Doctoral Dissertation Research: Variegated Geographies of Ecological Urbanization: Eco-Cities in the Global South and the Global North

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation project considers the emergence of green urbanism, as articulated through the concept of eco-cities, and its circulation between the Global North (Europe and North America), and parts of the Global South (Asia). Eco-cities, building cities as sustainable ecological systems, have been widely embraced as the solution to hyper-urbanization and urban environmental problems across the globe. Its basic tenets were developed from the post-industrial experiences of North American and Western European cities. Yet when the eco-city paradigm is applied beyond the Western world, it must negotiate locally specific contexts, including local political landscapes and locally specific planning logics and cultures. This research examines whether and how eco-cities in China exemplify such variegated ecological urbanization, and whether and how Chinese eco-cities also generate novel ecological urbanization norms that circulate back into the Global North via international planning communities and policy networks. Through a comparative study of the Dongtan Eco-City project in Shanghai (a China-UK collaboration) and Binhai Eco-City under construction in Tianjin (a China-Singapore collaboration), this research will elucidate the particular forms of ecological urbanization emerging in China via its most prominent eco-city projects, and their relationship to eco-city principles developed in Europe and North America. The research utilizes a multi-sited (Shanghai, Tianjin, Singapore, London), multi-method research design, including archival research, semi-structured and open-ended interviews with key informants, and participant observation. Designed as an urban comparison, it examines how connectivities between the four research sites shape what happens at each node. The research will also assess the adequacy of western urban and sustainability theories for explaining newly emergent ecological urbanization paradigms in the Global South. The research provides new insights into the functioning of green urbanism regimes in China, of which there is limited knowledge to date, and into how eco-city models become differentiated and variegated as they move beyond North America and Europe. The work will contribute knowledge on transnational policy transfer and urban policy mobility, advancing the understanding of the contemporary diffusion and dissemination of ecological urbanization agendas. The findings will be of interest to planners and urban policy makers internationally, since these case studies are increasingly presented in the international community as 'best practice' models of ecological urbanization. As American cities strategize about becoming more ecologically sustainable, it will be important to understand the successes and failures of existing eco-city initiatives elsewhere, and their applicability to the US context. Research results will be distributed widely to a variety of different academic and professional audiences, through academic and other English and Chinese venues of publication. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will provide support to enable a promising graduate student to establish an independent research career.