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Chinese Green Gentrification: Gaze and Ethics in Local Discourses of Sustainable Development

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  • Michela Bonato

Abstract

This paper examines the overlooked micro‐politics of housing in southwestern China's peripheries, focusing on Chongqing, to deconstruct dominant narratives of urban grandeur and explore alternative visions of sustainable development. It analyzes real estate strategies in Yubei District and the development of Liangjiang New Area over the past decade. The study situates green gentrification within Chinese landscape aesthetics and state‐led ecological civilization discourse, revealing how these frameworks enable the spatial and temporal reorganization of global capital in the locale. Using multimodal discourse analysis, supplemented by ethnographic and secondary data, the paper highlights non‐Western perspectives on gentrification and uneven urban development. By approaching the locale with care, the analysis emphasizes the epistemological embeddedness of local gentrification processes within broader power structures and calls for decolonial approaches to urban studies. The research contributes to understanding how rapid, top‐down urbanization in autocratic governance regimes shapes material and discursive transformations in peripheral green areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Michela Bonato, 2026. "Chinese Green Gentrification: Gaze and Ethics in Local Discourses of Sustainable Development," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 64(1), pages 22-39, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:deveco:v:64:y:2026:i:1:p:22-39
    DOI: 10.1111/deve.70002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Weijie Hu & Nan Ye, 2024. "The emerging peri-urban landscape of modern public rental housing towers in China: a case of Chongqing," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(5-6), pages 1052-1065, November.
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