CHINA NOW Report: Urbanisation Conference Held at RIBA

On Friday 25th April CHINA NOW, the UK's largest ever festival of Chinese culture, hosted the Shui On Land closed conference on Urbanisation for a select number of professionals and academics at RIBA.

The one-day conference comprised of a rolling panel of speakers who examined the recent wave of Urbanisation in China.

Introduction to the Conference
In the context of slow down in the West, it was highlighted how the world is now ever more dependent upon China for growth. Urbanisation has been a key strategy, with rural to urban migration as well as massive investment in real estate and infrastructure driving what has become the greatest wave of urbanisation the planet has ever witnessed.

However, with speed and profit-maximisation dominating development processes, little time is left to consider the overall quality of the urban fabric under production. Essential to the continuing success of China's cities will be their continuing appeal - their ability to attract labour, information and financial capital, and to sustain demand for the super-heated supply side of the property market.

If it is to avoid a crunch of its own, China will need to convince both its own citizens and the global community at large that this wave of urbanisation, consuming half the world's cement and one third of its steel, and constituting one of the greatest undertakings of human civilisation, is indeed a good thing.