Sustainable urban development in China : influence of the urban planning profession
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation examines the influence of China's urban planning system—the organizations, policies, and activities of professional urban planners—in shaping the country's urban built environment. Cities across China have been experiencing dramatic growth, driven both by economic development and powerful incentives for local officials to promote urban construction. Understanding the role of urban planning in the development process is important for a full appreciation of the challenges and prospects for China to manage the environmental impacts of this growth and pursue a path of sustainable development. There is little doubt that urban planning makes a difference in China as an instrument of local government to implement infrastructure development and urban construction. The contribution of this dissertation, however, is to examine the profession's potential for regulating growth and steering government decisions to place a greater emphasis on environmental sustainability. At present, this potential is constrained by numerous factors. First, urban planning organizations are not the sole agencies in city governments to produce plans to guide urban development. Rather, they operate alongside two other plan-making agencies and their relationship with these agencies limits what they can accomplish. Second, urban planners' roles are constrained by local government officials' ability to treat plans as flexible and to implement plans and accept the recommendations of planners on a selective basis. Central government policies such as environmental impact assessment requirements play a weak role in guiding local urban land use planning and decision-making. Finally, urban planners current sense of autonomy to raise questions that are counter to the dominant growth agenda of their local leaders is limited. This dissertation draws upon more than 50 interviews with planners and government staff from several Chinese cities. It also includes an in-depth case study on the recent urban growth of the central China city of Nanchang and the role of planning and local government actions in promoting this growth.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2012 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Perlstein, Andrew S |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (Stanford University) |
| Primary advisor | Ortolano, Leonard |
| Primary advisor | Seto, Karen Ching-Yee |
| Thesis advisor | Ortolano, Leonard |
| Thesis advisor | Seto, Karen Ching-Yee |
| Thesis advisor | Oi, Jean C. (Jean Chun) |
| Advisor | Oi, Jean C. (Jean Chun) |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Andrew S. Perlstein. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2012. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2012 by Andrew S Perlstein
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