Samir K.C. will participate in the joint workshop Rethinking Urbanization in Asia: Comparative Demographic Perspectives Using the Degree of Urbanization (DEGURBA), organized by ADRI, IIASA, and JRC in Shanghai, China.

The workshop, jointly organized by the Asian Demographic Research Institute (ADRI) at Shanghai University, IIASA, and the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), brings together researchers and experts to explore urbanization in Asia through the lens of DEGURBA, a harmonized framework for comparing urban and rural areas across countries. Building on ADRI’s long-standing collaboration with IIASA and its role within the Asian MetaCentre for Population and Sustainable Development Analysis, the event will showcase new empirical research on urbanization trends, settlement systems, and demographic change.

Discussions will focus on differences between national and DEGURBA-based classifications, diverse urbanization pathways, and the development implications of evolving spatial population patterns.

For more information, please visit the event website.

Samir K.C. will chair a session on the latest advances in measuring and projecting urbanization and later present new research on urbanization trends in Nepal using the DEGURBA framework. His presentation highlights how harmonized spatial definitions can improve our understanding of Nepal’s urban transition, offering fresh insights into population distribution, settlement patterns, and the evolving rural–urban landscape, while contributing to more comparable urbanization assessments across South Asia.

Monday 26 October



Session 1 Advancing DEGURBA and Global Urbanization Measurement |  09:15–10:45

Chair: Samir KC



Session 3 Reassessing Urbanization in South Asia | 14:00–15:30

Assessing Urbanization Trends in Nepal Using DEGURBA