102nd Sogo Bosai seminar (May 19)

We are pleased to announce the 102nd Sogo Bosai Seminar (May 19, Monday) as follows.
We look forward to your participation.
This seminar will be held in English.
 
[Date & Time]
May 19, Monday, 16:00 – 18:00
 
[Venue]
Room S519D, DPRI, Uji campus
 
[Title]
The post-urban hypothesis and its implications for marginal and disaster-stricken areas: the role of agency, entrepreneurship and (social) innovation
 
[Speaker]
Prof. Hans Westlund
Professor in Urban and Regional Studies at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology
https://www.kth.se/profile/hanswes?l=en
Professor in Entrepreneurship at the Jönköping University
https://ju.se/en/personinfo.html?id=1664
 
[Abstract]
The presentation takes its starting point in the current global uncertainties and the post-urban development in the light of the end of globalization. The rest of the talk has its focus on peripheries and their role in the post-urban world, with the changing role of technology development as a decisive factor.
Natural disasters in peripheral areas means special challenges. Which factors determine whether those affected will leave or stay? What determines whether newcomers will be attracted to these areas? What can external actors (incl. government) do?
A central question is to what extent peripheral places can “borrow size” from city-regions and connect to the latent supply that is there. It is about building attractiveness through improving access to natural and man-made amenities and creating new ones. What are the right combinations of factors and amenities? Agency, entrepreneurship and innovation are decisive policy instruments.
 
[Short bio]
Hans Westlund is Professor in Urban and Regional Studies at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Professor in Entrepreneurship at the Jönköping University, Sweden, Affiliated Professor at the Institute of Developmental and Strategic Analysis, Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Visiting Professor of the Tianjin University, China. He is Fellow of the Western Regional Science Association. Hans Westlund took his PhD in Economic History at the Umeå University, Sweden 1992. He has been Visiting Professor of the Tokyo University, the Agroparistech in Paris and the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing. His book “In the Post-Urban World” (with Tigran Haas) was appointed Routledge Book of the Year 2018 and was translated to Japanese in 2020. 2019-2021 he was a member of the Swedish Prime Minister’s National Innovation Council. 2023-24 he was President of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI).