Neighbourhood Governance in Urban China

Edited by Ngai-Ming Yip, City University of Hong Kong

As the economy and society of China has become more diversified, so have its urban neighbourhoods. The last decade has witnessed a surge in collective action by homeowners in China against the infringement of their rights. Research on neighbourhood governance is sparse and limited so this book fills a vital gap in the literature and understanding.

‘This book is timely, coming as it does at a time when interest in China’s urban growth remains high (for example, Ren, 2013), and neighbourhood/community governance is increasingly emphasised in many countries, particularly the UK (cf. the 2011 Localism Act). However, as Chapter 2 of the book, written by Benjamin Read, acknowl-edges, Western theories around neighbour-hood governance ‘were created against the backdrop of a pluralist model of societal organization’ (p. 30), with more-or-less independent grassroots activity. That model, certainly in recent years, is not directly trans-ferable to the Chinese context, so this book makes a valuable contribution to developing our knowledge of neighbourhood gover-nance in a specific setting.’
– John Sturzaker, Town Planning Review

‘The editor did a fine job of bringing together a rare collection of research works that demonstrate an excellent understanding of the overall climate of urban governance in China. The book is eloquently presented and should attract a wide audience among the public and social policy researchers interested in China.’
——米娅o Zhang, Institutions and Economies