Huang, P;
Broto, VC;
Liu, Y;
Ma, H;
(2018)
The governance of urban energy transitions: A comparative study of solar water heating systems in two Chinese cities.
Journal of Cleaner Production
, 180
pp. 222-231.
10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.01.053.
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Abstract
This paper examines how urban energy transitions are unfolding in China, in relation to the deployment of solar water heating (SWH) systems in two Chinese cities, Rizhao and Shenzhen. Cities play a significant role in the energy transition in China. Scholarly efforts have looked into the translation of top-down visions into locally actionable policy. This article contributes to this body of research with an analysis of the urban governance of urban energy transitions in China, and how low carbon technologies are deployed in particular urban contexts. The comparative analysis of Rizhao and Shenzhen suggests that specific socio-spatial arrangements shape the evolutionary trajectories of urban energy transitions of SWH systems in both cities. In the case of Rizhao, policy approaches have been erratic. Nevertheless, governmental and civil society actors have worked to forge alignment among political visions, built environment constraints, and social practices. The proximity of an industrial cluster supporting SWH technology and the early uptake of this technology by households are two key factors that explain the rapid spread of SWH systems in Rizhao. In Shenzhen, the local government has promoted SWH systems through regulation and incentives in a top-down and coordinated manner. These programmes have been, however, abandoned, after they did not deliver the expected results. The two contrasting cases suggest that the urban energy transition in China is the result of the coordinated actions of multiple actors, and success depends on the fit between technologies and the urban development contexts, rather than on aggressive government-sponsored actions.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The governance of urban energy transitions: A comparative study of solar water heating systems in two Chinese cities |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.01.053 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.01.053 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, GREEN & SUSTAINABLE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Engineering, Environmental, Environmental Sciences, Science & Technology - Other Topics, Engineering, Environmental Sciences & Ecology, Energy transitions, Urban energy governance, Contextual factors, Territorial proximity, Socio-spatial embeddedness, Solar water heating system, LOW-CARBON TRANSITIONS, SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITIONS, TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSITIONS, CLIMATE-CHANGE, INNOVATION, POLITICS, POLICY, FIELD, RECONFIGURATION, PERSPECTIVE |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > UCL Institute for Global Prosperity |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10048013 |
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