Towards a low-carbon city: UCL-PKU strategic partnership workshop

At the beginning of May, the China Planning Research Group from the Bartlett School of Planning (BSP), held the workshop ‘Towards a low-carbon city: environmental governance on climate change - A dialogue between the UK and China.’ The workshop was supported by the UCL-PKU Strategic Partnership Grant and ERC advanced grant China Urban (No. 832845). Academics from UCL, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences and Peking University (PKU) shared their research and insights into strategies and approaches towards more sustainable, low-carbon urban development and governance. 

The aim of the workshop was to foster comparative urban studies through a dialogue between the UK and Chinese experience by identifying best practices, assessing policy transferability, offering tailored solutions, and contributing to global efforts to address carbon emissions and enhance social inclusion in urban industrial development. The comparison also contributes to understanding the complexity and diverse pathways of low-carbon transitions. The workshop was also dedicated to successfully collaborating research and education between UCL and PKU. 

For two days, there were presentations from ten speakers on topics ranging from changing spatial patterns of carbon emissions and their impact to governance frameworks that co-benefit climate-resilient infrastructure and health-promoting initiatives, with case studies from Asia, Europe and North America.  

Professor Fulong Wu, The Bartlett Chair of Planning said: “The dialogue was a great success. It is an initial step towards future collaboration between strategic partners and the event showcases that the Bartlett is the hub of studying China’s built environment. The workshop addresses the issue of climate change confronting our future. It is the best use of the UCL-PKU strategic partnership grant, demonstrating the value of mutual learning in this changing geopolitical environment”.