Suzhou Industrial Park as a case study for international cooperation: decision-making processes and sustainability impacts

Abstract

This thesis seeks to analyze the development of Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), a major governmental cooperation project between China and Singapore. This study sets out to examine the relationships that contributed to the project: at the international level with the cooperation between Beijing and Singapore, and at the national level with the interaction between the central and regional governments. It also aims at understanding the different sustainability impacts of the project on the territory now transformed into SIP, both in terms of socioeconomic and environmental sustainability. Taking into account not only the interaction between agents that are external to the territory but also their relationship with those operating there proves meaningful in assessing the outcome of a project like SIP. The thesis will first give a brief overview of the decision-making processes that brought to the realization of SIP, in this way introducing the involved actors: from national and regional governments to joint ventures and consortia of companies. It will then proceed with a section dedicated to stakeholder analysis, which will try to examine the degree of involvement of different actors. The thesis will then conclude with a study of the impacts in terms of sustainability, both at socio-economic and at environmental levels. Particular attention will be devoted to the relationship between SIP and the land of that area of Suzhou, taking into account urban planning policies and decisions.