NIMBYism Comes To China
Middle class residents of Shenzhen successful opposed plans for a new freeway, signaling a potential backlash to the country's rapid growth.
"When residents here in southern China's richest city learned of plans to build an expressway that would cut through the heart of their congested, middle-class neighborhood, they immediately organized a campaign to fight City Hall.
Over the next two years they managed to halt work on the most destructive segment of the highway and forced design changes to reduce pollution from the roadway. It became a landmark in citizen efforts to win concessions from a government that by tradition brooked no opposition."
"Academics and others who study the city's development say it is no surprise that Shenzhen is emerging as the cradle of movements like this. From the start, its proximity to Hong Kong has made it unusually open to outside influences. The city is also new, founded in 1980, and populated by migrants who contribute to a culture of greater individualism and risk-taking than anywhere else in China."
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NIMBYism Is The Wrong Word For Fighting A Freeway
NIMBYs attempt to shift the problem away from themselves, even it this makes the problem worse. For example, they do not want new housing in their neighborhood because it would bring worse traffic, even though this means more sprawl and even worse traffic.
When people oppose a freeway, they are trying to reduce an environmental problem, not just to shift it away from themselves.
Charles Siegel