Towards a greening city: How does regional cooperation promote urban green space in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area?

Abstract

Promoting Urban Green Space (UGS) is one of the major requests of green cities for urban planners and local officials, and it is linked to myriad environmental and social benefits. However, scant literature has positioned the UGS into the background of fast regionalisation to unravel their relationships and mechanisms. This study delves into the impact and mechanisms of regional cooperation upon the provision of UGS in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA), a dynamic city-region in southern China. Through social network analysis, panel data analysis, documentary review (analysis), and in-depth interviews, this study found that overall, regional cooperation has positive impacts on UGS provision in the GBA in the spheres of economic, social, institutional, and environmental affairs. We argued that economic cooperation encroaches on UGS by fostering infrastructure and economic zones; it also upgrades the industrial sectors and intensifies land use to positively affect UGS provision. Social cooperation reinforces population influx yet fosters social cohesion, sustainable lifestyles, and green economics to support the delivery of UGS policies. Environmental cooperation among local officials facilitates the implementation of urban greening projects, and institutional cooperation is conducive to urban governance in spatial greening planning. For the local government, the focal point for pursuing the green city vision is collaborative actions across the economic, social, environmental, and institutional spheres.