Gentrification in Chinese Cities: State Institutions, Space and Society (Urban Sustainability)

This book provides an institutional interpretation of state-facilitated gentrification in Chengdu, an emerging central city of China. It generalizes the three aspects of institutional changes in the cultural, economic and social spheres that have thus far directed the operation of gentrification in the transitional economy: the creative destruction of consumption spaces, the spatial production of excess, and the unequal redistribution of spatial resources to low-income residents. The interactions of state and society, are examined in navigating the institutional changes and forming the Chinese distinctions of gentrification. The author argues that these three aspects of institutional changes characterize gentrification in Chengdu as a transformative force of development led by the state and capitalists and championed by middle-class consumers. This gentrification mode periodically catalyzes new spaces and collective cultures, which then necessitate the stimulation of new consumption behaviors and the formation of new consumer classes, at the expense of the spatial demands for the even larger number of low-income residents. However, in the context of China's unique state–society relations, some low-income groups may also ride the wave of social transformation. The author suggests that this type of gentrification integrates into not the essence of uneven geographical development in a capitalist society, but China's unique model of urbanization and development, which is often state-driven, innovative and even involuted so as to sustain continuous growth. Though the research is focused on urban China, this book also contributes to methodological issues on gentrification research on a global scale. It is skeptical both of the structural explanation and of the revelation of unsorted differences; instead, it aims to generate midrange regularities of gentrification in Chinese cities. Institutional change is treated as an intermediary that, on the one hand, responds to the global trends and, on the other hand, adapts to local preconditions. Mixed methods, including statistical and spatial analysis, institutional analysis, and an extensive ethnographic study, are used to investigate gentrification from a structural perspective, a historical perspective, and as a grounded process within the locality. Preface Acknowledgements Contents About the Author List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction 1.1 The Global Versus Local Debate 1.2 Cultural Urbanism, Spatial Commodification and Consumer Class-Making 1.2.1 City Branding 1.2.2 Spatial Commodification 1.2.3 Consumer-Class Formation 1.3 Redistribution, Social Governance and Social Re-stratification 1.3.1 Rehousing Low-Income Residents 1.3.2 Social Governance 1.3.3 Social Re-stratification of Low-Income Residents in Post-socialist China 1.4 The Case Study City 1.5 Methodology 1.5.1 Fieldwork in Chengdu 1.6 Overview References Part I Foundation and Manifestation 2 Social Transformation in Large Chinese Cities 2.1 Socioeconomic Restructuring in the New Economy 2.1.1 Changing Industrial Structure 2.1.2 Changing Occupational Structure 2.2 Individual Consumption and Middle-Class Formation in a Transitional Society 2.2.1 “Classless” Society 2.2.2 Emerging New Rich 2.2.3 Consumer Revolution of the New Rich References 3 The Geography of Gentrification in Chengdu, 2000–2010 3.1 Gentrification Extent 3.2 Spatial Manifestation of Gentrification 3.3 Correlations Between Gentrification and Socio-spatial Transformation 3.3.1 State-Facilitated Industrial Transformation in the Inner City 3.3.2 Housing Privatization 3.3.3 The New Urbanism 3.4 Conclusion References Part II Production and Consumption of Gentrification 4 Initiation 4.1 New Cultural Urbanism 4.1.1 Anti-urbanism and Deaestheticization 4.1.2 Defining Global City Image 4.1.3 Toward Cosmopolitanism? 4.2 Spatial Commodification 4.2.1 Two Land Markets Levels 4.2.2 State Intervention and the Expanded Rent Gap 4.2.3 Toward a Consumer-Driven Economy? References 5 Convergence 5.1 Socioeconomic Attributes of Gentrifiers 5.2 Consumer Class-Making 5.2.1 Seeking “Authentic Urban Life” 5.2.2 Seeking Social Recognition 5.2.3 Cultivating New Forms of Consumption 5.2.4 Place-Based Identification and Differentiation 5.3 Emancipation or Reproduction? 5.4 Conclusion References Part III Redistribution and the Post-gentrification Societies 6 Redistribution 6.1 Social Composition in the Redeveloped Neighborhoods 6.2 Homeownership Promotion and Rent Regulation Before 1990 6.3 Rental Deregulation and Dispossession After the Mid 1990 6.4 Consumerism and Pro-homeownership Reform Since 2011 References 7 Cooperation 7.1 For a Better Life 7.2 The Status Change of Socialist Workers 7.2.1 The Advantages of Possession 7.2.2 Lifestyle Change 7.2.3 New Social Organization and Exclusiveness 7.3 The Uncertainty of Social Transformation References 8 Confrontation 8.1 Property and Cultural Activism 8.2 Claiming Legitimacy for Informality 8.3 Mass Mobilization and Consensus-Building 8.3.1 Preliminary Agreement Policy for Removal 8.3.2 Autonomous Redevelopment Committee in Action 8.3.3 Enforcement References 9 Submission 9.1 Silent Migrants 9.2 Losing Livelihood Spaces 9.3 Homeownership and Urban Identity 9.4 Conclusion References 10 State-Facilitated Gentrification as a Transformative Force of Development 10.1 Creative Destruction of Consumption Spaces 10.2 Excess Spatial Production 10.3 Unequal Spatial Resource Redistribution 10.4 Synthesis 10.5 Limitations References Appendix A An Overview of Fieldwork Locations Appendix B An Overview of Informants Appendix C Interview Guide 477693_1_En_11_Chapter_OnlinePDF.pdf Correction to: Gentrification in Chinese Cities Correction to: Q. Yang, Gentrification in Chinese Cities, Urban Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2286-2