small cities, neoliberal governance and sustainable development in the global south a conceptual framework and research agenda小城市,新自由主义治理和可持续发展在全球南一个概念性的框架和研究议程.pdf

Sustainability 2010, 2, 2833-2848; doi:10.3390/su2092833 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 /journal/sustainability Article Small Cities, Neoliberal Governance and Sustainable Development in the Global South: A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda René Véron Institut de Géographie, Université de Lausanne, Quartier UNIL-Dorigny, Bâtiment Anthropole, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; E-Mail: rene.veron@unil.ch; Tel.: +41-21-692-3063; Fax: +41-21-692-3075 Received: 22 July 2010; in revised form: 31 August 2010 / Accepted: 31 August 2010 / Published: 6 September 2010 Abstract: Development and environmental issues of small cities in developing countries have largely been overlooked although these settlements are of global demographic importance and often face a “triple challenge”; that is, they have limited financial and human resources to address growing environmental problems that are related to both development (e.g., pollution) and under-development (e.g., inadequate water supply). Neoliberal policy has arguably aggravated this challenge as public investments in infrastructure generally declined while the focus shifted to the metropolitan “economic growth machines”. This paper develops a conceptual framework and agenda for the study of small cities in the global south, their environmental dynamics, governance and politics in the current neoliberal context. While small citi