Rationalities of Green Urbanization in Chongqing: Local Environment at the Service of Eco-Capitalist Logics?

Contemporary Chinese urbanization is certainly a controversial and largely studied phenomenon, at least for what concerns the coastal areas. It is partly seen as a product of the semi-neoliberal politics introduced in the country, that have favoured the flow of economies and lifestyles modelled on capitalist patterns from the Global North. In the light of scholarships pointing out the relevance of local mechanisms of entrepreneurialism and new social manifestations for the promotion of capital production and circulation, this paper analyses the role of upscale real estate in terms of spatial-temporal fix within the analytical framework of China’s land beautification politics. In particular, it investigates the outcomes deriving from eco-capitalist logics in Chongqing area and their impact on the natural environment. By following political attitudes in Chongqing urban space that are imbued with the principle of integrated resource management, the aim is to unravel the problematics behind the implementation of such ideological constructs in the locale. The analysis of statistics, political statements, and controversial projects shows how the scopes and purposes of land use, construction, and administrative legitimacy are intertwined and channelled through the satisfaction of alleged consumerist needs. It argues that the projection and imaginary of green but artificial environments (“Beautiful China”) are planned to behave as a token, i.e. quasi-objects that enable the dismantling of the natural environment in the name of environmental protection and commodity-making practices.