Governing a Green Urban Growth Machine: The Case of Kitakyushu Eco-Town, Japan

The restructuring of industrial cities follows various paths depending on local conditions and choices. A novel idea of a local industrial restructuring is to link the industrial park development with the circular economy. The park formations that are based on local government initiatives combine public and private interests, which poses a governance challenge, as they must generate both public value and profits for businesses. In this article, we will focus on the city government’s role and relations with key stakeholders in the building of the green growth coalition around recycling industrial district. Our research is based on single case study methodology. The case is the largest recycling industrial district in Japan, the Kitakyushu Eco-Town. Our interest is in the role of city government as a key player of the green growth coalition. The results show that the city government can effectively build a growth coalition that eventually contributes to the green restructuring. Building a green growth machine is, however, contingent, i.e. the success of the coalition is conditioned by local leadership and endogenous factors as well as their connections with exogenous factors from national governments to global economic and technology trends.