- Mobilizing Social Capital in low developed rural China: a case study in a village   click here to open paper content260 kb
by     Liu, Tao & Zhang, Hui & An Liu, Zhi | lt20031111@hotmail.com   click here to send an email to the auther(s) of this paper
Short Outline
Social capital is an important concept of endogenous regional development.
Currently, the difficulty of improving local governance in China has
aroused a great deal of attention from academics. The contribution presents
the difficulty to mobilize the social capital and the difficulty of the
participation in low developed rural China.
Abstract
Currently endogenous development is characterized by the use and
enhancement of the local and regional potential through local stakeholders
to solve economic and social problems. Putnam et al. (1993) defined social
capital as those: features of social organization, such as trust, norms,
and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating
coordinated actions. The questions of this paper are: 1) Is it possible in
China to mobilize the social capital and to arouse the enthusiasm of the
social members to promote the local development and to solve public issues?
2) And is it possible based on trust and shared values to build regional
networks, to promote the accomplishment of the sustainability plans in the
area of economics, society and ecology?

This work is based on a four-year study between China and Germany. This
paper was initialized by arguing the issue in the period of the reform and
opening-up in China. In such a period, the plan economics was transferred
to the market economics. The disparity between the rural and urban areas
was increased and the residents were gathering from the rural to the urban
areas. Accompanied by the transformation of power from the central
government to local governments, the difficulty of improving local
governance in China has aroused a great deal of attentions.

The method of the present investigation in the village is the concept of
action research. Action research originated from the study in social
psychology. Today, it is used especially in the interdisciplinary projects
to study the social spaces. The main tools to communicate with residents in
the investigation were interview, questionnaire and residents meeting. The
significant meaning of the investigation is to support the development plan
of the local government and try to arouse the enthusiasm of the village
members; On the other hand, it provides the empirical data to extend the
further researches.

Based on the index works to several main literature center, the interviews
with several experts in government department and academic institutes, the
visits to 18 villages and the deep investigation in a Chinese village, the
paper presents the difficulty to mobilize the social capital and the
difficulty of the participation in low developed rural China. Three points
are concluded to predict the difficulty that China is confronting in this
contribution. In the end, the paper suggests that the issue to mobilize the
social capital and the enthusiasm of the social members to participate the
local development and public issues should be considered more in the future
in China.
Keywords
Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2013: Frontiers of Planning - Evolving and declining models of city planning practice
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