Emerging self-organisations in China s urban villages and its implication for urban governance Dr. Shenjing He School of Geography & Planning Sun Yat-Sen University Email: heshenj@mail.sysu.edu.cn
The formation of self-organised urban villages in China Rapid urbanisation under the dual land system: land expropriation and land leasing Collective farmland state-owned urban land developers/firms: price difference is captured by the city government Collective housing land remains in the hands of villagers Agricultural production rental business
The formation of self-organised urban villages in China The absence of housing provision for rural migrants More than 250 million rural migrants thronging into cities and towns No access to public housing and expensive formal rental markets
The formation of self-organised urban villages in China The vacuum of state regulations illegal constructions an urban pathology village society remains
Why do we care about urban villages? Alternative economy for villagers and migrants in face of urban-centred capital accumulation (accumulation by dispossession) Distinctive mode of governance: bottomup self-organisation
Forms of self-organisation in urban villages Self-organisation for indigenous villagers From production teams ( 生产队 ) to economic community ( 经济联社 ) or share-holding company ( 股份公司 ) From village committee to residents committee Self-organisation for migrants Social networks developed among migrants from the same place of origin: housing and job-seeking network, mutual help
Emerging community economy in self-organised urban villages Temporary livelihood for landless farmers low educational attainment, low skills no urban social welfare provision the emergence of a petty rentier class
Emerging community economy in self-organised urban villages Partly absorb existing social instability within the city: swamping rural migrants inexpensive and convenient housing for migrants livelihood for migrants (job opportunities in the village and in the central city )
Urban villages in Guangzhou More than 120 urban villages Old city centre
One of the biggest urban villages in Guanghzhou located to the east of Tianhe CBD with more than 700 years history Population: 50,000 migrants & 8,000 villagers
The layout of Dao village in Shipai, building density is above 70%
Built environment in Shipai
The evolution of the collective economy in Shipai village In the 1980s, production teams specialised in vegetable cultivation 1988, developed shareholding system (fixed asset: 13 million yuan) 1991, shareholding economic cooperation union 1994, collective shareholding individual shareholding 1997, Sanjun Group Co. Ltd. established (fixed asset: 58.86 million yuan) exceed 1 billion Yuan in recent years
Self-organisation and economic development (as an economic entity) Specialised markets for IT products Hotels, restaurants Real estate development
Self-organisation and social order (as an administrative unit) Ancestor worship remains its important role in the village society: social order and social coherence
Self-organisation and social order (as an administrative unit) Interaction with formal institutions Introducing modern management model into rental business Infrastructure improvement and community services
Self-organisation and welfare provision (as an administrative unit) All villagers have joined comprehensive social security insurance schemes (30 million yuan per year) Investment in elderly clubs Investment (more than 10 million yuan) in kindergarten, primary school Housing provision (modern apartments) for villagers
Garment manufacturing cluster in Datang Village Self-organisation for migrants Informal and less stable: social networks developed among people from the same place of origin, people working in the same industry/business
Enclave economy? Community economy? 70% 90% migrants are originally from Tianmen, Hubei province Small factories and family workshops specialised in textile and garment manufacturing
The formation of garment manufacturing cluster Migration at individual level: introduced by country fellows 老乡介绍老乡 Larger scale migration (by groups) through building stable recruitment network: hiring people from hometown 稳定的工厂主乡缘雇工网络 Stable and formalised migration: the involvement of job agency and trade union 第三方机构运作
Production and sales network based on place of origin
Mutual-trust & solidarity based on the social order/value of traditional rural society we trust each other because we are form the same village I feel obligated to help my country fellows 做生意就是这样, 我做不完了给同乡做, 同乡做不完也会给我做, 大家相互帮助才能站住脚 ( 工厂主闵先生 ) 湖北天门老乡之间在技术, 资金, 信息方面都会互相扶持 商会则将这种帮助正规化, 组织化, 提供了一个更好的交流平台 ( 工厂主刘先生 ) 还是在老乡开的工厂里打工比较好, 自己人嘛, 知根知底 老板常常鼓励我们有能力以后自己开厂 ( 服装厂工人莫女士 )
Problem or solution?
Online survey conducted by ifeng.com (Phoenix TV) Should the government allow slums to emerge in the city? (141 respondents) Yes 75.2% No 24.8% Do you think the emergence of slums will result in social segregation? (135 respondents) Yes 70.4% No 11.9% No idea 17.8% Do you think slums can resolve the problem of housing deficiency for migrant workers? (141 respondents) Yes 61.0% No 28.4% No idea 10.6%
Urban slum/informal settlement dwellers estimations and projections (unit: thousand people) 1990 2001 2010 2020 World 714,972 912,918 1,115,002 1,392,416 Asia 420,415 533,385 648,605 806,731 China 137,929 178,256 219,878 277,616 Source: Global report on human settlements 2007, by UN Habitat
An alternative solution Challenging the discourse of formality and urban citizenship (Mitlin 2007) The informal city holds the key to finding ways of conferring tenure security for the disadvantaged Informal settlements are important sources of employment and economic growth Informal settlement: an alternative solution, rather than a problem in fast growing cities (Turner 1988)
Implications for urban governance Modern governance: involve multiple players apart from formal authorities Self-organisation in urban villages: a bottom-up governance for the less advantaged Significance in the period of market transition: taking care of those being left behind and ignored by the neoliberal state (towards social/community economy)
Challenges The future of urban villages is uncertain Re-urbanization (demolition)? Gentrification? Two classes in urban villages: Migrant workers Indigenous villagers
Self-organization for rural migrants is less stable: fluidity and multiple marginalisation (socially, economically, and politically) Efficacy of self-organization depends: Path dependency: traditional village structure (especially the village head) Social capital (clans, place of origin) Economic performance
Scopes for self-organisation in urban villages China s changing urban governance: from hierarchical system to territorial system Neighbourhood governance? Private governance? The rise of community economy