Politics of housing redevelopment in China: The rise and fall of the Ju'er Hutong project in inner-city Beijing

This paper explores how and why anaward-winning, government model ofrehabilitating dilapidated housing – the Ju'erHutong project – was suspended and notreplicated elsewhere in Beijing. Despite therhetoric of improving the living conditions forlocal residents, this paper finds that, underBeijing's Old and Dilapidated HousingRedevelopment (ODHR) program, local governmentsand local State-Owned-Enterprises (SOEs) builtgrowth coalitions to accumulate wealth(exchange value) at the expense of providinglocal residents with adequate places to liveand work (use value). As a result, housingmodels with a higher exchange value rather thana higher use value were favored in theenvironmental decision-making process. Thisstudy will offer insight into the politics ofhousing redevelopment in China's transitionaleconomy.