vbid/9789811922862

Description

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 therevelation 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.Typham this is the title: Gentrification in Chinese Cities State Institutions, Space and Society