For centuries, Western critics and scholars have kept their eyes on the East, but China’s ever-increasing scale of urbanism and size of economy has focused the world’s lenses on China. This past summer’s Beijing Olympics and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai are mere precursors of the inevitable impact of Chinese urbanization.  In recognition of this, the USC American Academy in China (AAC) was founded to:

      •    Facilitate academic agendas
      •    Maximize local resources
      •    Map research fields
      •    Enable communications and collaboration between institutions and
           scholars of diverse disciplines with interests in China. 

The AAC is uniquely set up to accumulate knowledge gained with each academic offering and seeks to expand the summer academic offerings into the establishment of a permanent base.  It is the objective of the AAC to offer a continuous scholastic platform to generate differing queries and positions where the collective presentation of these positions and designs can begin to frame the scholarship that can be offered as critical global knowledge.  In this continuously regenerative scholarly approach, it is the objective of AAC to become the leading platform for critical research in the areas of arts, architecture, urbanism, and humanities in China.

This summer, the USC School of Architecture is again extending its invitation to all academic institutions to participate in the academic offerings of the AAC to explore China’s potential to produce a new urban paradigm.  Participants will examine China’s regional urban phenomenon and explore its ability to translate its urbanism globally.  

The faculty at USC School of Architecture firmly believe in the importance and potential global impact of AAC.  The AAC is committed to provide a continuous network in China between social leaders and scholars, a stable cross-disciplinary platform for American researchers and students, and a reliable logistical center for American scholars and students navigating a wide range of academic pursuits in China.  In the firmness of our commitment to the success of AAC and to seek collaborators outside of USC with common interests in China, we are offering this summer’s AAC programs without tuition to all interested graduate and undergraduate faculty led student groups who are not members of the USC community.