Preparing the New Silk Road for regional development and exploring a research agenda

The present chapter outlines current views and perspective on the New Silk Road project. In order to give a broad overview media reports as well as academic literature on the topics are presented and discussed. Several aspects such as economic, environmental, political and social impacts reveal different impacts and consequences on regions. While many European media are quite sceptical regarding consequences of the BRI on regional development of countries, Chinese newspapers highlight mostly positive effects, especially in developing countries. Similar trends are found in the academic literature. The second part of the chapter tries to find a theoretical frame with the goal of studying the New Silk Road with an interdisciplinary focus. Several disciplines and approaches should be included in a holistic representation and analysis of China New Silk Road.