Techno-economic rationalities as a political practice in urban environmental politics in China

Abstract

This article argues that techno-economic rationalities dominate urban environmental policy interventions and sustainability discourses in China. This is so despite recent trends toward diversification of actors and participatory approaches in environmental governance. The paper is based on material collected through interviews with public officials, urban planners, researchers, companies, and nongovernmental organizations working with sustainability issues in cities in China. Our empirical material shows that diversification of actors does not translate into a diversification of policy discourses. Instead, groups with technical expertise or economic resources dominate processes of environmental governance. To explain this tendency, we draw on insights from theories of technocracy. We argue that the concept of techno-economic rationalities explains why considerable leverage over sustainability-related policy decisions is created for non-state actors with access to technical expertise or economic resources, while groups who lack such resources are permanently excluded. In the case of China, this means systematically overlooking social and environmental priorities, which may cement nondemocratic decision making and increase social tensions.

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