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Why do residents participate in neighborhood affairs in different forms? This study probes this question by integrating the social capital framework and the place attachment framework. Drawing on a qualitative case study and survey data in the city of Guangzhou, China, this research demonstrates the differential effects of place attachment and social capital on different forms of neighborhood participation. Neighborhood attachment (i.e., place sentiment toward a neighborhood) serves as a prerequisite for any form of participation. While neighborhood attachment is sufficient for latent involvement, such as staying informed about neighborhood issues through social exchanges and other spontaneous activities, social capital produces mobilizing forces that motivate residents to move beyond the latent stage to influence community outcomes through manifest engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a socio-spatial analysis of the restructuring of Guangzhou, China, from 2000 to 2010, this study explores the spatiality of gentrification. We argue that gentrification processes in Guangzhou are best characterized as state-embedded gentrification wherein the spatiality of gentrification manifests the spatial selectivity of the hegemonic state. Specifically, Guangzhou's restructuring presents a pattern of suburban gentrification, coupled with sporadic inner-city gentrification. The city's spatial pattern of gentrification was shaped by the local state's spatial selectivity through land-driven development policies, such as administrative annexation, new-zone development, and urban renewal, which were intended to promote industrial upgrading and economic growth. While new-build gentrification was a key form of gentrification, the demographic changes in gentrified neighborhoods in Guangzhou were primarily attributed to the inflows of gentrifiers (especially those in knowledge-oriented or state sectors) instead of the physical displacement of disadvantaged groups. After critically interrogating the applicability and relevance of existing gentrification concepts to Chinese cities, we argue that the concept of state-embedded gentrification helps to articulate the nuanced exercise of state hegemony in gentrification. • Gentrification processes in Guangzhou (2000–2010) are best characterized by state-embedded gentrification • The spatiality of gentrification manifests the spatial selectivity of the hegemonic state • New-build gentrification was a key form • Gentrification was attributed more to the inflows of gentrifiers than the physical displacement of disadvantaged groups • State-embedded gentrification helps to articulate the nuanced exercise of state hegemony in gentrification [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although changes in urban space often mean a restructuring of social relations, few studies elucidate why network-related frameworks are inherently related to residential outcomes in urban neighborhoods. By proposing a relational account of neighborhood governance, we investigate outcomes of neighborhood governance by incorporating a series of measures of network forms of organization, network-based social capital, and neighborly interactions. Based on a collaborative survey project conducted in Guangzhou, we find that neighborhood ties and neighborly interactions are positively associated with neighborhood attachment and cohesion, whereas uneven power relations between grassroots governments and civic homeowners associations are negatively associated with these two measures. These results not only reveal new social dynamics in urban space but also lend support to a relational account of neighborhood governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The scholarship in building community capacity by way of cultivating community social capital and community spirit through neighborhood design has spawned heated debates in urban and community studies. This paper contributes to this scholarship by examining the neighborhood contexts of grassroots participation in Chinese contemporary urban communities. In particular, it explores the relationship between neighborhood communal space and community participation, using a city-wide survey of 1809 households in 39 commodity housing estates in the city of Guangzhou. It is found that local residents' participation in community affairs is conditioned by both the social milieu (measured by the overall level of social cohesion) and the physical environment (indicated by effects of communal space) of a neighborhood. Notably, communal space exerts positive indirect effects on grassroots participation by facilitating the development of place-based social capital and neighborhood attachment. These findings point to a civic virtue of communal space and provide nascent evidence regarding neighborhood contexts of grassroots participation in urban China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the conditions of differentiated local governance emerging in urban China, enclave spaces have become fundamental features of the spatial structure of Chinese cities. With an interest in the rationale and consequences of intra-urban boundaries, this study investigates residents' attitudes towards gated living in private commodity-housing estates, using surveys and interviews conducted with residents living both inside and outside three such estates in Guangzhou. Results show a strong desire for separating "insiders" from "outsiders?' Insiders justify the practice of gating with the interrelated arguments of heightened security, sense of belonging, symbolic functions, and the production of a good living environment. Even residents outside the estates show a considerable acceptance of gates and walls, which challenges the widely accepted view that gating exacerbates local social tensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]