The evolution of Beijing's urban residential form in relation to the city's political ideology from 1949-2004

Abstract

The emergence of a new type of residential form always accompanies a change in the dominant political ideology. In China, the rise of the work-unit compound resulted from the domination of socialism. After the reform in 1978, capitalism gradually replaced socialist thoughts, and the change in ideology resulted in the boom of the gated community in urban areas. Current studies on the establishment of residential form are conducted in two directions. One is represented by typology and morphology, which focus on the physical structure of residential buildings, whereas the other direction is urban sociology, which considers the social aspects of the urban phenomenon. These two branches are well-developed in their own field, but the relationship between the physical forms and their social bases has not been systematically studied for a long time. The objective of this thesis is to fill the research gap on physical housing and urban social conditions, as well as to explore the relationship between changes in political ideology and the emergence of a residential form. To achieve the research objectives, this study will focus on the following questions: (1) What is the role of political ideology in the establishment of a residential form? and (2) How does the political influence the establishment of a certain residential form? The theoretical framework is based on a parallel literature review on both fields of typology and urban sociology, especially on the space production theory proposed by Marxist urban sociologists. The conceptual framework explains the role of the dominant political ideology in the establishment of a residential form based on the space production theory by Lefebvre. The analytical elements generated by the review of typology and morphology are integrated into the main conceptual framework. Qualitative research methods including case study, interview and documentary research has been used in this research. The leading argument of this research is that the dominant political ideology has a strong influence on the establishment of a residential form, which is a result of the manipulation of political power. Political power can influence the establishment of a residential form through the distribution of spatial resources and by guiding people’s preferences among spatial resources. Meanwhile, a residential form adopts the preferred social relation of the current political power, thus reinforcing the social structure. The work-unit compound in Socialist Beijing is a way for the Communist Party of China (CPC) to exhibit its power and control resource distribution. The gated community also represents the preference of the government because it helps to realize the privatization process.