Launch of the new Centre for Social Policy and Social Change

To echo the University’s strategic research theme “Comparative Social Policy and Governance and Social Justice”, the Centre for Social Policy and Social Change (CSPSC) was newly launched with a major symposium sponsored by the Housing Studies Charitable Trust on “The Role of Housing in China’s Social Transformation” held on 25 and 26 June at City University of Hong Kong and Lingnan University respectively.

 

The symposium co-organisers, Prof Ray FORREST, Director of the CSPSC, Prof YIP Ngai-Ming from City University of Hong Kong and Prof CHEN Jie from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics were joined by a group of experts from around the world to examine the dramatic changes which have impacted China’s housing sector over the last three decades.  In that period, China has been transformed from a society of renters to a society of home owners with one of the highest rates of home ownership in the world.  These changes have had far-reaching social and economic consequences in relation to property rights, housing costs, wealth accumulation and wider social inequalities.  Whilst some have done very well from the rapid escalation in property prices, many struggle to get a foot on the property ladder.  Indeed, cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai now represent some of the least affordable housing markets internationally.

 

By bringing together a group of social scientists with a wide variety of disciplinary skills and experiences, the Centre aims to develop local, international and comparative research that is policy relevant and engages with some of the key challenges facing governments and households in this rapidly changing world.

 

Please click here to know more about the Centre for Social Policy and Social Change.

Launch of the new Centre for Social Policy and Social Change