Inter-University Seminar on Asian Megacities 'Asian Urbanism and Beyond'

Organized by the Urban Studies Programme, the Department of Geography and Resource Management and the Faculty of Social Science, an international conference titled “Inter-University Seminar on Asian Megacities: Asian Urbanism and Beyond” was held from August 15 to 17. An opening ceremony was held on the first day of the Conference and was officiated by Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof. Fanny Cheung and Director of Planning Ling Kar-kan.

The three-day conference featured five keynote presentations, twenty thematic sessions and three post-conference technical tours, attracting more than 150 scholars from 15 countries.

Aiming to explore the nature, evolution and uniqueness of urbanization issues and processes in Asian megacities, the Conference covered a wide range of topics, including urban development, urban planning history, housing matters, architecture, conservation and urban design.  Five keynote speakers, including Prof. Harry Dimitriou of University of College London, Prof. Gu Chaolin of Tsinghua University, Prof. Anne Haila of University of Helsinki, Prof. Ananya Roy of University of California, Berkeley and Prof. Wu Fulong of University College of London took the challenge of understanding Asian urbanism seriously and argued for the need to generate theories that spoke to the realities and unique contexts in Asia.