Newcastle and China: forging architectural partnerships for the future
Newcastle University has forged a strong architectural partnership with Southeast University (SEU) in Nanjing, China, and this is only the beginning.
Architectural partnership
The partnership has so far resulted in several events and activities related to architecture programmes, but the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed this year allows for further collaboration across a broad range of subjects that both institutions excel in.
Jianfei Zhu, Professor of East Asian Architecture in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape has led on the early partnership links. He comments:
“This marks the beginning of an exciting partnership that will bring us even closer to our colleagues in China. The potential for innovative, cross-cultural learning is huge, and we have already begun to set this plan in motion.
In a new world of AI, info-war and geopolitical uncertainty, us and our colleagues in China believe it is imperative to engage in fresh conversations across borders, nations, and cultures, and to debate on and explore fundamental issues we face today, such as how we learn, and keep learning about architecture in the modern world."
Innovative intercultural exchange – architecture and beyond
The two schools propose to explore three forms of knowledge in relation to architecture: ‘history’, ‘geography’ and ‘visuality’. These themes will be explored and examined in a number of exciting and collaborative ways that will bring together staff and students from both institutions, as outlined below:
Teaching between Newcastle and China
Teaching staff can offer lectures to students in both countries thanks to online learning technology. Students in SEU have been able to join classes delivered by colleagues in Newcastle. For example, in December 2023, Dr James Craig, Dr Matt-Ozga-Lawn and Professor Jianfei Zhu, from Newcastle University, delivered the lectures to students in both Newcastle and China on ‘visual thinking’ topics such as Landscape Scrolls, Transitional Objects, and Installation.
Professor Jianfei Zhu also continues to deliver his role as annual guest lecturer for Masters and PhD students at SEU, which he has done since 2012.
Global knowledge sharing and networking through in-person events
Academic exploration will occur through two international symposia on each of these three topics – one in Nanjing and one in Newcastle, as a six-year joint SN Forum on ‘Knowledge and Architecture’, from 2024 to 2029. The first, a global symposium on ‘History as (an Enabling) Knowledge’ in architecture and beyond was held at SEU Nanjing on 30-31 March 2024. It involved presentations from fifteen speakers, including representatives from Newcastle, SEU, and ten other global institutions. Eleven roundtable panellists from various universities also joined the event.
Sharing knowledge beyond SEU and NU
A readily available output from the collaborative working in architecture across the two universities is the recent publication of the Routledge Handbook of Chinese Architecture: Social Production of Buildings and Spaces in History.
This book is edited by Professor Jianfei Zhu, Chen Wei, and Li Hua and features 40 authors and 46 chapters.
Professor Zhu adds:
“This book is another example of our collaboration, and one that spreads our knowledge beyond both institutions in Newcastle and Nanjing. It also serves as a concrete output to the knowledge we have gained from working so closely together and I am looking forward to seeing where this takes us next”.
Next Steps
Going forward, the collaboration is set to embark on more exciting initiatives to bring both institutions together.
Firstly, Newcastle and Southeast Universities will jointly organise the second symposium on ‘History as (an Enabling) Knowledge’, which will be hosted by Newcastle University in Easter 2025.
Additionally, colleagues will design and implement joint degree programmes between Newcastle’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape and Southeast University’s School of Architecture. The programme will include several levels from undergraduate to postgraduate and the stages in between. It will also offer the chance for both British and Chinese students to experience exchange programmes.
Lastly, the initial success of the partnership paves the way for expansion, as Professor Zhu comments:
“We have had such success developing a global academic partnership of this kind so far, and we are now pioneering for other disciplines and schools in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences to follow in our footsteps and develop joint programmes and research collaborations with our colleagues in China”.