Experimental governance in China: models of stakeholder interaction and evolution of the low-carbon cities pilot programme

The Low-Carbon City Pilot (LCCP) programme is a crucial part of China's strategy to combat climate change, serving as a governance paradigm through experimental policy pilots. Existing literature on experimental governance predominantly focused on democratic countries. Attention to Chinese experimentalism is growing but little attention has been paid to thoroughly exploring innovation processes through interactions between local governments and other stakeholders. Drawing on primary data from 21 interviews and secondary data from national and provincial policy documents, this study uncovers four distinct models of stakeholder interaction and identifies three different pathways in the evolution of the LCCP programme. The analysis focuses on evolving interactions between niche innovation and existing regimes; learning processes within these experimental stages; and how low-carbon experimental innovations have facilitated local government reform. The research reveals that China's LCCP programme has promoted a shift from passive to active interactions between niche innovations and regimes, a transition in the learning process from unidirectional to multidimensional, and ultimately, the transformation of low-carbon industries. In summary, this paper helps deepen the understanding of Chinese experimentalism, expands the application of the Strategic Niche Management Framework in the Chinese context, and expose processes of stakeholder interaction in low-carbon urban policy innovation.