AGE STRUCTURE, RESIDENTIAL DENSITY, AND HOUSING QUALITY: USING CITIZEN HOTLINE DATA TO UNDERSTAND COMMUNITY CONFLICTS IN SHANGHAI

USING CITIZEN HOTLINE DATA TO UNDERSTAND COMMUNITY CONFLICTS IN SHANGHAI

Abstract

Community conflicts make communal life complete. From the perspective of urban governance, mitigating neighbourhood conflicts and creating a harmonious society are key duties for administration at the grass roots. As for residents, community conflicts add chaos to everyday life. And sometime, as Crenson (1983) found, they also create community bonds. All of this means that community conflicts play an important role in shaping community life. So, what factors influence the occurrence frequency and content characteristics of community conflicts, and further to say, how they function? This has been a question of great interest to urban managers, community planners and residents. 

Both in terms of social structure and spatial pattern, urban communities are diverse and heterogeneous, which is becoming more so as urban economic growth and population mobility accelerate. Neighbouring communities may have vastly different spatial characteristics and environmental qualities, housing families with a wide range of occupations, educational backgrounds, and income levels, as well as access to wholly distinct property management. In varied urban communities that carry an increasing number of social affairs, it is crucial to critically examine the patterns of community conflict and governance, contradiction and change. However, the problems that arise between neighbours have not received the academic scrutiny they deserve (Cheshire and Fitzgerald, 2015).

To deal with the growing complexity of community governance, the purpose of this research is to explore how community characters affect the intensity and types of neighbourhood conflicts. For instance, what age and social structure of communities tend to have less conflicts? Is there a link between residential density and the frequency of community conflicts? How do community characteristics affect the main types of neighbourhood conflict in different ways? Is the planner's drive to develop a higher-quality, more diversified community space in a high-density setting of social value? Understanding the mechanisms of community conflicts will help us to comprehend cities and move towards Good Governance.