International symposium on climate change hosted by Cardiff’s Confucius Institute

Confucius Institute together with the university’s School of Planning and Geography hosted the 2015 International Symposium on Climate Change and Adapted Sustainable Planning and Development (CPLAN) this October.

Cardiff’s Confucius Institute, which is based within the School of Modern Languages, supports a variety of collaborations between Wales and China.

Although climate change and sustainable planning and development is of interest to all, China’s industrialization since the 1960s has very much brought these matters to the fore in common with peoples throughout the world.

Subsequently the event, which was hosted across two days from 8 October, attracted very many delegates and speakers from China who wished to contribute to the debate.

The aim of this event was to bring together academic experts and practitioners from China but also the UK and Europe and provide them with an opportunity to share recent learning and developments.  A wide range of international academics and experts shared their knowledge on topics such as China’s urbanization plans, urban planning and design and climate injustice. Senior UK delegates at the symposium included Janet Askew, President of the Royal Town Planning Institute, Professor Greg Lloyd, Emeritus Professor in Planning at the University of Ulster and Professor Charles Choguill of Habitat International.

This was not the first time that the Confucius Institute has worked together with CPLAN after hosting last year’s successful Low-Carbon Eco-Cities event which allowed experts in the field to share research and practices of low carbon and eco-cities planning and development.

Victoria Grant of the Confucius Institute said, “Events such as this really highlight the global reach of an organization such as the Confucius Institute. We have facilitated a meaningful and varied debate on topics which are not only of massive importance to China but also to the rest of the world.”