Events

Governing the Urban in China and India: Land Grabs, Slum Clearance, and the War on Air Pollution

January 14, 2021 - 5pm

Foster 103

East Asia by the Book! CEAS Author Talks ft. Xuefei Ren

Urbanization is rapidly overtaking China and India, the two most populous countries in the world. One-sixth of humanity now lives in either a Chinese or Indian city. This transformation has unleashed enormous pressures on land use, housing, and the environment. Despite the stakes, the workings of urban governance in China and India remain obscure and poorly understood. Professor Ren’s book explores how the two countries govern their cities and how their different styles of governance produce inequality and exclusion.*Marco Garrido will serve as Discussant. Professor Garrido is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago.Xuefei Ren is a comparative urbanist whose work focuses on urban development, governance, architecture, and the built environment in global perspective. Currently she is working on several comparative projects, on urban redevelopment (China, India, Brazil, and U.S), mega-events (Beijing, Tokyo, and Rio Olympics), and culture-led revitalization in post-industrial cities (Detroit, Harbin, and Turin).Initiated in 2016, this annual series showcases CEAS faculty, alumni, and special guests who provide author talks and book launches as a way to engage the broader community in conversations regarding key scholarship on East Asia.This event is co-sponsored with the Seminary Co-op Bookstores and the Committee on Southern Asian Studies.