Redlines as Green Lights: Rescaling and Local Agency in China’s Environmental Governance

• In Event: Environmental Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 9: Governance, Policy, and the State

Abstract

How does a highly centralized environmental regime reshape, rather than eliminate, local state agency? This paper examines China’s Ecological Redline Policy (ERP) as a case of governing space through rescaling. While the ERP utilizes advanced cartography to enhance top-down visibility, its implementation in a mountainous county reveals a paradox. A road project previously denied approval for encroaching on a nature reserve was later authorized under the ERP framework. Moving beyond traditional central-local frameworks that focus on zero-sum power redistribution, the analysis explores how the organization of spatial divisions and institutional rules reshapes the operational conditions for different actors. This research conceptualizes rescaling not merely as a shift in authority but as a reorganization of governing rules, arguing that local state agency is embedded within the technicalities of spatial regulation. Fieldwork conducted between 2024 and 2026, which included interviews with local officials, planners, and conservation actors, provides the empirical basis for analyzing how rescaling reorganizes spatial governance. The study identifies three key mechanisms. First, layered rescaling increases spatial resolution within protected areas, transforming binary prohibitions into differentiated regulatory zones that allow projects to proceed through technical justification. Second, hierarchical rescaling orders multiple redlines, enabling local governments to navigate competing national priorities such as ecological protection and arable land preservation. Third, selective rescaling shapes which ecological elements are rendered visible through data infrastructures, leaving other spaces outside formal regulation. Ultimately, the analysis reframes rescaling as a reconfiguration of governing rules that produces structured flexibility inside centralized systems. This work contributes to spatial sociology by illustrating how state power shapes space by realigning technology and regulatory boundaries.

Author

• Xiyue Li