Angela Moriggi is Research Fellow at the University Ca’ Foscari of Venice. Her research focuses on public participation in environmental decision-making and on the gender dimension of climate change policies in the PRC. She is Project Manager of the EU FP-7 Marie Curie IRSES programme ‘Global Partners in Contaminated Land Management’ (GLOCOM). She has spent extended periods of time in China, as Marie Curie IRSES Fellow at the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) and Beijing Normal University (BNU), as intern at the Science, Technology and Environment Section of the EU Delegation in China, and as exchange student at CASS. Prior to joining Ca’ Foscari, she was Research Fellow at Istituto Universitario di Studi Europei (IUSE), and Project Manager at the UK-based think-tank gLAWcal. She holds a MA in International and Diplomatic Sciences and a BA in Oriental History, Cultures and Civilization from Bologna University.

 

abstract

 

Shanghai at a Sustainability Turning Point. Theoretical and Methodological

Approaches to Assess Urban Sustainability.

According to the 2013 China Urban Sustainability Index (USI), Shanghai is today

positioned at a sustainability turning point, where its potential for growth is

hindered by an existing model of development that the city cannot longer afford to

pursue. USI provides an assessment of several cities’ performances based on a

number of indicators, measuring four categories: economy, society, resources and

environment. Shanghai is known all over the world for its level of economic maturity,

but imbalances have emerged between the economy and the social and

environmental aspects, posing great risks to the city’ sustainable progress. An

assertive pursuit of economic growth, population expansion, an increase in

population density have caused great stress on Shanghai’s institutional capacity.

The city is in urgent need to design a number of policy options to address these

issues. This is crucial also because sustainable cities, while facing many challenges,

have also the potential to act as catalyzers and fertilizers of innovation and

prosperity, contributing to shape and display China’s global image.

This presentation will seek to place Shanghai’s case in a broader discussion on

sustainable urbanization, fostering the debate over the concept of sustainability

itself, what it means and what it entails. In fact, rhetorical efforts are not always

coupled by a throughout understanding of sustainability; also, sustainable

urbanization is often measured only through the lens of ‘green’ technological

development.

Against this background, the following three main policy approaches will be offered:

1) to embrace an holistic approach in the definition of policy solutions, one where

the three dimensions of sustainability are effectively appraised through suitable

metrics, adapted to local social, environmental, economic and cultural contexts. As

put by Nobel laureate in economics J. Stiglitz, “what we measure affects what we do.

If we have the wrong measures, we will strive for the wrong things”; 2) to evaluate

past and future policy options through multidisciplinary methodologies, such as

sustainability impact assessment tools, offering the possibility to assess the

feasibility of different policy scenarios; 3) to place the human dimension at the

center, through the institution of participatory practices, that integrate different

stakeholders’ visions and values concerning sustainability and urban development.