Editorial
Antoine Loubière, Editor-in-chief of “Urbanisme”, outlines the contents of the special feature entitled “Chinese Cities on the Move”, produced in partnership with l’Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement (PSA Peugeot-Citroën) / The City on the Move Institute. The IVM organised an international symposium in Beijing from 11 to 13 October 2004 on the subject of “Urban mobilities: the research issues in China and abroad”. The feature contains a report on this symposium and on the Chinese city workshops dedicated to Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Wuhan.

The rebirth of Chinese cities
Paradoxically, in spite of being in the grips of globalisation, metropolisation and the constraints of ever more complex urban management, Chinese cities seem to be undergoing a normalisation process. The reforms initiated over 20 years ago have completely changed the urban scene in China inherited from Maoism. Jean-François Doulet, who teaches at l’Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and heads the IVM’s China programme, explains this change.

Round-table discussion: French views on Chinese cities
This round-table discussion brought together French researchers (François Ascher, Georges Amar) and French urban development professionals (Bernard Reichen, Laurent Théry, Étienne Tricaud) involved in IVM initiatives in China. The participants first discussed the conditions in which Chinese cities develop. They then discussed the part played by mobility in the structuring of Chinese cities, asking themselves if there was a “Chinese model” of urban development in contrast to the European and US models.

The International Symposium in Beijing (11-13 October 2004)
After a presentation of the IVM’s China programme, based notably on an interview with its Secretary General, Xavier Fels, head of external relations at PSA Peugeot-Citroën, there is a comprehensive report on the four themes covered by the plenary sessions of the symposium (“Transport and Urban Development”, “The Social Dimension of Transport”, “Multimodal Mobility”, “Infrastructures, Landscapes and the Environment”, “Organisational Innovations, Technical Innovations”) and on the content of the four Chinese city workshops. This report underscores the great extent to which the analyses of Chinese and foreign researchers converge, as well as the scale of the challenges Chinese cities face. Readers will also find the complete text of the symposium’s concluding summary speech by Professor Jean-Pierre Orfeuil (Institut d’urbanisme de Paris).

Articles by Chinese researchers
Zhuo Jian, a former senior lecturer in urban planning at Tongji University in Shanghai, who is currently a doctoral student at the Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés (LATTS) of l’École nationale des ponts et chaussées (France), reviews the history of Chinese urban planning.

Zhang Tingwei, associate professor at the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs in the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), highlights the changes in Chinese urban planning, notably the recent emergence of urban development “products” generated by the laws of the market economy.

Professor Pan Haixiao, of the urban planning department of Tongji University in Shanghai, takes stock of the progress made in analysing and processing research data on transport, listing the problems that remain to be solved in order to improve the planning of urban transport in China.

Wu Fulong, who teaches at the geography department of Southampton University (United Kingdom), presents surveys on residential mobility in China, particularly in Shanghai, showing how fast social and spatial segregation is increasing in China.

Perpetual motion
How can cinema make us aware of the great transformation of the urban landscape in Beijing? Since 1990 the films made by film director Ning Ying, notably her trilogy dedicated to Beijing, have recorded the physical changes that have occurred in Chinese cities as well as the mental changes experienced by their inhabitants. In this article, she elaborates on her approach as a filmmaker, based on a sensitive analysis of the underlying changes affecting a society full of paradox.

Events
This double page presents several initiatives (competitions, exhibitions, symposiums, etc.) relating to Chinese cities, architecture and urban planning that are due to take place in the coming months, particularly as part of the France in China Year.