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Waste sorting in urban villages is a less developed while important issue in waste management and it is of great importance to environmental sustainability. China is now facing challenges of combating waste sorting while little attention has been paid to these challenges in urban villages. This article aims to add to this knowledge by examining how waste sorting has been implemented in urban villages via a case study of Shenzhen, China. A co-production theory perspective is adopted to explore how actors are engaged in the process of waste sorting and what are the results. The findings suggest coproduction approach is neither a top-down nor bottom-up approach. It is a much more complex process that involves intensive interactions between the government and residents. It concludes that the co-production approach to waste sorting exemplified by urban villages' sustainable development has great significance for general environmental management and policy making in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To combat significant pollution problems, a number of local governments in China have utilized performance management to improve cadres’ accountability on environmental issues. Despite the extensive literature on public sector performance management, attention to environmental performance management has been relatively scant. Taking Shenzhen – one of China’s most densely populated, affluent, and rapidly growing cities – as a case study, this article describes and analyzes the evolution of the local environmental performance management system from 2007 to 2015. A series of external and internal factors are identified as determinants of policy evolution, including cadres’ individual decision-making, higher-level policies, intra-governmental interactions (horizontally and vertically), the relative salience of environmental issues, and strategies in policy experimentation. The multiplicity of factors further complicates the already complex process of performance measurement by setting it in a complex political context, which can distort the efficacy and objectives of the system, resulting in an unpredictable and compromised policy tool. Improving government environmental performance management involves reducing complexity by reforming aspects of the political context, allowing for a more serious, open, and transparent decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]