The following reports are based on small group discussions held on the opening and closing days of the conference.  They offer many suggestions about research questions and opportunities for new collaborative projects.
 

Discussion group: Migration and its impacts.  Reporter Weiping Wu.

Our group discussed five themes that we considered important research agendas, given our specialized interests.  They are: 
(1) The further integration into the global economy and reforms of the state sector are leading to significant restructuring of the urban economy.  How will this affect the labor force and urban population?
(2) Even given the large magnitude of migrant population in cities, the institutional structure continues to exclude them, particularly in the areas of service and social protection.  How can this be corrected? 
(3) With the creation of new spatial nodes that cater to the demands of the global market, how will the new and old urban nodes connect? 
(4) Given the increasing economic competition among cities, we need to have better theoretical analysis and empirical evidence on the concept of "urban entrepreneurship." 
(5) We need to know more about how better urban services can be provided by an array of non-governmental institutions and non-public groups in working with the public sector.
Our group focused on how difficult it was to obtain official survey data on migration at the municipal level. 
Chinese scholars expressed interest to collaborate with scholars from the west, especially to strengthen theoretical research for publication in international journals with empirical evidence already in hand.
 

Discussion group: Urban administration and management.  Reporter Xiangming Chen.

The discussion focused heavily on issues related to the natural and built environments of the city, with a distintive emphasis on the provision and management of water and water supply system in Chinese cities.  One geographer has been conducting dissertation research on water management in Jinan and Xi'an, focusing on the benefits from shifting toward a more decentralized model of water supply.  A senior Chinese scholar pressed for more research on what he called the environmental economics of Chinese cities.  Basically, he was advocating a more environmentally sound and sustainable growth for Chinese cities. 
Other interests included the real estate market of Shanghai and children of the floating population in Chinese cities.
The group received positive and encouraging response from the two bureau directors of Pudong (land and urban construction) in terms of support for research.
The essential implication I could derive from the group discussion is that we need to seriously study the relationship between rapid economic growth and its environmental consequences.  The topic may have been relatively under-researched in comparison to other major topics covered by the conference.
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Discussion group: Urban social life.  Reporter George Lin.

Below is a list of some of the major issues we raised during our discussion.  Obviously, this list of issues is a reflection of different individuals with different points of view. But we reached a consensus that these are the issues that deserve further investigation. 
1. The impacts of globalization on urban life in Chinese cities 
2. Causes and consequences of social segregation and segmentation in Chinese cities 
3. The interrelationship between identity and mobility 
4. Changes in Chinese urban political economy and their impacts on urban development 
5. The interrelationship between urbanization and environmental changes 
6. Gender and urbanization, particularly how women are alienated in the urbanizing society 
7. Comparison of Chinese suburbanization/metropolitan development with its counterparts in North America 
8. Changes of traditional Chinese culture and individual behaviour as a result of urbanization 
 

Discussion group: Social spatial differentiation and community development. Reporter: Fulong Wu

The theme of our discussion is to link urban forms with urban development processes. Participants in this group generally feel that the political economic perspective, especially the concept of growth alliance in real estate development, would be very useful in the Chinese context. 
Several issues are raised in the discussion:
1. The use of 'small area' data, namely population census at the sub-district level (Street Office District), can provide an empirical analysis for the new social geography. However, it appears that it is extremely difficult to obtain such data because household registration is recorded in the Bureau of Public Security. The boundaries of SOD change from time to time, especially at the urban-rural fringe where new SODs have been created. Despite the difficulty, it is still possible to carry out such an analysis, which will be of significance and originality. Simply, we don't how urban space is differentiated in China, or whether there is an increasing spatial differentiation, although there is enough evidence to suggest social polarisation does happen in the post reform period. Researchers also feel that with the assistance of Geographical Information System (GIS), we can set up a database for processing population redistribution. 
2. Community development is becoming a topical issue in urban studies in China. In the past, the community is residual of a state machine. In contrast, work places were relatively important. The economic reform has changed this feature. Now it becomes increasingly obvious that the community should undertake many functions of social welfare. However, it will still take time to formulate a workable strategy for community development. 
3. Related to the need to study community development is how to study the provision of community services as well as the satisfaction of residents over such provision. This is a perspective to focus on people. Housing for elderly people, for example, is such an issue. 
4. Related to social spatial differentiation is the study of urban land development and redevelopment policies. It has been said that under the new land use system, the government played a leading role in redevelopment. But it is also imperative to consider the complex relationship among the public and private. 
5. Along with rapid increase of temporary migrants in large Chinese cities, we need to consider how to integrate those who are de facto urban residents but still not recognised by the old social institution into the development of local communities. 
6. The officials from Pudong Social Development Bureau mentioned that they were confronted with the task of finding new growth areas in Pudong, Shanghai. They are most interested in the question how to incorporate the education function into urban land use planning, as for the moment no piece of land is dedicated to the use of education in Pudong.
Some potential research areas are identified: to develop a basic database for urban social segregation analysis and to understand how urban development and redevelopment processes affect residents and migrants. 
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Discussion group: Urban growth and development.  Reporter Lawrence Ma.

Discussions fell into three areas:
(1) Urban employment and unemployment, including employment issues at state-run units and multinational corporations.  It was pointed out that employment and unemployment issues differ greatly not only by enterprise type (state, collective, private and joint venture units) but also within the same type of enterprises.  The question of massive layoff (xiagang) by state units demands special attention, but very surpassingly little research has been done.  In seeking jobs, urban workers are beginning to accept less desirable jobs that until recently were taken only by rural migrants.  How these urban workers redefine their identity in the wake of job change is also an interesting issue.  A subset of this interesting issue is female un- and re-employment.  We need good case studies based on specific enterprises.
(2) The provision of urban services and social support systems, including the highly important issues of the rapidly changing systems of medical care.  The role of women in social support and the provision of social services is especially important. 
(3) Migrants' adaptation and integration in the cities. 
In planning for future activities, it might be useful to concentrate initially on one or two broad programs, under which a few related smaller projects are structured.  One such broad program might be "community studies."  The term community is new to China and there is no good definition. We all know that there are many areas in Chinese cities where residential density is high but where there is no community.  On the other hand, there are also places where a strong sense of community is present.  A very interesting issue is what role does urban neighborhood office (a sort of a bridge between the grassroots local state and residents) play in organizing and regulating community activities in both old and new neighborhoods.
I have a strong research interest in the nature and formation of various types of migrant communities in the cities.  There is a need to find out which cities have the largest migrant enclaves.  We need to go beyond simple migrant population totals in the cities to see whether they have formed their own communities.  We also need to go beyond Shanghai and Beijing to see what is the situation of migrant concentration in other cities.
Another potentially productive area is "changing urban land use" patterns.   A large amount of urban industrial land has been converted to tertiary use since the 1980s after urban land use reforms.  This represents a major internal restructuring of China's urban economy and space.  Many old industries have moved to suburbs.  Together with housing rehabilitation and transportation improvement in the urban core and new housing construction in the suburbs, "suburbanization" has emerged as a new social and geographic phenomenon that deserves scholarly attention. 
 

Discussion group: Globalization.  Reporter  Michael Leaf 

This group was organized under the broad rubric “globalization” and consisted of researchers whose work touches on one or another of the trans-border flows (of capital, people, ideas, culture, etc.).  A couple of preliminary points are necessary for understanding the discussions of the group:
1) that globalization is a multi-faceted phenomenon, and does not just refer to capital flows, foreign investment or the aspirations to global hegemony by western trans-national corporations.  A conceptualization of globalization which emphasizes the multiplicity of flows through network structures (i.e. non-hierarchical or semi-hierarchical) is appropriate here. 
2) that globalization is multi-scalar in its actions and its impacts.  Globalization should therefore not just be studied at the scale of the globe nor even the nation-state.  In contrast, the various research interests of the people in this discussion group emphasize the muddy end of globalism, by looking at the local impacts of particular facets of network interrelationships.
The topics discussed by the group were not purely about globalization per se, but rather about how globalization and forms of network interaction are manifest in so many spheres of human endeavour related to the current processes of Chinese urbanization.  These include:
1) the role of business and scientific networks in the development of the high-tech sector in Zhongguancun in Beijing, both locally and trans-nationally.
2) Korean investment in China, particularly how specific regional spatial impacts are related to different scales of investment and differing investment goals and policies.
3) the changing political economy of Shanghai, and how this is shaped by Shanghai’s relationship to the central government, with an emphasis on the various modes of accommodation and resistance to globalization.
4) rural land use changes (urbanization of the Chinese countryside), and the implications of changing property rights regimes.
5) the role of Hong Kong in the Chinese diaspora, both with regard to the changing internal dynamics of Hong Kong and the role of the city as hub in diasporic networks.
6) the function of local transportation networks in the outward expansion of Beijing.
7) spatial and physical impacts of overseas connections in the development of cities in Fujian, with a particular interest in the role of temple associations.
8) comparative analysis of Chinese urbanization processes with those of other Asian countries, particularly Vietnam.
In reflecting upon this list of research interests, it might be advisable to change the name of this discussion group from “globalization” to “networks”, as it is the emphasis on network connections, both within China and between China and the world, that pulls together the diverse interests of the people in this group. 
 

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