Abstract
Across the world, the rise of neoliberalism has led to governments prioritizing economic competitiveness, often at the expense of social welfare. People, especially those living in areas experiencing commercial or residential gentrification, may find their lives and livelihoods to be at the mercy of government and market forces over which they have little control. This raises questions such as, “How can urban economic development be less socially disruptive?” Can collaborations between residents, developers, and government officials help create more equitable social outcomes? Neighbourhoods for the City in Pacific Asia provides some possible answers.
In this book, K.C. Ho seeks to draw our attention to the important role neighborhood-level actions can play in improving the quality of life in cities. He makes two arguments. The first is that though much urban social change is driven by government interventions and market forces, initiatives undertaken by neighborhood-level community groups represent a third important source of urban social change (chapter 1). The second is that such actions can have positive spillover effects for a city by, for instance, making new amenities available to the general population. Ho builds his case by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews (chapter 3) conducted in five neighborhoods from across Pacific Asia: Sungmisan (Seoul), Mahakan (Bangkok), Tangbu (Taipei), Langham Place (Hong Kong), and Tampines Central (Singapore).
In the case of Sungmisan (chapter 4) and Tangbu (chapter 6), residents became actively organized in opposition to proposed changes to their neighborhoods. Residents in Sungmisan demonstrated against the installation of a water reservoir tank that would have eliminated a play space used by the children in the neighborhood. This activism brought the community together and led to the creation of several amenities that met the collective needs of the neighborhood. These included an alternative school, a community kitchen, and a co-op market. People living in Tangbu were opposed to the construction of a new hospital, which they feared would bring stigma and noise pollution to their area. Neighborhood residents seeking an alternative development instead proposed for the creation of a park and museum to highlight the historic sugar warehouses that would have otherwise been torn down to make space for the hospital.
In the cases of Mahakan (chapter 5) and Langham Place (chapter 7), locals accepted that their neighborhoods were changing but in response attempted to retain their access to these places. Those living in Mahakan, a village within Bangkok’s old quarter, came under threat of displacement because of plans to turn it into a heritage district. They sought continued residence by arguing that their uniquely constructed teak homes would add too, rather than detract from, the area’s rebranding. In Langham Place, established businesses consisting of street food vendors, bird sellers, and minibus companies were provided with facilities that blended in with the new commercial development allowing them to remain in place. In the case of Tampines Central (chapter 8), the Singaporean government was keen to create amenities such as covered seating near a walkway and community cafe that would increase social interaction among neighborhood residents. The success of this initiative was attributed in part to the participation of locals in the planning process.
Collectively, these cases lend support to Ho’s argument that localized action can be a source of significant urban social change. In addition, they show that actions taken at the neighborhood level can benefit the city through the creation of new amenities, such as the cultural park in Tangbu, which is equally accessible to all members of the public, regardless of their affiliation with the neighborhood. Furthermore, when community activists seek the external support of NGOs, academics, and public servants, as was the case in Mahakan and Tangbu, new knowledge and social capital are being created that may be redeployed in the future while assisting other groups.
This book also highlights the fact that though democratic participation opens the possibility of more equitable outcomes, it does not guarantee it. The success or failure of citizen-led initiatives can greatly depend on the responsiveness and priorities of a city’s government who must evaluate what they believe will create the greatest value for the city. However, the book does not fully answer some important questions such as, “What leads decision makers to be responsive to the needs of some communities and not others?” For example, why was the plan to build a hospital shelved in favor of creating a museum? Was it a compelling argument that led to the prioritization of the later over the former or some other unexplored shift that led to the change in plans? Similarly, why did the residents of Mahakan, who like the people in Tangbu engaged outside experts to make their case, fail to achieve their desired goal? Future research could take a closer look at the intricacies of government decision-making to discern whether such outcomes are exceptional or generalizable to other contexts.
Like other studies of gentrification and urban renewal, this book reveals that urban social change can result in displacement and dispossession. The residents of Mahakan lost their battle to preserve their homes and were forced to leave. The former street food vendors in Langham Place complained that being out of sight, tucked away in a food court, negatively impacted their business. These richly detailed empirical case studies therefore lend weight to the contention that gentrification leads to more than physical displacement and the social disruption it causes can be felt long after changes are enacted (see, for example, Elliot-Cooper et al., 2020). This book will therefore be of interest to urban researchers studying gentrification as well as community activists and scholars of public administration interested in exploring the possibilities and limits of collaborations between decision makers and the communities they govern.