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Homeowners United: the attempt to create lateral networks of homeowners' associations in urban China

2011; Routledge; Volume: 20; Issue: 72 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10670564.2011.604492

1469-9400

Ngai Ming Yip, Yihong Jiang,

Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics

Abstract Under the slogan of 'weiquan' (defending our rights), homeowners in urban China are increasingly prepared to stand up for their rights of ownership, often through non-confrontational actions organized by homeowners' associations (yeweihui). There is also a growing concern for the need to create collective platforms on which homeowners' associations can support one another, muster their collective resources against powerful developers and lobby for status as legitimate organizations. The activists involved in this work are well aware of its political sensitivity in a regime that is antagonistic towards autonomous organizations, which are seen as posing a threat to its hegemony. Based on a case study in Guangzhou, this paper traces the tactics that housing activists have employed to create horizontal cooperation among homeowners' associations to defend their rights and devise 'boundary-spanning' strategies that exploit divisions within the state apparatus. The Guangzhou union of homeowners' associations can be regarded as an experiment in organizational infrastructure which has far-reaching implications. This study sheds light on the complexities as well as the institutional fluidity of state–society interactions in contemporary urban China. Notes *Ngai-ming Yip is an associate professor in the Department of Public and Social Administration in the City University of Hong Kong. He researches on urban and housing policy and is currently working on a research project on homeowners' associations and the reinvention of grassroots governance in urban China supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong. Yihong Jiang is an instructor in the Department of Public and Social Administration in the City University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include urban governance and regional economy. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (CityU 150908). 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