IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ijurrs/v45y2021i5p835-847.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘For the People’ Without ‘by the People’: People and Plans in Shanghai's Waterfront Development

Author

Listed:
  • Yifei Li
  • Xiaohua Zhong

Abstract

The constant interplay between top‐down authority and bottom‐up agency in the production of urban space has invigorated much scholarly debate in urban studies. China, with its astonishingly rapid urban change, offers a fruitful context for empirical investigations. In this article, we seize the opportunity of Shanghai's recent waterfront development to unpack the process by which the local state in Shanghai planned, designed, delivered and governed the city's much‐storied waterfront. Ostensibly framed as an initiative for the people, the development of Shanghai's waterfront was decidedly not by the people. Powerful state actors and their affiliates in universities and architectural firms collaboratively pursued an urban developmental process that paradoxically enhanced residents’ right to urban space and denied citizens’ right to participation. The local state reconciled this apparent paradox by articulating a ‘quality people’ it sought to serve, fabricating an entire profile of their supposed aesthetic values, leisure habits, spatial preferences and luxurious lifestyles. In its essence, this ‘people’ framing represents an extraordinarily cunning approach to state hegemony, enabling the local state to pursue heavy‐handed interventions while upholding a gentle, humanistic ‘for the people’ discourse.

Suggested Citation

  • Yifei Li & Xiaohua Zhong, 2021. "‘For the People’ Without ‘by the People’: People and Plans in Shanghai's Waterfront Development," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 835-847, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:45:y:2021:i:5:p:835-847
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.12964
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12964
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1468-2427.12964?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Bank & the People’s Republic of China Development Research Center of the State Council, 2014. "Urban China : Toward Efficient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Urbanization," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 18865.
    2. Zheng,Yongnian & Huang,Yanjie, 2018. "Market in State," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108461573, January.
    3. Brautigam, Deborah, 2011. "The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199606290.
    4. Talja Blokland & Christine Hentschel & Andrej Holm & Henrik Lebuhn & Talia Margalit, 2015. "Urban Citizenship and Right to the City: The Fragmentation of Claims," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 655-665, July.
    5. Zheng,Yongnian & Huang,Yanjie, 2018. "Market in State," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108473446, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Han, Wenjing & Zhang, Xiaoling & Zheng, Xian, 2020. "Land use regulation and urban land value: Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Jeffrey Ng & Walid Saffar & Janus Jian Zhang, 2020. "Policy uncertainty and loan loss provisions in the banking industry," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 726-777, June.
    3. Victor Aguirregabiria & Jihye Jeon, 2020. "Firms’ Beliefs and Learning: Models, Identification, and Empirical Evidence," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(2), pages 203-235, March.
    4. Jeffrey Henderson & Magnus Feldmann & Nana de Graaff, 2021. "The Wind from the East: China and European Economic Development," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(5), pages 1047-1065, September.
    5. Mariana De Santish & María Inés Larai & Andrea Carrazana Riveraj & María Noelia Garberok & Carolina Judith Castroff, 2020. "Binge Drinking and Risk Preferences: an application to college students in Argentina," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4337, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    6. Bhabani Shankar Nayak, 2020. "Impossible Theorem and Possibilities of Development Studies," Journal of Development Policy and Practice, , vol. 5(2), pages 133-148, July.
    7. Xinyuan Liu & Zaiyan Wei & Mo Xiao, 2020. "Platform Mispricing and Lender Learning in Peer-to-Peer Lending," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(2), pages 281-314, March.
    8. Magazzino, Cosimo & Mele, Marco, 2021. "On the relationship between transportation infrastructure and economic development in China," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Ming Gu & Minxing Sun & Yangru Wu & Weike Xu, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and momentum," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(1), pages 237-259, March.
    10. Yi-Chang Chen & Shih-Ming Kuo & Yonglin Liu & Zeqiong Wu & Fang Zhang, 2022. "Improving Returns on Strategy Decisions through Integration of Neural Networks for the Valuation of Asset Pricing: The Case of Taiwanese Stock," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-15, October.
    11. Esin Özdemir & Ayda Eraydin, 2017. "Fragmentation in Urban Movements: The Role of Urban Planning Processes," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 727-748, September.
    12. Kristen Jones, 2024. "Colombia's role in great power competition," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 15(S3), pages 120-129, June.
    13. Tanya Jakimow, 2020. "The Familiar Face of the State: Affect, Emotion and Citizen Entitlements in Dehradun, India," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 429-446, May.
    14. Samuel Brazys, 2023. "Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks, Austin Strange and Michael J. Tierney. 2022. Banking on Beijing: The Aims and Impacts of China’s Overseas Development Program. (Cambridge: Cambridge Universi," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 227-231, January.
    15. Hailiang Liu & Weixuan Chen & Siqi Sun & Jiapei Yu & Yanhao Zhang & Changdong Ye, 2024. "Revisiting China’s Urban Transition from the Perspective of Urbanisation: A Critical Review and Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-22, May.
    16. Ma, Shuang & Mu, Ren, 2020. "Forced off the farm? Farmers’ labor allocation response to land requisition in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    17. John Gibson & Chao Li, 2017. "The Erroneous Use Of China'S Population And Per Capita Data: A Structured Review And Critical Test," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 905-922, September.
    18. Lakatos, Csilla & Maliszewska, Maryla & Osorio Rodarte, Israel & Go, Delfin S, 2016. "China’s Slowdown and Rebalancing: Potential Growth and Poverty Impacts on Sub-Saharan Africa," Conference papers 332730, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    19. Murat Arsel & Joshua Muldavin, 2015. "Forum 2015," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(4), pages 993-1009, July.
    20. Roy Bahl, 2017. "Metropolitan city finances in Asia and the Pacific region: issues, problems and reform options," MPDD Working Paper Series WP/17/04, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:45:y:2021:i:5:p:835-847. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0309-1317 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.