Micro-regeneration and participatory governance: a local social governance experiment in China

This paper explores the transformation of urban redevelopment practices in China, focusing on participatory micro-regeneration in Qinghe, Beijing. These practices are part of a local social governance experiment aiming to improve living conditions in ageing neighbourhoods and promote social change by cultivating active citizens and governable communities. Drawing on interviews and participant observations in Qinghe, we examine how micro-regeneration projects were initiated, designed, implemented and maintained in local neighbourhoods. Community participation is a central theme of these projects, promoted by local authorities and experts to advocate social governance innovation. The findings highlight existing neighbourhood politics and multiple forms of agency, suggesting that community participation in Qinghe serves less as a mechanism of empowerment but more as a platform for coordinating diverse interests among different groups of residents, experts, and state officials. Despite facing tensions and contradictions, the state achieves its political goal of social governance experiment. However, the experiment did not achieve its original intention of community reorganisation.