The policy trajectory of green building development in China: A sequential and network analysis

Policies play an extremely important role in promoting the development of green building (GB). Despite multiple policies have been issued to promote the GB development, the low market share of GB in China indicates that the policy system is unsatisfactory. However, few studies have concentrated on the policy trajectory of GB development. This study aims to fill this gap using network-based analysis to explore the policy trajectory of GB development from the perspective of policy agency, objective, and instrument. 129 national GB development policies were collected, and the trajectory of policy agency, objective, and instrument were analyzed. The main results are as follows: (1) cross-functional- and cross-hierarchical-level coordination between policy-issuing agencies tends to increase. The cooperation among policy agencies represents a strong core-periphery structure feature; (2) the policy objectives are related to multiple dimensions of GB development, and the focuses of GB development policy objectives are dynamically changed but show continuity to some degree; (3) the adoption of policy instruments is structurally unbalanced, and the mismatch between policy instruments and policy objective should be addressed urgently. Corresponding policy recommendations are provided from policy agencies, objectives and instruments. This research provides a novel perspective on policy analysis, which offers useful information on policy making for GB development.