ANNUAL CONGRESS 2025

Depoliticizing Urban Water Management: Governance, Justice, and the Sponge City Initiative in China

Not scheduled

20m

Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul

Oral Track 05 | ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE

Speaker

Ms Xiaowen Zhan (University of Manchester)

Description

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly adopted worldwide to tackle urban environmental challenges, but their governance and implications for environmental justice remain contested. Current research on the implications of NbS on environmental justice often critiques NbS projects for reinforcing inequalities through neoliberal governance and exclusive planning, with limited focus on how governance techniques like discourse-making and framing shape justice outcomes. This study addresses this gap by examining the governance of Sponge City initiatives in Ningbo, China.

Using 16 in-depth interviews with practitioners, officials, and academics, along with policy document analysis, this research investigates how multi-scalar governance, spanning national to municipal and city-district levels, frames Sponge City as a technical fix for urban water management. This technocratic framing depoliticizes projects, obscuring social inequalities, and limiting the inclusion of marginalized groups in decision-making. At the same time, despite the centralized, top-down implementation of these initiatives, academic institutions, government consultancies, private developers, and residents play distinctive roles, creating a complex governance landscape.

Findings reveal that environmental injustices stem not only from exclusive decision-making but also from the framing of urban issues (in this case, flooding) and the technical narratives that guide responses. Project benefits, including flood resilience and green amenities, are often concentrated in wealthier neighborhoods or development projects in commercially profitable areas, while disadvantaged communities vulnerable to flooding face neglect or displacement driven by speculative development.

By situating environmental justice within broader socio-technical governance processes, this study highlights how systemic inequities are embedded in policy frameworks and institutional practices. It advances understanding of NbS governance in an under-researched socio-political context where socialist legacies intersect with neoliberal trends. The research underscores the need for inclusive governance approaches that prioritize equity, offering actionable insights for scholars and policymakers.