This programme-based field trip is designed to provide opportunities for students to examine first hand development issues and problems in China. Students are encouraged to incorporate what they have learned from the field trip into their dissertations or directed projects.

This is a seminar-type course about the concepts, theories, and practices of regional development. Course contents include the changing interpretations of the meanings of regional development; key policy issues in the practice of regional development such as central-local relations, transnational capital, global production networks, old industrial region revitalization, metropolitan development, industrial clusters, innovation and learning regions; and different approaches to regional development in selected world regions including North America, Western Europe, East Asia and China. The objective is to assist students to develop critical thinking in the evaluation of different perspectives and competing interpretations about the nature and dynamics of public policy and regional development in different historical and geographic contexts.

This course emphasizes on the combination of theory and practical knowledge and skill, aiming to help students develop perspectives for analyzing the interplay between China’s spatial development and globalization. The objectives are to enhance students’ comprehensive ability of critical thinking and problem solving skills, as well as their ability of identifying, examining, and judging business opportunity and challenges as well as problems in the face of globalization era. First, we will examine how China has been increasingly integrated with the world economy and become globalizing. Second, by investigating into important issues such as China’s outward investments in Africa and Latin America, we ask how the rise of China as global economic power is reshaping the landscape of the world economy. Important globalization theories and theories of China’s post-Mao development will be introduced and examined critically throughout the semester. We will re-think the role China plays in connecting with the world and the impact of globalization on China’s ever changing spatial economic development. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to participate actively by sharing their first-hand experience on the transformation of the Chinese economy.

Cultural tourism offers a promising alternative to conventional tourism development, which also contributes to the preservation of the heritage and customs of the place. This course arouses students’ interests in exploring the rapid development of cultural tourism in Hong Kong, Macau and the South China region. This course has three main objectives. First, it aims to introduce the development and characteristics of cultural tourism in Hong Kong, Macau and South China regions. Second, the course aims to let students understand the unique mixed cultural and urban features in the region. Third, the course prompts students to have an awareness on the sustainable management of heritages in Hong Kong, Macau and South China regions. The course examines the dynamic relationship among conservation, sustainable management, social and cultural factors, stakeholders’ interests, tourism marketing and development trends, with various lectures, fieldworks and selected case study projects.

The course introduces the concept of human carrying capacity in China. The capacity symbolizes the balance between population size and environmental resources. In Chinese history, it is shown that the human carrying capacity was periodically shrunk by climate deterioration and human-induced environmental degradation, resulting in catastrophic social consequences such as wars, population collapses and even dynastic changes. Based upon the lessons of the past, together with recent trends in climate change and social development, the human carrying capacity in contemporary China will be systematically examined. Some controversial issues related to man-environment interaction will also be discussed.

The general aim of this course is to highlight and explain the roles of land governance and housing provision for the development of China. It will introduce land as a key resource and explain the fundamental changes both of land use and land management in China. In view of rapid urbanisation, special attention will be paid to the conversion of farm and rural land into built-up and urban land. Land policies profoundly influence the economic, environmental and social development of the country. This is discussed in the context of the so-called new urbanisation policies and the paradigm of sustainable development. Within the development process, the provision of quantitatively and qualitatively sufficient housing is essential for the social development and political stability of the country. Housing supply is therefore a major, although not the only, driving force of land development. The course analyses the roles of the state, the real estate industry and individuals in housing provision and governance. It views housing not just as a physical shelter, but also as a home and part of a broader neighbourhood.

Due to its geographic characteristics and its large population, China is prone to natural resources degradation. Environmental problems have been accelerated by the rapid economic growth of recent years, high intensity of energy use, particularly in the industrial sector, and economic and pricing policies that have not taken into account the intrinsic value of resources. These factors combine to cause over-exploitation of natural resources. To critically analyze China’s development, this course comprises three main parts. Following the introduction, Part I provides an overview of the state of the country’s natural environment. Part II focuses on the institution, legislative and administrative framework for environment protection and nature conservation. Finally, Part III discusses the government’s strategy for the environment and sustainable development as stipulated in recent Five-Year plans and China’s Agenda 21.

This course examines the ideology, institutions, and processes of the contemporary Chinese political system and offers a critical assessment of the social, economic and political changes unfolding in China. The Chinese Communist revolution in 1949 has profound repercussions for China and the world community. The first three decades of the People’s Republic of China were characterized by drastic socio-economic transformation and political mobilization initiated by Mao Zedong. China’s post-Mao leaders have not only abandoned Mao’s radicalism, but also attempted to reform the socialist economic and political systems and open up the country to the outside world. China’s reform policy since 1978 has produced major achievements in a variety of areas, despite periodic disruptions and continuing difficulties in some sectors. China’s recent economic development and growing role in international affairs have attracted worldwide attention. Studying China’s governance will constitute a key issue on the scholarly and policy agendas of many countries for years to come.

This course is an introductory course to big data and geographic information science (GIS) for China development studies. Big data can be referred to as the high volume, diversity and velocity of data. GIS is a science that creates, manages, analyzes, and maps all types of data. Big data and GIS are employed in this course to provide fundamental and quantitative datasets and technology for China development applications, i.e., urban socioeconomic analysis, urban expansion driving factors analysis, environment deterioration analysis. Census data, crowdsourcing data, and remote sensing data and etc. will be used and the spatial analysis and geoprocessing methods will be introduced. The advanced big data and GIS analysis techniques are essential tools to support urban planning, resource management, environment assessment and policy making in social, economic and environment context, which can further support studies on China’s sustainable development.

The course introduces the concept of Green Infrastructure (GI) and its application in policies and practice. Using international examples focused on the design, development, and investment in GI the course examines the links, as well as the contestations, between the principles of landscape and urban sustainability and the implementation of these theories in planning practice.

The course takes a purposefully broad approach to these debates integrating both conceptual and real-world examples from planning, geography, urban, environmental and landscape practice to present GI as a “polymath” term applicable to diverse climatic, development and economic scenarios found across the built and natural environment.

The focus on the conceptual, spatial, disciplinary, and temporal presentations of GI outlined in the academic, policy and practice literature are key aspects to the course. Assessing landscape and urban change from multiple perspectives provide a set of analytical lenses through which the form, focus and delivery of GI can be assessed against competing socio-cultural, political, economic, and ecological needs. This is complimented through the discussion and deconstruction of the concept’s principles in international practice highlighting where synergies and diversity occurs alternative approaches to development.

As an introductory course, this course focuses on the quantitative and spatial analytic methods in social research. It consists of data collection, data preparation, data analysis, and result interpretation. Theoretical background and practical exercises will be introduced during the lectures. Using real-world data, students are able to learn how to decide appropriate methods in answering research questions.

This course examines theoretical and empirical research that addresses two of the key themes related to the process of innovation in a knowledge-based economy: the process by which new knowledge is created and effectively transferred; and the paradoxical relationship between knowledge generation and proximity in a modern global economy. In doing so, this course surveys the current state of knowledge concerning regional economic development, knowledge circulation, innovation, and globalization. This course further explores the implications of this understanding for public policies designed to promote the growth of dynamic city regions.