结构嵌合与关系重塑: 数字技术何以有效赋能城市基层治理——以 S 市 Z 街镇 “一网统管” 为例

Rebuilding Structure and Reshaping Relationship：How digital Technologies Can Effectively Empower Urban Grassroots Governance—Take the Governance of One Network Management in Z-Street Town of S City as an Example

摘要:

数字技术的快速迭代和创新应用推动了城市基层治理变革，数字技术如何作用于城市基层治理成为新的学术增长点。基于技术嵌入理论视角建构_“结构嵌合-关系重塑_”的分析框架以揭示数字技术赋能城市基层治理的底层逻辑，并结合S市Z街镇_“一网统管_”的治理实践进一步剖析数字技术赋能城市基层治理的内在机理。研究发现：数字技术通过结构嵌合重塑权力运行机制、柔化条块分割边界缓解城市基层治理的结构性困境；通过关系重塑链接政社边界及联通部门界限促进基层协同共生网络的形成。此外，综合S市_“一网统管_”赋能基层治理的调研材料发现，数字技术在赋能城市基层治理过程中还存在数字_“悬浮_”及_“政民互动_”实效不足等现实困境。

Abstract:

Grass-roots governance is the cornerstone of national governance. How to realize the modernization of grass-roots governance and improve the level of grassroots governance has been the core concern in the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity. Since the fourth Industrial Revolution，the iterative upgrading of digital technology has provided new development opportunities for the reform of urban grassroots governance. The grass-roots governments of various cities actively carry out innovative exploration of “technology + governance”，forming typical governance practices such as“whistle-blowing report，”“one-network management，”“four platforms of grassroots governance”and “Smart Chengdu”and so on，which effectively demonstrates the empowering potential of digital technology. But at the same time，there are also “pseudo-innovation” caused by“formalism” and “digital show-off”，resulting in the paradox of “negative”governance of technology. Therefore，the effectiveness of digital technology does not necessarily translate directly into the effectiveness of urban grassroots governance. So how can digital technologies effectively empower grassroots urban governance？ This problem has aroused the interest from both practical and theoretical circles. As far as the existing studies are concerned，few of them involve the internal mechanism of digital technology driving grassroots bureaucracy and bureaucratic behavior changes to optimize urban grassroots governance，and no systematic theoretical framework has been designed. Based on this，this paper introduces the perspective of technology embedment into the field of grassroots governance，constructs the“structure rebuilding-relationship reshaping”analytical framework，and analyzes the internal mechanism of urban grassroots governance empowered by digital technology in combination with the governance practice of“one-network management”in Z-Street Town of S City. The findings are as follows：digital technology can reshape the power operation mechanism and soften the boundary of segmentation through structural rebuilding，thus alleviating the structural dilemma of urban grassroots governance. By reshaping the boundaries of linking government and community and connecting departments through relationships，digital technology promotes the formation of grassroots collaborative symbiosis network. In addition，based on the research data of “one-network management” empowering grassroots governance in S City，it is found that digital technology still exists in the process of empowering grassroots governance of cities，such as digital “suspension” and the insufficient effectiveness of “government-citizen interaction”. The reason behind the digital “suspension” may be that“bureaucratic governance”inhibits the vitality and autonomy of “simple governance”， and in the future，the relationship between the pressure system，bureaucratic system and grassroots autonomy can be balanced by giving play to grassroots party organizations and optimizing assessment indicators，so as to slow down the digital“suspension”. The cause underlying the insufficient effectiveness of“public-private interaction” may be that the logic of “upward responsibility” leads to the poor use of digital products，which reduces the enthusiasm of public participation. In addition，many matters that are suitable for offline disposal are required to be handled online ，causing an overload problem in grassroots governance，and greatly reducing the speed of government?s responsiveness. In the future，we should adhere to the people-centered approach to improve digital participation channels and scenarios，and mitigate the digital divide. At the same time，it is necessary to set reasonable boundaries between online and offline disposal of matters，reduce the burden of grassroots governance，and improve the agility of grassroots government response and the effectiveness of problem solving.