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Urban Inequality and Segregation in Europe and China
The origins of this book lie in the ‘Urban Transformations: Urban Development, Migration, Segregation and Inequality’ research project, funded by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC, Grant Reference: ES/N007603/1). One of the key goals of that project was to strengthen links between researchers in CASS and colleagues based at the universities of Glasgow and Sheffield,UK. The project culminated in a research conference in the summer of 2017 at the University of Sheffield on ‘Urban Segregation and Inequality in Europe and China’, with an associated methods summer school for early career researchers and PhD students. Speakers at the conference included Prof Tiit Tammaru, Prof Houkai Wei, Prof Ya Ping Wang, Prof Jingjing Shan, Prof Guoqing Li, DrProf Yiming Wang and Prof Gwilym Pryce. The quality of the presentations, and the connections between them, led naturally to the idea of collecting the papers into an editedvolume.
Meanwhile, another set of research connections were emerging between the Sheffield Methods Institute, University of Sheffield, and the Hebei Institute of Statistical Science (HISS), based in Hebei Province, China. HISS is responsible for overseeing the collection and analysis of census data for Hebei, which has a population and land mass of a similar size and scale as the UK. This collaboration led to a successful research bid to the ESRC GlobalChallenges Research Fund to investigate the ‘Dynamics of Health and Environmental Inequalities in Hebei Province,China’ (Grant Reference: ES/P003567/1). Led by Prof Gwilym Pryce, the initiative brought together a research team comprised of Prof Hui Song and Dr Bifeng Wang from the HISS, and Prof Gwilym Pryce, Dr Yu Chen, Dr Tim Birabi and Dr Gwilym Owen from the University of Sheffield (plus additional collaborators from Beijing NormalUniversity, Dr Jing Ma, and the University of Liverpool, UK, Dr Guanpeng Dong).
A key benefit of the Sheffield-HISS collaboration was that it opened up access to the Hebei Province Census data, which in turn led to detailed analysis of inequality and segregation in Hebei using cutting-edge statistical methods. This work was able to progress as a result of follow-on funding from of the ESRC Understanding Inequalities project (Grant Reference ES/P009301/1) of which Prof Gwilym Pryce was Co-Director. This expanded theresearch team to include Prof David Manley, Dr Meng Le Zhang, Dr Dan Olner and Dr Iva Křížková.
As these networks of research collaborations bourgeoned, so did the breadth and depth of the research, and the outcome is what we believe to be a substantial contribution to the field. From the outset, the goal of this collection of essays was that it would not only look back at how inequality and segregation have developed historically in Europe and China, but also that it would look forward to how these phenomena should be researched and addressed in the coming decades. We hope this forward-looking theme will stimulate research and policyinnovation and lead to substantial positive impacts on society.
Another central ethos in the creation of this book is that of communication, not only in terms of fostering a dialogue between European and Chinese researchers, but also with respect to making the text as accessible as possible. A key element in achieving this goal has been the exemplary dedication of copy editor Phil Williams who has gone above and beyond the call of duty in helping us make the text clear and coherent. We are hugely indebted tohim.
Our aim has also been for the text to become a resource that is freely available to researchers and policy makersacross the globe. For this, we are grateful to funding from the ESRC that has enabled us to make the text fully ‘Open Access’ – that is, freely available to download for anyonewith access to the internet. We see this collection not as the last word on segregation and inequality, but as the start of a conversation. In that spirit, we welcome your feedback and your thoughts on how we can progress this important researchagenda.
