Pro-growth giant business, lock in, sustainable urban development and effect on local political economy: The case of petrochemical industry at Nanjing

Abstract

This paper investigates whether an enlarged research framework offer possibilities to restructure to a sustainable, environmental-friendly economic system. The framework is combined with pro-growth machine and carbon lock-in theory and Institutional Industry Complex (IIC) that is applied to explain the pro-growth coalition of Petro-Chemical industry in China. Consensus building of the research framework is based upon a case study of the Petro-Chemical industry state owned enterprises in the Nanjing Metropolitan Area, China. Drawing upon the in-depth interview surveys of the stakeholders in the IIC system, the research discovered the pro-growth coalition of Petro-Chemical industry in China. The article also suggests that the paths followed in constructing a pro-growth coalition also could serve as a program to unlock the petrochemical industry and foster the anti-coalition needed.