The challenges facing cities around the world are not unique and different. Every city grapples with balancing urban growth issues such as affordable housing, equitable transport, social and economic exclusion, and climate change. The examples of city leaders working collaboratively across the globe and sharing strategies are numerous. Much can be learned through travel, collaborations and comparative research, and bringing those experiences to the classroom will better prepare today’s students to solve our city’s problems.
Professors and co-directors of the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth, Julian Juergensmeyer and Ryan Rowberry recently spent two weeks in Hong Kong learning about the city’s metropolitan growth challenges.
Juergensmeyer specializes in land use planning, property law, comparative land use and environmental law. Rowberry’s focus and expertise is in cultural heritage, historic preservation and natural resources law.
“We visited Hong Kong on a Partnership Initiation Grant from the Provost seeking to learn more about the city and establish
Julian Jurgensmeyer, Ben F. Johnson Chair in Law and director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth.
research partnerships in furtherance of Georgia State’s strategic cities iniatives,” Juergensmeyer said.
Georgia State’s strategic cities initiative seeks to expand partnerships in five goal countries including South Africa, Brazil, South Korea, Turkey and China.
“The goal of this trip was to meet with the key players who work on the same metropolitan issues that we tackle in our research and teaching, and establish partnerships. Learning how other major metropolitan areas around the world tackle the same urban growth issues broadens your perspective and helps generate new ideas,” Juergensmeyer said.
During the trip, Juergensmeyer and Rowberry met with approximately 40 researchers, lawyers and city planners, primarily affiliated with City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University. A side trip to Macao and Singapore enabled them to connect with researchers from National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University.
In addition to sparking new research projects, these types of collaborations also enable the Center to partner with new host institutions for its Study Space Program, a weeklong workshop designed to delve into legal, social and policy challenges facing the host city. The location of Study Space changes each year and a program has never been offered in Asia.
Participants in the Study Space Program come from a variety of disciplines and countries, sparking even more collaborative and comparative research opportunities. Participants are required to contribute a scholarly article for publication in the Center’s journal, which is distributed worldwide.
This was Juergensmeyer’s first visit to Hong Kong and the city of over 7 million people made quite an impression.
“It’s overwhelming in terms of urban design, density and opulence,” Juergensmeyer said. “I am struck by how similar the planning, equity and climate change challenges are between Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro – and even to a certain extent Cape Town.”
Ryan Rowberry, associate professor and associate director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth
Rowberry and his wife lived in Beijing and had traveled to Hong Kong in 2002. He was surprised by the changes in the city.
“Hong Kong is like New York on steroids. There’s a very stark contrast between the two Asian cities.” he said. “Seeing the cities back-to-back magnified the differences. Singapore seemed so calm and orderly compared to Hong Kong, and I was impressed with how they incorporated greenspace into the city. They have skyscrapers, but on every third or so floor on the outside of the skyscraper there are trees and plants.”
Rowberry also noted a major difference in how each of the two cities dealt with its history with the British. “Singapore has done a better job preserving their colonial heritage by reusing and rehabilitating old buildings,” he said. “Hong Kong is more like Atlanta in that if something is 20 years old, they tear it down and build something new!”
Ultimately, both professors proclaimed the visit a success with discussions already underway about research opportunities and future Study Space collaborations.