Dear IACP members and friends,
On behalf of the 2015-2017 IACP board of directors, I am reporting to you what we have accomplished since April 2016 and what we plan to do in the near future.
The IACP Conference has become one of the most influential international conferences on planning in China. The 10th Annual Conference, held at Peking University, attracted 360 abstracts, 50% more than the 9th Annual Conference in Chongqing. More than 400 participants attended the conference. IACP organized the 4th Dean’s Forum with the local host. Deans and chairs of key planning programs in China and other countries exchanged ideas on how to promote planning education, research, and practice in China. Furthermore, IACP collaborated with Beijing Jiaotong University to co-host a pre-conference forum on Transportation and Urban Synergy Development and a writing workshop.
At the annual conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) in Portland, Oregon, IACP led a series of activities to promote China Planning. IACP sponsored China-oriented and theme-oriented sessions, which provided additional platforms for Chinese scholars to present individual papers. These sessions presented the most up-to-date planning developments and cutting-edge research in China, offering opportunities to share China’s planning experience with American audiences. IACP also organized a writing workshop and a panel discussion on faculty applications. The two activities aim to help young students and scholars to become academically successful. Lastly, the IACP reception at the ACSP conference offered IACP members and friends an opportunity to engage with each other.
In addition to the activities in the two traditional conferences, we organized other activities to connect planning scholars and practitioners from China with those from other countries. IACP launched the “Faculty Highlights” program, a WeChat public account, and five WeChat groups. In summer 2016, IACP co-hosted an international workshop on Urban Development and Public Transportation with Renmin University of China, an international conference on ICT, Activity Space-Time and Mobility with Nanjing University, and an international symposium on Spatial Optimization and Atmospheric Environmental Improvement in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Region with Shijiazhuang Tiedao University. IACP board members also delivered research- and education-related seminars at various universities and research institutes in China.
IACP board members and friends have worked tirelessly to promote planning research in China. Over the past several years, IACP has organized many special issues in international journals. IACP completed the editing of four issues for Travel Behavior and Society, Transport Policy, Transportation Research Part D, and Transportation Letters. Three additional issues of the Journal of Urban Affairs, Transportation Research Part D, and Transportation are underway. The 2017 IACP Conference will produce special issues of the Journal of Transport and Land Use, the Journal of Planning History, Natural Hazards, and the Journal of Landscape and Urban Planning. Furthermore, the Conference will host special sessions associated with an edited book to be published by Springer. These special issues and sessions have attracted broad interest from Chinese planning scholars and their counterparts in other countries, providing opportunities for Chinese scholars to stand out on the international stage.
Dr. Yan Song, Dr. Weifeng Li, and Dr. Yiming Wang will chair the 11th IACP Conference at the Harbin Institute of Technology on June 16-18, 2017. We have finished reviewing the abstracts submitted. This year we received about 650, 80% more than in 2016. The international keynote speakers will be Dr. Weiping Wu, from Columbia University, Dr. Thai Ker Liu, from the Center for Livable Cities, Singapore, and Dr. Eric Heikkila, from the University of Southern California. For more information about the conference, please visit http://www.chinaplanning.org/alpha/annual-conference/. On June 16, Dr. Jason Cao and Dr. Hong Leng will chair the 5th Dean’s Forum.
IACP will organize pre-conference and post-conference activities. IACP and Northeastern University will convene an International Workshop on Resilient Cities and Sustainable Planning on June 14-15, 2016. It will be co-chaired by Dr. Weifeng Li and Dr. Hongwei Dong. Five mainland scholars and fourteen international scholars will present at the workshop. IACP and Hunan University will host a forum on June 20-22, 2017. The forum will be co-chaired by Dr. Lingqian Hu and Dr. Zhenhua Chen.
We have raised more than $7,000 for the 2017 IACP conference, and the board of directors is pursuing other funding opportunities. IACP has improved its membership fee structure at the initiative of Dr. Rui Wang. The Communication Committee (Dr. Jianzheng Liu, Mr. Haotian Zhong, and Ms. Chang Liu) have launched a new IACP website (http://www.chinaplanning.org/alpha/), and updated the membership management and conference registration systems. The Academic Affairs Committee (Dr. Shenjing He, Dr. Chenghe Guan, and Dr. Lingqian Hu) have published the 11th issue of the IACP newsletter, which summarizes IACP activities in 2015 and 2016. To access the newsletter, please visit http://www.chinaplanning.org/Newsletter/2016_Newsletter_final.pdf. The Academic Affairs Committee has chosen Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology to be the host of the 2018 conference.
We encourage Chinese planning scholars to attend the 2017 ACSP conference in Denver and are proposing sessions of Chinese scholars. We hope to see many more Chinese scholars in Denver and future ACSP conferences.
Your comments are appreciated. Thank you for your support.
Best wishes,
Jason Cao, Ph.D.
Chair, Board of Directors
International Association for China Planning
Associate professor
Humphrey School of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Scan the QR code below to connect with IACP official WeChat account.
