From November 24thto 26th, the 1stGuangzhou University(GZHU) - Linkoping University(LiU) Workshop on Sustainable Urban Development was hosted in GZHU. Scholars from Guangzhou and Linkoping exchanged views on an array of issues, namely, “sustainable urban development”, “opportunities and challenges in city development” and “solutions to sustainable urban development and cooperation programs”.
Wang Dong, Deputy Mayor of Guangzhou municipal government, Eva Joelsson, Deputy Mayor of Linkoping Municipality, Zou Cairong, GZHU President and Per Larsson, LiU Senior Advisor addressed the opening ceremony. Approximately 100 representatives and experts from municipal government, GZHU, LiU, other research institutions and enterprises attended the workshop.
Before the workshop, Wang Dong, Deputy Mayor of Guangzhou municipal government, briefly welcomed the delegation led by Eva Joelsson, Deputy Mayor of Linkoping Municipality.
Bases on the theme of “urban cooperation and innovation”, scholars explored solutions to urban environmental pollution prevention, urban waste reclamation and institutional innovation oriented to urban low-carbon management, in the prospect of furthering development in urban ecology, smart city construction, urban planning, environmental education and management. This workshop was targeted to work out approaches to lowering carbon content, fulfilling the strategy of sustainable development with low-carbon and green ideology, and promoting governance capability in modernization.
In the opening ceremony, Wang Dong pointed out that as our country would be in a rapid urbanization process for quite a long period, it was of great significance to exploit fresh power to achieve the goal of sustainable urban development, the human being’s common pursuit. He also claimed that the purpose of setting up the “GZHU-LiU Sustainable Urban Development Research Center” was to propel science and technology research in sustainable development and enhance collaboration in more fields.
President Zou Cairong extended welcome and thanks to the foreign scholars and experts. He stressed that low-carbon, green and sustainable development was not only a global trend for urban construction but also a significant strategic gaol in the process of urbanization with Chinese characteristics. As one of the top universities in Europe, Linkoping University has conducted in-depth researches on urban environmental governance and sustainable urban development. It has also carried out successful practices on the construction of smart and low-carbon city under governmental guidance and market force. Enjoying a high reputation in its teaching quality, School of Environmental Science and Engineering in GZHU achieved huge success in areas such as environmental protection, building engineering efficiency and informatization. Numerous prestigious professors and senior professionals from LiU, universities in Guangdong Province, political and academic circles gathered in this workshop to discuss sustainable urban development, which was literally a global knowledge collision and wisdom blending. President Zou finally expressed good wishes that this workshop could carry forward the development of the related disciplines in GZHU, strengthen capability of scientific research innovation and its service to economy and society, and realize our goal of constructing high-level university.
Eva Joelsson, Deputy Mayor of Linkoping Municipality, and LiU Senior Advisor Per Larsson conveyed sincere expectations that the two sister cities could sustain partnership in various fields including bilateral innovation, coordination, green development, opening and sharing.
It should be noted that on November 27, 2014, Chen Jianhua, Mayor of Guangzhou and Paul Lindvall, Mayor of Linkoping, bore witness to the signature of Mutual Understanding Memorandum and the establishment of GZHU-LiU Sustainable Urban Development Research Center. This joint effort will take advantage of talents of two universities so as to promote research as well as cooperation in more fields.
Chinese