ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a particular form of urban development—regenerating existing urban areas through demolition and redevelopment. It explains China’s changing urban redevelopment practices and compares them with urban regeneration in Western market economies. The chapter introduces concepts initially developed in market economies, such as property-led redevelopment, culture-led redevelopment, the financialization of redevelopment, displacement, and gentrification. It then briefly reviews China’s urban redevelopment practices, highlighting similar issues such as forced relocation and displacement. Further, the chapter provides recent examples of the redevelopment of ‘urban villages’—China’s informal settlements—and ‘micro-redevelopment’ characterized by small-scale and incremental refabrication and construction. Deploying the perspective of state entrepreneurialism, this chapter further reveals the importance of state politics and national political mandates. It illustrates that Chinese urban redevelopment cannot be reduced to the dynamics of a local growth machine. Finally, the chapter reflects on the role of the state in urban redevelopment and the need to understand the multi-scalar governance of redevelopment. The chapter debates the concepts mentioned at the beginning of the chapter and enriches our understanding of variegated practices.
