Habitat International 46 (2015) 214e222

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Habitat International

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City-region integration policies and their incongruous outcomes: The case of Shantou-Chaozhou-Jieyang city-region in east Guangdong Province, China

* Yi Li a, , Fulong Wu b, Iain Hay c a School of Geography and Oceanographic Science, Research Centre of Human Geography, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China b Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, London WC1H 0QB, UK c School of the Environment, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia article info abstract

Article history: The Guangdong Provincial government in China envisages co-operation between, and development of, Available online 13 January 2015 the three cities of Shantou, Chaozhou, and Jieyang. To these ends, it has sought to mobilise the region's untapped resources through policies encouraging these cities' integration and growth. However, the Keywords: policy and rhetoric of inter-city integration has not yielded concordant material outcomes. Instead, the City-region three separate municipal governments have engaged with the policy agenda not in pursuit of co- China operation and integration, but rather to take advantage of otherwise unavailable opportunities to Regional integration boost their individual economic competitiveness. This paper examines the disjuncture between the Inter-city co-operation Inter-city competition rhetoric of inter-city co-operation and the material reality of competition in the Shantou-Chaozhou- fi fi State rescaling Jieyang city-region. The paper takes signi cance rst, in its critical exploration of the grounded and political processes underpinning the formation and implementation of the city-regional integration policies proliferating in China recently. The paper's second point of significance lies in its contribution to broader literature on city-regionalism and state rescaling. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

‘ … the key issue is to think not so much of the processes that 2010, 2012; Jonas, 2013; Jonas & Ward, 2007). Specifically, this help to containerize space into discrete regions but rather to research is concerned with an under-theorized disjuncture, that investigate where, why and how processes of regionalization are which exists between city-regional policy making and the actual negotiated, constructed and contested, becoming semi- (contradictory) practices of city-regions. permanently fixed or, conversely, dissolving altogether’ (Jonas, We identify some of the multiple levels of government involved 2012b: 265). in city-region making in China and examine concrete actions un- dertaken by divergent political agencies throughout the process. We ask why these agencies are acting inconsistently and how ter- Introduction ritorial politics have shaped institutional and practical outcomes. The paper draws attention to different dimensions of the material This paper approaches the politics and processes of city-region and discursive construction of city-regional scale (MacKinnon, building and state rescaling through a case study of city-region 2011; cf. Rees & Lord, 2013), illustrating inconsistencies between integration in the east Guangdong province of China. The paper policy, rhetoric and institutional practice and highlighting the need contributes to a growing body of literature examining the geo- for these elements to be distinguished from one another in analyses political (re-)construction of city-regionalism. Emergent city- of city-region making. We also aim to shed light on a semi-coherent region structures are a scale-building process contingent on inter- realization of city-regionalism (Brenner, 2002, 2004; Jones, 2009) nal political geographies, rather than a necessary outcome of global and the dialectical relations between scalar narrative and spatial economic production or capital accumulation regimes (Harrison, and scalar restructuring of the state (MacKinnon, 2011). Towards these objectives, the empirical section of the paper focuses on the emergence of city-region integration policies in the * Corresponding author. east Guangdong province of China. In recent years, there has been a E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Li). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2014.12.006 0197-3975/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Y. Li et al. / Habitat International 46 (2015) 214e222 215 renaissance of regional policies and planning across China (Li & Wu, the provincial government has not been followed through effec- 2012, 2013; Luo, Shen, & Chen, 2010; Wong, Qian, & Zhou, 2008; Xu tively in practice and has not been converted into institutional set- & Yeh, 2011). Different from past redistributive and allocative ups. We also show that the narrative has been manipulated by the regional policies, recent approaches place emphasis on inter- localities for self-interested and competitive local development and jurisdictional co-operation and integration (Xu & Yeh, 2013). To place-marketing. Despite the rhetoric of city-region integration, some extent, these practices are indicative of a transition in city-regionalism and state rescaling have not been achieved regional governance from territorial competition to regional co- because territorial politics have not supported rescaling. The mu- ordination, where adjacent municipalities are encouraged to tran- nicipalities are driving local economic development as their pri- scend jurisdictional boundaries and function in co-ordinated ways ority whilst the provincial government has failed to demonstrate as unitary metropolitan areas. However, being subject to situated support or encouragement of integration in practice. The study political, social, and cultural contestation, the process of gover- reveals some of the challenges that territorial politics may present nance transformation is far from smooth (Harrison, 2010, 2012; to the formation of city-regions e including their dismantling Jonas & Ward, 2007). While recent studies have done much to (Jonas, 2012b). advance debates on the geo-political construction of city-regions The research commenced in 2012 and involved five study trips (Geopolitics, 2013; International Journal of Urban and Regional to Shantou and Shantou-Chaozhou-Jieyang city-region (hereafter Research, 2007; Regional Studies, 2013), less attention has been SCJ city-region). Each trip lasted one to two weeks. Fieldwork paid to fraught processes of political, social, and cultural recon- included attending various provincial consultation meetings and struction and the consequences of city-regional building (Jonas, conducting formal and informal discussions with urban planners, 2012a). policy makers and government officers selected carefully for this Through an examination of recent endeavours to implement research on the basis of their role and expertise in SCJ integration. city-region integration policies in east Guangdong province this In total, more than twenty formal interviews and informal discus- paper explores struggles and tensions around building city- sions were completed (Table 1). In semi-structured interviews regionalism. The Guangdong provincial government envisages the (Dunn, in press) similar questions were asked of interviewees from co-operation and joint development of the three cities, Shantou, the respective local authorities of the three cities. Contacts were Chaozhou, and Jieyang. To these ends, it has sought to mobilise the also made through fieldwork with senior leaders of Shantou to region's untapped resources through policies and rhetoric ascertain their views on urban development and inter-city coop- encouraging these cities' integration and growth. However, the eration. All these first-hand data, supplemented by additional discourse of inter-city integration has not yielded corresponding materials such as published official documents and governmental material outcomes. Instead, the three separate municipal govern- meeting memos, constitute the qualitative evidence from which we ments have engaged with the policy agenda not in pursuit of co- have drawn in this research. operation and integration, but rather to take advantage of other- The rest of the paper is organised as follows. The next section wise unavailable opportunities to boost their individual economic contextualizes the research within ongoing debates on the geo- competitiveness. Our work shows the scalar narrative deployed by political (re-)construction of city-regionalism. We argue that city-

Table 1 List of interviewees.

Interview date Interviewee details Interview city Relevance (claim to authority)

January 2013 Three planners from the Shantou Shantou Involved in preparation of the Shantou Urban and Rural Planning Institute Master Plan as well as the eco-town project in the cross-border area of SCJ January 2013 Four officials from the Shantou Shantou Key figures in Shantou municipal Urban and Rural Planning Bureau government urban and city-region planning and policy making March 2013 Two Shantou University Professors Shantou Conduct research on SCJ integration March 2013 Official in the Policy Research Office Shantou Key figure in Shantou municipal government of the Party Committee of Shantou urban and city-region planning and policy making March 2013 Chief member of Chaoshan Chamber Shantou Supporter of SCJ integration on behalf of of Commerce entrepreneurs in, or originating from, SCJ city-region May 2013 Official of the Development and Reform Shantou Attended the SCJ joint conference in 2012 Committee of Shantou May 2013 Two planners from the Urban Planning Shantou Involved in preparation of the Shantou Institute of Nanjing University Master Plan May 2013 Jiedong People's Congress official Jiedong of Jieyang With other elites from Jieyang local government proposed a strategy to facilitate SCJ integration June 2013 Two Chao'an government officials Chao'an of Chaozhou Chao'an district of Chaozhou is adjacent to Jieyang and Shantou, (i.e. the cross-border area of the SCJ city-region) June 2013 Three planners from the Urban and Rural Shantou Prepared the Urban System Plan of east Planning Institute of Guangdong province Guangdong province and now preparing the SCJ City-region Plan. June 2013 Official of the Ministry of Housing and Shantou Administrative authority for urban and Urban and Rural Development of city-region planning in Guangdong province Guangdong province October 2013 Jiedong Aviation new town official Jiedong of Jieyang Jiedong Aviation new town is one of the key projects in the cross-border area of the SCJ city-region Download English Version: https://daneshyari.com/en/article/1047938

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