Introduction

The introduction outlines the rationale of this book, the conditions driving the rise of collaborative planning practices in China, and the content of the subsequent chapters. These practices have emerged in response to growing governance complexity, institutional change, rapid digitalization, and the evolving role of civil society. While it would be naïve to describe China's collaborative planning as a communicative turn comparable to that in Western contexts, given its authoritarian institutions, power dynamics, ambiguous civil society, and the increasing influence of digital technologies, China's experience offers valuable opportunities to challenge, adapt, and revisit the universal claims of collaborative planning theory. This book critically examines collaborative planning in China through three lenses: Institutions, power relations, and public spheres. It presents background chapters on institutional and technological transformations as drivers of collaborative planning, theoretical chapters on the reflection and reconceptualization of collaborative planning theory, and empirical chapters featuring case studies across diverse contexts, including urban regeneration, water management, community gardens, and environmental governance.