China: more eco-friendly, but little attention paid to social impacts

China is gradually overcoming its inconsistency between economic growth and protection of the environment. However, policies on territorial planning lack awareness and attention towards social sustainability. An interdisciplinary team of researchers identified this gap by examining a classic example: the environmental redevelopment of Lihu Lake, overlooked by Wuxi, a Chinese city with 3.5 million inhabitants, which is considered a model of sustainability.

Between 2002 and 2012, the area was restored and the major sources of pollution, primarily agricultural, were strongly reduced, bringing the quality of water to an acceptable state. The waterfront was transformed, through the creation of parks and new residential areas. This contributed to a rapid economic development. At the same time, different communities were relocated, having previously been employed in traditional lines of work such as agriculture and aquaculture.

Thanks to the contribution of a group of investors with local interest, including some ordinary citizens, a group of Euro-Chinese researchers analysed the repercussions of these processes on the overall sustainability of the area. Thus allowing them to identify not only the costs and difficulties, but also the progress made.

“Our work shows how environmental management is seen today by the Chinese authorities as a tool for economic growth,” commented Daniele Brombal, synologist at Ca’ Foscari who coordinated the study. “Our results clearly indicated how the effects on the environment and economy are positive. However, this logic translates into significant social costs: forced moves, instrumental public participation, lower housing accessibility. In the case that we have studied, those that were paying taxes were the most vulnerable socio-economic communities, made up of peasants, farmers, artisans and small-scale traders. The same communities that preserve and nurture the social and cultural capital. These dynamics risk undermining the path to sustainability. There aren’t many studies such as ours carried out in China to evaluate its contributions to sustainability. The procedures and the model of evaluation that we’ve developed can be replicated in other contexts: we hope they can help other researchers and other communities.”

The study, published on the Environmental Science & Policy journal, has been allowed to develop and test a participatory approach in the field, that if adopted by local institutions, could make the development of Chinese urban and peri-urban areas more sustainable. It was conducted within two European projects: GLOCOM (Global Partners for Contaminated Land Management), coordinated by the Department of Environmental Sciences, Computer Science and Statistics of Ca’ Foscari and MEDIUM (New Pathways for Sustainable Urban Development in China Medium-Sized Cities), in which the European Centre for Living Technologies participates.

Enrico Costa