Cross-border Urban Governance in Hong Kong: The Role of State in a Globalizing City-Region*

*This article is based on research funded by a direct research grant of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, project code 2020659. Thanks are due to Truman A. Hartshorn, the editor of this journal, and three anonymous referees for constructive comments and suggestions.

Abstract

The rapid development in the Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta (PRD) city-region has taken place alongside complicated cross-border governance. The framework of time-space envelopes (TSEs) is adopted for a study of cross-border governance in Hong Kong, especially in the role of the state, that is, the Hong Kong government, in cross-border urban governance. This article argues that tension- free regional integration has never existed due to a complex governance network. The shift from “cross-border protectionism” to “cross-border free trade zone” in Hong Kong's cross-border urban governance since 2001 is a result of the rearticulation of the state cutting through the geoeconomic and geopolitical TSEs.

Key Words:

• Hong Kong
• cross-border city-region
• urban governance

Notes

Source: CSD (2001)

*This article is based on research funded by a direct research grant of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, project code 2020659. Thanks are due to Truman A. Hartshorn, the editor of this journal, and three anonymous referees for constructive comments and suggestions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jianfa Shen

An associate professor