Program Overview
Program Overview
During the last 30 years, in addition to numerous deep-reaching social and political changes, China has undertaken an immense and unprecedented experiment of explosive economic transformation. This has led to significant improvements in the material lives of hundreds of millions of people, but at the same time, has created substantial social inequalities and environmental burdens. The need for sustainable practices in China—balancing environmental, sociocultural, and economic needs during development—is acute, and the consequences of failure to do better will not only compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, but will also impact current generations. During this seminar, we’ll examine this vitally important issue and the sweeping changes impacting the varied communities in China—including the problems and solutions, conflicts and compromises, different discourses and questions about survival, identity, and the future of a nation.
Program Activities
Program Activities
Lectures, discussions, site visits, and community field visits will provide participants with a fairly comprehensive picture of sustainability issues in both Chinese urban centers and rural villages.
Program Objectives
Program Objectives
During this seminar, participants will:
- Articulate and interpret the sociocultural, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability.
- Comprehend the various sustainability needs and challenges for China and the world through observation and discussion.
- Understand the enormous gap in conditions between urban and rural areas in China, and also the related rural-urban poles of sustainability challenges and their interconnectedness in China.
- Identify and analyze key features of domestic sustainability in China including the role of state actors, the private sector, and civil society.
- Discuss succinctly, in appropriate “sustainability” terms, the relationship between environmental sociocultural and economic development in China.
Seminar Locations
Seminar Locations
Based in Beijing with overnight excursions to a rural region of Hebei or Shanxi provinces; participants fly in and out of Beijing.