(2) Urban Development Politics On this theme, I critically examine the politics of urban development by investigating development strategies initiated by local states either in collaboration with or independent of the central state. One main strategy that I pay attention to is the promotion of mega-events, which refer to large-scale, discontinuous events with substantial consequences on host-cities. The Olympic Games and World Expo are some of the best-known examples. As well as paying attention to the social impacts of mega-events on host-cities, my research further investigates local states which view mega-event preparation as a catalyst to greater urban spatial restructuring. The research is largely based on case studies from East Asia, while the experiences of the West provide a useful template for comparison.

Related Projects and Publications: Click to Expand/Collapse Social legacy of mega-events: the case of 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games in China. Principal Investigator. Funded by the STICERD/LSE Annual Fund New Researcher Award, April 2009 - July 2011, GBP 20,000 Pushing ahead with mega-events: the housing outcomes of mega-event hosting on low-income families in China. Principal Investigator (Co-Investigator: Dr Bingiqn Li, LSE). Funded by the British Academy Small Research Grant, 2008 - 2009, GBP 7,420 Shin, H.B. and Thornley, A. (guest editors) Special issue: Accumulation, State Legitimacy and Cities of Spectacle in 'Emerging' Economies. Urban Geography (In Progress) Shin, H.B. (forthcoming in 2015) China meets Korea: the Asian Games, entrepreneurial local states and debt-driven development. In Gruneau, R. and Horne, J. (eds.) Mega events and globalization: Capital, cultures and spectacle in a changing world order. Routledge Shin, H.B. and Kim, S-H. (2015) The developmental state, speculative urbanisation and the politics of displacement in gentrifying Seoul. Urban Studies doi:10.1177/0042098014565745 View on the journal site Shin, H.B. (2014) Urban spatial restructuring, event-led development and scalar politics. Urban Studies 51(14): 2961-2978 View on the journal site Shin, H.B. (2014) Contesting speculative urbanisation and strategising discontents. City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action. 18(4-5): 509-516 View on the journal site Earlier draft available in Brekke, J.K., Dalakoglou, D., Filipdidis, C. and Vradis, A. (eds.) Crisis-scape: Athens and beyond. Athens: crisis-scape.net, pp.139-149. Shin, H.B. (2013) The right to the city and critical reflections on China's property rights activism. Antipode 45(5): 1167-1189 View on the journal site  Download Word version Read the journal's newsletter that includes the introduction to the paper An earlier working version appeared as CASEpaper 156. The working version includes additional quantitative data not included in the final version of the above journal article Shin, H.B. and Li, B. (2013) Whose Games? The costs of being "Olympic citizens" in Beijing. Environment and Urbanization 25(2): 549-566. View on the journal site  Download Word version An earlier working version appeared as CASEpaper 163. Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK Shin, H.B. (2013) From Beijing to Rio: Whose Games?. LSE News and Media: Comment and Opinion Shin, H.B. (2013) Development and dissent in China's 'urban age'. OpenDemocracy.net Shin, H.B. (2012) Unequal cities of spectacle and mega-events in China. City:  analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action 16(6): 728-744. View Shin, H.B. (2012) Looking back and ahead: Lessons from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. LSE Blog Series on the London Olympic Games Shin, H.B. (2009) Life in the shadow of mega-events: Beijing Summer Olympiad and its impact on housing. Journal of Asian Public Policy Vol.2 No.2, pp.122-141. View

(3) East Asian Speculative Urbanisation The third research theme involves a comparative study of socio-spatial impacts of speculative urbanisation in East Asia. On the one hand, I examine the social consequences of economic restructuring as a result of economic reform (as in transitional economies such as mainland China) and in response to financial crisis (e.g. South Korea in late 1990s). Housing as assets, financialisation and ageing population are the sub-themes that guide this research.

Related Projects and Publications: Click to Expand/Collapse Society of multiple exclusion and polarisation [In Korean, 다중격차 사회와 양극화]. Co-Investigator. National Research Foundation of Korea (Ref. NRF-2011-330-B00052). Korean Won 300,000,000 (approx. GBP 175,000). 3-year (2011 - 2014) collaborative project funded by the Korean Social Sciences Research Support Programme Intergenerational Support and Retirees' Housing Decision in China and Korea. Funded by the STICERD/LSE Annual Fund New Researcher Award, April 2008-July 2009, GBP 20,000 (as Collaborator; Principal Investigator: Dr Bingqin Li, LSE) Shin, H.B. Making China Urban: Geographical Aspects of Development and Disparity. Routledge (forthcoming 2015) Shin, H.B. (forthcoming in 2015) China meets Korea: the Asian Games, entrepreneurial local states and debt-driven development. In Gruneau, R. and Horne, J. (eds.) Mega events and globalization: Capital, cultures and spectacle in a changing world order. Routledge Shin, H.B. and Kim, S-H. (2015) The developmental state, speculative urbanisation and the politics of displacement in gentrifying Seoul. Urban Studies doi:10.1177/0042098014565745 View on the journal site Shin, H.B. (forthcoming in 2015) Urbanization in China. In Wright, J. (ed.) International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences (2nd edition). Elsevier (Series editor: James Sidaway and Henry Yeung). View Shin, H.B. (forthcoming in 2015) Envisioned by the state: The paradox of private urbanism and city-making of Songdo, South Korea. In Datta, A. and Shaban, A. (Eds.) Mega-urbanization in the global south: Fast cities and new urban utopias of the postcolonial state. Routledge Shin, H.B. (2014) Contesting speculative urbanisation and strategising discontents. City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action. 18(4-5): 509-516 Free access on the journal site Earlier draft available in Brekke, J.K., Dalakoglou, D., Filipdidis, C. and Vradis, A. (eds.) Crisis-scape: Athens and beyond. Athens: crisis-scape.net, pp.139-149. Li, B. and Shin, H.B. (2013) Intergenerational housing support between retired old parents and their children in urban China. Urban Studies 50(16): 3225-3242 DOI: 10.1177/0042098013483602 Early view on the journal site  Download Word version Shin, H.B. (2013) China's speculative urbanism and the built environment. China Policy Institute Blog, University of Nottingham Shin, H.B. (2011) Vertical accumulation and accelerated urbanism: the East Asian experience. In Gandy, M. (Ed) Urban Constellations. Berlin, Jovis Publishers, pp.48-53. View

(4) Theorising Gentrification in the Global South In relation to the above, I also examine the issue of gentrification as a neighbourhood-scale process of replacing poor residents with more affluent groups of population. Sub-themes further include: (a) the role of real estate development in facilitating urban growth; (b) the nature of the state that focuses on depopulation and forceful displacement of local poor residents. While the issue of gentrification has been largely discussed in the context of post-industrial cities in the Global North, I work with colleagues to broaden the debates by critically comparing gentrification processes in East Asia with those in Latin America.

Related Projects and Publications: Click to Expand/Collapse Urban Studies Seminar Series, Towards an emerging geography of gentrification in the Global South (2011-2012). GBP 19,960. Funded by the Urban Studies Foundation and Urban Studies journal More information on this link News Feed: LSE Geography and Environment and University of Chile Lees, L., Shin, H.B. and López-Morales, E. (Eds.) (2015) Global Gentrifications: Uneven Development and Displacement. Bristol: Policy Press (est. publication date: 25 January 2015) Lees, L., Shin, H.B. and López-Morales, E. (2015) Conclusion: Global gentrifications. In Lees, L., Shin, H.B. and López-Morales, E. (Eds.) Global Gentrifications: Uneven Development and Displacement, pp.441-452. Bristol: Policy Press Lees, L., Shin, H.B. and López-Morales, E. (2015) Introduction: 'Gentrification' - a global urban process? In Lees, L., Shin, H.B. and López-Morales, E. (Eds.) (in press) Global Gentrifications: Uneven Development and Displacement, pp.1-18. Bristol: Policy Press Shin, H.B., Lees, L. and López-Morales, E. (guest editors) Special issue: Locating gentrification in East Asia. Urban Studies (In Progress) López-Morales, E., Shin, H.B. and Lees, L. (guest editors) Special issue: Are Latin American cities being 'gentrified'? Urban Geography (In Progress) Lees, L., Shin, H.B. and López-Morales, E. (forthcoming) Planetary Gentrification. Polity Press Shin, H.B. and Kim, S-H. (2015) The developmental state, speculative urbanisation and the politics of displacement in gentrifying Seoul. Urban Studies doi:10.1177/0042098014565745 View on the journal site Shin. H.B. (2009) Property-based redevelopment and gentrification: the case of Seoul, South Korea. Geoforum Vol.40 No.5, pp.906-917. View