New‐build gentrification in Central Shanghai: demographic changes and socioeconomic implications

Abstract

In Shanghai, globalised urban images and a well‐functioning accumulation regime are enthusiastically sought after by urban policy, and explicitly promoted as a blueprint for a civilised city life. The city is celebrating its thriving neo‐liberal urbanism by implementing enormous new‐build gentrification, mostly in the form of demolition–rebuild development involving direct displacement of residents and landscapes. This study aims to understand demographic changes and the socioeconomic consequences of new‐build gentrification in central Shanghai. The paper first examines demographic changes between 1990 and 2000 in central Shanghai, i.e. the changing distribution of potential gentrifiers and displacees. It then looks into two cases of new‐build gentrification projects in central Shanghai, to compare residents' socioeconomic profiles in old neighbourhoods and new‐build areas. This study also examines the impacts of gentrification on displacees' quality of life and socioeconomic prospects. Because the enlarging middle class and the pursuit of wealth‐induced growth by the municipal government are turning the central city into a hotspot of gentrification, inequalities in housing and socioeconomic prospects are being produced and intensified in the metropolitan area. This study thus emphasises that critical perspectives in gentrification research are valuable and indispensable. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

New forms of gentrification: issues and debates

“…A restrictive defi nition focuses on reclaimed brownfi elds or on in-fi ll developments on vacant lands (Rérat et al, 2009;Rose, 2009), whereas others also include the demolition/reconstruction of existing residential areas (Davidson and Lees, 2009;He, 2009). There are also hybrid forms such as the Aragon Tower in London, a building that has been totally refurbished and to which fi ve extra fl oors of penthouses have been added, which escape simple categorisations (Davidson and Lees, 2009).…”

“…Thus, different authors criticise the use of class-neutral terms such as 'reurbanisation' (Davidson and Lees, 2009;He, 2009;Van Criekingen, 2009). On the other hand, Haase et al (2009) point out that there is no unifi ed understanding of the concept of reurbanisation.…”

“…In a similar vein, Van Criekingen (2009) shows that the process of gentrifi cation in Brussels results in a rising competition for residential space and that youngsters from working-class or immigrant origins are increasingly 'locked up' in remaining nongentrifi ed inner neighbourhoods. In Shanghai, He (2009) analyses the wide-ranging residential displacement -from 50,000 to 100,000 relocated households each year between 1995 and 2007 -and the profound population changes resulting from extensive redevelopments in central areas. With surveys carried out in pre-gentrifi ed sites and in new buildings, she highlights the differences between both populations in terms of socio-economic profi le, age, and tenure status.…”

“…In some, local authorities are portrayed as playing an active part and 'state-led gentrifi cation' is considered to be the expression of a neoliberal urban agenda (Davidson and Lees, 2009;He, 2009;Kern, 2009;Van Criekingen, 2009). In papers discussing other contexts, a more nuanced image is given of the strategies of local authorities where they result from the consensus between different and sometimes confl icting requirements (Rérat et al, 2009;Rose, 2009).…”

“…Here again the geography of gentrifi cation is at play and explains these different interpretations. He's (2009) analysis of the role of the state in Shanghai addresses some general features of state-led gentrifi cation such as the creation of optimal conditions for capital circulation or the investments in infrastructures and in the beautifi cation of residential areas. Her contribution, as well as the papers by Van Criekingen (2009), Kern (2009), and Lees (2009), illustrate what Hackworth andN.…”