Popular understanding of sustainability in China: A sociopolitical perspective

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dc.contributorAalto Universityen
dc.contributorAalto-yliopistofi
dc.contributor.advisorHector, Philip
dc.contributor.authorChen, Yu
dc.contributor.departmentmuofi
dc.contributor.schoolTaiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulufi
dc.contributor.schoolSchool of Arts, Design and Architectureen
dc.contributor.supervisorBerglund, Eeva
dc.date.accessioned2021-01-11T17:22:34Z
dc.date.available2021-01-11T17:22:34Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.description.abstractChina has experienced rapid economic growth over the past four decades at a significant environmental and social cost. Sustainability at the national level has been progressed by the government with the intention of balancing the development of economy, environment and society. Meanwhile, the improvement in life quality at an individual level has also triggered the emergence of sustainability as a notion in the popular imagination. Understanding the public attitudes towards sustainability is conducive to promoting the thinking and practice of sustainability among citizens. However, how sustainability is understood by Chinese citizens remains uncertain. This thesis explores how citizens comprehend sustainability in the Chinese context, characterizing the status quo of sustainability understanding, and investigating its formation. For exploring the status quo of sustainability understanding, an online survey was conducted using a snowball sampling method based on the personal social network of author. Data from 272 respondents (mainly university students and graduates, distributed throughout China) are analyzed. It helps to address the lack of research into the popular understanding of sustainability in China. Based on its findings, it is argued that the understanding of sustainability in a Chinese context tends to take on the characteristic of being driven at the macro-level and environmentally centered. In term of giving an explanation of the formation of the status quo, this thesis argues that Chinese distinctive sociopolitical factors can be considered as the primary driver of impacting sustainability understanding among citizens, based on the research on sustainability progress and governance logics in China. The research finds that, in Chinese circumstances, citizens tend to comply with and follow the governance due to continuous socioeconomic development led by the authority, aligning individual development with orientations of governments, meanwhile underrating the implementation driven by their personal will. In sustainability, it causes a tendency among the citizens, of knowing more about nationally promoted policy and planning, and valuing less in those aspects related to individual life. And the environment emphasized by the governments at this stage also remains predominant in their understanding of sustainability. Finally, in the thesis, the case study of waste separation in Shanghai contextually explains how Chinese sociopolitical factors impact the understanding and practice of sustainability among local residents, further verifying the characteristics of sustainability understanding among Chinese citizens. This thesis contributes to the research on the public understanding of sustainability in developing regions, and provides a sociopolitical base for boosting attitude and behavior change of sustainability among citizens in China.en
dc.format.extent98
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.urihttps://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/101802
dc.identifier.urnURN:NBN:fi:aalto-202101111113
dc.language.isoenen
dc.programmeMaster's Programme in Creative Sustainabilityfi
dc.programme.majorfi
dc.subject.keywordsustainabilityen
dc.subject.keywordunderstanding of sustainabilityen
dc.subject.keywordChinaen
dc.subject.keywordcitizensen
dc.subject.keywordgovernanceen
dc.subject.keywordwaste separationen
dc.subject.keywordsociopolitical factorsen
dc.subject.keywordenvironmenten
dc.titlePopular understanding of sustainability in China: A sociopolitical perspectiveen
dc.typeG2 Pro gradu, diplomityöfi
dc.type.ontasotMaster's thesisen
dc.type.ontasotMaisterin opinnäytefi
local.aalto.electroniconlyyes
local.aalto.openaccessyes
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