The workshop ‘Megacity or neighbourhood, residential towers or housing shortage? A dialogue between urbanisation research in China and Germany), held at the University of Würzburg from 24 to 25 January, was a great success. The workshop was co-organised by the Urban and Regional Sociology Section of the German Sociological Association (DGS) and brought together scholars from the fields of Chinese studies, geography, sociology and urban planning working on China or Germany. They discussed similarities and differences in these two countries in relation to social housing, neighbourly cohesion, urbanisation of rural areas, spatial justice and local responses to ecological challenges. As a next step, Ryanne Flock, Sebastian Kurtenbach, Lu Qianyu and Fabienne Wallenwein (in alphabetical order) are forming an editorial committee to organise a joint volume on the topic ‘A dialogue between urbanisation research in China and Germany’.