Cities are places of social innovation and engines of economic growth. They attract dynamic groups of society, they provide vast opportunities of inter-action, communication and exchange of knowledge, and they thereby lay the foundation for attracting large shares of R&D investment and an innovative service sector. Thus, social integration is directly linked with economic prosperity of cities. This is true for European and Chinese urban development but especially relevant for China as, promoted by various levels of governments, the country is transitioning from a less urban to a more urbanized society with increasingly intensified land use and higher quality of life.
With 8 European and 6 Chinese expert organisations on socially integrative cities, TRANS-URBAN-EU-CHINA will combine the best of both worlds to create new insights, practices and role models in sustainable urban transitions in China. The Chinese team of partners from government agencies and academia will exert a direct impact on society through their national responsibilities for regional and urban planning, research and education. The European partners will play a similar role through their leading positions in European knowledge organisations. The External Advisory Board will secure a global reach. 2 Chinese Living Labs and 60 Reference Cities from Europe and China will ensure the solidity and the relevance of the outcomes. This combination of partners will provide a valuable contribution to an improved EU-China reciprocal knowledge on urbanisation processes.
The project focuses on: