Ecological States: Politics of Sustainable Urbanization in China
China's recent central state mandate to transform 20% of urban land into urban ecological protection areas precipitated one of the largest urban-agrarian transformation on earth. My first book project, Ecological States: Politics of Sustainable Urbanization in China, traces the roots of environmental land classification policies through the global interconnections of China's premier ecologists. These ecologists shaped the state's green modernization campaigns, which are collectively referred to as "ecological civilization building." Alongside this environmental genealogy, I illustrate how comprehensive urban-rural planning, emerging from this modernization platform, extends the reach of the municipal state through green governance relations that intersect with state-private interests. Uneven valuations of village land and housing shape the politics of displacement and livelihood transition for villagers incorporated into urban conservation projects. This project is based on mixed methods and multi-sited research in three cities of Southwest China from 2014-2018 that included government officials, environmental scientists, villagers, resettlement complex migrants, and archives. This research has been supported by the Chiang-Ching Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, the Fulbright Association, the Institute for International Studies, and the Social Science Research Council, among others. I maintain ongoing research collaborations related to this project with Sichuan University's School of Public Administration and Land Resources.
Publications Related to this Project:
Book
Jesse Rodenbiker. (Forthcoming). Ecological States: Politics of Science and Nature in Urbanizing China. Ithaca, NY. Cornell University Press.
Peer Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters
Jesse Rodenbiker. Making Ecology Developmental: China's Environmental Sciences and Green Modernization in Global Context. (2021) Annals of the American Association of Geographers. doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1863766.
Jesse Rodenbiker. Adapting Visual Participatory Research Methods for Reflexive Environmental Management. (2021). Qualitative Research. doi.org/10.1177/1468794121990966
Runqiu Liu, Jian Jiang, Chao Yu, Jesse Rodenbiker, and Yongmu Jiang. The Endowment Effect Accompanying Villagers' Withdrawal from Rural Homesteads: Field Evidence from Chengdu, China (2021) Land Use Policy. 105107.
Jesse Rodenbiker. Urban Ecological Enclosures: Conservation Planning, Peri-urban Displacement, and Local State Formations in China. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. (2020). 44(4), 691-710
Jesse Rodenbiker. Sustainability as Environmental Justice: Uneven Inclusion into China's Ecological Cities. (2020) Olivier Krischer and Luigi Tomba (Eds). Shades of Green: Notes on China's Eco-Civilisation. (Made in China Notebooks 1).
Jesse Rodenbiker. Uneven Incorporation: Volumetric Transitions in Peri-urban China's Conservation Zones. Geoforum. (2019): 104, 234-243 (Elsevier Student Paper Award)
Jesse Rodenbiker. Superscribing Sustainability: The Production of China's Urban Waterscapes. Upland: Journal of Urban Planning, Landscape, and Environmental Design. (2017) 2.3, 71-86
Jesse Rodenbiker. A Political Ecology of Conservation Planning in Municipal Regions. in preparation for Fulong Wu and Fangzhu Zhang (Eds.) Handbook on China's Urban Environmental Governance. London. Edward Elgar Press.
Urban Oceans: Consumption, Conservation, Contested Spaces
My second project, Urban Oceans, traces the relationship between urban consumption of ocean wildlife. I trace the sprawling contours of tastes, sovereignty, and environmental governance surrounding ocean wildlife. My research links palettes of urban China with global trading networks, labor on the high seas and U.S. Mid-Atlantic fisheries, and politics of taste in Hong Kong and New York City. The project aims to redefine the sociospatial character of the "urban" while centering China at the heart of global ocean governance and sustainable futures. For this project, I have partnered with WWF Hong Kong and the Therkildsen Conservation Genomics and Molecular Ecology Lab at Cornell University. Additionally, I founded the Sustainable Maritime China Lab at Cornell University, which provides opportunities and training for students to conduct research.
Publications Related to this Project:
Jesse Rodenbiker. Urban Oceans: Social Differentiation in the City and the Sea. 2022. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space. DOI: 10.1177/25148486221078690
Jesse Rodenbiker. Hope for Vaquita Lies with Consumers. China Dialogue Oceans. 2020 (8) 6.
(republished in The Maritime Executive)
Jesse Rodenbiker. China's Global Reach: Urban Social Lives of the More-than-Human. Society and Space, 2020.
Max Woodworth, Xuefei Ren, Jesse Rodenbiker, Ettori Santi, Yining Tan, Li Zhang, and Yu Zhou . Researching China During the Covid-19 Pandemic. (Forthcoming) in Ed. Stanlye Brunn, COVID-19 and Emerging World of ad-hoc Geographies. Springer Publishing.
Jesse Rodenbiker. Nina Overgaard Therkildsen, Cheong Chun Li*. Global Shark Fins in Local Contexts: Hong Kong Markets and U.S. Mid-Atlantic Artisanal Fisheries. Under Review.
Jesse Rodenbiker, Nina Overgaard Therkildsen, Erica Ruan*, Kelly Su*. Advancing One Health in Urban Seafood Markets: A Genetic Survey of Dried Seafood in Three New York City Chinatown Boroughs. in Preparation.
* Denotes Lab Member and Student Advisee
Ecological Civilization Goes Global
My third project, Ecological Civilization Goes Global, considers China's conservation and development policies in global contexts. During 2021 and 2022, China hosted the 15th United Nations Biodiversity Conference, which was themed "Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth." Ecological civilization building has been the Chinese state's way to differentiate socialist sustainable development from the West. It is now being mobilized to shape the United Nations' global conservation agenda for the next 30 years. In international conservation venues, ecological civilization building projects a global sustainable development trajectory. In this project, I consider how China-led conservation planning partnerships and green BRI initiatives are transforming environmental governance globally, particularly in Global South partner countries.
Publications Related to this Project:
Jesse Rodenbiker. Making Ecology Developmental: China's Environmental Sciences and Green Modernization in Global Context. (2021) Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 111 (7), 1931-1948.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2015). Towards an Emancipatory Anthropocene: Climate Change and Everyday Life. 迈向解放的 “人类世”—气候变化与你的选择. Human and Nature. 人与自然 (2015) (11).11-17
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2015). Globalizing Hexigtan: Spatial Anomalies of Making a Global Geopark. 全球化进程中的克什克腾: 打造世界地质公园的空间特殊性. Human and Nature. 人与自然 September, (2015) (9) 22-27
Jesse Rodenbiker. Green Silk Roads?: Belt and Road Infrastructures in East Africa and Global Environmental Governance Futures. Under Review.
My third project, Ecological Civilization Goes Global, considers China's conservation and development policies in global contexts. During 2021 and 2022, China hosted the 15th United Nations Biodiversity Conference, which was themed "Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth." Ecological civilization building has been the Chinese state's way to differentiate socialist sustainable development from the West. It is now being mobilized to shape the United Nations' global conservation agenda for the next 30 years. In international conservation venues, ecological civilization building projects a global sustainable development trajectory. In this project, I consider how China-led conservation planning partnerships and green BRI initiatives are transforming environmental governance globally, particularly in Global South partner countries.
Publications Related to this Project:
Jesse Rodenbiker. Making Ecology Developmental: China's Environmental Sciences and Green Modernization in Global Context. (2021) Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 111 (7), 1931-1948.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2015). Towards an Emancipatory Anthropocene: Climate Change and Everyday Life. 迈向解放的 “人类世”—气候变化与你的选择. Human and Nature. 人与自然 (2015) (11).11-17
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2015). Globalizing Hexigtan: Spatial Anomalies of Making a Global Geopark. 全球化进程中的克什克腾: 打造世界地质公园的空间特殊性. Human and Nature. 人与自然 September, (2015) (9) 22-27
Jesse Rodenbiker. Green Silk Roads?: Belt and Road Infrastructures in East Africa and Global Environmental Governance Futures. Under Review.
