Understanding prosperity in Asia
The Asia Prosperity Research Hub explores what prosperity means and entails in Asia, contributing to our rethinking around the concept of prosperity for the 21st century, as ‘an emergent feature of a complex set of embedded interactions over time’ (Moore and Mintchev, 2021).
Thinking about global prosperity in the 21st century requires a critical engagement with the evolution of this concept and the relevant sustainable pathways to prosperity in Asia. The Research Hub aims to understand the economic and social value systems, taking into consideration country-specific historical conjunctures and cultural features. At the same time, it intends to shed light on the evolution of developmental paradigms in the region and evaluate individual Asian countries’ systemic changes over time.
Themes
1. The concept and pathways to prosperity in China
This research strand engages with the critical question of the possible interpretations of China’s definition of prosperity, with the relevant discourses and developmental pathways, adopting an interdisciplinary historical, cultural, and political-economic perspective to better understand China’s strong emphasis on economic prosperity based on the axiom of stability.
What is the origin of China’s vision of prosperity? How is the narrative of prosperity constructed through history? What is the relationship between the State’s wealth and power vis-à-vis the quality of people’s lives, their aspirations and sense of purpose?
2. Gender equality and economic development
This research strand wishes to bring a gendered perspective to prosperity, by challenging the conventional myth that economic development will naturally lead to gender equality and prosperity for women.
Economic development in East Asian countries, from Japan to Korea and recently China, fails to improve the status of women. In the case of China, despite much-acclaimed economic progress in the last ten years, gender gaps are indeed widening. This urges us to think harder and dig deeper on what prosperity means for different social groups, especially historically disadvantaged groups such as women; and how to make sure they benefit equally from any progress that is achieved.
3. Technology and entrepreneurship for prosperity
This theme explores the implications of new innovations, such as the accelerated digital revolution - block chain, AI, AR, Additive manufacturing etc, for rural populations and how these innovations can be leveraged by entrepreneurs for crafting a pathway towards prosperity in (East) Asia.
We are also interested in how new ventures emerge, grow and are sustained within rural populations.
Our Projects
1.
The Lexicon and the Discourse of ‘Prosperity’ in China: An Old-New Paradigm?'
This project, in collaboration with Dr Catherine Xiang, aims to identify the keywords of 'prosperity' in Chinese historical, philosophical, and political texts. These keywords are analysed emphasizing their uses and applications in the contemporary political economic discourse.
2.
Urban Food Systems
In collaboration with Dr Liza Griffin and Dr Mustafa Selçuk Çıdık, this project employs the social 'urban metabolism' framework to examine food systems in various cities in Europe and Asia, to explore how urban governance can be informed by social sustainability practices aiming at building just urban transitions.
3.
Prosperity from below
This project studies a series of street markets in Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula as a testing ground for grassroots practices of collective identity, sustainability and prosperity from below.
4.
Tianjin: History, Memory and Heritage
In collaboration with Tianjin University and colleagues from Université Paris La Sorbonne, this project focuses on Tianjin: a city that is striving to tell its own story. The project combines historical geography, architecture and heritage studies methodologies to analyse Tianjin's distinctive story of hyper-colonial-globalizing experiences. The aim is to better understand the dynamics of heritagization, museumification and social change that are taking place in Tianjin and more generally in China.
Meet the team
Prof. Maurizio Marinelli
Maurizio is Professor of China and Global Prosperity at the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity.
For the Asia Prosperity Hub, his work focuses on 'The concept and the pathways to prosperity in China'.
Dr Yuan He
Dr Yuan He is a lecturer and programme lead of the MSc Global Prosperity at the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity.
Yuan co-leads the Asian Prosperity Hub, focusing on 'Gender Equality and Economic Development'.
Dr Onya Idoko
Dr Idoko is Lecturer in Prosperity Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Co-Programme lead of the MSc Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship program at UCL Institute for Global Prosperity.
For the Asia Prosperity Hub Onya leads on 'Technology and Entrepreneurship for Prosperity'.