Community governance in rural villager resettlement neighborhoods in China: rural-urban divide, civic engagement, and state control

Abstract

In China, to meet the demand of expansive urbanization, the state expropriates rural land from village collectives and offers resettlement arrangement to landless villagers. The aim of this study is to advance our understanding of the community governance in government-designated resettlement neighborhoods in Chinese cities. By employing participatory observations and key informant interviews with community association staff and resettled villagers in four neighborhoods in Shanghai, this research documents and evaluates an emerging multi-scalar civic coalition formed to maximize the capacity of community governance. The study finds that the new collation is maintained through strategic networks, information exchange, resource sharing, and reciprocal collaborations. Critiques of the regime spotlight its three shortfalls: the conflicts among regime partners which threatens the stability of the coalition; the justice issue behind differentiated standards that creates divides among community members; and the lack of citizen connection and support that questions the resilience of the regime.