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Conference “Shenzhen: From Factory of the World to World City”
12 December 2014 | 9:30 – 17:30 | Schouwburg, Almere, The Netherlands

Shenzhen 2014 (photo: Jiayao Liu)

The International New Town Institute (INTI) has the pleasure of inviting you to the conference “Shenzhen: From Factory of the World to World City”. For the first time, the results of INTI’s international research program will be presented to a Dutch professional audience. The event will be a crash course for anyone working or interested in Shenzhen and other Chinese cities. 

The spectacular story of Shenzhen is well-known: lying adjacent to Hong Kong in the Pearl River Delta, the former fishing village became a New Town in 1980 when the central Chinese government gave it the status of Special Economic Zone. Shenzhen soon became a metropolis and a prototype for both economic and urban reform within China. Shenzhen is a city that has been raising eyebrows for years, because of its fast development and exceptional position.

Shenzhen 2005 (photo: Linda Vlassenrood)

However, the everyday reality in Shenzhen can be unruly. As a city, Shenzhen mainly thinks in top-down strategies and simply adds new hardware – the sum of infrastructure, buildings and industries – in order to encourage urban and therefore economic growth. It hardly touches upon the question of which existing social dynamics need to be accepted or improved in order to strengthen the city’s potential, let alone the socio-economic conditions that are necessary to successfully regenerate an existing neighborhood or to sustainably extend the city. This means that many policies are not in line with reality, creating a gap between government and society. Shenzhen is currently rethinking its economic future and urban identity. INTI aligned with the innovative forces in Shenzhen and initiated research to understand which social, economic and environmental factors need to be improved to strengthen the city’s potential.

Shenzhen 1997 (photo: Michelle Provoost)

This conference will discuss the major constraints in the current urban planning process in Shenzhen, from which alternative trajectories will be drawn. By exploring new stakeholders, new social and economic values, alternative strategies for redevelopment, and future challenges for the “city of tomorrow” within the Pearl River Delta, “Shenzhen: From Factory of the World to World City” will provide both a detailed overview of Shenzhen’s current planning issues and illustrate viable solutions. The day’s discussions will conclude with possible approaches for international collaboration.

PROGRAM

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09:00 – 09:30 Welcome, coffee and tea
WORD OF WELCOME
09:30 – 09:35 Word of Welcome by Annemarie Jorritsma (Mayor City of Almere)
09:35 – 09:40 Word of Welcome by Michelle Provoost (Director INTI)
SESSION 1 SINO-DUTCH COLLABORATION
09:40 – 10:00 Lecture by Linda Vlassenrood (Program Director INTI)
10:00 – 10:15 Lecture by Simone Eijsink (Head of European and International Affairs at the City of Almere)
10:15 – 10:30 Lecture by Han Feenstra (Senior Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Economic Affairs)
10:30 – 11:00 BREAK
SESSION 2 TOP DOWN MEETS BOTTOM UP
11:00 – 11:20 Lecture by Huang Weiwen (Director Shenzhen Center for Design and Deputy Chief Planner, Urban Planning and Land Resource Commission of Shenzhen Municipality)
11:20 – 11:40 Lecture by Juan Du (Associate Professor and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong)
11:40 – 12:00 Lecture by Stephen Read (Associate Professor, Spatial Planning and Strategy, Faculty of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology)
12:00 – 12:30 Discussion with Huang Weiwen, Juan Du, Stephen Read and Kees Christiaanse (Founder KCAP Architects and Planners)
12:30 – 13:30 LUNCH
SESSION 3 NEW VALUES
13:30 – 13:50 Lecture by Mary Ann O’Donnell (Shenzhen Based Artist-Ethnographer)
13:50 – 14:10 Lecture by Tat Lam (Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Director Urbanus Research Bureau)
14:10 – 14:30 Lecture by Markus Appenzeller (Director and Partner MLA+)
14:30 – 15:00 Discussion with Mary Ann O’Donnell, Tat Lam, Markus Appenzeller and Ton Venhoeven (Founder Venhoeven CS architecture+urbanism and consultant Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the World Bank in China)
15:00 – 15:30 BREAK
SESSION 4 CITY OF TOMORROW
15:30 – 15:50 Lecture by Doreen Liu (Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Founder NODE Architecture & Urbanism)
15:50 – 16:10 Lecture by Ronald Wall (Economic Geographer at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies) / Tiffany Tsui (PhD Candidate at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies)
16:10 – 16:30 Lecture by Arnold Reijndorp (Professor of Social-economic and Spatial Development of New Urban Areas, Centre for Urban Studies at the University of Amsterdam)
16:30 – 17:00 Discussion with Doreen Liu, Ronald Wall / Tiffany Tsui, Arnold Reijndorp and Bert Smolders (Senior Consultant Urban Development and Program Manager at ARCADIS, Advisor to the City of Wuhan)
17:00 – 17:30 CONCLUSIONS
17:30 – 19:00 DRINKS

SHENZHEN - ALMERE
Because of her strong personal involvement in the buildup of relations between Almere and Shenzhen, Mayor Annemarie Jorritsma will open the conference. An important result of INTI’s program is the cooperation between Shenzhen and Almere in the field of sustainable urban development, which makes Shenzhen automatically part of Almere’s international “Growing Green Cities” network.

PARTNERS
Main partners within the program in Shenzhen are the Chinese University of Hong Kong, China Development Institute, Shenzhen Center for Design, Urbanus, NODE, City of Almere, Delft University of Technology, University of Amsterdam, CAH Almere and Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS).

The conference has been made possible by the generous support of the City of Almere, Creative Industries Fund NL and the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Date: 12 December 2014
Time: 9.30 – 17.30
Location: Schouwburg Almere, Esplanade 10, The Netherlands
Language: English
Entrance (including lunch and drinks): € 35,00 / Students € 5,00

You can buy your ticket directly at the website of Schouwburg Almere



Conference “Shenzhen: From Factory of the World to World City”
Date: 12 December 2014
Time: 9.30 – 17.30
Location: Schouwburg Almere, Esplanade 10, The Netherlands
Language: English
Entrance (including lunch and drinks): € 35,00 / Students € 5,00

You can buy your ticket directly at the website of Schouwburg Almere

See the speakers biographies

SPEAKERS
 Markus Appenzeller (Director and Partner MLA+)
 Juan Du (Associate Professor and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong)
 Simone Eijsink (Head of European and International Affairs at the City of Almere)
 Han Feenstra (Senior Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Economic Affairs)
 Weiwen Huang (Director Shenzhen Center for Design and Deputy Chief Planner, Urban Planning and Land Resource Commission of Shenzhen Municipality)
 Tat Lam (Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Director Urbanus Research Bureau)
 Doreen Liu (Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Founder NODE Architecture & Urbanism)
 Mary Ann O’Donnell (Shenzhen Based Artist-Ethnographer)
 Stephen Read (Associate Professor, Spatial Planning and Strategy, Faculty of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology)
 Arnold Reijndorp (Professor of Social-economic and Spatial Development of New Urban Areas, Centre for Urban Studies at the University of Amsterdam)
 Linda Vlassenrood (Program Director INTI)
 Ronald Wall (Economic Geographer at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies) / Tiffany Tsui (PhD Candidate at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies)

 Christine de Baan and JaapJan Berg (INTI) will moderate the conference.