CHINA’S Belt and Road initative IN NORTH-RHINE WESTPHALIA AND PAKISTAN 

SUB-PROJECT OF DE:LINK// RE:LINK: LOCAL PERSPECTIVES ON TRANSREGIONAL PROCESSES OF (DIS)ENTANGLEMENTS

The research network De:link//Re:link: Local perspectives on transregional processes of entanglements and disentanglements uses the example of the Belt and Road Initiative initiated by China in 2013 to investigate new spatial configurations and local perspectives on transregional infrastructure projects in Asia, Africa and Europe. The acronym link stands for local insights and new knowledges.

Focusing on Germany and Pakistan, BICC investigates the influence of Chinese presence around the inland port of Duisburg as the end point of the New Silk Road in Europe and along the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor. With a process perspective, a doctoral dissertation will generate knowledge on the following questions: How are local societies being influenced by the implementation of large-scale infrastructure projects? How do projects gain acceptance, and what change processes are induced by Chinese-local encounters?

BICC is part of a larger consortium led by Humboldt-University Berlin. Other partners are the Centre for East European and International Studies and the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient. The transdisciplinary cooperation aims at strengthening multi-directional knowledge exchanges between area studies research institutions and other knowledge actors in Germany as well as in the research project regions.