The introduction of land prices and a real estate market in the reform period have led to residential differentiations in previously largely homogenous Chinese cities. Based on qualitative data from 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork in an upscale Beijing suburb, in this paper I draw attention to the agency of urban residents in this process. I argue that housing choices in China today are deeply embedded in and related to a larger socio‐cultural and spatial reconfiguration of Chinese society. The new urban middle class has developed specific ideas about their living environment and life‐style. They aspire to have green space, better air quality, and spaciousness, among other physical characteristics, but also privacy and exclusivity in their new places of residence. I show that residential compounds have become the basis for identity and lifestyle formation, crucial in the process of social differentiation, which in turn underline and reinforce growing disparities in Chinese society. Over and above the outcome of economic restructuring and political decision making, residential differentiation in China today is a social practice that marks urban professionals' status and supports their new modern, urban identities. In addition, this social practice also has an impact on Beijing's suburbanization process.

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resumen | Enfocado en las vidas y experiencias de las empleadas domésticas de Bogotá, Colombia, este artículo examina la interrelación entre el espacio y las diferencias socioeconómicas que demarcan el contexto urbano. De manera específica, se explora las formas en que las empleadas domésticas "producen el espacio" (Lefebvre, 1991). Para ello se analiza, a través de entrevistas no-estructuradas y la documentación de las trayectorias de movilidad, la forma en que estas mujeres usan, experimentan e intervienen el espacio urbano. El artículo se propone, en suma, ofrecer elementos para comprender la manera en que las lógicas de estratificación de la ciudad enmarcan la experiencia subjetiva de las empleadas domésticas. En este sentido, el análisis se enfoca en las interacciones de las dimensiones espaciales, sociales y económicas, y en cómo estas definen las vidas y posibilidades de movilidad de las empleadas domésticas en la ciudad. palabras clave | desigualdad social, segregación, movilidad. abstract | Domestic workers are a vital element of Latin American urban society. Focusing on the lives and experiences of household employees in Bogotá, Colombia, this article examines the interrelation between space and socioeconomic differences in the urban context. More specifically, we explore female domestic workers' "production of space" (Lefebvre, 1991), specifically analyzing how they use, experience, and intervene in the urban space. By following household employees in their trajectories, the project illuminates how space is stratified, how the women experience the space, and how spatial, social, and economic dimensions interact with each other to impact their lives and mobility possibilities. The research shows how spatial and socioeconomic mobility is put into practice and negotiated daily, not only in the city itself but also through extensions of time and space beyond the urban sphere.

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