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Political Ecology of Chinese Smart Eco-cities

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Remaking Sustainable Urbanism

Abstract

Smart eco-cities are urban experimental projects that seek to achieve sustainable development transition and ecological civilization in China. Initiated by national programmes, Chinese smart eco-cities are subject to influences from local, regional, national and international sociopolitical dynamics, which involve a complexity of actors with varying knowledges, interests, and powers. However, civic participation is largely absent from this complex network, and ecological modernization ideal dominates the smart eco-city development in China, which has little social and environmental concerns. This chapter advocates political ecology as both a valuable analytical tool in dissecting the multi-scalar dynamics behind current smart eco-city practices, and a fruitful alternative way to promote a more environmentally sound and socially just smart eco-development.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [project number: 71461137005]. Xie, L. acknowledges partial support by the International Doctoral Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China.

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  1. University of Nottingham Ningbo, Ningbo, China

    Linjun Xie, May Tan-Mullins & Ali Cheshmehzangi

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  1. Linjun Xie
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    Xiaoling Zhang

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Xie, L., Tan-Mullins, M., Cheshmehzangi, A. (2019). Political Ecology of Chinese Smart Eco-cities. In: Zhang, X. (eds) Remaking Sustainable Urbanism. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3350-7_4

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