All rights reservedXu, Jiang2024-09-182024-09-182016978-85-7785-551-1https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14235/2010Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the southThis paper explores environmental discourses in planning, with special reference for China’s Pearl River Delta. The environmental situation in China is rapidly developing into a crisis. Analogous to its speedy economic growth, various forms of environmental problems have worsened so quickly that incumbent officials are often unable to handle them. This is particularly evident in the rapidly developing coastal regions where rigorous economic policies are adding stress to their eco-systems which have been severely damaged in many instances. For many of them, the need to sustain economic growth at the same time as repairing environmental damage embodies a real policy dilemma. This imposes tremendous pressure on the urban planning system – the key policy tool for reconciling competing aspirations over the use of urban space. Indeed, the past three decades have witnessed the growth of an expansive use of environmental discourses in planning, ranging from the globally stylish terms such as climate change and global warming to the locally practicable narratives such as eco-cities and sponge cities. The rising usage of these discourses may signify a growing government awareness of environmental issues. Yet, it is in no way indicative that Chinese planning has already established a role for itself as a key site, function, and orchestrator of ecological conservation. Ideas such as developing eco-cities and avoiding the use of land with ecological significance sit uneasily with the emerging role of planning as a vital means of shaping urban economic prosperity.EnglishopenAccessconferenceObject1208-1209