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Dear List Members,

The Regional Studies Association is pleased to announce that the registration site has opened for the 2015 China conference at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, 25^th – 27^th November 2015. Please see below for the call for papers and registration links:

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The world in which we live is still riven by the effects of the economic crisis that started in 2007 and by a range of unresolved conflicts. The world has however started to change in many ways with in particular the economic rise and/or social progress in emerging economies. A new international architecture for political and economic cooperation is starting to take shape (not without disagreement and conflict in some cases) as new development banks are established by the BRICs and in East Asia, as the European Union expands eastwards, as regional cooperation arrangements evolve and as the United States embarks on a pivot to Asia.

These trends are underpinned by trends in comparative global regional and urban development, and are themselves changing the context in which urban and regional development occurs, posing a set of challenges to which cities and regions must respond.

The rise of China is one of the main drivers of the reshaping of the world, although it faces challenges as it seeks to reform its model of development by promoting sustainable and more regionally balanced urbanization. This conference will take place in Hangzhou in eastern China which faces challenges of upgrading although it is already one of the leading centres for e-commerce in China.

The aim of this conference is to consider the ways in which (1) cities and regions throughout the world are facing up to and can adapt to these challenges, (2) cities and regions can help create an architecture and construct relationships that can contribute to the development of a world that is more harmonious (people-people and people nature) and capable of promoting common prosperity and (3) the map of economic and social development is consequently changing. Submission themes:

International co-operation, infrastructure investment, finance and cross-border relationships (including the Silk Road Economic Belt' and the '21st Century Maritime Silk Road', internal and external EU borders)	The role of universities, public research and technology diffusion and transfer in economic development
Sustainable urbanization and regional development	Innovation and entrepreneurship
Nature, resource scarcity climate change and regional development	Methods of urban and regional analysis and data including open and big data
Industrial policy, industrial structure, clusters, global value chains and production networks, smart specialization and spatial shift	Regional and urban planning
Trade, E-commerce, intellectual property and regional development	Finance, financialization and regional and urban development
Employment, labour markets and social inclusion	Regional planning and policy
Population dynamics, migration and urban and regional development	Global production networks and international relations
The social, institutional and ethical foundations of global development (including for example western Enlightenment ideas and ways of seeing urban and regional development, Confucian thought and East Asian models, developmental versus liberal states). Mutual respect, national independence, and urban and regional development. Universal theory versus the social and geographical specificity of development.

The RSA is pleased to announce that there will be a limited number of workshops in Mandarin. We also encourage the submission of proposals for Special Session to be presented in Mandarin.

Plenary Speakers

Professor George Lin, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong, China

Professor Ivan Turok, Human Science Research Council, South Africa

Professor Henry Yeung, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Attendance fee

The conference is open to RSA members and non-members. Fees for members and non-members are shown in the table below.

Please be aware that we are offering Chinese members living and working (permanently) in China (Band C) a reduced attendance fee, which has been heavily subsidised by sponsorship. Please contact Elizabeth Mitchell on[log in to unmask], if you would like to benefit from the reduced fees. Proof of residency may be required. You must be a current 2015 member of the RSA of Chinese Division to benefit from reduced fees.

Those living in Band C countries must pay the price stated below for Band C members.

	Individual Member	Early Career Member	Student Member	Associate Member	Corporate Member	Non-member Member
A	£295	£245	£195	£245	£295	£385
B	£245	£195	£145	£145	£245	£385
C	£120	£115	£95	£95	£120	£385
D	£135	£95	£70	£70	£135	£385
Chinese members reduced fee	£120	£115	£95	£115	£120	£385

Submission of papers

Please submit proposals for papers in the form of a 400-500 word abstract (text only, no pictures, graphs or tables) through the Regional Studies Association online portal by 31^st July 2015. Registration and submission is available on the Regional Studies Association website at: www.regionalstudies.org/conferences

Conference organisation
Professor Mick Dunford, Chinese Academy of Science, China

Professor Weidong Liu, Chinese Academy of Science, China

RSA Organiser:
Please contact Elizabeth Mitchell at [log in to unmask] for further details and questions regarding abstract submission.