Call for paper
New Silk Road and Urban Development in China and Beyond
Organized by
College of Tourism and Environment
Shaanxi Normal University
And
Department of Geography
University of Oregon
August 5-6, 2017
Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China
When Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the project of “One Belt, One Road” to
expand China’s global space, Silk Road, which had connected China and other
countries for centuries, has become a hot topic. It does not only entail the historical
ties that promoted economic and cultural connections, but also China’s rapid
transformation from an inner-looking, but export-oriented country to an emerging
global power having various economic and political interests in Asia, Europe, and
Africa. For the first time since 1978, China formally stops hiding its thunder and
starts to display its global ambition. Silk Road represents a new way of China’s
development, a way emphasizing manufacturing collaboration, infrastructure
construction, technological export, political alliance, and cultural recognition. This
new mode inevitably gets embedded in and reflected by urban development in
China and those countries that participate in One Belt, One Road. China’s global
expansion has significant implications for international political economy and urban
development. In preparation for this expansion, suitable theoretically informed
platforms for understanding and mediating these fundamental changes are needed.
The College of Tourism and Environment, Shaanxi Normal University, and the
Department of Geography, University of Oregon, plan to organize a conference on
“Silk Road and Urban Development,” which will be held August 5-6, 2017. Xi’an, the
capital of Shaanxi Province, has been recognized by President Xi as the starting
point of Silk Road. The city endeavors to expand China’s new global space in central
Asia and the rest of the world.
We plan to invite prestigious economic and political geographers, as well as
established scholars in political science, international relations, history, and other
related disciplines, to share their knowledge of the implications of a rising China for
international political economy. We encourage submissions that engage with the
following themes, but are not limited to:
 China’s transnational regionalization;
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The geographical expansion of Chinese capital and labor;
Theorizing China’s rise and its geo-economic influence;
Chinese culture and its global spread;
Foreign relations (conflicts and collaboration) between China and other
countries;
China, sustainability, and urban environmental change;
Global financial system and Chinese yuan
New urban development and China’s global expansion
Presentation proposals should be 250 words long in English. Please send your
submission (plus a short biography) to [email protected] by 31 March 2017.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent out in 30 April 2017. There is no registration
fee for the conference. We will provide accommodation and meals to presenters
during the conference period. For additional information about the conference,
please contact Xiaobo Su ([email protected]).