18.06.2025 15:00 CET

In the upcoming session of our Hot Off the Press series, Fangzhu Zhang & Fulong Wu (UCL London) will present their new book, Governing urban development in China. Critical Urban Studies. 

This book investigates urban development and governance in China, exploring how state-centered governance shapes planning, redevelopment, innovation, and environmental policy. Introducing the concept of state entrepreneurialism, authors Fulong Wu and Fangzhu Zhang bridge theory and practice to explain China’s distinct path in governing its rapid urban transformation. Essential reading for scholars of urban studies, geography, and China’s political economy.

About the authors:

Professor Fulong Wu is a distinguished scholar in urban studies, currently serving as the Bartlett Professor of Planning at University College London. Before joining UCL in 2011, he held academic positions at the University of Southampton and Cardiff University. Professor Wu's research focuses on urban development in China, addressing social and sustainability challenges. 

Fangzhu Zhang is a professor of China planning and a joint coordinator for the China Planning Research Group at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London (UCL), UK. She received her BSc from Nanjing University, MPhil from the University of Hong Kong, and PhD from the University of Southampton, UK. She worked in Southampton and Cardiff University before joining in UCL in 2011. Her main research interests focus on innovation and governance, environmental planning and eco-city development, urban financialisation and urban village redevelopment and migrant integration in China.

Discussant: Xuefei Ren (Professor of Sociology & Global Urban Studies, Michigan State University) 

After the presentation there will also be time for a Q&A.

This will be an online event using the zoom platform. Please note it will be recorded.