Luring the elephants back?: Eco-civilization and the pressure for green urban development in Hangzhou

Jørgen Delman

Luring the elephants back? Eco-civilization and the pressure for green urban development in Hangzhou

Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies

Abstract

This paper asks how local green development is stimulated through new governance instruments in Hangzhou. The paper argues that the eco-civilization framework has become an overarching concept for green or sustainable development, i.e. to restore order and balance to the Chinese ecology to safeguard future generations. The paper updates previous work on eco-civilization construction and governance innovations in Hangzhou. The local field is increasingly politicized in response to central policies, and the room for local maneuvering is becoming increasingly regulated. Generally, the Party and state system seems to be taking more control of itself as an organization and of its agents to promote green development. The local green regulations are becoming increasingly specific and more and more measurable, and a new public management system with performance reviews and results management procedures based on key performance indicators and with assessments by the public are meant to improve policy implementation, also in the environmental field. It is observed how the city authorities respond to central and popular pressure by opening up to these through external participation and assessment. This approach is seen as a key instrument to stimulate policy compliance and enhance government transparency and public accountability. However, the system of implementation still needs improvement, especially with regard to evidence based assessments of progress, compliance and effectiveness in the eco-civilization field. The available evidence does however indicate that this approach has had some effect on narrowing the implementation gap in environmental politics.

Original language	English
Publication date	28 May 2017
Number of pages	27
Publication status	Published - 28 May 2017
Event	Shanghai Forum: Asia and the World: New Impetus, New Structure and New Order - Fudan University, Shanghai, China Duration: 27 May 2017 → 29 May 2017 http://www.shanghaiforum.fudan.edu.cn/en/

Conference

Conference	Shanghai Forum
Location	Fudan University
Country/Territory	China
City	Shanghai
Period	27/05/2017 → 29/05/2017
Internet address	http://www.shanghaiforum.fudan.edu.cn/en/

Keywords

Faculty of Humanities
China
Eco-civilization
green development
red line for ecological protection
urban green governance
performance reviews
Hangzhou

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Cite this

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title = "Luring the elephants back?: Eco-civilization and the pressure for green urban development in Hangzhou",

abstract = "This paper asks how local green development is stimulated through new governance instruments in Hangzhou. The paper argues that the eco-civilization framework has become an overarching concept for green or sustainable development, i.e. to restore order and balance to the Chinese ecology to safeguard future generations. The paper updates previous work on eco-civilization construction and governance innovations in Hangzhou. The local field is increasingly politicized in response to central policies, and the room for local maneuvering is becoming increasingly regulated. Generally, the Party and state system seems to be taking more control of itself as an organization and of its agents to promote green development. The local green regulations are becoming increasingly specific and more and more measurable, and a new public management system with performance reviews and results management procedures based on key performance indicators and with assessments by the public are meant to improve policy implementation, also in the environmental field. It is observed how the city authorities respond to central and popular pressure by opening up to these through external participation and assessment. This approach is seen as a key instrument to stimulate policy compliance and enhance government transparency and public accountability. However, the system of implementation still needs improvement, especially with regard to evidence based assessments of progress, compliance and effectiveness in the eco-civilization field. The available evidence does however indicate that this approach has had some effect on narrowing the implementation gap in environmental politics. ",

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N2 - This paper asks how local green development is stimulated through new governance instruments in Hangzhou. The paper argues that the eco-civilization framework has become an overarching concept for green or sustainable development, i.e. to restore order and balance to the Chinese ecology to safeguard future generations. The paper updates previous work on eco-civilization construction and governance innovations in Hangzhou. The local field is increasingly politicized in response to central policies, and the room for local maneuvering is becoming increasingly regulated. Generally, the Party and state system seems to be taking more control of itself as an organization and of its agents to promote green development. The local green regulations are becoming increasingly specific and more and more measurable, and a new public management system with performance reviews and results management procedures based on key performance indicators and with assessments by the public are meant to improve policy implementation, also in the environmental field. It is observed how the city authorities respond to central and popular pressure by opening up to these through external participation and assessment. This approach is seen as a key instrument to stimulate policy compliance and enhance government transparency and public accountability. However, the system of implementation still needs improvement, especially with regard to evidence based assessments of progress, compliance and effectiveness in the eco-civilization field. The available evidence does however indicate that this approach has had some effect on narrowing the implementation gap in environmental politics.

AB - This paper asks how local green development is stimulated through new governance instruments in Hangzhou. The paper argues that the eco-civilization framework has become an overarching concept for green or sustainable development, i.e. to restore order and balance to the Chinese ecology to safeguard future generations. The paper updates previous work on eco-civilization construction and governance innovations in Hangzhou. The local field is increasingly politicized in response to central policies, and the room for local maneuvering is becoming increasingly regulated. Generally, the Party and state system seems to be taking more control of itself as an organization and of its agents to promote green development. The local green regulations are becoming increasingly specific and more and more measurable, and a new public management system with performance reviews and results management procedures based on key performance indicators and with assessments by the public are meant to improve policy implementation, also in the environmental field. It is observed how the city authorities respond to central and popular pressure by opening up to these through external participation and assessment. This approach is seen as a key instrument to stimulate policy compliance and enhance government transparency and public accountability. However, the system of implementation still needs improvement, especially with regard to evidence based assessments of progress, compliance and effectiveness in the eco-civilization field. The available evidence does however indicate that this approach has had some effect on narrowing the implementation gap in environmental politics.

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