City-regional governance under state entrepreneurialism in China

Abstract

Facing de-globalisation, changing international politics, climate changes and new smart technologies in the post-pandemic era, city-regions become important spaces for economic, social and environmental governance. In China, this new city-regional form of governance is created under state entrepreneurialism, which means the state uses entrepreneurial endeavours to achieve its strategic vision and intention. The processes of city-region building include centralising the spatial planning system, inventing new spatial discourses, representing regional imaginaries and restructuring the state towards ecological goals. Instead of market-driven regional dynamics or redistributive politics, China’s city-regional governance demonstrates the role of the multi-scalar state in constructing and implementing economic, social and environmental policies at a regional scale.