Author: Rui Mu (ruimu@dlut.edu.cn)
Over the last decade, rapidly growing urbanization and motorization has led to high levels of traffic congestion and emissions in Chinese metropolitans. Along with the increasing severity of congestion problems, the structure and process of urban transport policy-making are also changing. The many reports about the failure of national and local governments to solve traffic congestion through hierarchical command and control (e.g. imposing car purchasing and usage restrictions) have triggered an increasing use of market approach (e.g. implementing competitive deregulation and commercialization to increase the quality and thus the attractiveness of public transport). However, it has witnessed many limits to neoliberalism not only including the imperfect competition in outsourcing public transport services but also unchecked externalities and growing inequality of the public transport network. Therefore, the marketization also failed to provide a promising solution to urban traffic problems. Confronting these dilemmas, worldwide leading scholars have called for an integrated urban transport and land use planning and policy-making to alleviate severe traffic congestion, since it has been widely accepted that land use pattern generates traffic demand and determines mode choice. In line with this thought, and basing ourselves on the work of Eva Sorensen and Jacob Torfing (2007), John Bryson (2006, 2015) and Keith Provan (2001, 2007), we propose to apply the network governance theory (in other term: collaborative cross-sector public management) that emphasizes pluralism, coordination, negotiation and interaction in planning, policy-making and implementation to promote the synergy between urban transport and land use. Specially, the paper investigates what the preconditions are for effective network governance in promoting urban transport and land use integration, and whether the western-inspired theory on network governance can also be applied to understand the Chinese policy context? With empirical case studies, the paper will conclude with theoretical reflections and policy implications for empirical findings.
References:
Sorensen, E. and J. Torfing (2007) Theories of Democratic Network Governance. New York, Palgrave Macmillan.
Bryson, J. M., B. C. Crosby and M. M. Minnesota (2006) The design and implementation of cross-sector collaborations: propositions from the literature. Public Administration Review, 66(s1):44-55.
Bryson, J. M., B. C. Crosby and M. M. Minnesota (2015) Designing and implementing cross-sector collaborations: needed and challenging. Public Administration Review, 66(s1):44-55.
Provan, K. G. and H. B. Milward (2001) Do networks really work? A framework for evaluating public-sector organizational networks. Public Administration Review, 61(4), 414-423.
Provan, K. G. and P. Kenis (2007) Modes of network governance: structure, management, and effectiveness. Journal of Public Administration Theory and Practice, 18(2), 229-252.
