Toward community engagement: Can the built environment help? Grassroots participation and communal space in Chinese urban communities

Abstract

The scholarship in building community capacity by way of cultivating community social capital and community spirit through neighborhood design has spawned heated debates in urban and community studies. This paper contributes to this scholarship by examining the neighborhood contexts of grassroots participation in Chinese contemporary urban communities. In particular, it explores the relationship between neighborhood communal space and community participation, using a city-wide survey of 1,809 households in 39 commodity housing estates in the city of Guangzhou. It is found that local residents’ participation in community affairs is conditioned by both the social milieu (measured by the overall level of social cohesion) and the physical environment (indicated by effects of communal space) of a neighborhood. Notably, communal space exerts positive indirect effects on grassroots participation by facilitating the development of place-based social capital and neighborhood attachment. These findings point to a civic virtue of communal space and provide nascent evidence regarding neighborhood contexts of grassroots participation in urban China.

The Anatomy of Health-Supportive Neighborhoods: A Multilevel Analysis of Built Environment, Perceived Disorder, Social Interaction and Mental Health in Beijing

“…Neighborhoods with dense populations, short blocks and mixed-use zoning may encourage people to participate in group exercise and make acquaintances with each other [50,51]. Additionally, diverse destinations around residences, such as parks, squares, and cultural and commercial facilities, are important locales for the formation of social ties [5,7]. On the other hand, a car-supportive environment discourages neighbors from establishing social relations and leads to social isolation.…”

“…In Chinese megacities, however, traditional cohesive neighborhoods are gradually being replaced by gated communities with limited communal space and pedestrian-oriented designs. The scarcity of space has led to the sacrifice of neighborly relations for the sake of privacy and anonymity, which may generate a sense of loneliness and helplessness [7]. Second, the perception of environmental stressors and disorders is connected with, albeit not entirely dependent on, physical settings [8].…”

Changing neighbourhood cohesion under the impact of urban redevelopment: a case study of Guangzhou, China

“…Second, a neighbourhood with a densely knit neighbourhood social network is conducive to increased community participation. This is because frequent interactions among neighbours may help an individual to accumulate social resources and acquaint himself/herself with the surroundings, therefore enabling them to participate in community affairs (Fu & Lin, 2014;Zhu, 2015). Third, residents tend to participate actively in community affairs when they feel attached to the surrounding environment and have many friends living in the same neighbourhood, as this creates a sense of obligation to the improvement of the wellbeing and conditions of the community where they reside (Dekker, 2007;Dekker & Bolt, 2005;Zhu et al, 2012).…”

Age Related Differences in Neighborhood Sense of Community: Impacts of the Neighborhood Environment and Leisure Time Physical Activity

“…2000) and SOC (French et al 2014;Leyden et al 2011). Environmental features that promote LTPA can enhance resident perceptions of SOC through increased opportunity for social interaction (Henriksen and Tjora 2014;Pendola and Gen 2008) as well as through heightened affection for the neighborhood, or place attachment (Zhu 2015). These relationships, however, may also differ depending on age.…”