The new growth machine and neighborhood redevelopment in the Chinese cities of the Xijinping era: The case of Jinsong, Beijing

Abstract

This study examines Jinsong, a typical old and dilapidated Beijing neighborhood that has recently been renewed, as an example of the changing dynamics of urban redevelopment in Xijinping-era China. During the past several years, a new round of urban redevelopment has begun, the modalities of which have not yet been fully explored. I argue that a new growth machine (NGM) is in the making, differing from the old mode of mass destruction, reconstruction, and resident relocation in that it features micro, incremental, and in situ redevelopments. To examine this NGM, this paper sheds light upon the case of Jinsong, with an analysis largely based on fieldwork, surveys, and semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders involved in the neighborhood’s redevelopment process. In comparison to the old growth machine, the NGM moves more slowly and yields profits on a smaller scale. The NGM is still state-oriented, and there is a strong coalition of state and market enterprises through which the state achieves its political goal of ‘people-centered’ development; the market enterprises, however, also generate revenues in innovative ways, largely through property management, assetization, and the deeper marketization of neighborhood space.