Part 1

“Public Policy” Discipline Direction

“Public Policy” is a key direction in the construction of the discipline of public administration at the School of Government, Shenzhen University. Supported by Shenzhen University’s Center for ASEAN-Greater Bay Area Studies, and Institute of Emerging Industries in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it focuses on such research fields as public policy analysis, emerging industries and innovation policies, fiscal and tax policies, etc.

Recently, Associate Professor Fu Yang from our school and Assistant Professor Lu Haiyan from Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen) jointly published an academic paper titled “Low-carbon urban experiments from vision to reality: a systematic review of the literature from 2005 to 2020” on Climate Policy, a Top International Journal in the Field of Public Administration. Associate Professor Fu Yang is the corresponding author of the paper. Climate Policy is a top international academic journal in the field of public administration, published by Taylor & Francis, a SSCI Q1 journal, with an impact factor of 7.1 in 2022.

Part 2

Abstract of the Paper

In recent decades, many cities around the world have launched low-carbon city experiment programs, exploring local policies and actions that can be replicated on a larger scale to reduce the intensity of carbon emissions. Based on global literature, the paper summarizes the relevant literature of low-carbon city experiments from three dimensions: normative vision, practical response, and assessment methods. Before 2015 (Paris Agreement), the low-carbon city experiment was seen as a branch of sustainable development; the normative vision was influenced by the development of sustainable theory; and the low carbon city experiment was used as an urban planning tool. That urban planning concept further influenced practical response and assessment methods. After 2015, the low-carbon city experiment gradually showed more interdisciplinary characteristics. Urban planning still accounted for the largest proportion of low-carbon practices, but advanced energy and other technologies were also adopted and further influenced the evolution of the low-carbon city experiment. The paper analyzes the main drivers of the low-carbon city experiment, and the contribution and role of various factors, including political events, technological change, and academic research. Carbon neutrality is a long-term development goal for many countries. Achieving net-zero carbon through normative vision, practical response and feedback assessment still merits further study in the future.