From Eco-Civilization to City Branding: A Neo-Marxist Perspective of Sustainable Urbanization in China
Open Access
- 12 October 2019
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in Sustainability
- Vol. 11 (20), 5608
- https://doi.org/10.3390/su11205608
Abstract
While the national discourse on ‘eco-civilization’ drives conceptual thinking on sustainable urban development in China, in practice a systematic implementation gap appears to exist when it comes to local implementation. This paper examines how the leakage occurring in the trajectory from central government ideas to municipal and district level construction projects can be explained. More specifically, it aims to spot whether it is merely the result of mismatches resulting from ineffective interactions among players in the policy process, institutional misalignment between policy goals and policy instruments, or even if the mobilization of bias in the policy process is systematic enough to justify a neo-Marxist explanation of the abovementioned implementation gap. I found two main sources of structural bias: capital accumulation in the mechanisms for urban development and power accumulation in the mechanisms underlying the administrative process.This publication has 40 references indexed in Scilit:
- Sustainable–smart–resilient–low carbon–eco–knowledge cities; making sense of a multitude of concepts promoting sustainable urbanizationJournal of Cleaner Production, 2015
- From an eco-industrial park towards an eco-city: a case study in Suzhou, ChinaJournal of Cleaner Production, 2015
- Eco-urbanism and the Eco-city, or, Denying the Right to the City?Antipode, 2014
- Low carbon eco-city: New approach for Chinese urbanisationHabitat International, 2014
- Injured but not Entitled to Legal Insurance Compensation – Ornamental Institutions and Migrant Workers’ Informal Channels in ChinaSocial Policy & Administration, 2014
- Emerging spaces of neoliberal urbanism in China: Land commodification, municipal finance and local economic growth in prefecture-level citiesUrban Studies, 2014
- Critical research on eco-cities? A walk through the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, ChinaCities, 2014
- Analysis of sustainable urban development approaches in ChinaHabitat International, 2014
- Exploring the Relevance of the Eco-City Concept in China: The Case of Shenzhen Sino-Dutch Low Carbon CityJournal of Urban Technology, 2013
- Getting Ahead in the Communist Party: Explaining the Advancement of Central Committee Members in ChinaAmerican Political Science Review, 2012