Abstract
ABSTRACTIn recent years, state entrepreneurialism and the notion of (urban) sustainability have become ever more closely intertwined in China and there has been a proliferation of eco-/low-carbon and other similar sustainability-themed urban initiatives that have helped local states to achieve a favorable position in city competitions. Nevertheless, existing studies do not explain why Chinese sustainability projects are planned/implemented with divergent emphases and different development trajectories. Through three Chinese flagship projects, the real-estate-centric Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City (SSTEC), the environmental-construction-led Chongming Eco-Islands (CEIs), and the industrial development-focused Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City (ILCC), we argue that the formulation and implementation of urban sustainable developments are subject to local particularities and different extra-local political-economic contexts. We highlight how both vertical administrative governance and horizontal coordination between territorial jurisdictions underlie the Chinese entrepreneurial planning system, which results in different types of urban entrepreneurships: (1) scalable startup urban entrepreneurship (SSTEC); (2) asset-replacement urban entrepreneurship (CEIs); and (3) urban expansion entrepreneurship (ILCC). This study also reveals that all three cases experience a development paradox as they strive to reconcile mutually competing economic and environmental imperatives.
Highlights
In China, mainstream urban sustainability initiatives have materialized as newly-built urban development projects on the outskirts of cities (Chien, 2013a; Tan-Mullins et al, 2017)
Whilst Incremental Planning is still the mainstream development method for local development in China (Zou, 2013), the emerging urban sustainability-themed developments of the 21st century are another form of development that are driven by land-speculation-oriented local entrepreneurialism (Chien, 2013a)
In China, economic imperatives remain of prime importance to policy-makers, and local governments continue to focus on the development potential of underdeveloped towns and neighborhoods at their urban fringes
Summary
In China, mainstream urban sustainability initiatives have materialized as newly-built urban development projects on the outskirts of cities (Chien, 2013a; Tan-Mullins et al, 2017). Whilst Incremental Planning is still the mainstream development method for local development in China (Zou, 2013), the emerging urban sustainability-themed developments of the 21st century are another form of development that are driven by land-speculation-oriented local entrepreneurialism (Chien, 2013a) These developments reflect the increasing international and national prominence of environmental issues so that the ‘environment’ has become one of the key criteria for city competitiveness. Our analysis of diverse urban sustainable developments will focus on both the extra-local political and economic reasoning and the internal endowments and status that together shape and reshape urban eco-/low-carbon developments These involve local governments political will and demands, regional/city master plans and development strategies, and the interactions between the project and other regions in the same jurisdiction. Its promotion of green real estate and a modern innovative economy served as a catalyst attracting investors and home-buyers to revitalize the whole area
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
