Ending gated communities: the rationales for resistance in China
Name
Ending_Gated_Communities_preproof_2021.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
1.47 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
1ba8099665f860873d9e17551b183d4a
Author(s)
Chiu-Shee, Colleen
Ryan, Brent D.
Vale, Lawrence J.
Date Issued
July 30, 2021
Journal
Housing Studies
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Citation
Chiu-Shee, C., Ryan, B. D., & Vale, L. J. (2021). Ending gated communities: the rationales for resistance in China. Housing Studies, 38(8), 1482–1511.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Although gated communities (GCs) have spread globally, their prevalence in China is often attributed to China’s unique tradition of gated living. In 2016, China announced policy recommendations intending to end GCs, which faced societal resistance. To elucidate the nature of this resistance, we interviewed experienced Chinese officials, practitioners, and scholars—who, inevitably, were themselves GC residents. They challenge the policy in two ways: policy-rejectors justify gating as common sense and stress risks of ungating, whereas policy-sympathizers understand the policy shift but doubt its feasibility. Their rationales reveal ingrained cognitive dissonance and entrenched state-society tension. Such sentiments that resist ungating collectively create practical and ideological barriers to mitigating housing segregation. China’s GCs showcase how private production of civic goods prioritizes market rules and promotes individual values. China’s failure in ungating suggests that the prevalence of privately produced communities can justify exclusion, normalize “gated mindsets,” and reinforce socioeconomic and spatial inequalities.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2021.1950645
