英文摘要 |
“Housing committees” are a common organization set for housing interference by the state in numerous contemporary industrial cities. By studying the archives on the “housing committee” of Shanghai, including its establishment, social formation, and the agendas it set to identify the housing issues facing modern Shanghai, this study tried to clarify the complex relationship between housing policies and the political/economic nature of the capitalist state . Furthermore, this study also compared state interventions in housing between Shanghai and other large industrial cities such as London and New York. This study then concluded that both the specific characteristics, namely the independence and autonomy, of a ‘city state within another greater state’, and the legitimate concerns of the Municipal Council of Shanghai help create the specific governing structure, which is inclined towards capital accumulation rather than sustaining its governing legitimacy. Consequently state interventions tended to invalidate social controls which manipulated to fit the preferences of the middle class and protect the interests of the established elite. The housing debate not only revealed political interactions between the state and specific vested interests, but also demonstrated the endless contradictions associated with capitalist urban development. |