Negotiating the exclusive right to public schools in China’s education-featured gated communities under multiscalar and multidirectional urban entrepreneurialism

Abstract

How urban entrepreneurialism is enacted at the neighbourhood level while connecting with broader urban processes remains insufficiently explored. This study introduces a novel conceptual framework of multiscalar and multidirectional urban entrepreneurialism to examine the governance of gated communities that involves dynamic interactions between the entrepreneurial local state, developers, gated communities and individual homeowners/investor-citizens. In Chinese cities, the pursuit of quality living and good schools has given rise to ‘education-featured gated communities’ that package privileged access to K–12 schools with tailor-made residential services. By turning education from a public good into a club good that can be capitalised in the housing price and leveraged in urban (re)development, education-featured gated communities are highly sought after by homebuyers, developers, and local states, becoming an important and integral component of urban entrepreneurialism. When the rising demands of gated community homeowners for school places are not met, activism for quality education within gated communities becomes ubiquitous. Drawing on multiple case studies and multi-source empirical data including national and local policies/documents, in-depth interviews, non-participant observation and site visits, this research examines how homeowners negotiate their exclusive right to public schools through intensive interactions with local authorities. We argue that the semi-private governance of gated communities forms the institutional basis for the ‘shareholding enterprise’ centring on property values. By unpacking the multidirectional processes of entrepreneurial governance that built upon an effective feedback loop involving multiscalar entrepreneurial endeavours based on shareholder value, this study offers a nuanced and enriched understanding of contemporary urban entrepreneurialism.