State-guided city regionalism: the development of metro transit in the city region of Nanjing

Abstract

ABSTRACT Geographies of city regionalism are variegated. In developed market economies, the provision of regional transport infrastructure has been affected by territorial politics, which reflects the nature of collective provision. Today, territorial politics are the foundation of city regionalism, and involve a wide range of stakeholders. In China, the city region has recently been selected as a new development strategy; accordingly, the development of regional transport infrastructure in China has been driven, partly, by national policies. Given the various stakeholders involved in such processes, this study sought to illuminate the processes of city regionalism formation in China. We used the case study of the development of metro transit infrastructure in the city region of Nanjing, which revealed that city regionalism is state-guided and involves coordination between administrative commands from different levels of government, negotiations between local governments, and an overall shift in policy sentiment from competition to collaboration. Ultimately, this study ascertains that while transborder transit projects are primarily state guided (involving upper government intervention), they are also constituted by bargaining between local governments in the city region.