The RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Birmingham, UK, 26-29 August 2025.

Jingyi Qin shared her work titled ‘The Production of New Consumption Spaces in Urban Regeneration: The Practices of Creative Youth in Shanghai.’ Against the shift in urban China from large‐scale demolition to small, socially embedded regeneration, Shanghai has seen a proliferation of new consumption spaces where business practices are blended with extra-economic, sociocultural values. This study investigates how creative youth shape new consumption spaces in Shanghai, ranging from hipster shopping streets, community business to grassroots independent stores.

Handuo Deng presented her working paper entitled ‘Green space production as a state project in urban China.’ This is a part of her ongoing PhD research on Chengdu. The study investigates the production of urban spaces driven by political intentions that exceed capitalist imperatives. Focusing on green space development in Chengdu, China, the study examines how an environmental project was conceptualised, designed, executed, and promoted by the party-state.

Photos by CPRG