Balance of Commercial Gentrification and Community Preservation: Transformation of Street Spaces in Xiaoxihu, China

Abstract

Residents in historic city centres face increasing pressure to relocate due to the rising tendency of commercial gentrification, which is the conversion of local businesses into chain stores, boutiques, trendy restaurants, and cafes (Marcuse, 1985; Zukin, 2009). In the Global South, the commercial substitution process has typically been promoted by state intervention from the supply side (Lees, Slater and Wyly, 2022). In China, state-led redevelopment has frequently transformed historic inner-city neighborhoods into tourist attractions with 'authentic' cultural features during the country's unprecedented urbanization process over the past 20 years (He, 2019). The process has improved urban vibrancy by attracting tourists and the new middle class to the area at the cost of the complete resident displacement and loss of genuine community identities.

Over the past eight years, the incremental regeneration of a deprived neighborhood, Xiaoxihu in Nanjing, reflects the local government’s attempts to limit the negative effects of historic area regeneration. Its revitalization aims to strike a balance between improving the degrading physical environment and preserving the local communities. The project is one of a few shantytown redevelopment cases in China that succeeded in having more than half of its residents stay voluntarily. Through the revision of planning regulations and policies, a public space system has been established in alleys inside the neighborhood through the injection of commercial functions and the update of municipal infrastructure. That is a drastic change for staying residents, as in the traditional neighborhood the alleys are treated as the extension of the living room, where the home storage, bike parking, and daily conversations happen. After regeneration, however, these semi-public alleys become shared urban spaces by locals, business owners and tourists.

In this context, this study addresses the following questions to understand how the transformation of street space affects the social perceptions of both remaining community members and newcomers: How has the commercial structure changed on relevant alleys? How do tourists and shop owners perceive these changes? Is there emerging displacement pressure on remaining residents in the neighborhoods? The change in the commercial structure may enlarge the displacement pressure on residents through increasing prices, diminished connections with local shops, and the proliferation of high-end shops. Conversely, the upscale commercial environment may incentivize shopowners to establish their businesses within the community and attract visitors. Initially, three criteria are used to identify the various business categories: "scale of ownership, quality of products and atmosphere, and type of promotion"(Zukin et al., 2009, p. 58). Then, the commercial structures before and after the regeneration process are compared by mapping the businesses at various stages of the project. Finally, structured surveys with passersby and shop owners are conducted to analyse their perceptions of these changes, and residents who remain in the neighborhood are interviewed in semi-structured interviews to see whether and to what extent displacement pressure exists. 

The study intends to find how the evolution of the commercial environment impacts the move-in or relocating intents of shop owners, the motivations of citizens to visit this neighborhood, and the perceptions of remaining residents regarding the regeneration process. It articulates to which extent commercial gentrification as a concept describes the processes in Xiaoxihu to contribute to gentrification discourse in Chinese secondary cities. In this way, it explores the application of commercial gentrification theory to the initial incremental transformation of historic neighbourhoods in Global South cities. Furthermore, since most gentrification research in Nanjing is at the municipal level and focuses on well-gentrified areas, this neighbourhood-scale empirical investigation in the neglected historic neighborhood fills this research gap.