Hosted by the Program on Chinese Cities （PCC）
3/26/2026 6:00 PM-8:00 PM EST
Presenter: Hangjun Hu
Ph.D., majoring in Urban and Rural Planning, Nangjing University
Visiting scholar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Supervisor: Prof. Yan Song
Abstract:
Breaking through administrative barriers and fostering collaborative regional growth is a central imperative for contemporary urban development and spatial governance in China. This study examines the mechanisms through which institutional factors influence cross-border collaboration by adopting a three-dimensional framework of regulatory, normative, and cognitive distance. Taking the Shanghai-adjacent region as the empirical focus, this study maps the spatial patterns and network characteristics of cross-border mobility using mobile signaling data, supplemented by qualitative evidence from multi-round field interviews. Findings indicate that structural misalignments in institutional distance constrain cross-border collaboration. However, the gradual and synchronized reconstruction of normative distance can flexibly mitigate the restrictive effects of regulatory distance and the rigidity of cognitive distance, thereby facilitating integrated cross-border collaboration. Accordingly, efforts to advance regional collaborative development should carefully consider the dual effects of institutional distance, steadily promote cross-boundary regulatory innovation, cognitive integration, and normative coordination, and achieve differentiated and precise adjustment of institutional distances.