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The Spatial Dimension of Negotiated Power Relations and Social Justice in the Redevelopment of Villages-in-the-City in China

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  • Him Chung

    (Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong)

Abstract

This paper investigates the spatial dimension of power relations and the seeking of social justice through an urban redevelopment project. I seek to provide an on-the-ground investigation on the role of space in affecting power relations and, hence, the seeking of social justice. Bringing together a relational approach, the positioning of actors, and the broader bottom-up conceptualisation of power, this paper presents a link between power and space, suggesting that different forms of power stem from the multiple connections which different actors draw from space, be it place or shifting positions. In the context of China's villages-in-the-city redevelopment, this idea suggests that the dispossessed are not entirely powerless, although their formal rights to participate are forfeit. In other words, the power of the dispossessed is spatially defined and their seeking of justice is determined by negotiated power relations. Put in the context of a Chinese city, this paper moves the discussion of social justice beyond liberal democratic societies where most of the literature is based. Such a move is expected to generate new understandings of the geographies of social justice.

Suggested Citation

  • Him Chung, 2013. "The Spatial Dimension of Negotiated Power Relations and Social Justice in the Redevelopment of Villages-in-the-City in China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(10), pages 2459-2476, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:45:y:2013:i:10:p:2459-2476
    DOI: 10.1068/a45416
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hsing, You-tien, 2010. "The Great Urban Transformation: Politics of Land and Property in China," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199568048.
    2. Him Chung & Su-Hong Zhou, 2011. "Planning for Plural Groups? Villages-in-the-city Redevelopment in Guangzhou City, China," International Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 333-353.
    3. Kung, James Kai-sing, 2000. "Common Property Rights and Land Reallocations in Rural China: Evidence from a Village Survey," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 701-719, April.
    4. Yan Song & Yves Zenou & Chengri Ding, 2008. "Let's Not Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water: The Role of Urban Villages in Housing Rural Migrants in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(2), pages 313-330, February.
    5. Fulong Wu & Chris Webster & Shenijing He & Yuting Liu, 2010. "Urban Poverty in China," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13189.
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    Cited by:

    1. H Chung, 2018. "Rural migrants in villages-in-the-city in Guangzhou, China: Multi-positionality and negotiated living strategies," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(10), pages 2245-2260, August.
    2. Edoardo Bruno, 2022. "Socio-Spatial ‘Tabula Rasa’ and Punctual Preservation: The Case Study of Measurable Compensation in Lijiao Village," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-27, July.
    3. Chen Li & Mark Yaolin Wang & Jennifer Day, 2021. "Reconfiguration of state–society relations: The making of uncompromising nail households in urban housing demolition and relocation in Dalian, China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(8), pages 1581-1597, June.
    4. Lai, Yani & Tang, Bosin & Chen, Xiangsheng & Zheng, Xian, 2021. "Spatial determinants of land redevelopment in the urban renewal processes in Shenzhen, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).

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