Increasing Citizen Access and Local Government Responsiveness in Yichang, China
本文以宜昌市为例，研究中国通过网格化管理和电子政务结合提升地方政府回应性的试点项目，介绍其制度设计、实施过程及初步成效。
In 2010, the People’s Republic of China announced a pilot program to increase responsiveness of municipal governments. Yichang was selected as one of 35 municipalities to experiment with institutional change to increase responsiveness and citizen access to government services. As part of the policy to encourage local solutions to a national problem, Yichang focused extensively on e-governance combined with “people on the ground” in every urban core neighborhood. The information technology infrastructure was enhanced and interconnected, and 1110 people were contracted to work directly in each geo-grid cell (roughly 300–500 families). These employees can quickly and directly report problems and needs to the Geo-Grid Supervision Center, which then connects the local-level information directly to the appropriate city departments. This article presents a case study of Yichang by describing the initial and continuing development of this program, including brief examples of increased efficiency and responsiveness; providing results from two initial surveys; and explaining how establishing the geo-grid cell as a new level of municipal government is meant to create more accountable municipal programs across a broad array of services.