Property-led redevelopment in post-reform China: a case study of Xintiandi redevelopment project in Shanghai

Urban redevelopment in China has experienced great transformation. Governmentbacked redevelopment has been replaced by privately funded and propertyled redevelopment. This article discerns the impetus of ongoing propertyled redevelopment. A case study of the Xintiandi project in Shanghai reveals how propertyled redevelopment actually works. Progrowth coalitions between local government and developers are formed. Despite its role as capital provider, the private sector is still regulated by the government due to its negligible influence on local governance. The government controls the direction and pace of urban redevelopment through policy intervention, financial leverages, and governance of land leasing. Propertyled redevelopment is driven by diverse motivations of different levels of the government, e.g. transforming urban land use functions, showing off the entrepreneurial capability of local government, and maximizing negotiated land benefits. Driven by profit seeking, some thriving urban neighborhoods are displaced by highvalue property development, and suffer from uneven redevelopment