Chinese contemporary politics and society, labour markets and labour reform, urban politics, urbanization, neighbourhood politics and governance, housing reform, residential segregation, consumption and social classes.

Luigi Tomba is a political scientist with a particular interest in China’s political and social change. Born and educated in Italy, Luigi first visited China in 1988. He joined the ANU in 2001 after spending several years in Beijing where he worked for the Italian diplomatic mission. His early research focused on the ideological debates and policy implications of China’s labour reform, between 1975 and 1995. Luigi’s best-known work is on urbanization, the social engineering of a Chinese urban middle class, housing and land reform. His current research interests are informed by China’ urban question the ideological implications of China’s project to urbanize the country and its social, political and territorial consequences. His latest book,The Government Next Door. Neighborhood Politics in Urban China, is a study of China’s urban grassroots governing practices and their implication for regime legitimacy (Cornell University Press, 2014). Since 2005 he is the co-editor ofThe China Journal, a high impact English language journal on Chinese affairs. In the Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW) Luigi is responsible with Carolyn Cartier for the China Urban stream of research, convenes the PhD program and CIW post-graduate education programs.