Political, legal and administrative conditions for urban ecological tissue renewal: an investigation of a national wetland park in China

Abstract

This paper explores the structural limits of state-led eco-tourism and calls for balancing ecological transformation and socioeconomic sustainability in China’s recent rhetoric of ecological civilization. Through the conceptual lens of political ecology, the paper examines the issues of environmental justice and ecological advancement confronting local communities and the indigenous population in the Xixi National Wetland Park development in Hangzhou. Based on policy and plan audits and interviews, the study reveals how territorial governance and market integration have impacted conservation approaches, property ownership changes, employment, displacement and resettlement in a capital-driven and politically centred ecotourism development. It advocates a balanced and integrated approach to natural resource conservation through multi-scalar and inclusive ecological governance at the local level.