Engaging Citizens in Municipal Governance: A Case Study of Green Infrastructure in Shanghai

Engaging citizens in environmental governance and participation-based solutions can be challenging. This case study indicates that citizens’ awareness of the basic idea of transforming cities into sustainable and livable communities is a decisive factor. Previous studies (see for example Axon 2016) have proved that there is a connection between citizens’ awareness of climate-related programs or actions and their engagement with environmental projects at the local level. In this study, carried out in the Brilliant City neighbourhood in Shanghai (China), we tested if citizens’ awareness of urban and climatic challenges and of the potential benefits of green infrastructure (GI) measures would affect their level of engagement in related community initiatives. Several decision-makers from one of the local municipalities were involved in the questionnaire design, motivated by a desire to enhance residents’ engagement in GI initiatives. Our own more abstract interest, as academics, was to explore possible ways of recreating local state-society relations. The expected outcome of both was to better understand people’s views about GI implementation and to derive concrete recommendations for implementing GI measures within a context of a high-density Asian city. The survey itself was carried out among 201 residents. The key issues addressed were awareness of climate programs in Shanghai, the role of different actors in GI management, the importance of educational programs, communication between citizens and municipalities, and residents’ willingness to engage in related programs. The survey results support the hypothesis that a lack of, or limited, awareness of climate-related programs or actions leads to an “awareness-involvement gap” that inhibits sustained engagement with local level environmental community projects. The closely related problematic finding was that citizens’ awareness of these issues tended to be very low. Related to this finding, we also inquired about the most effective measure(s) for promoting public engagement. We found that outreach events (e.g. workshops) within the neighbourhood, training programs at schools, colleges and universities, and public forum meetings would be the most effective mechanisms for improving communication between municipalities and local residents and thereby promoting public engagement in GI programs.