A Comparison of Institutional Design of Collaborative Governance in China

China's rapid urbanization and industrialization have triggered increasing environmental degradation and social conflicts, posing a significant challenge to its traditional top-down governance model. In response, collaborative approaches have been adopted to address complexities across various governance contexts. This chapter examines and compares the institutional design of collaborative governance in two critical fields—urban regeneration and water management. The results reveal that while the institutional design of both collaborative approaches is largely determined by the context of authoritarian deliberation, the co-creation approach in urban regeneration typically emphasizes deliberation among diverse stakeholders and addresses localized, practical issues at the community level. In contrast, the River Chief System in the water management sector mainly promotes collaboration among different government agencies, while collaboration between state and non-state actors supplements these efforts to tackle larger-scale transboundary governance challenges. Both cases illustrate a pragmatic use of collaborative approaches to improve governance performance and maintain social stability, while also highlighting the diversity of institutional design tailored to different challenges and their limitations within an authoritarian context.