Interdisciplinary Workshop on "Urbanization" at ZDS Peking
Worldwide, an increasing drift of population from the countryside to urban centers can be observed. According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme Habitat, until 2030 approximately two thirds of the world population will live in urban regions. An especially rapid urbanization takes place in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, involving numerous urbanistic, sociopolitical and environmental challenges. In China, the number of megacities is continuously increasing. Until 2030, the metropolitan area Beijing is supposed to have become the new "megatropolis" Jing-Jin-Ji with up to 130,000,000 inhabitants. But also in Germany a noticeable growth of the big cities can be recorded, while at the same time some rural areas are being depopulated. In order to take these phenomenons into consideration from a well-proven interdisciplinary perspective, scholars from China and Germany gathered on October 14 and 15 at the ZDS Peking.
News from Oct 17, 2017
The talks drew a bow from China to Germany, from the middle ages to the presence, from lenghty development processes to short-range political measures. Once more, the interdisciplinary approach proved to be especially fruitful. Scholars from (Urban) Sociology, Law, Administrative Sciences, Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Science and Political Science provided for the analysis of the topic from highly manyfold perspectives. That fitted with the metaphor Dr. Sven Hänke, representative of the DAAD liaison office Beijing, found for the ZDS in his welcoming speech at the beginning of the workshop: a lighthouse with all colors of the rainbow which sends out its glistening rays with especially numerous light bulbs.