Strategies of the built-heritage stewardship movement in urban redevelopment in the Internet Age: The case of the Bell-Drum Towers controversy in Beijing, China

Abstract

The built-heritage stewardship movement has become visible in China’s urban redevelopment, but theoretical and empirical research on the movement’s strategies in an authoritarian context is lacking. To systematically understand these strategies in the Internet Age, this article first develops a theoretical framework, then analyzes the context in which the movement operates, and thereafter examines the movement's strategies in the Bell-Drum Towers controversy in Beijing. Castells contends that the construction of meaning is a decisive source of both power and counter-power and that symbolic construction depends on the frames created and diffused in multimedia communication. The theoretical framework therefore consists of a detailed conceptualization of framing processes. The context analysis shows that the built-heritage stewardship movement can benefit from official policies and plans and from the proliferation of new media, despite the censorship of the Internet, the limitations in the judicial system, the repressive practice of law enforcement, and the annual inspections of civil society organizations by civil affairs authorities. The empirical study shows that the preservationists managed to effectively influence decision-makers through combining online and offline efforts, such as mobilizing the general public online to shape public debates, mobilizing higher-level governments to employ political pressure, and directly disempowering local decision-makers online. Framing analysis not only uncovers the strategies of social movements but also identifies which elements determine the success of socialized communication as a counter-power of urban redevelopment in China. The Internet provides channels for frames diffusion, and thus offers preservationists a space to counter power in an authoritarian context where real-world activities and traditional media are tightly controlled by the government.