Collaborative Governance Mechanism Research Articles

The Embedding of Party Building in the Construction of "One-Stop" Student Communities in Universities: Action Logic and Coupling Mechanism

During the process of embedding Party building into the construction of "one-stop" student communities in universities, various actors are influenced by the administrative logic of universities, the logic of community autonomy, and the logic of individual action. This leads to deviations between the ideal design and the actual state, tensions between centralized and decentralized resources, and differences between passive involvement and value recognition. Grassroots Party organizations within student communities can effectively enhance their leadership by embedding themselves spatially, structurally, and cognitively. By innovating collaborative governance mechanisms, expanding element aggregation mechanisms, and forming value cohesion mechanisms, a two-way coupling between Party leadership and community autonomy can be realized, thereby empowering and enhancing the construction of "one-stop" student communities.

Risk evaluation, spatiotemporal evolution, and driving factors of provincial food safety in China

The cross-regional transfer of food safety risks has become more prominent, bringing new challenges to the food ecosystem and food safety regulation. This study develops an evaluation index system of food safety risks based on the pressure-state-response (PSR) framework. The food safety risk indices of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020 are calculated by determining the index weights using the real-coded accelerated genetic algorithm–projection pursuit model (RAGA-PP). Furthermore, this study elaborates the spatiotemporal differences and correlations of provincial food safety risks, characterizes the spatial aggregation and spatiotemporal changes of risks, and investigates driving factors affecting the spatiotemporal evolution of risks. The following findings are established. First, the overall risk value of food safety in China in 2020 decreased by approximately 5% compared with year 2010. In 2020, the national food safety environment was relatively favorable and tended toward stability. The overall trend of food safety risks in China is decreasing, although socioeconomic development has increased the risks, and the corresponding social management measures have also reduced the risks. Second, food safety risks were unevenly distributed among provinces, showing significant regional differences. Specifically, generally higher risks were observed in eastern provinces versus other regions and in coastal provinces versus inland provinces. Concentrated and superimposed risks were observed in the Yangtze River Delta, a large urban agglomeration centered on Shanghai. Lastly, population density and urbanization level were the main drivers of the evolution of regional food safety risks; whereas policy instruments used by the government to manage risks played a limited role. The results show that establishing a cross-regional collaborative governance mechanism to manage food safety risks should constitute an important component of the regional integration strategy of China.

Practice of Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries in Coastal Fishery Management in China: A Case Study of the Island Reefs Fishery Lease Policy from Shengsi County in Zhejiang Province

Coastal fisheries are vital for food supply, employment, and social stability. However, overfishing is a common problem, often attributed to open access. Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries (TURFs) have gained popularity as a tool to improve the sustainability of coastal fisheries, but research on TURFs in China is limited. This paper examines the island reef fishery lease policy implemented in Shengsi County, Zhejiang Province, within the Ma’an Islands National Marine Special Reserve. The policy leases the use of island reefs to a collective, aiming to address overfishing and resource degradation by establishing fishing area boundaries and limiting the number of users and usage time. Technically, it is an application of TURFs, and it represents a shift from traditional fishing licenses to collective compliance. This experience has disrupted the existing top–down fishery governance structure and signifies a transition to a rights-based fishery management system in China. Through a comprehensive investigation and analysis of the policy’s implementation, this research identifies the factors contributing to its flaws. These include the inadequate provision of national and local government policies, insufficient support for policy implementation from fishery management authorities, and the limited involvement of fishermen’s organizations. To enhance coastal fishery management, we propose that the Chinese government should build upon existing foundations by clarifying fishing rights through central and local laws and policies. Additionally, there is a need to strengthen data monitoring of coastal fisheries, conduct multidisciplinary research to improve the allocation mechanism of fishing rights, adopt diverse fishery management approaches to enhance supervision capabilities, establish a collaborative governance mechanism, and foster coordination and cooperation between grassroots fishermen’s organizations and government departments.

Exploring the Mechanisms of Regional Environmental Collaborative Legislation in China: Policy Effectiveness, Practical Challenges, and Policy Suggestions

The legislation for regional environmental collaboration is of significant importance in enhancing the effectiveness of environmental protection. The existing literature focuses on the power struggle between central and local governments regarding environmental regulation within the realm of regional environmental governance, lacking an examination of the collaborative governance mechanisms and their effectiveness. Therefore, this study takes China’s regional environmental collaborative legislation as its research object. It employs a difference-in-differences model to test the effectiveness of regional environmental collaborative legislation concerning environmental governance and conducts a qualitative analysis to examine the current practical challenges facing regional environmental collaborative legislation. The quantitative analysis results indicate that regional environmental collaborative legislation can effectively suppress the emission of environmental pollutants. Specifically, the implementation of regional environmental collaborative legislation results in a 19.7% reduction in prefecture-level wastewater emissions and a 26.6% reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions. Qualitative analysis results show that regional environmental collaborative legislation currently faces challenges such as localism, difficulties in legislative authority allocation, and a lack of cooperation mechanisms. Therefore, this paper proposes to establish a collaboration platform, balance the interests of stakeholders, and improve the allocation mechanism of environmental regulatory powers in order to better optimize the regional environmental collaborative legislation and enhance the government’s environmental governance capacity.

Analysis of the Collaborative Governance Mecharnism of public Emergency Events —— Take the Rainstorm in Henan and Beijing as an Example

In the context of climate change, the increase in extreme weather events and natural disasters has caused a certain degree of damage to economic development, social life, and the physical and mental health of the people. Therefore, further research, promotion, and optimization of the collaboration mechanism between various emergency departments and relevant departments have become particularly important. The research topic of this article is how to establish and optimize the collaboration mechanism of various emergency departments in emergency events, and propose some specific measures and suggestions. The research methods of this paper are as follows: using the case analysis method, through combing and comparing the emergency measures taken in the two cases of extremely heavy rainstorm in Henan Province in 2021 and rainstorm in Beijing in 2023, this paper focuses on the analysis of the shortcomings of the specific emergency cooperation measures taken in the two events, and points out the links that can be improved; Using the comparative analysis method, this paper conducts a comparative study on the collaborative governance mechanism of rainstorm disasters in Beijing and Henan from the three stages of preparation, response and recovery. Finally, this article proposes specific suggestions for the allocation of emergency coordination materials, the implementation of extensive and effective public publicity, the improvement of communication equipment establishment, the promotion of emergency management information sharing, the strengthening of the rights and responsibilities of the emergency management department, and the establishment of a unified governance center to establish emergency cooperation mechanisms.

Critical success factors and collaborative governance mechanism for the transformation of existing residential buildings in urban renewal: From a social network perspective

The renovation of urban residential buildings in the context of urban renewal presents social challenges due to the involvement of diverse stakeholders and complex interest relations. This study identifies 28 critical success factors (CSFs) and 9 stakeholders, drawing insights from literature and on-site research of 45 old residential renewal projects in Jiangsu Province, China. Employing social network analysis, the intricate interplay between CSFs and stakeholders is explored, emphasizing the imperative for collaborative governance and elucidating governance mechanism principles. Focusing on stakeholders' resource contributions to transformation projects, the study devises a collaborative governance mechanism based on the specific types of resources required to support each CSF. This approach ensures that CSFs receive the necessary resources, enhancing project success. The paper concludes by outlining nine governance mechanisms and their implementation paths, anchored in the relationships between 13 CSFs and their respective stakeholders.

Perceiving IT affordances through the lens of multi-identity goals in rural governance information system

PurposeThis research aims to investigate the impact of the collaborative governance mechanism on the implementation of rural governance information systems in developing countries. By integrating institutional logic theory, affordance theory and social identity theory, the authors propose modeling grassroots officials' affordance perception process and exploring the importance of multi-identities’ information technology (IT) goals in affordance perception.Design/methodology/approachThrough an exploratory case study, the authors identified three affordances of rural governance information systems and investigated the mechanisms influencing the perception of these affordances among grassroots officials. Next, the authors established a research model and collected 490 valid questionnaires from grassroots officials in China and analyzed the data using structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThe authors' study challenges previous assumptions by integrating institutional logic, affordance and social identity theories. The authors establish a perceived affordance path for rural governance information systems, recognize substitute effects among technological affordances and extend the theory to explain social factors influencing IT perception. The authors' findings suggest providing technical training for grassroots officials to enhance IT capabilities, and governments should prioritize essential functionalities in rural governance information systems to optimize resources. Training on collaborative governance mechanisms can improve IT affordance perception, enhancing digital platform utilization in governance processes.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was conducted mainly in China, and therefore, the findings may not be universal to other developing countries. Researchers are therefore encouraged to test the proposal in locations with different rural cultures.Practical implicationsThe paper includes implications for the development of IT perception in rural governance, the development of affordance perception theory and studying the relationship between IT goals and affordance perception.Originality/valueOverall, this paper addresses the need to understand how grassroots officials perceive IT affordances in rural governance and study the relationship between multi-identities’ goals and affordance perception.

Interorganizational Design for Collaborative Governance in Co-Owned Major Projects: An Engaged Scholarship Approach

Co-ownership of major projects increases organizational complexity but remains underexplored in project studies. This article examines these complexities, employing an engaged scholarship approach with a group of practitioners facing a significant challenge regarding collaborative governance of a major project. This approach enables us to develop a framework for major projects, which includes four types of collaborative governance mechanism: sensemaking, structural, procedural, and relational. Our work has implications for interorganizational design, suggesting that a project management office (PMO) could play a leadership and integrative role in collaborative governance.

Addressing transboundary challenges: Exploring the interactive relations between collaborative governance and transboundary marine spatial planning in Europe

Transboundary challenges or issues have become the main drivers of collaborative governance (CG) in coastal and marine waters, contributing more specifically to the initiatives of transboundary marine spatial planning (TMSP). The purpose of this article is to explore the interactive relations between CG and TMSP and consider how to combine them to solve transboundary problems. Based on literature review, the process of CG in a transboundary context is summarised to produce a theoretical framework for use in case study analysis of five European TMSP projects. These represent different regional seas and the study leads to a new model showing how the collaboration dimensions of TMSP have been established. The main findings are: (1) CG provided a theoretical and practical framework for the conceptual development of TMSP, especially in intergovernmental cooperation, cross-sectoral integration and multi-stakeholder engagement; (2) three existing CG dimensions, and an additional one of data harmonisation, constitute a four-dimensional assessment; (3) existing CG mechanisms or frameworks in any transboundary context, not just marine-related, can contribute to, and benefit from, TMSP; (4) TMSP has been proved to be an effective tool to promote marine CG, but requires higher collaboration performance and further capacity building to respond to transboundary challenges and ensure the sustainability of transboundary collaboration over time.

Crowdsourcing, digital co-production and collaborative governance for modernizing local public transport services: The exemplar of General Santos City, Philippines

Informal transport continues to play a significant role in the urban transport systems of developing countries. Modernizing informal transport requires a co-ordinated approach to ensure inclusive and sustainable transition. Massive reforms to the Philippines' public transport system were rolled out in 2017 through its Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) aimed at modernizing the country's jeepney industry. Consequently, there is a need to explore collaborative governance mechanisms to sustain the momentum of modernization reforms. A framework integrating crowdsourcing and digital co-production toward collaborative governance is explored through participatory action research based on the deployment of the SafeTravelPH public transport crowdsourcing platform in General Santos City, Philippines. The SafeTravelPH app was developed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform actively engages the government, transport industry providers, and passengers in sharing transformative information to improve public transport by collecting and analyzing real-time data on vehicle trajectory, boarding and alighting locations, occupancy and other public transport operational parameters. The study demonstrates the potential of digital technologies and collaborative governance approaches in modernizing local public transport services. The experiences of General Santos City can provide an exemplar for other cities in the Philippines and other developing countries.

China’s urban energy system transition towards carbon neutrality: Challenges and experience of Beijing and Suzhou

Urban areas account for more than 70% of total carbon emissions. This proportion for China is higher, approximately 80%, closely related to human activities in urban energy consumption. In this context, the low-carbon transition of urban energy systems has become an important strategic goal for China to deal with climate change and seek sustainable development. Based on the comparative analysis of the low-carbon transition of urban energy systems in Beijing and Suzhou, this study examines the effectiveness of decarbonization policies on the evolution of urban energy consumption and carbon emissions; provides methodologies for the low-carbon transition of urban energy systems with a macro framework and a comprehensive evaluation system; and reveals the main challenges and analyzes potential solutions from the aspects of technological innovation, policy guidance, and systematic governance. The findings suggest that Beijing should promote terminal electrification and demand-side response, and Suzhou should promote the cleanliness of local generation and external energy. Under the goal of carbon neutrality, urban energy systems can promote green and low-carbon transitions by accelerating the substitution of clean energy in supply systems, promoting electrification of terminal energy consumption, developing digital and refined carbon emission accounting and management, and innovating collaborative governance mechanisms for achieving carbon neutrality.

Doing science together: Gaining momentum from long-term explorative university–industry research programs

'Doing science together' collaborations are a more intense form of university-industry interactions and are characterized by a mutual involvement and active participation of academic and company scientists in scientific research. Here, we examine the successful approach that AstraZeneca and its internationally renowned academic partners, Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University, implemented to fully unlock the potential of all parties in long-term, explorative, truly collaborative research programs. The underlying premises of these successful research programs are three collaborative governance mechanisms (3MCs) that are required that leverage the strengths of each organization: mutual collaboration; mutually beneficial science; and a mutual governance model with senior management involvement.

Serial Dynamics, Spatial Spillover and Common Factors of Carbon Emission Intensity in China’s Bohai Economic Rim

The Bohai Economic Rim (BER) is an important economic Rim in north China. Since the implementation of the Beijing−Tianjin−Hebei Coordinated Strategy in 2014, the provinces have become more closely connected in economic development and environmental governance. This paper investigates the dynamics and spillover effects of carbon emission intensity in the BER before and after removing the common factors, and analyzes the reasons for the difference. In this study, the serial dynamics characteristics and spatial spillover effects of the carbon emission intensity of provinces were analyzed in the BER provinces between 2000 and 2019. Based on the Moran index and the spatial Durbin model, the provincial carbon emission intensity and influence factors were examined. CD (Correlation Dependence) tests were then applied, with the test results indicating that the carbon intensities had strong spatial correlation. Therefore, the dynamic spatial Durbin common factor model was introduced, characterizing the dynamic characteristics of the carbon emission intensity and the spatial spillover effect in the BER. The consequences obtained are as follows: (1) The carbon emission intensities in the BER were influenced by the energy intensity, urbanization level, economic growth, and population density. There was a significant spatial spillover effect between a province and its neighboring provinces. (2) The carbon emission intensities of the provinces exhibited a strong correlation. (3) The reason for the strong carbon emission intensity correlation is associated with environmental protection policies that are similar and the common external development environment. Combining the above findings and study conclusions, the authors offer the following policy suggestions: (1) optimize the energy structure; (2) improve the industrial structure; (3) construct a regional collaborative governance mechanism for carbon emissions; and (4) formulate a precise policy. This study is crucial for reducing regional carbon emissions, promoting the transition to a green economy and society, and achieving the “carbon peaking” and “carbon neutrality” targets in China.

A Comprehensive Evaluation Framework of Water-Energy-Food System Coupling Coordination in the Yellow River Basin, China.

For mankind's survival and development, water, energy, and food (WEF) are essential material guarantees. In China, however, the spatial distribution of WEF is seriously unbalanced and mismatched. Here, a collaborative governance mechanism that aims at nexus security needs to be urgently established. In this paper, the Yellow River Basin in China with a representative WEF system, was selected as a case. Firstly, a comprehensive framework for WEF coupling coordination was constructed, and the relationship and mechanism between them were analyzed theoretically. Then, we investigated the spatiotemporal characteristics and driving mechanisms of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) with a composite evaluation method, coupling coordination degree model, spatial statistical analysis, and multiscale geographic weighted regression. Finally, policy implications were discussed to promote the coordinated development of the WEF system. The results showed that: 1) WEF subsystems showed a significant imbalance of spatial pattern and diversity in temporal changes; 2) the CCD for the WEF system varied little and remained at moderate coordination. Areas with moderate coordination have increased, while areas with superior coordination and mild disorder have decreased. In addition, the spatial clustering phenomenon of the CCD was significant and showed obvious characteristics of polarization; and 3) the action of each factor is self-differentiated and regionally variable. For different factors, GDP per capita was of particular importance, which contributed most to the regional development's coupling coordination. For different regions, GDP per capita, average yearly precipitation, population density, and urbanization rate exhibited differences in geographical gradients in an east-west direction. The conclusion can provide references for regional resource allocation and sustainable development by enhancing WEF system utilization efficiency.

Study on the Coordinated Governance of Ecological Integration in the Yangtze River Delta of China

Higher quality integration of the Yangtze River Delta in China cannot be separated from coordination and cooperation in the field of ecological governance. Ecological integration is an important dimension and content in the process of regional integration in the Yangtze River Delta in the future. Ecological integration mainly uses the overall concept and thinking to solve ecological problems by means of multi-agent participation, interest coordination and cooperation, which coincides with the theory of collaborative governance. Therefore, collaborative governance has become the evolution trend of environmental governance in the Yangtze River Delta. Under the guidance of collaborative governance theory, it is necessary to strengthen the concept of multi-agent collaborative governance; Coordinate the interest relationship between the governance subjects; Build a sound collaborative governance mechanism. With a view to improving the coordinated governance of regional ecology and realizing and ensuring ecological integration.

Exploring Collaborative Governance Processes Involving Nonprofits

Nonprofits are increasingly involved in collaborative governance mechanisms, on the premise that their proximity to end users and better understanding of the local contexts can lead to better policy outcomes. Although government–nonprofit relations have been theorized and explored by several studies, few studies have examined specifically collaborative governance, instead focusing on other phases of policy development or service delivery. In this article, we present a realist evaluation of data gathered from in-depth semi-structured interviews ( N = 41) and four focus groups with stakeholders involved in collaborative governance arrangements within “Strategic Public Social Partnerships” in Scotland. Our findings indicate that collaborative governance processes involving nonprofits can potentially lead to improved services through mechanisms such as the development of trust and the establishment of new learning dynamics, and when knowledgeable leadership and mutuality drive collaborations. However, this is only true if the long-term sustainability of these processes translates into the mainstreaming of both the resulting services and their underlying collaborative principles.

Regional Differences, Dynamic Evolution and Driving Factors Analysis of PM2.5 in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

The proposal of a “dual-carbon” goal puts forward higher requirements for air pollution control. Identifying the spatial-temporal characteristics, regional differences, dynamic evolution, and driving factors of PM2.5 are the keys to formulating targeted haze reduction measures and ameliorating air quality. Therefore, adopting the Dagum Gini Coefficient and its decomposition method, the Kernel Density Estimation model, and spatial quantile regression model, this study analyzes the regional differences, dynamic evolution, and driving factors of PM2.5 concentrations (PM2.5) in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) and the upstream, midstream, and downstream (the three regions) from 2003 to 2018. The study shows that: (1) PM2.5 in the YREB was characterized by increasing first and then decreasing, with evident heterogeneity and spatial agglomeration characteristics. (2) Inter-regional differences and intensity of trans-variation were the primary sources of PM2.5 differences. (3) The density curve of PM2.5 shifted to the left in the YREB and the upstream, midstream, and midstream, suggesting that PM2.5 has declined. (4) Industrial service level (IS) and financial expenditure scale (FES) exerted a significant and negative effect on PM2.5 across the quantiles. On the contrary, population density (PD) showed a significant and positive influence. Except for the 75th quantile, the technology level (TEC) significantly inhibited PM2.5. The remaining variables had a heterogeneous impact on PM2.5 at different quantiles. The above results suggest that regional joint prevention and control mechanisms, collaborative governance mechanisms, and comprehensive policy mix mechanisms should be established to cope with PM2.5 pollution and achieve green, sustainable economic development of the YREB.

Study on Key Drivers and Collaborative Management Strategies for Construction and Demolition Waste Utilization in New Urban District Development: From a Social Network Perspective.

Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) during new district development shows the characteristics of large quantity, concentrated distribution, and long duration on both supply and demand sides. The construction of the new district has objective conditions to promote the scale development of recycling industries and achieve green development through local digestion, so the recycling indicators for the new district proposed by the government are generally higher than those of other regions. However, many new districts have yet to systematically identify key drivers (KDs) of recycling and form win-win governance mechanisms with multiple government and market subjects, resulting in uncontrolled accumulation or high-cost discard of C&DW. This paper identifies 29 recycling drivers and 8 governing subjects through literature research and a field study of five national new districts in China. Then, a 2-mode social network and two 1-mode social networks are constructed to analyze the complex interactions between drivers and governing subjects, taking Nanjing Jiangbei New District as an example. The results of the study show that most of the drivers need at least 2 governance subjects to promote together, which indicates that it is necessary to build a collaborative governance mechanism of multiple subjects. This study provides a structured framework to analyze the drivers of recycling in new district development and the collaborative governance of multiple subjects, which can provide a basis for promoting efficient recycling of new district development.

Current Situation, Dilemmas and Measures to Improve Horizontal Ecological Compensation Coordination Mechanisms in River Basins

Flowing water resources and relatively fixed regional segmentation form a governance problem. The essence of horizontal collaborative governance is the establishment of coordination and cooperation processes between different independent and decentralized stakeholders in order to solve cross-regional public problems. As a result, the process of collaborative governance involves a jagged relationship of rights and responsibilities. This study attempts to explore how to achieve cross-regional intergovernmental joint prevention and treatment, and build a coordinated governance mechanism for a whole river basin. Based on data sources including local statistical yearbooks, open data of ecological environment departments and policy texts, this paper performs a comparative analysis of the current water quality status of various major water bodies in China and the relevant domestic ecological compensation systems. Based on this analysis, the current water quality situation is not optimistic. In order to strengthen the ecological and environmental management of river basins, more than 40 relevant systems and implementation schemes of ecological compensation for river basins have been introduced from the central government to the local government level since 2016, and 13 cross-provincial agreements (schemes) on horizontal ecological compensation for river basins have been signed. By analyzing various data and more than 53 systems (programs), it becomes apparent there are some problems in the governance of aquatic environments of river basins in China. These problems include a lack of laws and regulations on ecological compensation, imperfect coordination mechanisms, a single compensation mode and insufficient amounts of compensation. Based on this, this study proposes that China’s cross-regional river basin ecological compensation and collaborative governance mechanisms should start with differential governance; explore a variety of horizontal ecological compensation methods according to local conditions; improve cross-regional river basin collaborative mechanisms, laws and regulations; build a new path of horizontal independent collaboration; broaden the channels of financial compensation; and comprehensively improve the level of regional linkages in the governance of river basins.

Research on the Optimization of Network Public Opinion Collaborative Governance System in the Era of Big Data

With the rapid development of information technology and the continuous improvement of citizens’ online participation, the rapid dissemination of public opinion through new media platforms has led to frequent incidents of online public opinion. The governance of network public opinion is difficult to achieve the desired effect only by relying on the power of the government, and the coordinated governance of network public opinion can become a realistic path to break the situation. This paper is based on the practical dilemma faced by network public opinion governance in the era of big data: big data information collection and processing are independent; The governance subjects are complex, and the rights and responsibilities between the management entities are not clear; Insufficient motivation to participate among governance subjects; Issues such as insufficient legalization of public opinion governance, and proposing to establish a government-led network public opinion data management optimization system; Improve the collaborative governance mechanism of multiple subjects of network public opinion; Implement the construction of network public opinion common interests and value system; Adhere to suggestions such as legalized collaborative governance of network public opinion to optimize the collaborative governance system of network public opinion.