I recently completed a long-term project resulting in the book Ecological States: Politics of Science and Nature in Urbanizing China (2023, Cornell University Press), which draws on long-term fieldwork to examine how ecology has become instrumental to state power, urbanization, and resettlement in China.
I have three ongoing research projects:
1. Politics of Green Urbanization in China investigates environmental science, governance, urban planning, and social inequality in China's urban-rural peripheries.
2. Urban Oceans: Centers and Edges of a Sustainable Marine Wildlife Trade examines relationships between urban markets, marine biodiversity, and environmental policy, as well as classed, gendered, and racialized forms of social differentiation embedded in marine wildlife trade across cities like Hong Kong and New York City.
3. Global China and the Environment analyzes the role of China in environmental governance and expressions of power outside sovereign borders, with an emphasis on Global South contexts.
I have three ongoing research projects:
1. Politics of Green Urbanization in China investigates environmental science, governance, urban planning, and social inequality in China's urban-rural peripheries.
2. Urban Oceans: Centers and Edges of a Sustainable Marine Wildlife Trade examines relationships between urban markets, marine biodiversity, and environmental policy, as well as classed, gendered, and racialized forms of social differentiation embedded in marine wildlife trade across cities like Hong Kong and New York City.
3. Global China and the Environment analyzes the role of China in environmental governance and expressions of power outside sovereign borders, with an emphasis on Global South contexts.
Politics of Green 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 American Council of Learned Societies, Chiang-Ching Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, the Fulbright-Hays Program, 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. (2023). Ecological States: Politics of Science and Nature in Urbanizing China. Ithaca, NY. Cornell University Press.
Peer Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2023). Political Ecologies of Urban-Rural Conservation Planning and Resettlement. in Fulong Wu and Fangzhu Zhang (Eds.) Handbook on China's Urban Environmental Governance. London. Edward Elgar Press.
Jesse Rodenbiker (2022). Social Justice in China's Cities: Urban-Rural Restructuring and Justice-Oriented Planning. Transactions in Planning and Urban Research. 1 (1-2): 184-198.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2022). Adapting Visual Participatory Research Methods for Reflexive Environmental Management. Qualitative Research. 22(4): 559-577.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2021). Making Ecology Developmental: China's Environmental Sciences and Green Modernization in Global Context. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 111 (7), 1931-1948.
Runqiu Liu, Jian Jiang, Chao Yu, Jesse Rodenbiker, and Yongmu Jiang. (2021). The Endowment Effect Accompanying Villagers' Withdrawal from Rural Homesteads: Field Evidence from Chengdu, China Land Use Policy. 105107.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2020). Urban Ecological Enclosures: Conservation Planning, Peri-urban Displacement, and Local State Formations in China. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 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. (2019). Uneven Incorporation: Volumetric Transitions in Peri-urban China's Conservation Zones. Geoforum. 104, 234-243 (Elsevier Student Paper Award)
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2017). Superscribing Sustainability: The Production of China's Urban Waterscapes. Upland: Journal of Urban Planning, Landscape, and Environmental Design. 2.3, 71-86
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 American Council of Learned Societies, Chiang-Ching Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, the Fulbright-Hays Program, 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. (2023). Ecological States: Politics of Science and Nature in Urbanizing China. Ithaca, NY. Cornell University Press.
Peer Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2023). Political Ecologies of Urban-Rural Conservation Planning and Resettlement. in Fulong Wu and Fangzhu Zhang (Eds.) Handbook on China's Urban Environmental Governance. London. Edward Elgar Press.
Jesse Rodenbiker (2022). Social Justice in China's Cities: Urban-Rural Restructuring and Justice-Oriented Planning. Transactions in Planning and Urban Research. 1 (1-2): 184-198.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2022). Adapting Visual Participatory Research Methods for Reflexive Environmental Management. Qualitative Research. 22(4): 559-577.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2021). Making Ecology Developmental: China's Environmental Sciences and Green Modernization in Global Context. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 111 (7), 1931-1948.
Runqiu Liu, Jian Jiang, Chao Yu, Jesse Rodenbiker, and Yongmu Jiang. (2021). The Endowment Effect Accompanying Villagers' Withdrawal from Rural Homesteads: Field Evidence from Chengdu, China Land Use Policy. 105107.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2020). Urban Ecological Enclosures: Conservation Planning, Peri-urban Displacement, and Local State Formations in China. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 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. (2019). Uneven Incorporation: Volumetric Transitions in Peri-urban China's Conservation Zones. Geoforum. 104, 234-243 (Elsevier Student Paper Award)
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2017). Superscribing Sustainability: The Production of China's Urban Waterscapes. Upland: Journal of Urban Planning, Landscape, and Environmental Design. 2.3, 71-86
Urban Oceans: Centers and Edges of a Sustainable Marine Wildlife Trade
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 the Therkildsen Conservation Genomics and Molecular Ecology Lab at Cornell University. Additionally, I founded a lab, which provides opportunities and training for students to conduct research.
Publications Related to this Project:
Rodenbiker, J. (2025) Shark Fin City: Transitional Marine Wildlife Economies in Global Hong Kong. Urban Geography. 46(1) 155-179.
Jesse Rodenbiker, Nina O. Therkildsen, Erica Ruan*, Kelly Su* (2024). Advancing One Health in Urban Seafood Markets: A Genetic and Social Analysis of Dried Sea Cucumber in Three New York City Chinatowns. Sustainability. 16(9). 3589.
Jesse Rodenbiker, Nina .O. Therkildsen, Cheong Chun Li*, (2023). Global Shark Fins in Local Contexts: Multi-scalar Dynamics Between Hong Kong Markets and Mid-Atlantic Fisheries. Ecology and Society. 28(3): 5.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2023). Urban Oceans: Social Differentiation in the City and the Sea. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space. 6(1) 412-432.
Max Woodworth, Xuefei Ren, Jesse Rodenbiker, Ettori Santi, Yining Tan, Li Zhang, and Yu Zhou. (2022). Researching China During the Covid-19 Pandemic. in Ed. Stanley Brunn. COVID-19 and Emerging World of ad-hoc Geographies. Springer Publishing.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2020). Hope for Vaquita Lies with Consumers. China Dialogue Oceans. (8) 6.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2020). China's Global Reach: Urban Social Lives of the More-than-Human. Society and Space, (4) 8.
* Denotes Lab Member and Student Advisee
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 the Therkildsen Conservation Genomics and Molecular Ecology Lab at Cornell University. Additionally, I founded a lab, which provides opportunities and training for students to conduct research.
Publications Related to this Project:
Rodenbiker, J. (2025) Shark Fin City: Transitional Marine Wildlife Economies in Global Hong Kong. Urban Geography. 46(1) 155-179.
Jesse Rodenbiker, Nina O. Therkildsen, Erica Ruan*, Kelly Su* (2024). Advancing One Health in Urban Seafood Markets: A Genetic and Social Analysis of Dried Sea Cucumber in Three New York City Chinatowns. Sustainability. 16(9). 3589.
Jesse Rodenbiker, Nina .O. Therkildsen, Cheong Chun Li*, (2023). Global Shark Fins in Local Contexts: Multi-scalar Dynamics Between Hong Kong Markets and Mid-Atlantic Fisheries. Ecology and Society. 28(3): 5.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2023). Urban Oceans: Social Differentiation in the City and the Sea. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space. 6(1) 412-432.
Max Woodworth, Xuefei Ren, Jesse Rodenbiker, Ettori Santi, Yining Tan, Li Zhang, and Yu Zhou. (2022). Researching China During the Covid-19 Pandemic. in Ed. Stanley Brunn. COVID-19 and Emerging World of ad-hoc Geographies. Springer Publishing.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2020). Hope for Vaquita Lies with Consumers. China Dialogue Oceans. (8) 6.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2020). China's Global Reach: Urban Social Lives of the More-than-Human. Society and Space, (4) 8.
* Denotes Lab Member and Student Advisee
Global China and the Environment
My third project, Global China and the Environment considers China's conservation initiatives and engagement in natural resource governance in international contexts, particularly in Global South contexts. During 2021 and 2022, for instance, China took a lead role in 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 its approaches to conservation and sustainability from the West. During these meetings, China not only released the Kunming Declaration calling for greater prioritization of biodiversity protection and conservation, but also spearheaded the Kunming Biodiversity Fund, which supports conservation initiatives in developing countries. The study examines how China's South-South conservation initiatives are shaping environmental governance and global sustainable development trajectories.
Publications Related to this Project:
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2024). Global China in the American Heartland: Chinese Investment, Populist Coalitions, and the New Red Scare. Political Geography. (111). 103110.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2023).Ecological Civilization Goes Global: China's Green Soft Power and South-South Environmental Initiatives. Understanding China Amid Change and Cooperation: 2022-2023 Wilson China Fellowship Report.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2023). Ecological Militarization: Engineering Territory in the South China Sea. Political Geography. 102932.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2023). Green Silk Roads, Partner State Development, and Environmental Governance: Belt and Road Infrastructures on the Sino-East African Frontier. Critical Asian Studies. 55 (2) 169-192.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2022). Geoengineering the Sublime: China and the Aesthetic State. Made in China Journal. 7(2): 138-143.
Jesse Rodenbiker (2022). High Stakes: China's Leadership in Global Biodiversity Governance. New Security Beat. 11 (3).
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2021). Making Ecology Developmental: China's Environmental Sciences and Green Modernization in Global Context. 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
My third project, Global China and the Environment considers China's conservation initiatives and engagement in natural resource governance in international contexts, particularly in Global South contexts. During 2021 and 2022, for instance, China took a lead role in 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 its approaches to conservation and sustainability from the West. During these meetings, China not only released the Kunming Declaration calling for greater prioritization of biodiversity protection and conservation, but also spearheaded the Kunming Biodiversity Fund, which supports conservation initiatives in developing countries. The study examines how China's South-South conservation initiatives are shaping environmental governance and global sustainable development trajectories.
Publications Related to this Project:
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2024). Global China in the American Heartland: Chinese Investment, Populist Coalitions, and the New Red Scare. Political Geography. (111). 103110.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2023).
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2023). Ecological Militarization: Engineering Territory in the South China Sea. Political Geography. 102932.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2023). Green Silk Roads, Partner State Development, and Environmental Governance: Belt and Road Infrastructures on the Sino-East African Frontier. Critical Asian Studies. 55 (2) 169-192.
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2022). Geoengineering the Sublime: China and the Aesthetic State. Made in China Journal. 7(2): 138-143.
Jesse Rodenbiker (2022). High Stakes: China's Leadership in Global Biodiversity Governance. New Security Beat. 11 (3).
Jesse Rodenbiker. (2021). Making Ecology Developmental: China's Environmental Sciences and Green Modernization in Global Context. 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