Social mix can be observed in many post-reform Chinese cities, yet the topic
has so far remained scarcely researched. Using central Shanghai as a focus,
this research asks how socially mixed neighbourhoods have emerged, what is
their internal structure, and how have locally-based social interactions been
affected by the emergence of social mix.
Based on a neighbourhood of 5 housing estates and other relevant examples,
this study shows that mixed neighbourhoods have emerged from an unplanned
and uncoordinated interplay among new market-driven commodity housing
developments, counter-market retention mechanisms on traditional estates,
government-led socially-orientated housing projects, residents’ resistance to
redevelopment, and the lingering socialist legacy of welfare housing and
unclear property rights. Significant differences were found in residents’ socioeconomic
attributes, living conditions, tenure and housing expenditure between
the traditional, new middle-income, and new upmarket housing.
The process of housing redevelopment and the creation of social mix have
diminished locally-based social interactions. Residents’ intra-estate interaction
is the strongest in traditional estates, lower in the middle-income estate and
minimal in upmarket estates. The level of inter-estate interaction in the mixed
neighbourhood is weak. The emergence of social mix has brought about a
divergence in lifestyles and lifeworlds among the changed set of residents,
which is reflected in the spheres of mobility, residential stability, shopping, and
children’s education. The level of inter-estate interaction has reduced from the
past when the neighbourhood was more socially homogenous.
Findings suggest that social mix and a weakening of local social interaction will
likely continue, and these will demand more scrutiny considering China’s
development agenda on social harmony. Findings here concur with Western
studies on mixed communities that social mix does not lead to social mixing.
New policies and programmes to foster social interaction should be explored
