Endless bargains over sustainable spatial planning? Politics across scales and sectors of the ecostate restructuring in Shenzhen, China

Keywords: eco-state restructuring, scale, sector, spatial planning, Shenzhen
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 8

Abstract

The eco-state restructuring (ESR) theory stresses the power and responsibility redistribution across different government scales for better environmental regulation while neglects the redistribution across different government sectors. By studying the politics of the spatial planning system in Shenzhen, China, this article argues that the government actors at not only different scales but also sectors have been bargaining over sustainable spatial planning and applying their opinions to environmental regulation. The findings are as the follows: When the upper-scale governments tried to centralize the spatial planning related powers following the agenda of environmental protection, the Shenzhen government selectively obeyed the instructions with higher political attention while attempted to make some breakthrough of the instructions with lower politics attention. The bargain powers of the Shenzhen government were gradually strengthened by a series of space-targeting reforms and innovations in spatial planning, which thus influenced the changing bargain powers of different sectors at the municipal scale.