About this Event
Hosted by the Manchester China Institute and the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity, this event will be a book launch of Uneasy Streets: How Chinese Money Is Remaking Urban Britain by Caroline Knowles, with remarks by Amy Y. Zhang. The event will be followed by a reception and opportunity to meet the author.
At the high tide of UK–China relations, Chinese investors pumped billions into British property and projects each year, promising urban renewal and economic prosperity. But as political tides turned in both countries, the money dried up. A decade on, we live in the ruins of this ‘golden era’.
Caroline Knowles explores China’s global influence from the bottom up. Focusing on London and Manchester, she contrasts Beijing’s grand claims with the ramshackle physical evidence she finds at street level: a series of half-finished buildings and abandoned holes in the ground. And this isn’t just a British phenomenon. All along the continent-spanning Belt and Road network, Chinese-funded cities are patchworks of incompleteness, the products of relentlessly profit-driven urbanism that puts people last.
Combining urban observation with sharp commentary, interviewing property developers, Chinese migrants and other city-dwellers, Knowles paints an intimate, nuanced portrait.
Please note: This is a hybrid event, and attendees can choose to join either in person or online. If you would prefer to attend virtually, please select the Online Attendance ticket when registering. A joining link will be provided ahead of the event.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Caroline Knowles (FAcSS & Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society) is an urban ethnographer who writes about city life for both academic and broader audiences. She is Honorary Professor at Queen Mary University of London and Professor Emerita at Goldsmiths University of London. Her most recent book is Uneasy Streets: how Chinese money is remaking urban Britain (Hurst, 2026). She is also the author of Serious Money: walking plutocratic London (Penguin, 2022), Flip-Flop: a journey through globalisation’s backroads (Pluto, 2015) and a long list of academic books and articles as well as, recent newspaper articles.
Discussant:
Amy Y. Zhang is a Lecturer in Urban Planning at the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on urban politics and governance, urban knowledge and policy mobilities, postcolonial urban theory, and state-society relations of China. Her current and previous work has looked into urban political economy of arts and creativity as well as land commodification in Chinese cities.
Event venue & nearby stays
Arthur Lewis Building, 2nd floor Boardroom - 2.016 / 017, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
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