Dear Participants:

Welcome to the China Planning Network (CPN) Urban Transportation Congress in Beijing!

Along with China’s unprecedented process of urbanization, the demand for urban transportation in China has increased dramatically. China has been facing both issues similar to those encountered during the history of urban development in the West, such as urban congestion and pollution, and those that are new to our era, such as global warming and climate change. Urban transportation in China has a direct bearing on all of them. China has the opportunity to be at the forefront in finding solutions to these issues confronting China and the world. The China Planning Network has therefore undertaken to organize the Urban Transportation Congress, which aims to

• present to the West: the latest development and challenges in China's urban transportation and the research chances these development has brought to the world’s academic community, and the opportunities that technology advances can be experimented and policy innovations can be implemented in China; and
• present to China: the variety of models that urban transportation are managed in world cities and their corresponding implications on urban structure, life style, energy consumption and environment impacts and the cutting edge thinking on transportation research, technology and policies.

These goals are ambitious but CPN has been working with the widest transportation community in the world to achieve them. The Congress brings the best knowledge and experiences from the West collectively to bear the greatest challenges in China’s urban transportation. MIT has been the core part of the CPN and contributed significantly to its development: ten departments, schools and offices have supported this Congress. Beyond MIT, CPN has called for over 20 organizations such as Transportation Research Board (TRB), International Association of Public Transportation (UITP), World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS), and Alliance of Global Sustainability (AGS) to come to Beijing and share with China their expertise and experiences. Thank you all for your great efforts!

Since its establishment, CPN has run three successful conferences on China’s urban development at Harvard in 2004, at MIT in 2005, and in Beijing in 2006. This year has seen CPN open a new chapter in its short but exciting history. Though still young, CPN has advanced from simply an academic interest group to become an independent voice that can influence the education, research, practices and policies in China’s urban development. Though still in the preliminary stage, CPN has moved forward on its mission to systematically introduce western knowledge and experiences to China and more importantly CPN has started pursuing its vision of cultivating China’s own discourse on urban development.

Please enjoy three rich and exciting days in Beijing!

Sincerely,
GUO Ming, GUO Zhan, ZHAO Jinhua
Commissioners
China Planning Network