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E-participation for environmental sustainability in transitional urban China

  • Special Feature: Original Article
  • Sustainability and Digitalization: A Game-Changer? Possibilities, Perils, Pathways
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Abstract

Using information and communication technologies (ICTs), e-participation is a tool that promotes the inclusion of the public in participative and deliberative decision-making processes, thus contributing to a transformation of the interaction between government and citizens in environmental governance and sustainable development. In a number of Chinese cities, citizens increasingly draw on ICTs to promote environmental sustainability and to encourage community-based actions aimed to address various environmental concerns. The potential success of e-participation and the role of ICTs in China has, however, not been well explored. The objective of this study is to understand the role that ICTs can play in promoting public participation about environmental sustainability issues in urban China. Based on an online survey with 630 respondents, the study aims to: (1) analyze what public motivations, perception/attitudes and actions drive environmental e-participation; (2) identify barriers to e-participation, and (3) assess the different applications and functions of ICT for citizen participation in environmental sustainability. The analysis illustrates how ICTs have helped the public to obtain sensitive information about sustainability issues, to mobilize people and to gain media coverage for their actions. The central finding is that new technologies have taken citizen engagement to new heights online. More specifically, the age of ICTs has unleashed a stronger public voice on environmental governance and sustainability issues in urban China, which does not go unnoticed by the Chinese state authorities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Guizhen He & Yonglong Lu

  2. Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Ingrid Boas & Arthur P. J. Mol

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  1. Guizhen He
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  2. Ingrid Boas
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  3. Arthur P. J. Mol
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  4. Yonglong Lu
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Correspondence to Guizhen He.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Fundamental Field Investigation Program (Grant No. 2013FY111100), Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (2015ZX07203-005), the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Netherlands (KNAW) (530-5CDP29), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71103175).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Handled by Peter Seele, University of Lugano, Switzerland.

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He, G., Boas, I., Mol, A.P.J. et al. E-participation for environmental sustainability in transitional urban China. Sustain Sci 12, 187–202 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0403-3

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