China is well known for its dynamic and fast development towards being a leading economic, global power. The turbulent urbanization and advanced technical development, paired with poverty for another part of the population give serious challenges for professionals and decision-makers like environment problems, water shortage, cultural contradictions, infrastructural shortcomings, threatened built cultural heritage, etc. Chinese experts have to face all those problems to find adequate solutions, pressing and urgent to another extent than we know in Norway.

Collaboration with Chinese partners gives a win-win situation, partly by working with problems common for both China and Norway, partly by sharing new scientific and practical findings.