Civic Voices for Greener Cities: How Public Concern Shapes Sustainable Urban Agriculture in China

Hill Prinia

15-10-2025

“A ripple knows the stone,” Kingfisher says. “I do not count fish; I feel them. I do not hoard. I do not waste. I do not forget.”
Zhuangzi smiles: “Then let the river be your teacher, and you its student. Eat, but do not devour. Fly, but do not flee. Be, but do not become too much.”

In Kingfisherish Wandering [1]

© Wix

Urban sustainability depends not only on government policy but also on the collective voice of citizens. A new study published in npj Urban Sustainability by Feng et al. [2] investigates how public environmental concern (PEC)—a form of informal governance—enhances agricultural sustainability across 235 Chinese cities between 2011 and 2022.

China faces a complex dilemma: ensuring food security while curbing agricultural emissions, which account for about 17% of its total greenhouse gases [3,4]. Traditional top-down regulations have proven insufficient due to the dispersed and locally varied nature of agricultural pollution [5,6]. However, the growing participation of social actors—citizens, media, and NGOs—has introduced informal regulatory forces that pressure local governments and farmers to adopt greener practices [7,8].

Using fine-grained data and a two-way fixed effects model, the authors found that heightened public concern over environmental issues significantly improved agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP)—a measure that accounts for both production efficiency and environmental impact. To address potential biases, the study creatively used wind speed as an instrumental variable, recognizing that lower wind speeds increase haze accumulation and, consequently, public concern.

Two main mechanisms were identified: PEC stimulates (1) agricultural green technology innovation and (2) increased government support for environmental protection. The effect was strongest in major grain-producing areas, southern cities along the Hu Huanyong Line, and coastal zones—regions with higher digital connectivity and civic engagement [2].

This study exemplifies how ecological intelligence can emerge from the collective awareness of ordinary citizens [9]. When individuals care about air quality, food systems, and urban ecology, their concern becomes a social signal that guides institutions toward sustainability. Such civic participation fosters individual peace through meaningful engagement with nature and social peace through collaborative environmental governance [10]. Rather than being passive consumers of policy, citizens act as co-creators of ecological well-being, harmonizing human and natural systems in cities.

References

[1] Nguyen MH. (2025). Kingfisherish Wandering. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVLLLXNW/

[2] Feng L, et al. (2025). From civic voices to greener cities: informal governance and city-level agri‑sustainability. npj Urban Sustainability, 5, 82. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00275-z

[3] Liu DT, et al. (2024). China can enhance its carbon and nitrogen reduction potential by optimizing maize trade across provinces. Communications Earth & Environment, 5, 45. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01526-0

[4] Zhang YF, Ji MX, Zheng XZ. (2023). Digital economy, agricultural technology innovation, and agricultural green total factor productivity. SAGE Open, 13, 1961. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231194388

[5] Isaac B, de Loë R. (2022). Exploring the influence of agricultural actors on water quality policy: the role of discourse and framing. Environmental Politics, 31, 598-620. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2021.1947634

[6] Huan HF, Wang L, Zhang Y. (2025). Regional differences, convergence characteristics, and carbon peaking prediction of agricultural carbon emissions in China. Environmental Pollution, 366, 125477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.125477

[7] Buntaine MT, et al. (2024). Does the squeaky wheel get more grease? The direct and indirect effects of citizen participation on environmental governance in China. American Economic Review, 114, 815-850. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20221215

[8] Sun Z, et al. (2025). Digital transformation and corporate green innovation: an affordance theory perspective. Business Strategy and the Environment, 34, 433-449. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3991 

[9] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH. (2025). On Nature Quotient. Pacific Conservation Biology, 31, PC25028. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC25028

[10] Nguyen MH, Ho MT, La VP. (2025). On “An” (安): Inner peace through uncertainty, nature quotient, and harmony with Dao. http://books.google.com/books/about?id=NIKMEQAAQBAJ