结构、机会与能动性:后发区域绿色路径发展

Structure,opportunity,and agency:Green path development in latecomer regions

在全球绿色发展的远景下,区域绿色路径发展和可持续转型成为近年来国内外经济地理学者日益关注的研究主题。主流经济地理研究主要从区域发展基础的结构视角理解新路径发展,存在着对边缘/后发区域“无法创新”的悲观叙事。近期的研究融入可持续转型、创新系统、产业追赶和全球生产网络等理论,尝试从外生力量和能动性的视角理解区域新路径发展。然而,现有研究对后发区域的内涵和优势缺乏足够的认识,也未能深入揭示绿色产业的特殊性和地方集体能动性在后发区域绿色路径发展中的作用。绿色机会窗口为后发区域绿色路径发展带来了巨大的机遇,但能否利用这些窗口取决于区域发展基础、产业特性资源以及地方集体能动性的互动。本文在评述区域新路径发展研究进展的基础上,分析后发区域在绿色新路径发展中的特殊性和优势,从结构-机会-能动性的视角提出一个启发式分析框架,演绎分析后发区域绿色路径发展中的主要影响因素(区域发展基础、产业特性资源以及地方集体能动性)及其互动关系,并结合中国区域绿色产业发展实践展望未来研究方向。

As green development becomes a global landscape,regional green pathway development and sustainability transition are of increasing interest to economic geographers.Exploring the development of green paths in latecomer regions can not only enrich the understanding of the structure-agency relationship in existing economic geography studies,but also provide useful policy insights for latecomer regions to break through the"regional innovation paradox"and realise green transformation.Mainstream economic geography studies have mainly approached new path development from the structural perspective of regional development foundations,with a pessimistic narrative that peripheral/latecomer regions are"unable to innovate".Recent economic geography studies have begun to incorporate broader perspectives of sustainability transitions,innovation systems,industrial catch-up and global production networks,attempting to understand new regional path development through the lens of exogenous forces and human agency.Nonetheless,existing research lacks sufficient understanding of the full features and advantages of latecomer regions,and fails to pay attention to the specificity of green industries and the role of local collective agency in the green path development of latecomer regions.Green windows of opportunity(GWO)bring enormous opportunities for green path development in latecomer regions,but whether they can be utilised depends on the interaction of regional development foundations,industry-specific resources and local collective agency.Based on a review of the research progress in regional new path development,this paper analyses the characteristics and advantages of latecomer regions in green new path development,puts forward a heuristic framework from the perspective of structure-opportunity-agency to deductively depict the main influencing factors and their interactions in the development of green paths in the latecomer regions.In the dimension of structure,the regional foundation has a strong influence on the direction and capacity of green path development in latecomer regions.In the dimension of opportunity,GWOs can create a demand for reinterpreting the region's existing foundations,changing local incentives,and providing industry-specific resources.Structures and opportunities can only define the direction of new pathways and the possibilities for pathway development in latecomer regions,while local collective agency is decisive for whether and how green pathways can be realised in these regions.Finally,this paper suggests an agenda for future research.