5 From Chicago to Shenzhen, via Birmingham
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Ray Forrest
Abstract
The ownership of residential property has always been a focus for urban conflict and a key source of advantage and disadvantage-in terms of location and social status. Park’s Chicago was a city conceived of as having a hierarchy of housing situations with a distinct spatial pattern. Rex and Moore’s Birmingham of the 1960s developed these ideas through a Weberian conception of housing classes and greater attention to institutional gatekeepers. This chapter argues that their argument that the competition for housing contributes to a particular form of social stratification finds new resonance in the contemporary Chinese city. The narrative traverses over a century in considering the ways in which the competition for housing in cities of migrants involves common processes but also quite distinct experiences and outcomes. Over space and time, the meaning of home ownership has changed as has the nature and role of zones of transition for migrants and those on the social margins. The ownership of residential property has always been a focus for urban conflict and a key source of advantage and disadvantage-in terms of location and social status. Park’s Chicago was a city conceived of as having a hierarchy of housing situations with a distinct spatial pattern. Rex and Moore’s Birmingham of the 1960s developed these ideas through a Weberian conception of housing classes and greater attention to institutional gatekeepers. This chapter argues that their argument that the competition for housing contributes to a particular form of social stratification finds new resonance in the contemporary Chinese city. The narrative traverses over a century in considering the ways in which the competition for housing in cities of migrants involves common processes but also quite distinct experiences and outcomes. Over space and time, the meaning of home ownership has changed as has the nature and role of zones of transition for migrants and those on the social margins.
Abstract
The ownership of residential property has always been a focus for urban conflict and a key source of advantage and disadvantage-in terms of location and social status. Park’s Chicago was a city conceived of as having a hierarchy of housing situations with a distinct spatial pattern. Rex and Moore’s Birmingham of the 1960s developed these ideas through a Weberian conception of housing classes and greater attention to institutional gatekeepers. This chapter argues that their argument that the competition for housing contributes to a particular form of social stratification finds new resonance in the contemporary Chinese city. The narrative traverses over a century in considering the ways in which the competition for housing in cities of migrants involves common processes but also quite distinct experiences and outcomes. Over space and time, the meaning of home ownership has changed as has the nature and role of zones of transition for migrants and those on the social margins. The ownership of residential property has always been a focus for urban conflict and a key source of advantage and disadvantage-in terms of location and social status. Park’s Chicago was a city conceived of as having a hierarchy of housing situations with a distinct spatial pattern. Rex and Moore’s Birmingham of the 1960s developed these ideas through a Weberian conception of housing classes and greater attention to institutional gatekeepers. This chapter argues that their argument that the competition for housing contributes to a particular form of social stratification finds new resonance in the contemporary Chinese city. The narrative traverses over a century in considering the ways in which the competition for housing in cities of migrants involves common processes but also quite distinct experiences and outcomes. Over space and time, the meaning of home ownership has changed as has the nature and role of zones of transition for migrants and those on the social margins.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of Tables and Figures v
- Notes on Contributors vii
- Acknowledgments xii
- Preface xiii
- Robert Park in China 1
- “Bewitched by the History Behind the Walls” 17
- Moral Order in the Post-Socialist Chinese City 41
- Learning from Chicago (and LA)? 61
- From Chicago to Shenzhen, via Birmingham 81
- Urbanization and Economic Development 101
- The Handshake 302 Village Hack Residency 125
- Beijing Ring Roads and the Poetics of Excess and Ordinariness 141
- Pathways to Urban Residency and Subjective Well-Being in Beijing 157
- A Study of Socio-spatial Segregation of Rural Migrants in Shenzhen 185
- The Anxious Middle Class of Urban China 207
- Conclusion 231
- Index 247
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of Tables and Figures v
- Notes on Contributors vii
- Acknowledgments xii
- Preface xiii
- Robert Park in China 1
- “Bewitched by the History Behind the Walls” 17
- Moral Order in the Post-Socialist Chinese City 41
- Learning from Chicago (and LA)? 61
- From Chicago to Shenzhen, via Birmingham 81
- Urbanization and Economic Development 101
- The Handshake 302 Village Hack Residency 125
- Beijing Ring Roads and the Poetics of Excess and Ordinariness 141
- Pathways to Urban Residency and Subjective Well-Being in Beijing 157
- A Study of Socio-spatial Segregation of Rural Migrants in Shenzhen 185
- The Anxious Middle Class of Urban China 207
- Conclusion 231
- Index 247
