Framing social sustainability and justice claims in urban regeneration: A comparative analysis of two cases in Guangzhou

Abstract

Since 2005, Guangzhou has started an urban regeneration strategy as part of its urban image promotion agenda, which has provoked tremendous social resistance and contestation. However, the social claims of diverse stakeholders vary and are still not well understood for different types of regeneration. With a theoretical underpinning of the conception of social sustainability and social justice, this article compares how social sustainability and justice claims are being framed and represented in two typical types of regeneration: old towns and urban villages. More importantly, it aims at illustrating how the diverse dimensions of social sustainability and justice – economic, cultural and political-are intertwined and irreducible in different types of regeneration thus impact on the outcome of urban regeneration. By analyzing the two cases of Enning Road and Xian Village in Guangzhou, we conclude that, although economic, cultural, and social dimensions are all reflected and framed in the regeneration process, in actual cases they are produced by stakeholders with different interests and demands. Cultural recognition claims tend to be more prominent in the Enning Road case. Comparatively, the Xian Village case shows that economic equality claims are the main concern of villagers in fighting demolition and eviction.