the need for academia to respond to the challenges of urbanization by focusing on research and to take collaborations seriously. Following their remarks, Nirupama Rao, the Indian Ambassador to China, spoke on the need for inclusive growth in both India and China. The keynote address, delivered by Chen Gang, Deputy Mayor of Beijing, focused on Beijing’s urbanization pressures. Chen described cities as centers of spiritual and material wealth and culture. In order to make Beijing a liveable international metropolis, the government plans to cap the city’s population at 18 million, organize the city by district centers, create green belts, improve mass transit and services for migrants, and promote sustainable agriculture. After the address, three panels of experts from India, China, and the United States spoke on different aspects of urban futures.

The first session, Speculation and Preservation, moderated by K.C. Sivaramakrishnan, Chair of the Center of Policy Research in India, addressed planning and management of cities’ growth. Panelists included two developers, Feng Lun, Chair of Vantone Group, and Zhang Guilin, Chair of Zhuzong Group; Wen Zhongyong, Deputy Chief Planner of Beijing and ICI fellow; and Michael Cohen, Director of the Graduate Program in International Affairs and former World Bank official. Panelists analyzed political forces, market forces, and public participation as major factors that decide the future of cities. In China, city planning, formerly a technical area, has become a matter of public policy; designers have been transformed from technical officials to social workers; and government has moved from public management to service provision.

In the second session, Aspiration and Agency, moderated by S. Parasuraman, Professor and Director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in India, panelists addressed planning for the unexpected and people’s participation. Hua Xinmin, preservation scholar and activist, discussed the evolution of property rights and implications for planning and social development with a historical perspective on land reform since the 1950s. ICI fellow Yao Yang, Professor and Director of the China Center for Economic Research, Peking University, discussed property rights as a countervailing force to social engineering created by concerned stakeholders, and the way popular protest and resistance, as well as challenges from scholars, are changing government’s mindset. Arjun Appadurai, ICI endowed Professor at The New School, stated that whereas in the past cities demanded housing, now housing demands cities. The housing industry is increasingly driving both finance and human labor, requiring infinite production of poor people.

The third session, Technology and Innovation, moderated by Colleen Macklin, Professor at Parsons School of Design at The New School, addressed ways to account for technology and innovation in planning for the future of cities. Panelists included two architects, Frank Fu, Professor at CAFA, and Margarita Gutman, faculty member at The New School; ICI fellow Wu Xiaobo, Vice Dean of the School of Management, Zhejiang University; and ICI fellow Aromar Revi, founder and President of TARU in India. Wu discussed the use of digital management systems in Hangzhou and the challenges of integrating the soft power of human behavior with technology. Revi outlined four necessary urban transformations: social transformation, which addresses caste, gender, and minority inclusion and empowerment; economic transformation, which makes markets work for poor people; RUrban transformation, which maintains ecosystem services to balance the rural and the urban; and institutional transformation, which requires a functioning and responsive decentralized governmental framework, the building of a cadre of urban change management professionals, and the integration of risk mitigation into the urban economy, planning, and design.