Chinese cities as digital environmental governance innovators: Evidence from subnational low-Carbon plans
Chinese cities as digital environmental governance innovators: Evidence from subnational low-Carbon plans
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DOI：
10.1177/23998083231186622
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发表时间：
2023-07
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
A. Hsu;L. Lili;Marco Schletz;Zhitong Yu
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
A. Hsu;L. Lili;Marco Schletz;Zhitong Yu
对数字环境治理兴起的研究，特别是在中国的国家以下级别，研究相当有限。鉴于城市作为可持续发展试验者和创新者的作用越来越大，关于在国家以下一级应用数字技术可能如何塑造或改变环境治理的关键问题才刚刚开始探索。在这项研究中，我们调查了融合了大数据、人工智能、5G、物联网和信息通信技术的智慧城市倡议，可能会在向数字中国的转变中发挥作用。我们概念化了数字技术可以改变中国环境治理的三个主要途径：通过产生新的数据来解决现有的环境数据差距；通过使用自动化、数字化和机器学习/人工智能来增强环境行为者的政策分析能力；以及最后，通过重塑可能改变力量平衡的国家-国家和国家-社会互动。通过对数字技术和气候变化的双重优先考虑，中国提供了一个机会，可以审查数字化趋势，找出治理和实施挑战中的差距，这些差距可能会对实现数字环境管理方法的变革潜力构成障碍。
Research examining the rise of digital environmental governance, particularly at the subnational scale in China, is fairly limited. Critical questions regarding how digital technologies applied at the subnational level may shape or transform environmental governance are only beginning to be explored, given cities’ increasing role as sustainability experimenters and innovators. In this study, we investigate how smart city initiatives that incorporate big data, artificial intelligence, 5G, Internet of Things, and information communication technologies, may play a role in the transformation towards a “digital China.” We conceptualize three major pathways by which digital technology could transform environmental governance in China: through the generation of new data to address existing environmental data gaps; by enhancing the policy analytical capacity of environmental actors through the use of automation, digitalization, and machine learning/artificial intelligence; and last, through reshaping subnational-national, and state-society interactions that may shift balances of power. With its dual prioritization of digital technologies and climate change, China presents an opportunity for examining digitalization trends and to identify gaps in governance and implementation challenges that could present obstacles to realizing the transformative potential of digital environmental management approaches.