Call for Papers

Charter Cities Conference

Hosted by the
Charter Cities Institute

March 17-18, 2020, Sandton Hilton, Johannesburg, South Africa

The inaugural Charter Cities Conference will bring together researchers from around the world specializing in charter cities, special economic zones, industrial policy, and other forms of innovative governance, with a particular focus on how such institutional reforms can help spur investment, improve public services, and/or reduce global poverty.

As these institutional reforms involve actors across many different domains, a central aim of the Charter Cities Conference is to initiate a dialogue about charter cities that engages the various stakeholders, including public sector officials, real estate developers, international development experts, investors, urban planners, and academics. To that end, presentations of academic papers will take place on both days of the conference. Researchers are encouraged to engage and interact with other stakeholders (who will be giving presentations on the main stage throughout both days of the Conference).

Scholars in the fields of international development, economics, public policy, political science, urban planning, and neighboring fields are encouraged to submit relevant papers. The conference will consist of paper presentations (followed by discussions) with the aim of providing a forum for exchange for both scholars and practitioners. PhD candidates are also encouraged to submit papers/works-in-progress. The possibility of funding to cover travel for PhD candidates will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Researchers interested in participating in the conference are invited to submit their papers via email to the Charter Cities Institute for review. Please email submissions directly to Kurtis Lockhart at kurtis@cci.city. Submissions should include the full paper (non-final drafts are acceptable), along with an abstract, the name of the researcher’s affiliated academic institution(s), their current title, and (if applicable) a link to their academic website.

The deadline for submissions is January 10th, 2020. Acceptance notes will be sent by early February, 2020 along with a detailed conference schedule.