Urbanitis 2016 “Building the City from the Bottom Up” – Forum

Co-organised by Sinapolis, Dédale Agency, and the Sino-French Research Center of Tsinghua University, the Urbanitis Forum encourages integration of French and Chinese approaches to shaping the city by bringing together researchers, creative professionals, community workers, institutions and decision-makers from both countries during the two-day event in Beijing. The first edition of the forum, ‘Building the City from the Bottom Up’, takes place in September 2016 during Beijing Design Week and the Third edition of the Chinese-French Environmental Month. It interrogates the question of public participation in urbanization processes within China and France by devolving this theme into component fields of urban planning, migrant integration, environmental management, new technologies, and art in the city.

Leaning on the diversity of French and Chinese experiences in city-making, the Forum’s four panels facilitates discussion around “bottom-up” initiatives in which citizens assume and transform the city into a more liveable and sustainable space. Utilising various approaches based on theoretical analyses and practical cases, the panels also leed participating actors to reflect on roles for city professionals and authorities to promote grassroots projects. Alongside these roundtable dialogues, the Forum hosts European Creative Artizen Project through an interactive workshop series on art and culture in the city.

Date: September 28 & 29, 2016
Location: Theater 77, Meishuguan Houjie, and The Global School, Baitasi, Beijing
Organizers: Sinapolis, Dedale, CFC, with the support, French Embassy to China and French Institute, and EU Commission (Europe Creative)
Link: Sinapolis, Urbanitis 2016