The Right to Envision the City? The Emerging Vision Conflicts in Redeveloping Historic Nanjing, China

Abstract

This article presents a new trend in urban politics in China, that is, the intertwined conflicts of three competing visions-entrepreneurial redevelopment, historic conservation, and community conservation-in the redevelopment of historic areas. Through an in-depth case study of the struggles around the redevelopment of historic Nanjing, we outline three key points. First, historic conservation has emerged as a strong urban vision competing against entrepreneurial redevelopment in historic districts, since the early 2000s. Second, local residents have tactically employed the discourse of historic conservation to negotiate their own visions of community conservation, yet these have largely failed since the major concern of the elite vision of historic conservation is the preservation of material structures rather than communities living in them. Third, and in conclusion, this article calls for a more inclusive vision of historic community conservation and more attention to the "visioning" right of ordinary residents in Chinese urban politics.

Historical Preservation in Rust-Belt China: The Life and Death of Jihong Bridge in Harbin

“…The Xintiandi model of preservation-led redevelopment has since been copied all over the country [10,14,15] . Preservation-led redevelopment like that in Xintiandi has often led to gentrification and displacement of residents, either by eviction or by higher rents and living costs [16,17] .…”

Tyrannical participation approaches in China’s regeneration of Urban heritage areas: a case study of baitasi historic district, Beijing

“…In the implementation stage, the projects are usually government-led or marketled (Wong et al 2021), whereas community-led projects are rarely seen and likely to fail (Chen, Wang and Waley 2020). There are some positive examples where projects are initiated or widely participated by communities (see Nitzky 2013;Li and Zhu 2014;Ding and Ruan 2016 for examples).…”

“…Although they may raise their demands and concerns through Resident Committees or Street Offices, their voices are likely to be marginalised by the local authorities' pursuit of economic benefits and political agenda (Shin 2009). In fact, the elite vision of heritage conservation imposed by the government is centred around space beautification and economic development (Chen, Wang and Waley 2020). The central government values nation building through promoting traditional Chinese culture and constructing advanced cities (Ye 2011;Harrell 2013), while the local government is keen on land revenue and political promotion (Wang 2012).…”

Traditional Thoughts and Modern Development of the Historical Urban Landscape in China: Lessons Learned from the Example of Pingyao Historical City

“…The sprawl process can be found either in metropolitan areas or small and medium-sized cities [16,17], where the HUL often conflicts with the newly increased urban space. Against this context, a large number of historical cities in China have been at risk of being destroyed in the process of urbanization [18][19][20]. Such an effect is not only limited to the destruction of urban heritage, but also the disorder of traditional urban spatial structures and the cultural landscape [21][22][23].…”