Community engagement has emerged as a significant trend in China, spanning multiple scales from community projects to district guidelines and national policies. While existing studies have examined both top-down interventions and bottom-up initiatives, the complex interplay between these approaches at the community scale remains understudied. Through a case study of a Community Party-mass Service Centre renovation in Wuhan, China, this paper investigates these intermediary processes to understand the dynamics of community commons governance in an Eastern context. The government initiated this renovation project to enhance community governance and explore policy implementation methodologies in a relocated community.
Through in-depth ethnographic research focusing on the Centre as a confluence of contested interactions between hierarchical and grassroots agencies, this paper demonstrates how the community governance system is contextualised and appropriated to facilitate the process of commoning. By examining the transformative transition during the renovation of the space, the paper reveals dynamic tensions between top-down and bottom-up agencies in defining and redefining the space.
The findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of governmentality and local participation in urban China. By unpacking the complex dynamics of community governance, we reveal how community commons is cultivated through collaborative processes that bridge state authority and community needs.
This paper challenges simplistic notions of top-down governance versus bottom-up participation, suggesting instead a model of community commons where agencies meet, interweave, and manoeuvre through the process of commoning. It offers valuable lessons for urban planners and policymakers seeking to foster resilient, participatory, and hopeful urban communities by balancing governmentality with meaningful local participation.
Keywords:
Community governance, Urban commons, Community participation, State-society relations, Chinese urbanisation
