The Development and Governance of Chinese Gated Communities: A Case Study of Wenzhou

Gated communities have begun to emerge in urban China since the housing reform took place at the end of 1998. This research aims to explore the dynamics of the development and governance of gated communities and its implications in the context of post-reform China. Particular attention is paid to the effects of state intervention and growing market forces during current suburbanisation processes. It also intends to provide empirical evidence to enrich the theory of gated communities. The existing literature considers safety, private governance and aesthetic living as the core characteristics of gated communities from Western experiences. Based on this point of view, the research examines gated communities in urban China in relation to three questions: what are the dynamics for the development of gated communities in post-reform China? How and to what extent are gated communities privately governed? How and to what extent do gated communities impact residents’ place attachment? This research is carried out in the city of Wenzhou, which has the most active private economy and residential development in China. The analyses are based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, including a large-scale questionnaire survey, interviews, and secondary data analysis. This research finds that in post-reform China, entrepreneurial local governments promote gated communities based on a land-centred accumulation, aiming at maximising local revenue gains and involving the private sector to finance suburban development. The examination on three cases of gated communities that developed under different planning purposes shows that gated communities in China emphasise the private provision of public goods and community services rather than self-governance. Furthermore, it identifies residents’ preferences for private governance and living experiences as consumption-oriented and intensively shaping the place attachment in gated communities. Subsequently, gated communities become consumers’ clubs, underlining the demand for private governance and services in post-reform China