Entrepreneurial scalecraft: spatial–institutional processes and state scalar politics of eco-city-regional development

Abstract This paper examines how multi-scalar state actors are integrated in a regionalised ecological transition, and how this process, in turn, exacerbates scalar contradictions within state strategies. Drawing on a case study of the Wuhan City Circle in Hubei Province, China, it proposes a framework of entrepreneurial scalecraft to theorise the mission-oriented scalar experimentation and inherent crisis tendencies of state entrepreneurialism. This framework comprises two coexisting and intersecting spatial–institutional processes: (i) shareholding of multi-scalar states, referring to the strategic integration of state actors at different levels through equity (re-)structuring, and (ii) cross-scalar state assetisation, referring to the rise of state power at new scales of governance through selective asset grabbing. However, these scalar innovations also exacerbate internal tensions within multi-scalar states, ultimately giving rise to unintended consequences such as social protest.