Urban Governance Capacity Modernization in Chinese Style: Evidence from Wuhan, China

Advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity in Chinese style has increasingly become a focus of attention in the political and academic spheres. Although many scholars have explored the framework system and enhancement pathways for urban governance modernization, the research measuring the modernization level of the governance capacity of specific cities is still limited. Therefore, in this study, a three-capacity framework and an evaluation system for urban governance capacity modernization (UGCM) are constructed, integrating development capacity, autonomy capacity, and inclusiveness capacity. The entropy method and analytic hierarchy process are employed to build a comprehensive measurement model. The empirical study of Wuhan shows that: (1) The UGCM level of Wuhan's 14 districts in 2021 is overall low and varies obviously, with greater potential for improvement in distant districts. Among the three capacities, development capacity is a major driver, namely development capacity > inclusiveness capacity > autonomy capacity, and there are regional differences among different districts; (2) The UGCM level of Wuhan is primarily influenced by seven obstacle factors, namely disaster prevention and emergency management capability, GDP growth rate, GDP per capita, the value addition of cultural and relevant industries, the percentage of days with good air quality, the rate of urban employees participating in basic endowment insurance, and the amount of hospital and clinic beds per 10,000 individuals; (3) There is a certain constraining relationship in each district between the level of UGCM and environmental governance; that is, the UGCM level is high, while the level of environmental governance is low, and vice versa.