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Great claims have been made about the benefits of dematerialization in a digital service economy. However, digitalization has historically increased environmental impacts at local and planetary scales, affecting labor markets, resource use, governance, and power relationships. Here we study the past, present, and future of digitalization through the lens of three interdependent elements of the Anthropocene: ( a) planetary boundaries and stability, ( b) equity within and between countries, and ( c) human agency and governance, mediated via ( i) increasing resource efficiency, ( ii) accelerating consumption and scale effects, ( iii) expanding political and economic control, and ( iv) deteriorating social cohesion. While direct environmental impacts matter, the indirect and systemic effects of digitalization are more profoundly reshaping the relationship between humans, technosphere and planet. We develop three scenarios: planetary instability, green but inhumane, and deliberate for the good. We conclude with identifying leverage points that shift human–digital–Earth interactions toward sustainability.
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Chinese cities as digital environmental governance innovators: Evidence from subnational low-Carbon plans
Research examining the rise of digital environmental governance, particularly at the subnational scale in China, is fairly limited. Critical questions regarding how digital technologies applied at the subnational level may shape or transform environmental governance are only beginning to be explored, given cities’ increasing role as sustainability experimenters and innovators. In this study, we investigate how smart city initiatives that incorporate big data, artificial intelligence, 5G, Internet of Things, and information communication technologies, may play a role in the transformation towards a “digital China.” We conceptualize three major pathways by which digital technology could transform environmental governance in China: through the generation of new data to address existing environmental data gaps; by enhancing the policy analytical capacity of environmental actors through the use of automation, digitalization, and machine learning/artificial intelligence; and last, through reshaping subnational-national, and state-society interactions that may shift balances of power. With its dual prioritization of digital technologies and climate change, China presents an opportunity for examining digitalization trends and to identify gaps in governance and implementation challenges that could present obstacles to realizing the transformative potential of digital environmental management approaches.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1932220
- PAR ID:
- 10427962
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science
- Volume:
- 51
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 2399-8083
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 572-589
- Size(s):
- p. 572-589
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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