There is widespread recognition — among policy-makers, business communities, and scholars — of the importance of improving environmental policy and management in China. Environmental concerns in China have triggered the publication of a number of books on the subject. However, very few books offer an in-depth case study of the environmental challenges in Shanghai.This book aims to explore the extent to which Shanghai has managed to cope with water supply as well as water quality control challenges in terms of its sociopolitical and economic development since 1990, with a special reference to the impact of social actors on water policy. The book focuses on the contributions from each actor in water policy — the most influential actor being the Shanghai government, private companies, environmental NGOs, Shanghai citizens, and international development agencies. The Shanghai water sector, in the recent few years, has been diversified through interactions between the Shanghai government and the newly emergent social actors. Consequently, water policy in Shanghai is influenced by multilateral interactions between these actors with their diverse interests and goals. The book will demonstrate the ways in which these actors in the Shanghai water sector have co-evolved through interactions to formulate a new mode of water policy reflecting the diverse interests of the social actors.

"This book aims to explore the extent to which Shanghai has managed to cope with water supply as well as water quality control challenges in terms of its sociopolitical and economic development since 1990, with a special reference to the impact of social actors on water policy. The book focuses on the contributions from each actor in water policy - the most influential actor being the Shanghai government, private companies, environmental NGOs, Shanghai citizens, and international development agencies."--Jacket.

With urbanism becoming the key driver of socio-economic change in China, this book provides much needed up-to-date material and covers key topics on Chinese urban development.

Chinese water resource managers face a challenge that is both immense and unique. They must balance limited water supplies against the needs of the world’s largest population; demands for rapid economic growth with calls for improved environmental management; and the desire for a market-based approach to the allocation of water with a history of State ownership and strict government control of all resources. In China, changes are occurring in water resources management that are representative of many of the fundamental changes occurring within Chinese society, on issues such as property rights, community participation, improved environmental management, and the shift towards market-based decision making. This book describes the development of a water rights system in the People’s Republic of China. It covers different aspects of water resources management in China – including water planning, the provision of environmental flows, urban water management, and irrigation district management – and examines how these are being addressed through a rights-based approach. The book includes several detailed examples of the Chinese application of water rights as they address the diverse challenges of different basins across China. This book previously appeared as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

With the increasing threat of depleted and contaminated water supplies around the world, this book provides a timely and much needed analysis of how cities should manage this precious resource. Integrating the environmental, economic, political and socio-cultural dimensions of water management, the authors outline how future mega-city systems can maintain a high quality of life for its residents.

Knowledge and insight in national environmental governance in China is widespread. However, increasingly it has been acknowledged that the major problems in guiding the Chinese economy and society towards sustainability are to be found at the local level. This book illuminates the fast-changing dynamics of local environmental politics in China, a topic only marginally addressed in the literature. In the course of building up an institutional framework for environmental governance over the last decade, local actors have generated a variety of policy innovations and experiments. In large measure these are creative responses to two main challenges associated with translating national environmental policies into local realities. The first such challenge is apolicy implementation gap stemming from the absence of the state capacity necessary to the implementation of environmental measures. The second challenge refers to the need for local non-state actors to engage in environmental management; oftentimes such aparticipation gap contributes to implementation failures. In recent years, we have seen a multitude of initiatives within China at the provincial level and below designed to bridge bothgaps. Hence, the central aim of this book is to assess these experiments and innovations in local environmental politics.This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning.

This book investigates water resources management and policy in China over the last two decades with a core focus on the role of water for socioeconomic development and sustainability. Recent policies, such as the Three Red Lines and the Water Ten Plan are evaluated for sustainable water supply, use and quality control. The book appraises solutions through demand management, water rights and pollution trading, virtual water and water footprint. Supply management is discussed taking examples from the Three Gorges Dam and the South North Water Transfer Project. The water market is investigated uncovering the active engagement of the private sector and includes discussions on how transboundary rivers demonstrate China’s engagement with its riparian countries for benefit sharing. This book will be an invaluable reference for researchers in the field as well as practitioners and students who have an interest in water and development in China.

With urbanism becoming the key driver of socio-economic change in China, this book provides much needed up-to-date material on Chinese urban development. Demonstrating how it transcends the centrally-planned model of economic growth, and assessing the extent to which it has gone beyond the common wisdom of Chinese ‘gradualism’, the book covers a wide range of important topics, including: local land development the local state private-public partnership foreign investment urbanization ageing home ownership. Providing a clear appraisal of recent trends in Chinese urbanism, this book puts forward important new conceptual resources to fill the gap between the outdated model of the ‘Third World’ city and the globalizing cities of the West.

The third edition of Understanding Contemporary China retains all the useful features of the previous editions, but has been thoroughly updated to reflect such current issues and challenges as China?s dynamic economic growth; its changing social and political culture; its growing international presence as a mediator, investor, and disburser of foreign aid; recent developments in the standoff with Taiwan; and the ever growing impact of environmental degradation.Assuming no prior knowledge on the part of the reader, the book was designed as a core text for ?Introduction to China? courses and can also be used effectively in a variety of discipline-oriented curriculums (especially political science and sociology). Numerous maps and photographs enhance the text.