Durable policy facilitation of Sustainable Industrial Parks in China: A perspective of co-evolution of policy processes

Abstract

For some time, China has engaged in durable governmental facilitation of the development of Sustainable Industrial Parks (SIPs). This has materialized through two policy programs: one stimulating Eco-industrial Parks (EIPs)and one advancing Circular Economy Industrial Parks(CEIPs). Given their overlapping objectives, we conceive of the interaction of these programs as a process of policy co-evolution, seeking to understand in what ways they have reinforced or dampened each other, and consequently, its effects on the diffusion of SIPs in China. Using event-based analytical tools, we show that 1) each program constituted a selection environment for the other, indicating that co-evolution took place; 2)the orchestration from powerful actors in the Circular Economy policy led to the change of types of co-evolution from the interference and potential competitions to symbiosis that brought about similar diffusion patterns of CEIPs and EIPs; 3) co-evolution was especially evident in the earlier periods of the policy processes, when policy actors strived to create a fit with broader social and physical environment; and 4) along with the established primary adaptation and shifted policy goals toward effective policy outcomes, the co-evolutionary dynamics became less intensive; and the combination of these factors eventually produced wide diffusion of SIP concept in diverse types of industrial parks.

Mapping Industrial Symbiosis Development in Europe_ typologies of networks, characteristics, performance and contribution to the Circular Economy

“…In here, learnings from pioneering policies in other parts of the world such as China (see, for example, Matthew and Tan, 2011, Jiao et al, 2018and Su et al, 2013 and Korea (see, Behera et al, 2012) could help to identify favorable framework conditions, some of which could be adapted to the EU institutional framework and inspire areas of policy intervention. Some first steps in this direction have been promoted by the recently launched CE circular Economy package, which for the first time explicitly refers to IS as core strategy to promote circularity.…”

Governance of the circular economy: A comparative examination of the use of standards by China and the United Kingdom

“…In their review of the literature on circular economy themes, Lieder and Rashid (2016) The concept of the CE was introduced in China in the 1990s. It had its origins in cleaner production, industrial ecology, and ecological modernization thinking and was inspired by examples of implementation in Europe, the United States, and Japan (Yuan et al, 2006, Su et al, 2013, Jiao and Boons, 2017, Jiao et al, 2018. China's approach to the CE places (Mol and Spaargaren, 2000).…”

Chapter 15. Governing Resource Flows in a Circular Economy: Rerouting Materials in an Established Policy Landscape

“…20,21 The idea is that the total use of resources and production of waste by the companies involved is decreased, to the mutual economic benefit of the parties involved. Discussions about the efficacy of policy for IS development have been ongoing, 5,22,23,24 though a distinction needs to be made between underlying policies relating to the context of resource recovery, prominent in the EU 25,26 and policies attempting to foster IS between firms which have achieved some success in South Korea 27 and China. 24,28 The UK uniquely, but temporarily (2005-2012), had a national policy for directly facilitating industrial symbiosis (NISP: National Industrial Symbiosis Programme) by building connections between companies.…”

“…Discussions about the efficacy of policy for IS development have been ongoing, 5,22,23,24 though a distinction needs to be made between underlying policies relating to the context of resource recovery, prominent in the EU 25,26 and policies attempting to foster IS between firms which have achieved some success in South Korea 27 and China. 24,28 The UK uniquely, but temporarily (2005-2012), had a national policy for directly facilitating industrial symbiosis (NISP: National Industrial Symbiosis Programme) by building connections between companies. 29 NISP's premise, that collecting information on companies can be a step to building links between them, continues to be influential.…”