Media

Scholars and Practitioners in Three Great Cities Join Hands to Accelerate the Process of Learning in Managing World Cities

23 Oct 2008

  "Linked by a shared economic culture, New York City, London and Hong Kong are 
exemplars and explanations of globalization"
declared Time magazine's 28 January 2008 cover story on Ny-lon-kong.

        More than 250 local and international academics, business and community leaders, senior executives and professionals, think tanks and government officials attended a high-profile 3-day Inaugural Conference of the "Managing World Cities: Hong Kong-London-New York" held in Hong Kong on October 23 - 25, 2008 (Thursday to Saturday).  Local and overseas renowned speakers from these three world's great cities shared their views on making and managing a world city.   

        The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Honourable Donald Tsang and the Council Chairman of The University of Hong Kong, Dr. Victor K. Fung attended the Opening Ceremony and delivered keynote speeches.  

        Professor Christopher Dandeker from the King's College London expressed that King's has a particular interest in the study of the challenges facing world cities, including energy use and pollution, migration, housing and labour markets, policing, transports, culture and creative industries, architecture and the spatial environment.  "The project is timely, as the collaboration will develop against the backcloth of the Olympic Games in 2012," he said.

        Professor Dennis Smith from the New York University said that in designing many of its policy and management reforms, the City has drawn on the experience of other world cities to a degree unprecedented in previous administrations.  "To sustain and continue its upward trajectory, New York needs to expand even further its search for innovative, effective solutions to the problems and challenges it faces."

        The Conference provides a platform for academics, policymakers and NGO leaders to identify major challenges confronting world cities, and to discuss ways to enhance governance and management in Hong Kong, London and New York through roundtable discussions focused on a cluster of policy areas.  In this way, the academic collaboration that is at the heart of the Managing World Cities initiative will be informed by practitioner concerns. (October 24)

        On the third day, the Conference will turn into a business meeting for academic research collaborators. The major objective is to reflect on the roundtable discussions conducted on the second day, to develop specific research themes, and to build research teams around them. (October 25)

        This Conference is co-organized by The Central Policy Unit, the Faculty of Social Sciences at The University of Hong Kong, the School of Social Science and Public Policy at King's College London, and the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University.

        Managing World Cities: Hong Kong-London-New York global research initiative, scheduled over four years in the first instance, is to establish a tripartite research collaboration focused on policy and management challenges in these three world's great cities with a view to extending the frontiers of academic research and enabling policy learning to take place across the three cities.  Subsequent major conferences will be hosted by New York University in July/August 2010 and King's College London in October/November 2012.

Notes to Editors:
1.     For the speech of the Chief Executive, please visit  http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200810/23/P200810230115.htm
2.     Interviews with speakers to be arranged upon request by press members.
3.     Medium: English
4.     For media enquiries, please contact Miss Vanessa Sit, Faculty of Social Sciences, HKU (Tel: 2859 2983 / 9267 8877,  email: vansit@hku.hk)