On 22-23 April, School of Economics and Management of Tongji University organised a workshop on digital transformation strategies for mega cities in an urban renewal perspective. The two-day conference was held simultaneously online and offline, with three sub-forums: the main forum, the young scholars’ sub-forum, and the industry and regional representatives sub-forum. Dozens of experts and scholars from France, UK, Switzerland, Spain and other parts of China participated in the conference through online and offline approaches.Professor SHI Qian, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Economics and Management at Tongji University, and Professor CHENG Mingwang, Vice Dean and “Yangtze River Scholar” from the Ministry of Education, delivered speeches at the opening and closing ceremonies of the conference.

Professor LAN Zhiyong from Tsinghua University, Professor ZHOU Xianghong from Tongji University, Professor LI Dongquan from Renmin University of China, Professor Raymond Saner from Basel University, Professor Sebastian Descours from La Sorbonne University of ETHIRES, Professor Mateu Turro Calvert from Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Mr. Peter Thomas, Honorary Chairman of the Kensington Chelsea Music Society, and Mr. Lichia Saner Yiu, President of the Geneva Center for Socio-Eco-Nomic Development, delivered keynote speeches at the main forum. The speeches focused on Shanghai, China, Nanjing, Geneva, Switzerland, Basel, Paris, London, England, Madrid, Spain, etc. The experts had a wonderful discussion on pathways to future cities and digital construction, data requirements for mega-city governance and digital transformation, and cultural heritage and digital transition. The audience experienced a multidimensional cultural and multidisciplinary theoretical collision, which was extremely rewarding.

In addition, young scholars such as ZHOU Di and YANG Liu from Tongji University, SONG Yeqin from Fudan University, LU Xiaolu from Ningxia University, YUE Weiyi from Shenzhen Reform and Opening up Executive Leadership Academy, and XIE Zihan from Renmin University of China gave relevant academic reports. Industry leaders such as REN Yifan from Tongji University’s Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd., HAN Zhaoxiang from Nanyang Wanbang Software Technology Co., Ltd., and CHEN Jianli from the China Society of Engineering Machinery shared industry experience and perspectives. Professor GAO Enxin from East China Normal University and Professor REN Yong from East China University of Political Science and Law participated in this activity and shared their viewpoints.

This forum was hosted by Tongji University, including the Department of Public Management of School of Economics and Management, MPA Center of School of Economics and Management, the Institute for Urban Risk Management of Tongji Unversity, Shanghai New Town Development Research Center, and the forum was also hosted by China (Shanghai) Research Institute for Digital Cities.