top of page
倫敦市

ROUNDTABLE SERIES

THE CITY: HISTORY & FUTURE

 
 
 

Dates & Logistics

7 Oct 2023 (introduction) at HKU, 4 Nov 2023 at HKU, 2 Dec 2023 at HKU
6 Jan 2024 at Lumina College, 2 Mar 2024 at Lumina College
6 Apr 2024 at CGST

All from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm HK Time.

​

The series is for: educators, historians, theologians, pastors, scientists, engineers, urban planners, architects, faculty members, and public policymakers.

Free of Charge.
Deadline for registration: 7 Sept 2023.
Participants should try to attend all six sessions as a series.

​

Special acknowledgement to Christian Director Tang Hon Kwan and Principal Chan Yau Kwong Mother and Daughter Memorial Education Fund for supporting Lumina College co-hosting the project named "Faculty Series: The City: History & Future"

Introduction

​

Cities are said to be our greatest inventions. As political, socio-economic, and cultural centres, they are demonstrations of human ingenuity, power, and capacity to manipulate resources and the environment.

 

Cities also play crucial roles in shaping human development on both individual and collective levels and transforming our settlement patterns and habitats. As such, they define human civilisations. The unprecedented rate of urbanisation since the 18th century has also turned our planet into an ‘Earthopolis’.

 

This new series of faculty roundtable discussion aims to explore some of the key themes involved in the making and remaking of cities and their impact on societies and the environment, from the rise of cities in the fourth millennium BC in ancient West Asia to the emergence of metropolitan cities and megaregions in today’s world.

 

Our discussion will be based on reading a selection of chapters from Lewis Mumford’s classic work City in History (1961) and Carl Nightingale’s Earthopolis: A Biography of Our Urban Planet (2022). And we import inspiration from films and videos pertaining to the city.

 

It is our hope that this exploration will lead to a deeper understanding of the development of faith and traditions in relation to our urban trajectory while calling for informed responses to the challenges the ‘Earthopolis’ faces today, and will be facing in the future.

First Session: Introduction (October 7, 2023 At HKU)

​

Introducing the entire series. Introduction of participants and hosts. Key questions to be explored in the series and subsequent sessions. Format of faculty roundtable will be of three sessions each morning, presented and facilitated by three hosts, and with roundtable discussion. The first two sessions will focus on readings and the third session on video and film. Pre-readings of book chapters will be assigned from Mumford and Nightingale, and related video or film viewings.  Christian and theological reflections on the materials presented are encouraged.

 

  • Moderator: Wing Tai LEUNG, Lumina College.

  • Readings:

    • Mumford (1961)       

      • Chapter 1 ‘Sanctuary, Village, and Stronghold'

      • Chapter 2 ‘The Crystallisation of the City’

      • Presenter and Facilitator: Kin Yip LOUIE, China Graduate School of Theology.

    • Nightingale (2022): Introduction

      • Presenter & Facilitator: Samuel CHEN, HKU.

    • Video and Film:

​

Session Two: Ancient Near East “Power” (November 4, 2023 At HKU)

​

From Babel to Babylon, we shall examine the city as a symbol of power, a symbol of the state or ruling class. We ask how cities arose as embodiments of civilization, and how the urbanization process shapes the power structure of the society.

 

  • Moderator: Kin Yip LOUIE, China Graduate School of Theology.

  • Readings:

    • Mumford (1961) 

      • Chapter 3 ‘Ancestral Forms and Patterns’

      • Chapter 4 ‘The Nature of the Ancient City’

      • Presenter & Facilitator: Celine YEUNG, China Graduate School of Theology.

    • Nightingale (2022)

      • Chapter 1 ‘Making Politics from Sunshine, Earth, and Water’

      • Chapter 2 ‘Igniting Empire’

      • Presenter & Facilitator: Samuel CHEN, HKU.

    • Video and Film:

      • City of God (2002)

      • The Maths of City

      • Presenter & Facilitator: Bill Tsang, Youth Global Network

​

Session Three: Ancient Greece and Rome “Value” (Dec 2, 2023 At HKU)
 

Cities in this period are regarded as a macrocosm of the human mind (Plato), and cities are sometimes portrayed as a higher level of human living. There you find the gymnasium, where the human body is shaped into perfection. There you find the academy, where the mind is lifted into eternity. We ask about the mythologies of urban living, and the human cost behind those mythologies.

​

  • Moderator: Celine YEUNG, CGST

  • Readings:

    • ​Mumford (1961): 

      • Chapter 5 ‘Emergence of the Polis’

      • Chapter 8 ‘Megalopolis into Necropolis’

      • (Recommended: Chapter 6 ‘Citizen Versus Ideal City’)

      • Presenter & Facilitator: Max HUI-BON-HOA, HKU and Lumina College.

    • Nightingale (2022)

      • Chapter 4 ‘Wealth for a Few, Poverty for Many II’

      • Chapter 5 ‘How Knowledge Became Power’

      • Presenter & Facilitator: to be confirmed

    • Video and Film:

​

Session Four: Medieval Europe “Soul” (Jan 6, 2024 At Lumina College)

 

We shall examine how the medieval church responded to the rise of cities and capitalism. The formation of friar orders and lay communities are ways that Christians tried to alleviate the malices of cities. We ask how Christians today can serve as alternative communities to the secular city.

​

  • Moderator: Max HUI-BON-HOA, HKU & Lumina College.

  • Readings:

    • Mumford (1961)

      • Chapter 9 ‘Cloister and Community’

      • Chapter 11 ‘Medieval Disruptions, Modern Anticipations’

      • (Recommended: Chapter 10 ‘Medieval Urban Housekeeping’)

      • Presenter & Facilitator: Kin Yip LOUIE, CGST.

    • Nightingale (2022)

      • ​Chapter 6 ‘The Realm of Consequence’

      • Chapter 7 ‘Bastions, Battleships, and Gunpowder Cities’

      • Presenter & Facilitator: to be confirmed

    • ​Video and Film:

      • Blade Runner (1982)

      • Filmlet topic: Mind

      • Presenter & Facilitator: Wing Tai LEUNG, Lumina College.

​

Session Five: Early Modern/ Baroque “Logic” (March 2, 2024 At Lumina College)

 

The Early Modern period saw the rise of Europe as a global power, where treasures from all over the globe were brought to Europe. It saw the regimentation in many aspects of urban life, including the stratification between the (so-called) cultured urban class and the ignorant mass, and the Enlightenment heralded in a rational new humanity. We ask how the logic of efficiency and functionality in urban living permeates our thinking and our behaviors.

 

  • Moderator: Samuel CHEN, HKU.

  • Readings:

    • ​Mumford (1961)

      • Chapter 12 ‘The Structure of Baroque Power’

      • Chapter 14 ‘Commercial Expression and Urban Dissolution’

      • (Recommended: Chapter 13 ‘Court, Parade, and Capital’)

      • Presenter & Facilitator: to be confirmed

    • Nightingale (2022)

      • Chapter 8 ‘Wealth from the Winds and Waves’

      • Chapter 9 ‘Consuming the Earth in Cities of Light . . . and Delight . . .’

      • Presenter & Facilitator: to be confirmed

    • Video and Film:

​

Session Six: Modern Period “God” (April 6, 2024 At CGST)

​

Modern cities are driven by scale. Metropolises often draw people from surrounding areas and far afield while expanding spatially through conurbation, growing irresistibly like cancer. Cities have become synonymous with economic development, and development has become the God of our age. Where is this God leading us? How should Christians respond?

​

  • Moderator: Kin Yip LOUIE, CGST.

  • Readings:

    • ​Mumford (1961)

      • Chapter 15 ‘Paleotechnic Paradise: Coketown’

      • Chapter 17 ‘The Myth of Megalopolis’

      • (Recommended: Chapter 16 ‘Suburbia – and Beyond’)

      • Presenter & Facilitator: Samuel CHEN, HKU.

    • Nightingale (2022)

      • Chapter 14 ‘Capitalist Explosions’

      • Chapter 23 ‘Greatest Acceleration III: Pleasure Palaces, and Sweatshops’

      • Chapter 24 ‘Greatest Acceleration IV: Maximal Hydrocarbon, Maximal Waste’

      • Presenter & Facilitator: to be confirmed

    • Video and Film:

      • Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

      • The Human Flow

      • Presenter & Facilitator: Wing Tai LEUNG, Lumina College.

 
 
 
 
 
bottom of page