Part 2: International Association of China Planning Conference

During my stay in Shanghai, I attended the International Association of China Planning Annual Conference. This year the topic was "Building Resilient Cities" -- something I've been doing some research on at UCLA this past year. The conference was equal parts awkward and awesome, as I didn't know any other people there and most of the attendees were not native English speakers. I'm never super comfortable injecting myself into conversations with strangers; at the conference I was even more reticent to do so since the language barrier was potentially so high.

But, I made it through. Some of the sessions were very interesting, discussing the fallout from the big 2008 earthquake in Sichuan and how the country has rapidly rebuilt. It was particularly interesting starting off my summer in a community of academics, both American and Chinese (and a few Europeans), who feel pretty comfortable being critical of the way planning is happening in China. I have only been at my internship in Chongqing a few days (more on that, to come) and already I think the attitude is quite different. This cultural divide between academics and practitioners exists in the US, as well.

The conference was held on the Shanghai Jiao Tong University campus, a very technical school that apparently has been called "the MIT of China." The campus was pretty nice!

Main quad:

Shanghai Jiao Tong University Law School:

Main quad, facing the grassy area:

I did also make it to the Bund the morning the conference started. It was pouring rain, so not the best photo opportunity, but the fog and clouds give it a bit of an apocalyptic vibe. Here's Pudong, across the river:

And The Bund, mostly western-style buildings: (historic preservation!)

And finally, to end this set, a funny sign I managed to catch out the window of a cab (dozens and dozens of examples of this):