Designing to Govern: Space and Power in Two Wuhan Communities

Urban reconstruction in China over the last decade has resulted in a substantial reconfiguration of spatial structures. New forms of space have emerged in parallel with the rise of new economic, social and cultural formations. In turn, these developments have impacted on how political power is organized in urban China. In particular, two strategic trends reflect this impact: 1. increased government intervention in urban planning and residential design; and 2. the national programme to revamp grassroots governance through community building (shequ jianshe). Concerned with the problem of how to govern an increasingly complex urban environment, China's city authorities have realized that attention to spatial order is a vital component of community governance. Acknowledging the extent to which space and power are mutually constitutive, I explore how new urban residential spaces facilitate particular forms of local community governance. Based on socio-spatial fieldwork undertaken in two residential compounds in Wuhan, this article demonstrates the close inter-connection between urban design and the operation of local power.