China is urbanising at an unprecedented rate. This brings both opportunities and risks. Here we propose an international research network to bring together UK researchers with the leading universities in China to discuss common interests and formulate proposals for Anglo-Chinese collaborative research and academic exchange. The network will also include leading international researchers from Australia and the USA where appropriate. This network forms one of a small group of related networks inspired by the Dongtan Eco-city development north of Shanghai. It addresses two related topics / the historical development of Chinese and European cities, and spatial masterplanning at scales ranging from the local place to the whole metropolitan area. These topics tend to be researched by different groups of academics, however we believe there is much to be gained by bringing fields together since the lessons of history have much to bring to current design, planning and policy formation so far as urbanisation is concerned. Equally, there is benefit in bridging between western and Asian history and experience of industrialisation and urban expansion. A central focus of this network will be to investigate the way that urban spatial structure relates to social cultures. This aspect of planning is currently seen to be a central to the creation of sustainable communities and is one where the benefit of cross cultural comparison in research is clear cut. Here we will investigate the use of spatial analysis and modelling methodologies to allow a common basis for cross cultural and historical comparison. In this way we will investigate the application of analytic technologies in urban design, planning and poloicy formation.