Urban planners and the production of gated communities in China: A structure–agency approach

Kaihuai Liao, Rainer Wehrhahn and Werner Breitung
Additional contact information
Kaihuai Liao: Guangdong University of Technology, China
Rainer Wehrhahn: University of Kiel, Germany
Werner Breitung: Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China

Urban Studies, 2019, vol. 56, issue 13, 2635-2653

Abstract: This study takes an actor-oriented perspective and focuses on the role of urban planners in the production of gated communities in China. It probes their related values and the structural factors influencing their preferences and planning choices. The main empirical basis is a large-scale survey of urban planners throughout China. The results show for example that most of the surveyed planners are residents of gated communities themselves. This is highly important, because their residential experiences and middle-class identities are likely to affect their values and professional perspectives. Their attitudes towards gating furthermore strongly correlate with the views of the local governments for whom they work, which is understandable in view of the prevailing power structures. It is found that most planners either support gated communities or do not see much leverage to act against them, but that many are able to achieve amendments to reduce negative effects of gating.

Keywords: agency; gated community; planning values; structure; urban China; urban planners; ä»£ç †; å° é—­ç¤¾åŒº; 规划价值观; 结构; 城市化中国; 城市规划者 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098018801138 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:56:y:2019:i:13:p:2635-2653

DOI: 10.1177/0042098018801138

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().