Communities built on political trust: Theory and evidence from China

Yu Zeng and Shitong Qiao
Additional contact information
Yu Zeng: Peking University, China
Shitong Qiao: Duke University, USA

Urban Studies, 2025, vol. 62, issue 2, 292-309

Abstract: This study offers a unique mixed-methods investigation on the formation of neighbourhood communities in China’s megacities. We find that the local government helps homeowners overcome prevalent collective action problems and govern themselves more effectively. Neighbourhoods that have established homeowners’ associations (HOAs) enjoy better governing outcomes than those without HOAs, as evidenced by homeowners wielding greater control over neighbourhood affairs, showing heightened respect for democratic principles, and maintaining a stronger sense of community identity. Owing to these positive outcomes, and as compared to their counterparts in neighbourhoods without HOAs, homeowner activists in neighbourhoods with HOAs develop a deeper trust in their local government. As such, our argument that urban communities are based on political trust in authoritarian regimes complicates the conventional view that such regimes either repress civic engagement or manipulate civic organisations for social control.

Keywords: China; community; homeowners’ association; political trust; 中国; 社区; 业主委员会; 政治信任 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00420980241252043 (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:62:y:2025:i:2:p:292-309

DOI: 10.1177/00420980241252043

Access Statistics for this article

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