Pro-growth urban policy implementation vs urban shrinkage: How do actors shift policy implementation in shrinking cities in China?

《Pro-growth urban policy implementation vs urban shrinkage: How do actors shift policy implementation in shrinking cities in China?》

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作者单位: College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China;College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China;School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Conestoga College, Kitchener, 299 Doon Valley Drive, Room 2A131, Kitchener, Ontario N2G 4M4, Canada;Virginia Center for Housing Research (VCHR) at Virginia Tech, United States of America;Center for Chinese Public Administration Research, School of Government, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China;Department of Management, Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia;Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China;Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China;School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, China;The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, Central House, 14 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0NN, UK;School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, No. 299 Bayi Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan 430072, China;Hubei Habitat Environment Research Centre of Engineering and Technology, Wuhan, China;École supérieure d'aménagement du territoire et de développement régional (ÉSAD) Laval University Quebec City (QC), Canada

摘要: Urban policy implementation in shrinking cities has been problematic due to actors' different interests regarding managing shrinkage issues. This issue is presently influencing shrinking cities in China. Under the pro-growth urban policy at odds with the population decline tendency, actors' responses to policy implementation are complex and bear uncertain impacts on policy implementation outcomes. This paper brings up a conceptual framework from a new institutionalist perspective to uncover the implementation of the pro-growth urban policy in shrinking cities in China from the actors' perspective. An exemplary city, Fushun in Northeast China is investigated. It is found that development discourses in urban policy are reinvented by actors with their diverse responses to policy implementation. A pro-transformation coalition is built with actors collaborating on shared development goals, making compromises and developing new rules to deal of policy implementation issues. This coalition steers urban policy implementation and diverts its outcomes. This paper advances understandings on the forming mechanisms of actors' responses to urban policy implementation in shrinking cities. It is suggested that a collaborating platform with the empowerment of micro-scale networks and capacity should be adopted early on in formal planning processes in China and beyond to sustain the diverse development discourses among actors.