Rice to host ‘The Sustainable City: Migration and Urban Growth in Shanghai and in Houston’ March 13

Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research and Chao Center for Asian Studies will co-host a presentation called “The Sustainable City: Migration and Urban Growth in Shanghai and in Houston” March 13 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Sewall Hall, Room 309.

The event will feature remarks by Yuan Ren, professor of demography and urban studies at Fudan University. Ren will provide insight on the increasing number of temporary rural migrants in China beginning in the 1980s and accelerating in this century. He will explore the factors that influence the social integration of temporary migrants and recommend public policies that might help develop a more stable and healthy urbanization process in China.

Ren’s presentation will be followed by a panel discussion on urban issues in Houston and Shanghai. Panelists will include Sergio Chavez, assistant professor of sociology at Rice, and Steven Lewis, the C.V. Starr Transnational China Fellow at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and associate director of the Chao Center for Asian Studies. Michael Emerson, co-director of the Kinder Institute, will moderate the event.

The event is free and open to the public. More information is available at www.kinder.rice.edu or by calling 713-348-4132.