Print Email Facebook Twitter Dreaming the wrong dream Title Dreaming the wrong dream: An exploratory case study of a policy change toward sustainable urban development in a medium-sized Chinese city Author Song, Y. (TU Delft Organisation & Governance; Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam) de Jong, W.M. (TU Delft Organisation & Governance; Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam; Fudan University) Stead, D. (TU Delft Spatial Planning and Strategy; Aalto University) Yang, Wei (Northeastern University) Wang, B. (TU Delft Urban Development Management) Date 2022 Abstract Sustainable urban transformation has become a mantra for Chinese cities. While most studies focus on sustainable urbanization in megacities, the far larger number of medium-sized cities is understudied, although the latter face more severe urban problems. This article develops a framework for examining policy change in sustainable urban development initiated at the central level and reactions, tensions, and implementation issues emerging at the local level. It focuses on an in-depth case study of the challenges in realizing a transition from quantity-oriented pro-growth policies to sustainable quality-oriented ones in a medium-sized Chinese city. We find that there is evidence of changes in long-term values and goals toward sustainability at the levels of both central and local government, but also great inconsistency between goals on paper and policy implementation in practice. Sustainability in urban development is much harder to realize as local officials see urban development as a major means to maintain local economic growth, which can be separated from other issues in ecological preservation. The article concludes with a roadmap for future studies focusing on medium-sized cities, especially indicating how narratives on sustainable urban development hide from view financial and environmental risks generated by the actual implementation of the dominant aggressive urban pro-growth model. Subject infrastructure developmentmedium-sized citiesPolicy paradigmsustainable urban transitionurban growth To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ae82ccb1-1a78-47c3-a2d0-2c86a9f15046 DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2022.2059377 ISSN 0735-2166 Source Journal of Urban Affairs, 46 (2), 252-266 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2022 Y. Song, W.M. de Jong, D. Stead, Wei Yang, B. Wang Files PDF 07352166.2022.pdf 941.77 KB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:ae82ccb1-1a78-47c3-a2d0-2c86a9f15046/datastream/OBJ/view