Research on the construction path of the megacity from the perspective of Nudge Theory: Empirical evidence of the “Park City” construction in Chengdu Tianfu New Area

The transformation of Chengdu Tianfu New Area, a state-level new district, from the first site of constructing the “Park City” to the representative of the “Park City”, contains a unique path of “Chinese Style Governance”. To expand the diverse paths of constructing megacities, the current research references the nudge theory of behavioral science, adopts the extended case method, and takes Chengdu Tianfu New Area as a typical case to summarize the “nudge” path of “Party City” construction. The study found that the government achieves the lock-in effect by the priming mechanism and uses the nudge strategy of improving environment and guiding public opinion, thereby helping the people make free choices. It realizes the framework effect by the salience mechanism and uses the strategies of highlighting key information and optimizing information delivery methods, which directly affects the behavior of the public. It achieves the commitment effect by the comparison mechanism, including the horizontal comparison and vertical comparison strategies, and gradually realizes the policy goals. It realizes the social norm effect by the imitation mechanism and uses the strategies of creating peer pressure and playing celebrity effect, which in turn influence people’s choices. With the help of the “nudging” mechanism, the construction of the park city has realized the interactive cycle of “government output-citizen feedback” and achieved the goal of “making great change through small actions”. As a new behavioral intervention tool, “nudging” provides an alternative explanation for the construction of the park city in Tianfu New Area and opens up new ideas for the construction of megacities. This study concludes that the construction of megacities can achieve the goal of “common return” through different ways and provides practical inspiration for future urban construction.