Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Greening China’s Urban Governance pp 25–49Cite as

Are Model Cities an Effective Instrument for Urban Environmental Governance?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 643 Accesses

Part of the book series: ARI - Springer Asia Series ((ARI,volume 7))

Abstract

Since the 1980s, China’s central government has created various model and incentive schemes aimed at systematically and concurrently promoting innovative approaches for protecting the urban ecological environment. In this context, programmes such as the ‘model city for protecting the environment’, ‘garden city’, ‘eco-city’, or ‘low-carbon city’ have become an integral part of China’s system for urban environmental governance. However, the role of these policy-incentive schemes for promoting best practice is only partly understood. This chapter contributes to the literature with a conceptualization of model cities as a dynamic governance instrument. The analysis suggests that the distance between programme objectives and local practices increases with programme maturity. Model-city schemes inevitably reach a point of saturation once a competing programme provides new opportunities to gain political and economic rents.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Available at http://english.mep.gov.cn/inventory/Model_cities/. Accessed on 2016-02-11

  2. 2.

    Available at http://www.ipe.org.cn/en/about/report.aspx. Accessed on 2016-02-11

  3. 3.

    Available at http://env.shqp.gov.cn/gb/content/2007-06/27/content_143812.htm. Accessed on 2016-04-12

References

  • Ahlers, A. L., & Schubert, G. (2013). Strategic modelling: ‘Building a new socialist countryside’ in three Chinese counties. The China Quarterly, 216, 831–849.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, S. (2015). Sustainable development. New York: Taylor & Francis.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bulkeley, H., Broto, V. C., & Edwards, G. (2012). Bringing climate change to the city: Towards low carbon urbanism? Local Environment, 17(5), 545–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, A., & Gao, J. (2011). Urbanization in China and the coordinated development model—The case of Chengdu. The Social Science Journal, 48(3), 500–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, X., Geng, Y., & Fujita, T. (2010). An overview of municipal solid waste management in China. Waste Management, 30(4), 716–724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooke, S. (2009). 7 ‘Religious work’. In China’s governmentalities: Governing change, changing government (Vol. 33, pp. 125–150). Hoboken: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dosi, G. (1982). Technological paradigms and technological trajectories: a suggested interpretation of the determinants and directions of technical change. Research policy, 11(3), 147–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dynon, N. (2014). Civilisation-state: Modernising the past to civilise the future in Jiang Zemin’s China. China: An International Journal, 12(1), 22–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton, S., & Kostka, G. (2014). Authoritarian environmentalism undermined? Local leaders’ time horizons and environmental policy implementation in China. The China Quarterly, 218, 359–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Economy, E. (2006). Environmental governance: The emerging economic dimension. Environmental Politics, 15(02), 171–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Francesch-Huidobro, M., Lo, C. W.-H., & Tang, S.-Y. (2012). The local environmental regulatory regime in China: Changes in pro-environment orientation, institutional capacity, and external political support in Guangzhou. Environment and Planning-Part A, 44(10), 2493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenhalgh, S. (2008). Globalization and population governance in China (pp. 354–372). In: Global assemblages. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heberer, T., & Schubert, G. (2008). Regime legitimacy in contemporary China: Institutional change and stability. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Heilmann, S. (2008). Policy experimentation in China’s economic rise. Studies in Comparative International Development, 43(1), 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heilmann, S. (2009). Maximum tinkering under uncertainty unorthodox lessons from China. Modern China, 35(4), 450–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hillman, B. (2014). Patronage and power: Local state networks and party-state resilience in rural China. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, L. (2009). Governmental rationalities of environmental city-building in contemporary China. In China’s governmentalities: governing change, changing government (pp. 107–124). Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, L. (2011). Urban modeling and contemporary technologies of city-building in China: The production of regimes of green urbanisms. In Worlding cities (pp. 55–76). West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Khanna, N., Fridley, D., & Hong, L. (2014). China’s pilot low-carbon city initiative: A comparative assessment of national goals and local plans. Sustainable Cities and Society, 12, 110–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kostka, G., & Mol, A. P. J. (2013). Implementation and participation in China’s local environmental politics: Challenges and innovations. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 15(1), 3–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn’s, T. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, C. (1997). Rediscovering China: Dynamics and dilemmas of reform. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, W., & Higgins, P. (2013). Controlling local environmental performance: An analysis of three national environmental management programs in the context of regional disparities in China. Journal of Contemporary China, 22(81), 409–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Y.-w., Miao, B., & Lang, G. (2011). The local environmental state in China: A study of county-level cities in Suzhou. The China Quarterly, 205, 115–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, L. (2013). Chinese model cities and cancer villages: Where environmental policy is social policy. In I. Wallimann (Ed.), Environmental policy is social policy—social policy is environmental policy (pp. 121–134). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Q., & Wang, Q. (2013). Pathways to SO 2 emissions reduction in China for 1995–2010: Based on decomposition analysis. Environmental Science & Policy, 33, 405–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, L., Zhang, B., & Bi, J. (2012). Reforming China’s multi-level environmental governance: Lessons from the 11th five-year plan. Environmental Science & Policy, 21, 106–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, N., Lo, CW.-H., & Zhan. X. (2013). Collaborative governance and corporate environmental compliance in China. Conference paper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackinnon, M. (2009). The people’s republic of green. The Globe and Mail.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marquis, C., Zhang, J., & Zhou, Y. (2011). Regulatory uncertainty and corporate response: How China’s environmental enforcement is catching up to regulation and how business can keep up. California Management Review, 54, 39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martinot, E., Li, J., & Mastny, L. (2007). Powering China’s development: The role of renewable energy. DC: Worldwatch Institute Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • MEP. (2005). Evaluation criteria and implementation guidelines for national model city for protecting the environment during the eleventh five-year plan period (Revised) [关于印发 “十一五”国家环境保护模范城市考核指 标及其实施细则(修订)的通知]. Available at http://www.zhb.gov.cn/gkml/hbb/bgt/200910/t20091022_174766.htm. Accessed on 10 June 2018.

  • Mol, A. P., & Liu, Y. (2005). Institutionalising cleaner production in China: The cleaner production promotion law. International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 4(3), 227–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphey, R. (1967). Man and nature in China. Modern Asian Studies, 1(4), 313–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oberheitmann, A., & Ruan, X. (2013). Low carbon city planning in China. In F. Urban & J. Nordensvärd (Eds.), Low carbon development: Key issues (pp. 270–283). London: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peck, J., & Theodore, N. (2010). Mobilizing policy: Models, methods, and mutations. Geoforum, 41, 169–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qi, Y., Ma, L., Zhang, H., & Li, H. (2008). Translating a global issue into local priority China’s local government response to climate change. The Journal of Environment & Development, 17(4), 379–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ran, R. (2013). Perverse incentive structure and policy implementation gap in China’s local environmental politics. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 15(1), 17–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanway, D. (2014). Pollution plagues China’s Baoding despite bid to clean up act. Reuters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsai, W.-H., & Dean, N. (2014). Experimentation under hierarchy in local conditions: Cases of political reform in Guangdong and Sichuan, China. The China Quarterly, 218, 339–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Rooij, B., Fryxell, G. E., Lo, C. W.-H., & Wang, W. (2013). From support to pressure: The dynamics of social and governmental influences on environmental law enforcement in Guangzhou City, China. Regulation & Governance, 7(3), 321–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, S. (2009). Adapting by learning: The evolution of China’s rural health care financing. Modern China, 35(4), 370–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, A. (2013a). The search for sustainable legitimacy: Environmental law and bureaucracy in China. Harvard Environmental Law Review, 37, 365–440.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, A. L. (2013b). Search for sustainable legitimacy: Environmental law and bureaucracy in China.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, L., Zhang, P., Tan, S., Zhao, X., Cheng, D., Wei, W., Su, J., & Pan, X. (2013a). Assessment of urban air quality in China using air pollution indices (APIs). Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 63(2), 170–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, W., Zheng, G., & Pan, J. (2013b). China’s climate change policies. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xia, C., & Pahl-Wostl, C. (2012). The process of innovation during transition to a water saving society in China. Water Policy, 14(3), 447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu, L. (2014). Low carbon eco-city: New approach for Chinese urbanisation. Habitat International, 44(0), 102–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, N., He, G., & Williams, C. (2012). China’s development of low-carbon eco-cities and associated indicator systems (No. LBNL–5873E). Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Available at https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0f4967nd. Accessed on 06 June 2018.

  • Zweig, D. (1997). Institutional constraints, path dependence, and entrepreneurship: Comparing Nantong and Zhangjiagang, 1984–1996. In J. H. Chung (Ed.), Agents of development: sub-provincial cities in Post-Mao China (pp. 213–253).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Stefan Brehm

  2. Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Jesper Svensson

Authors
  1. Stefan Brehm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jesper Svensson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefan Brehm .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Jørgen Delman

  2. School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Yuan Ren

  3. Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku, Turku, Etelä-Suomi, Finland

    Outi Luova

  4. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Mattias Burell

  5. Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Oscar Almén

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Brehm, S., Svensson, J. (2019). Are Model Cities an Effective Instrument for Urban Environmental Governance?. In: Delman, J., Ren, Y., Luova, O., Burell, M., Almén, O. (eds) Greening China’s Urban Governance. ARI - Springer Asia Series, vol 7. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0740-9_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0740-9_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-0739-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-0740-9

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation