Geographic approaches to resolving environmental problems in search of the path to sustainability: The case of polluting plant relocation in China

Abstract

This paper applies a spatial perspective to environmental problems in search for the paths to sustainability, using polluting plant relocation in China as a case study. It examines how environmental improvement in one place may lead to environmental degradation in another place, how geographic concepts such as location, distance, spread and backwash effects, and land use models can help understand such phenomenon, and what the implications are for the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and development policies. Field research was conducted from 2006 to 2012 in Chinese cities of Beijing, Dalian, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou, and Ningbo. It involved intensive site observations and in-depth interviews with government officials of environmental protection, economic development, and business recruitment, and grassroots environmentalists. The results indicate that environmental improvement in all these cities has led to environmental degradation in their suburbs and rural areas due to relocation of polluting plants. Environmental spread and backwash effects may help explain the severe intra-regional environmental and economic disparities and environmental injustice. The powerful and wealthy may achieve rapid economic growth and environmental recovery at the expenses of the powerless and poor, leading to environmental poverty and sustainability disparities.