What rights and whose rights count? Housing activism in urban redevelopment in Shenzhen

Abstract

The politics of spatial inclusion in Chinese urban redevelopment is largely dominated by the state, developers and owners. Tenants lacking property rights are typically considered passive victims with little agency. Linking the discourse of “right to the city” to China's urban redevelopment processes, this paper argues that urban villages are spatial products of broader deficits in the rights to appropriate and participate. Our empirical data focus on both the housing activism of property owners and the concurrent practices of non-owners, comprising migrant tenants, NGOs and intellectuals. The findings illustrate how “privileged recognition” functions as a governmental rationality that prior..