The Bartlett School of Planning visits PKU University

The visit was an opportunity for The Bartlett School of Planning (BSP) to meet with a range of planning, urban design and geography scholars from Peking Unviersity (PKU) and Tsinghua University, while showcasing the work of The Bartlett and the BSP.  

As part of the visit, Professor Mike Raco discussed his book London (written with Frances Brill; Agenda Publishing, 2022) with a focus on ‘Who is Governing London?’, while Professor Lauren Andres presented the key insights from her forthcoming monograph  Adaptable Cities and Temporary Urbanisms (Columbia University Press, February 2025). 

In partnership with Dr Lun Lui (PKU), Professor Andres organised a workshop on ‘Urban Transformations and the Future of Urban Governance’. Professor Raco talked about the key challenges for Global Cities Governance in the 21st century, with Professor Andres sparking a discussion with attendees with the question of Governing uncertainty: Adaptive resilience in a context of polycrisis.  

Other participants included  Professor Jiayang Liu (School of Architecture, Tsinghua University), Professor Xiaolei Hou (School of Architecture, Central Academy of Fine Artsà), Professor Tieshan Sun (School of Government, Peking University), Professor Lun Liu (School of Government, Peking University), Dr Jianting Zhao (Faculty of Architecture, University of Hong Kong) as well as Yuxi Xiong (Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge), former BSP Alumni. 

 The visit was supplemented by site visits in Beijing and discussions aimed at consolidating and building relationships between the two world-leading centres.  

Professor Lauren Andres said:

“The invitation we received from PKU allowed us to witness the unprecedented and recent transformations of Beijing and provided us with unvaluable insights about the challenges faced by urban planners. It was an extremely productive visit which will strongly benefit the BSP in the future.”