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Taking the Chinese context seriously, this book provides critical reflections and policy-informed accounts of how and why old industrial cities generate uneven resilience in the face of crisis. It offers unconventional conceptualizations and on-the-ground empirical studies in the Chinese context when it comes to the literature on regional economic resilience. Theoretically, this book adopts multiple perspectives, including evolutionary, complex adaptive systems, and institutional and geographical political economy, to provide a more systematic understanding of regional economic resilience in Chinese old industrial cities. Empirically, this book adopts a comparative analysis approach to explore the in-depth nature of uneven regional economic resilience by focusing on two coal mining regions in China. The book also makes an additional and timely academic contribution to the literature on the conceptualization and empirics of regional economic resilience under the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. This book is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students and scholars interested in economic geography in general and regional economic resilience, regional industrial dynamics and old industrial cities in China in particular. It is also a useful reference for local and regional governments, as well as businesses, for policy-making and action in the face of crisis

AbstractThis paper examines the path‐creation mechanism of the coal‐chemical industry and its relatedness to the old path of the coal mining industry in an old industrial region of China. It reveals that the rise of the new path benefits from the old path to a limited extent. The strong multi‐scalar structured path dependence upon the coal industry fundamentally constrained local actors to mobilize resources from the old path for new industrial options. The findings show that on the basis of local (pre)existing fertilizer production assets, the new path was created by a combination of market‐oriented state‐owned enterprise ownership reforms, market induced trans‐local entrepreneurship and local state‐led developmental strategies. This form of path creation contributes to the extant literature, presenting a complex, multi‐scalar, and multi‐actor manner of industrial restructuring involving dynamic agencies that is not merely historically conditioned by place‐specific assets and structures but also affected by the changing extra‐regional political‐institutional environment.

My dissertation is concerned with uneven economic adaptation and adaptability of old industrial areas in an evolutionary and institutional, as well as a human agency perspective. There is a considerable literature in economic geography (EG), focusing on the role of firms and industry dynamics in affecting the evolution of old industrial areas (OIAs). However, little work has been done, both empirically and theoretically, on the role of state, multi-scalar institutions, politics and policies. Moreover, the majority of the re-search on the topic is very much based on single-case studies, whose evidence and knowledge is mainly derived from European and American contexts. Therefore, the key aim of the doctoral dissertation are to: 1) theoretically, integrate an institutional and geographical political economy perspective with the Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) approach, in order to give a better understanding of the evolutionary processes and mechanisms of OIAs. And 2) empirically, to examine the nature of uneven regional economic evolution, based on an in-depth comparison of two coal-mining regions in a post-crisis and non-western context. My book pays more attention to how the state, more precisely, how the people within the state and state owned enterprises (SOEs) of OIAs, response and enact to changing environment for long-run industrial adaptation and adaptability. It does not simply focus on the micro behaviors of firms, states and people, but more on their embedded posi-tions and relationships of multi-scalar political-institutional frameworks and policy fields. The empirical research is based on in-depth case studies on two Chinese coal-mining re-gions (Zaozhuang in Shandong Province and Fuxin in Liaoning Province) both facing the 'slow burn' crisis of local coal resource exhaustion since 2000. The findings are mainly derived from a qualitative method of semi-structured interviews and evaluated by con-text analysis and statistical data description. In this book, first and foremost, the concepts of path dependence, path creation and lock-ins are critically examined. The empirical evidence suggests that the effects of lock-ins in Chinese contexts are more politically constituted, due to the Chinese-specific ad-ministrative hierarchy system among SOEs and governments. Despite strong industrial path dependence and negative regional lock-ins, new paths are not restricted to emerge. Based on the notion of path plasticity, I conclude that the Chinese local state and its state leaders in OIAs are aware of how to balance the interests among multi-scalar polit-ical economies, and of how to flexibly read and enact locally according to multi-scalar institutional and policy conditions for potential industrial change. Secondly, given the ubiquitous influences of state elites in China, the book takes a closer look at how state officials mold specific institutional environment for industrial dynamics. The notion of place leadership has been critically adopted in the Chinese authoritarian context. It well explains the micro-level dynamics and characteristics of people on the evolution of Chinese OIAs. The book finds that although Chinese state elites do have formal power to effectively make and implement fast economic decisions and policy-fix, local institutional change still critically calls for informal leadership, such as interpretive and network leadership. New paths might be created quickly by local state leaders. But, without forming solid new supporting institutions, they may not generate positive im-pact for long-term regional development. The most important contribution of the book is the comparison of two Chinese mining regions. A new conceptual framework on analyzing and understanding uneven resilience of regions has been developed. It is built upon an in-depth conceptualization that de-constructs the dualism idea between adaptation and adaptability. And it redefines them in an interactive, dialectical and evolutionary way. The comparative study in China high-lights the importance of multi-scalar institutions and national political economy change in coordinating the behaviors of firms, local states and, the micro dynamics of their con-stitutive human agents in OIAs. The historically conditioned political distance between localities and the central state is essential. It can help to fundamentally understand the differen-tiated resilience of China's OIAs. It should be placed at the core to explore the question of why some regions in China are able to manage endogenous place-based development of economies, while others fail to do such but mostly at the mercy of exogenous forces and assets. In the end, this book provides new evidence that EEG needs to be integrated into other related paradigms in EG, when it comes to understand the complex restructuring of OIAs. Besides the theoretical contributions, the book also put several policy recommendations for future development of OIAs in China and beyond. ; Die vorliegende Dissertation befasst sich mit ungleicher ökonomischer Anpassung und Anpassungsfähigkeit altindustrieller Gebiete aus einer evolutionären, institutionellen und akteurszentrierten Perspektive. In der wirtschaftsgeographischen Literatur gibt es bereits zahlreiche Beiträge die sich mit den Rollen von Unternehmen und industriellen Dynamiken für den Aufstieg und Niedergang altindustrieller Gebiete befassen. Wenige Beiträge haben sich allerdings sowohl empirisch als auch konzeptionell mit den Einflüssen von Staaten, multiskalaren Institutionen oder unterschiedlichen Strategien und Politiken befasst. Zudem fokussiert der Großteil der bisherigen Arbeiten Einzelfälle in Europa oder Nordamerika. Daraus ergeben sich die zwei Hauptziele dieser Doktorarbeit. 1) Theoretisch werden eine institutionelle Perspektive und Ansätzen der Politischen Ökonomie mit der Evolutionären Wirtschaftsgeographie in Verbindung gebracht, um zu einem tieferen Verständnis evolutionärer Prozesse und Mechanismen in altindustriellen Gebieten zu kommen. 2) Empirisch werden Facetten ungleicher regionaler Wirtschaftsentwicklung am Beispiel zweier Kohlebergbaugebiete untersucht, die sich beide in einer Nachkrisensituation befinden und einem nicht-westlichen Kontext zugehören. Die Arbeit beleuchtet, wie der Staat - verstanden als handelnde Akteure in Staat und staatlichen Betrieben in altindustriellen Regionen - auf Umfeldänderungen reagiert, um langfristige industrielle Anpassung zu erreichen. Dabei geht die Arbeit über einen Fokus auf unternehmerische, staatliche oder individuelle Einzelhandlungen hinaus und konzentriert sich auf deren Einbettung und Beziehungen in einem multiskalaren, politisch-institutionellen Rahmen und Politikfeld. Die empirische Untersuchung basiert auf Tiefenstudien zweier chinesischer Kohlebergbauregionen (Zaozhuang in der Provinz Shandong und Fuxin in der Provinz Liaoning), die beide vom schleichenden Niedergang der lokalen Kohlereserven seit dem Jahr 2000 geprägt sind. Die Forschungsergebnisse beruhen größtenteils auf qualitativen Daten (halbstandardisierte Interviews), die durch eine Kontextanalyse ausgewertet und um eine deskriptive Analyse sekundärstatistischer Daten ergänzt wurden. Der erste Beitrag dieser Doktorarbeit liegt in einer kritischen Bestandsaufnahme der Konzepte von Pfadabhängigkeiten, Pfadentstehungen und Lock-Ins. Die empirischen Einblicke deuten darauf hin, dass Lock-Ins im chinesischen Kontext stark politisch bedingt sind. Dies ist auf das spezifische administrative Hierarchiesystem zwischen staatseigenen Betrieben und Staaten zurückzuführen. Trotz starker industrieller Pfadabhängigkeit und negativer regionaler Lock-In-Effekte steht der Entstehung neuer Pfade nichts entgegen. Aufbauend auf dem Konzept der Pfadplastizität kommt die Arbeit zu dem Ergebnis, dass sich die chinesischen lokalen Staatsbehörden und die staatliche Führung in staatseigenen Betrieben der Interessenkonflikte zwischen den multiskalaren politischen Ökonomien bewusst sind, diese flexibel auslegen und gemäß der multiskalaren institutionellen und politischen Bedingungen hinsichtlich potentieller lokaler industrieller Veränderung auslegen. Der zweite Beitrag liegt darin, dass der ubiquitäre Einfluss staatlicher Eliten in China auf industrielle Dynamiken genauer analysiert wird. Dazu wird untersucht, wie Staatsbeamte und lokale Führungspersönlichkeiten die entsprechenden institutionellen Kontexte formen. Der Gedanke der "Place Leadership" wird kritisch an den autoritären chinesischen Kontext angepasst. So können die kleinmaßstäblichen Dynamiken und Charakteristika im Zusammenhang mit der Entstehung altindustrieller Regionen in China erläutert werden. Wie sich zeigt, verfügen die staatlichen Eliten über ein hohes Maß an formeller und exekutiver Macht, um wirtschaftliche und politische Entscheidungen zu fällen. Dennoch verdeutlichen die empirischen Ergebnisse, dass für institutionellen Wandel informelle Führungsformen wie interpretative oder netzwerkartige Führung nötig sind. Neue Pfade können zwar von lokalen staatlichen Anführern schneller erzeugt werden, aber ohne neue, unterstützende Institutionen bestehen kaum Aussichten darauf, langfristige Veränderungspotenziale der regionalen Entwicklung aufrechtzuerhalte. Der Hauptbeitrag der Arbeit liegt im Vergleich der zwei chinesischen Bergbauregionen. Um deren ungleiche regionale Resilienz zur analysieren und zu verstehen wird ein neuartiger konzeptuelle Ansatz vorgeschlagen. In einer interaktiven, dialektischen und evolutionären Art überwindet dieser den Dualismus von Anpassung und Anpassungsfähigkeit und hebt die Rolle von multiskalaren Institutionen sowie von nationalem politisch-ökonomnischem Wandel für die Koordination unternehmerischen und lokal-staatlichen Handelns und derer Akteure in staatseigenen Betrieben hervor. Die historisch bedingte politische Distanz zwischen lokaler und nationaler Verwaltung und Regierung ist dabei grundlegend, um die verschiedenen Resilienzen und Anpassungsfähigkeiten chinesischer staatseigener Betriebe zu verstehen. Diese werden in das Zentrum der vergleichenden Fallstudie gerückt, um besser zu verstehen, warum einige Regionen in China dazu in der Lage sind endogene wirtschaftliche Entwicklungspotenziale zu steuern, während andere daran – zumeist aufgrund exogener Kräfte – scheitern. Insgesamt leistet die vorliegende Dissertation einen Beitrag zur Erweiterung der Evolutionären Wirtschaftsgeographie, indem andere wirtschaftsgeographische Paradigmen und Perspektiven eingebunden werden und somit komplexe Restrukturierungsprozesse staatseigener Betriebe verstanden werden können. Neben diesem theoretischen Beitrag liefert die Arbeit politische Empfehlungen für die zukünftige Entwicklung altindustrieller Industrieregionen in China und andernorts.

AbstractChina's specialized markets as a special form of bottom‐up capital agglomeration have played a key role in fostering regional development. It once exhibited positive externalities with high efficiencies. However, given the rapid proliferation of specialized markets and the penetration of E‐commerce, their advantages may have shifted and the understanding of this shift is limited. The paper explores the spatio‐temporal dynamics of China's specialized markets in terms of technical efficiency. Based on turnover data from Statistical Yearbooks of China Commodity Exchange Market from 2000 to 2016, technical efficiencies in specialized markets are measured by a Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) approach using panel data. The results show that (a) the technical efficiencies in China's specialized markets are significantly divergent in space over time; (b) labor input has notable effect on efficiency increase, while capital input has no significant effect; (c) informatization level, cluster size, and degree of market openness are identified to have a positive effect on specialized market's technical efficiency. This paper argues that specialized markets should be taken seriously in the cluster evolution research. The role of proximity and the bounded links between specialized markets and their local clusters is the key to understanding their changing forms, performances, and trajectories.

Abstract
Geographical scholarship has advocated the importance of endogenous and place-sensitive development to levelling up left-behind places, by means of reactivating untapped potentials and recuperating a sense of belonging. Drawing on the approaches of global value chain (GVC), and to a lesser extent, global production network (GPN), this paper rethinks how GVC/GPN participation articulates with endogenous assets and enhances local actors' capacities to achieve economic and social upgrading. We present a case study of the coffee economy in Lujiang Township, Yunnan Province, China. We find that local villagers are able to tap into opportunities of learning and upgrading, but these processes are mediated by institutions and moral economies. Ultimately, economic empowerment translates into the revival of a sense of belonging.

The notion of just transition is important and debated in discussions about climate change and low‐carbon shifts. This study aims to refocus on just transition from a spatial perspective. We investigate perceptions in Chun'an, Zhejiang, to redefine just transition beyond Western ideas. Our case offers one key yet under‐explored dimension in the interpretation of justice: spatial scale. First, the green transition of Chun'an can be regarded both as a sacrifice of economy from a local perspective (Chun'an county) and as a valuable social contribution from a broader regional perspective (Hangzhou city area). Second, the multi‐scalar interaction of the transition process shapes the perceptions of justice. It is represented by the growing local tensions between developmentalism and environmentalism. Such a process is aimed at generating a wider scale of well‐being, contributing to a process of/for justice. We argue just transition is about a spatially sensitive process towards (rather than of) justice. In China, realizing transition is the way towards justice, and justice itself is transition in the long run.

Abstract
The actions of platforms and their all-inclusive impact on place development is coined platform-based place making in this article. We use the actor-network theory to analyse a typical e-commerce platform-based place making, namely the emergence, development and upgrading of Taobao villages in China, and to explore the mechanisms of platform place making power. Our study shows that platforms 'make' places by platform–place interactions of progressively expanding the enrolment of intra-regional and extra-regional actors. In addition, our research advances the actor-network theory and its application and transcends the urban and production-side bias of economic geography.

AbstractThrough a case study of Kunshan, China, this paper shows how a local state utilised place-based leadership to enhance regional economic resilience under the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. It unpacks how Kunshan effectively mitigated early economic disturbances induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, by two ways of leadership actions, namely, enacting jurisdictional power (that is formal leadership), and mobilising wide official and interpersonal networks (that is network leadership). Four specific local-state-led adaptive resilience processes or strategies are identified: stabilising labour supply, mitigating supply-chain disruptions, alleviating financial strains and reconfiguring market orientations. Through these proactive endeavours, the local state played an enabling role in aligning diverse stakeholders and resources across places, scales and sectors, thereby allaying economic shocks and enhancing regional economic resilience. This study contributes to the resilience literature by developing an agency-centric perspective to understanding regional economic resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.