Tim Oakes - How do big Chinese infrastructure projects impact people in China and around the world?

This month we are thrilled to be joined by Tim Oakes, who is a Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is a human, social, and cultural geographer and his research focuses on Southwest China and the techno-political effects of infrastructural urbanism in China’s ‘new area’ urban zones. Needless to say, there have been a lot of developmental changes in China since Tim visited for the first time in the 1980s. Tim gives us insight into his career trajectory and his roots in rural geography and the ways in which the countryside has come into the 21st century. A huge facet of the countryside development is through infrastructure, and he realized that urbanization does not just happen in cities as urbanization occurs also in place. We explored many aspects of capitalist development and how it affects and is affected by the Chinese countryside. If you are interested to learn more about Tim’s work, check out the website of the China Made project and his amazing keynote speech at the Finnish Society for Development Reseacher’s Development Days Conference. You can also find Tim on Twitter @TS_Oakes.