Page 342 - Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

Urban Sustainability and Industrial Migration Chapter j 16 315

250

200

150 Wuhan
Changsha
Nanchang
100
Zhengzhou
Hefei
50

0

FIGURE 16.5 Industrial sulfur dioxide emissions (10,000 tons).

markedly lowerdraises questions. This may be either (1) because the city
applies its high-polluting investment inflows in a more environmentally sus-
tainable fashion or (2) because much of its beyond-province investment is not
from high-polluting industries. The former would suggest Hefei enforces in-
dustrial energy and emission standards more strictly than do the other central
capitals, and the latter would beg the question of why the composition of
beyond-province investment to Hefei differs from that of the other central
capitals in terms of high-polluting industries. This study suggests that the
former is the more likely explanation because Hefei engaged in a series of
stringent pollution treatment efforts in the lead up to the end of the 11th Five
Year Plan (2006e10), which is described in detail in the following sections.
These efforts were applied in such a way and in conditions where the urban
growth machine politics in which Hefei is theoretically embedded did not
prevent successful implementation, thanks in part to Hefei being the largest
regional recipient of provincial investment in the treatment of pollution.
Before discussing these policy efforts at length, a few observations about
Hefei should be made regarding the above-mentioned figures. First, in 2011
the Anhui Provincial government announced a State Council decision to move
nearby Chaohu City from the jurisdiction of Lujiang County to that of Hefei, 9
making Hefei responsible for over 2 million new residents and the industries
and pollution that came with them. To ensure that the recorded statistics for

9. State Letter no. 84, “Regarding State Council approval of Anhui Province to revoke the pre-
fecture status of Chaohu City and adjustment of administrative division,” Anhui Provincial
People’s Government, 2011.