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The housing delivery systems in Beijing : an institutional perspective

University of British Columbia

This dissertation is concerned with the dynamics of housing delivery in Beijing, the capital city of China. Over the past four decades, perceptions of housing problems in Beijing and historical conditions have changed. Housing shortages, run-down housing in inner city areas, affordability of commodity housing, and informal housing developments are some examples of housing problems that have developed over the years. However, during the current transition towards a "socialist market system", developing and formulating effective organizational and institutional arrangements to address these substantive housing problems have become the more challenging tasks. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the dynamic changes of organizational and institutional arrangements in housing delivery in Beijing and to identify factors contributing to their performances. Based on the "housing delivery analytical framework" derived from the literature review, the dissertation identifies five housing delivery systems in Beijing: (1) work-unit housing, (2) commodity housing, (3) inner city housing, (4) the "Comfortable Home" housing programme and (5) informal housing. Based on extensive interviews and field research, the dissertation analyzes the unique combination of actors in each housing delivery system, their goals and how they fulfil their role in the process of producing, distributing, and consuming housing. The changes among these arrangements and the reasons for these changes are also discussed. The findings of this study suggest that outcomes of housing delivery systems do not correspond well with the stated objectives or general goals of availability, adequacy, affordability, accessibility, and viability. The dissertation discovers several major reasons for this imperfect correspondence: (1) policy objectives overstress quantitative requirements; (2) policy objectives represent compromises between conflicting values; (3) key interests within the implementation structure are different from policy objectives; and (4) underlying forces beyond housing delivery influence the behaviour of actors In light of the findings, the chief pragmatic implication of the study is that improving housing accessibility should be the key in future housing reforms in Beijing. Housing policies should focus more on managing land, transforming the role of work-units, integrating informal developments, linking comprehensive planning with housing development, forming new community organizations, building housing finance systems, and coordinating housing administration.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-04-02

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/6735

Planning

University of British Columbia

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