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Factors influencing collective action of gated communities: a systematic review using an SES framework
Abstract
Purpose
Within a gated community, management of common property presents great challenges. Therefore, the diagnostic social ecological system (SES) framework proposed by Elinor Ostrom providing a holistic understanding of complex collective action problems in terms of management of commons is used to investigate key institutional-social-ecological factors influencing collective action in the context of gated communities.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was used to systematically screen and review the relevant literature from 2000 to 2022, where 28 papers were selected for further analysis.
Findings
The study systematically identifies and categorises a series of variables related to self-organizing management in the gated community, and consequently a SES-based gated community management framework is developed. Based on the conceptual framework, the paper discusses logical interrelationships of institutional-social-ecological factors and their impacts on collective action performance of gated communities.
Research limitations/implications
Apart from requiring empirical validation, the conceptual SES-based gated community management framework is certainly subject to continuous improvement in terms of refinement and addition of other potential determinants of gated community collective action.
Originality/value
Not only the review paper provides updates on the latest gated-community collective action research, it also contributes theoretically by conceptualizing the SES framework and its institutional–social–ecological design principles in gated community management. Studying these factors should also be of practical significance because the findings ultimately offer policy insights and management strategies that help policy-makers, property developers and local communities to govern such neighbourhood common resources efficiently and sustainably.
... Social-ecological systems (SES) is another term used to describe human and nature interactions, and consists of a few key subsystems such as resource units, users, and governance systems. Analysing SES is necessarily prone to the studies of feedback effects of the systems [33]. SES is a complex adaptive system that illustrates how over a long period, internal interaction between social, economic, and ecological subsystems will be changed [34]. ...
Coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) represent dialectic interaction between human and nature subsystems. This dynamic interaction involves a prominent level of complexity stemming from the uncertain interrelation between the systems and the incorporated subsystems. The complexity within CHANS includes reciprocal effects, nonlinearity, uncertainties, and heterogeneity. Although many researchers have highlighted the significance of understanding the nature of the coupling effect, most of the prevailing literature emphasises either human or natural systems separately, while considering the other as exogenous, despite evaluating the reciprocal and complex interrelations. The current review utilises the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). It focuses on synthesising the prevailing literature on the CHANS framework in several disciplines, focusing on the approach, findings, limitations, and implications. The review comprises 56 relevant articles, found through Endnote and Covidence database searches. The findings identify the dominant complexity character as reciprocal effects and feedback loops, confirming the complex interactions between human and natural systems. Furthermore, the review provides evidence surrounding the significance of developing an analytical framework that can better explain the complex connections between humans and nature, as it provides a comprehensive understanding of CHANS and their potential impacts.
... As the local community is not homogeneous and has no common standards, interests and patterns of resource use vary widely. To ignore this diversity would prevent the achievement of the conservation and management objectives [17][18][19]. Conflicts and negative attitudes towards protected areas have been recorded in studies worldwide, relatingamong others -with different economic interests, aspirations and values of the stakeholders [2,[20][21][22][23]. A usual "victim" of such negative attitudes is the various management projects running in protected areas that frequently have to struggle with local society's prejudice. ...
Involving local people in natural area management is very important to address the complexity of environmental management issues for sustainable use of local resources. Participatory methods require the contribution of local stakeholders in decision making. Mapping the environmental views of local communities allows for detecting aspects that could facilitate management efforts. This research – in the frame of the Skyros LIFE project and the PAMNATURA project - measures local acceptability of the conservation actions proposed by the LIFE project in Skyros Island (Greece) in relation with recording local people’s environmental orientation using the 15-item revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale. The research was carried out by means of questionnaires. The LIFE project proposed actions were grouped into three categories according to their theme, i.e. promoting (a) Nature protection, (b) Agro-pastoralism and (c) Ecotourism. The sample seems to largely agree with the LIFE project proposals, while the results showed high scores for most of the NEP scale items, implying pro-environmental beliefs, though there appears disagreement or neutrality regarding a few items. Local acceptability of the proposed actions was found to correlate to local people’s environmental concern measured through the NEP scale. Drawing on the results, implementation of actions related directly or indirectly to economic activities, preservation of traditional activities, as well as environmental education, interactive informing and consultation could enhance local participation. Skyros island seems to offer an appropriate social background for applying participatory and adaptive management and implementing conservation programs.
... As the local community is not homogeneous and has no common standards, interests and pa erns of resource use vary widely. To ignore this diversity would prevent the achievement of conservation and management objectives [17][18][19]. Conflicts and negative a itudes towards protected areas have been recorded in studies worldwide, relating-among others-to the different economic interests, aspirations and values of the stakeholders [2,[20][21][22][23]. A usual "victim" of such negative a itudes are the various management projects running in protected areas that frequently have to struggle with the local society's prejudice. ...
Involving local people in natural area management is very important to address the complexity of environmental management issues for the sustainable use of local resources. Participatory methods require the contribution of local stakeholders in decision-making. Mapping the environmental views of local communities allows for the detection of aspects that could facilitate management efforts. This research—in the frame of the Skyros LIFE project and the PAMNATURA project—measures the local acceptability of the conservation actions proposed by the LIFE project in Skyros island (Greece), in relation to recording local people’s environmental orientation using the 15-item revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale. The research was carried out by means of questionnaires. The LIFE project proposed actions were grouped into three categories according to their theme, i.e., promoting (a) nature protection, (b) agro-pastoralism and (c) ecotourism. The sample seems to largely agree with the LIFE project proposals, while the results showed high scores for most of the NEP scale items, implying pro-environmental beliefs, though there appears to be disagreement or neutrality regarding a few items. The local acceptability of the proposed actions was found to correlate to local people’s environmental concern measured through the NEP scale. Drawing on the results, the implementation of actions related directly or indirectly to economic activities and the preservation of traditional activities, as well as environmental education and interactive informing and consultation, could enhance local participation. Skyros island seems to offer an appropriate social background for applying participatory and adaptive management and implementing conservation programs.
... These systems contain over 50 secondary variables, which make up for the IAD framework's shortcoming in providing macro guidance but insufficient guidance in relation to micro-content. Recent years have been seen the development of SES conceptual frameworks for various research contexts, including labor outmigration (Su et al., 2020), small-scale fisheries (Anderies and Janssen, 2013) and commons Factors influencing self-governed POSs (Shi and Ling, 2022b). Similar to many common pool resources, self-governed POS can be considered as an SES. ...
Purpose
Due to the influence of complex and intersecting factors, self-governed public open spaces (POSs) (managed by local communities) are subject to collective action dilemmas such as tragedy of the commons (overexploitation), free-riding, underinvestment and mismanagement. This review paper adopts a multi-dimensional and multi-tier social-ecological system (SES) framework proposed by McGinnis and Ostrom, drawing on collective action theory to explore the key institutional-social-ecological factors that impact POS self-governance.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) was utilized to systematically screen and review the relevant literature for the period from 2000 to 2023 in three databases: Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. A total of 57 papers were chosen for in-depth analysis.
Findings
The literature review identified and categorized several variables associated with the self-organizing system of POS; consequently, an SES-based POS management framework was developed for the first time, consisting of 114 institutional-social-ecological sub-variables from different dimensions and three levels. Compared to ecological factors, among others, governance organizations, property-rights systems, socioeconomic attributes and actors' knowledge of SES have been commonly and primarily studied.
Research limitations/implications
There is still room for the refinement of the conceptual SES-based POS collective action framework over the time (by adding in new factors), and indefinitely empirical research validating those identified factors is also worth to be undertaken, particularly testing how SES factors and interaction variables affect the POS quality (collective action).
Originality/value
The findings of this study can provide local policy insights and POS management strategies based on the identification of specific SES factors for relevant managers. Moreover, this research makes significant theoretical contributions to the integration of the SES framework and collective action theory with POS governance studies.
... To tackle such problems, urban managers typically enforce government and private ownership to prevent the tragedy of the urban commons from occurring [2]. Urban enclaves are the product of the privatization of urban commons [3]. Gated communities are a manifestation of the urbanization of housing enclaves. ...
Gated communities have been the popular form of housing around the world to address social and safety issues over the past decade, including in Chinese cities. However, gated communities, despite being a more efficient system (less congested), have been criticized for their inefficiency to address the tragedy of the urban commons (overexploitation). Therefore, Ostrom’s self-organizing system (collective action) has been suggested as a sustainable approach to govern common resources but little empirical research has demonstrated how Ostrom’s collective action theory, associated with new institutional economics theory, is applied to the gated communities’ commons management. To address the research gap, the study, via a phenomenological case study, proposes a collective action model in which Ostrom’s eight design principles coupled with Williamson’s transaction cost and opportunism theories are used to improve commons management performance in gated communities. Using stratified purposive sampling, ten gated communities with various characteristics were selected in the Taigu district. In-depth semi-structured interviews were then held with community managers to collect valid data, which were subsequently subjected to content (thematic) analysis. As a result, by understanding and structuring the managers’ real experiences into a modified version of Ostrom’s eight principles, the study proposed a collective action model with low transaction costs in terms of enforcement in gated communities as well as reduced opportunistic behaviors of commoners. Specifically, the eight principles in the model include well-defined community members’ rights, commons management rules aligned with local needs and conditions, rights of residents to modify the commons management rules, monitoring systems overseen by community members, a graduated sanction system for rule violators, low-cost dispute resolution, unchallenged rule-making rights by community members, and a nested-tier management structure. The study findings contribute novel insights to the formulation of institutional strategies toward sustainable housing and building management for urban and community managers.
The administration of residence rights is essential for ensuring residential communities’ smooth and productive operation. However, resident rights management presents various issues, including the allocation of resources, security measures, and resident satisfaction. The difficulties associated with administrating residence rights highlight the necessity for sophisticated technologies to enhance the efficiency and efficacy of residential rights management significantly. This work explores the utilization of Deep Learning and Fuzzy Decision Support Systems for Residence Right Management (DLFDSS-RRM) to optimize resource allocation, improve security, and promote sustainability in residential communities through data-driven decision-making and adaptive strategies. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are employed to analyze sensor data anomalies, feature selection, and pattern recognition, and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) are used to predict future trends in energy consumption, resident behavior, and security incidents, enabling accurate predictions and proactive decision making in residence right management. The present study enables the establishment of resident profiles, prediction of resource demand, detection of anomalies, and provision of individualized service suggestions. In addition, Fuzzy Decision Support Systems (FDSS) are integrated to effectively tackle the inherent uncertainties and vague information associated with suitable residential management duties. The suggested method utilizes fuzzy logic to enable a resilient decision-making process considering resident preferences, budget limitations, and environmental considerations. The approach effectively tackles multiple facets of residence right management by leveraging the synergistic integration of deep learning and FDSS. These technologies aim to optimize resident satisfaction, productivity, and resource consumption by optimizing resource allocation, predictive maintenance scheduling, strengthening security measures, and delivering tailored resident assistance. This study shows the impact of deep learning and FDSS modes in transforming residence right management. It opens the door to more complex and adaptable approaches to residential community needs.
Facilities management (FM) has increasingly become crucial in the built environment. However, it is often overlooked as a crucial aspect of overall management. This study examined FM practices in gated communities (GCs), and challenges impeding the effective implementation of these practices.
The study used a qualitative approach involving the use of purposive sampling technique. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants. Data gathered from the participants were analyzed thematically using MAX Qualitative Data Analysis (MAXQDA) Analytics Pro 2024 software.
FM in GCs played a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth operation of the GCs. These roles were vendor management, security management, maintenance and repairs, communication, tenancy agreements administration, and ensuring environmental sustainability. Non-adherence to the rules and regulations by occupants, lack of policies, unreliable vendors, lack of training and lack of funds are the major challenges FM faces in GCs.
The findings from this paper can be leveraged by stakeholders to help streamline FM activities in GCs to provide that conducive environment expected by tenants. It will also help owners of GCs obtain the maximum returns for their investments.
This paper provides information on FM practices and challenges in GCs from the Ghanaian perspective. The study adds to the literature on the emergence and growth of GCs in the African context.
Purpose
Under Malaysian Law, the maintenance and management of common property have traditionally been viewed as insoluble challenges in the self-organisational efforts for high-rise low-cost housing developments. As the population increases, more shared resources become heavily exploited with few willing to contribute towards the sustainability of resources. Many researchers argued a better way would be to convert these shared resources into a private or state-managed entity. Hence, with that assumption, this paper aims to examine how better physical characteristics can result in greater collective action.
Design/methodology/approach
This research paper adopted a quantitative method approach to determine how the standard of physical characteristics influenced the quality of collective action in high-rise low-cost housing. The method included a questionnaire survey of 519 parcel holders chosen via stratified purposeful random sampling from four high-rise low-cost housing areas.
Findings
The paper found a positive correlation between the quality of physical characteristics and the collective action gained. The findings highlighted that the standard of workmanship of high-rise low-cost units (including the common properties), the crime rate in the neighbourhood and the condition of lift systems – when improved – were significant positive predictors of collective action.
Practical implications
Housing developers should pay attention to the quality of both low-cost units and related common properties, as this endeavour will assist greatly in future collective action management.
Originality/value
The study was justified in terms of its originality as few research studies adopted the social-ecological system framework that focused on the correlation between the quality of physical characteristics and the collective action of parcel holders.
Managing common property in gated communities is challenging. Although numerous studies have demonstrated that there are several determinants of collective action effectiveness and performances in gated communities, empirical research drawing on a multidimensional social-ecological system (SES) framework in quantitatively exploring relationships between institutional–physical–social factors and gated community collective action remains lacking. Therefore, based on Ostrom’s social-ecological system (SES) framework, this study attempts to identify factors influencing the self-organizing system (collective action) of gated communities in China. Using stratified purposive sampling, ten gated communities with various characteristics in the Taigu district were selected, in which questionnaires were then distributed to 414 households to collect valid data within the communities. Taking the ridge regression as a more robust predictive SES model with a penalty value of k = 0.1 and regularization, R Square of 0.882, this study, among 14 factors, ultimately identified six key institutional–social–ecological factors based on the descending standardized effect size, and they are: (i) types of community; (ii) presence of leaders; (iii) exclusiveness systems of a gated community; (iv) age of gated community; (v) strict enforcement of rules; and (vi) number of households that affect residents’ collective action in terms of community security, hygiene and cleanliness, and facility quality. The research findings provide urban managers and communities novel insights to formulate strategic policies towards sustainable housing and building management.
The rise and spread of commercially built residential projects in East and Southeast Asia has attracted growing scholarly attention since the 1990s. This scholarship has notably explored how the private production of new residential developments has altered urban governance across the region. However, few studies have analyzed how private corporate actors’ new roles in city-making processes shape governance logics at the neighborhood scale. This paper begins to fill the gap by exploring the governance dynamic of three new urban areas (NUAs) built on the edge of Hanoi in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Our analysis builds on a conceptualization of local state-linked organizations in East and Southeast Asia as “straddlers” Relying on interviews with local community leaders and homeowners, we find that the privatization of urban space production has not sidelined residents and government from micro-local politics in Hanoi. Instead, conflicts between homeowners and developers over land uses, property rights, and management practices and responsibilities have led to a repositioning of the old socialist neighborhood administrative apparatus to accommodate the governance of NUAs. The self-protection response of NUA homeowners during these conflicts played a key role in this process. By deploying what we call institutional straddling, these people forged a new mode of neighborhood governance that weaves together the neighborhood administration apparatus inherited from socialism and new residential property self-management bodies.
Purpose
To date, low-cost housing held under the common-property regime is faced with various collective action or management issues in relation to common facilities. Understanding and unpacking key collective action components in a multi-dimensional and systematic fashion that help explain the status quo of the complex low-cost housing management is crucial, particularly in identifying potential factors contributing to the suboptimal self-governing outcome. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the collective action of low-cost housing in Malaysia using Ostrom's institutional analysis development and social-ecological system framework (IAD-SES framework) as a theoretical framework.
Design/methodology/approach
First, a mixed-method research design was adopted where issues relating to the management of common properties of low-cost housing were identified in the Malaysian context. Second, the components of Ostrom's IAD framework relevant to collective action were identified. Third, after interviewing six experts in the housing industry via semi-structured interviews, two more components (historical development/adaptability to new environment and ethnicity) were added to the questionnaire survey. From here, 633 respondents who lived in four low-cost housings in Kuala Lumpur from 1,598 households were surveyed in 2012. We then merged the IAD framework with the SES framework. Factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha analysis were conducted to uncover the underlying variables and the social ecological clusters that they belonged.
Findings
With average Cronbach's alpha of 0.83, the seven key SES components identified are able to cumulatively explain 71% variance of local collective action components. Based on the cumulative percentage explained, the top five key SES components are as follows: context (social, economic and political settings); ethnicity; outcome; resource system; and users characteristics.
Originality/value
This study identifies key components related to the collective action issues of low-cost housing management, where two additional components were also suggested to be added to the SES framework. Apart from the theoretical contribution, the study, serving as insights and potential solutions, is also of practical significance to the existing management practices of low-cost housing in Malaysia where policymakers and management corporations may prioritize primary SES components, helping them govern common properties more efficiently.
Given air pollution has multidimensional adverse effects, the relation of air quality and housing markets have attracted increasing attention in the last few years, particularly in China. However, these studies mainly focus on the housing sale market and neglect another key housing market-the housing rental market. This paper aims to comprehend air quality's effects through a comparative view by quantifying the capitalised benefits of air quality improvement in housing sale prices and rents with a unique panel dataset containing the data of 283 cities in China from 2014 to 2018. The empirical results show that renters and homebuyers do value air quality improvements, and their preferences for air quality are homogeneous. This supports the similarity of the environmental preferences hypothesis in which cleaner air is a type of 2 environmental amenity to all residents, including both homeowners and renters. The finding is robust to different submarkets in which both homeowners and renters value air quality similarly in different regions. However, the impact of air quality varies across submarkets in that large and medium cities are more sensitive to air quality, while air quality shows little effects on small cities. The differences across cities highlight the significance of submarket analysis, and the policy implications are also discussed.
Housing commodification seems to suggest that a process of a state is embracing private governance. However, private governance in Chinese neighborhoods is a two-way trajectory. This paper examined two types of housing neighborhoods, namely, a work-unit housing neighborhood and gated commodity housing to understand the changes in neighborhood governance. It is interesting to observe that during the Covid-19 epidemic period, the state government enhanced its presence and public trust in neighborhood governance by changing the former ways of self-governance. As a strategy for the state to return to local governance, the grid governance is the reconfiguration of administrative resources at a neighborhood level and professionalizes neighborhood organizations to ensure the capacities of the state to solve social crises and neighborhood governance. The potential side effects of changing neighborhood governance are that while the implementation of grid governance has improved internal connections among residents, the empowered neighborhood governments acting as the “state agent on the ground” leads to an estrangement between residents and private governance. The underdevelopment of neighborhood autonomy is not only due to the restriction of state government, but more importantly, the reciprocal relationship of state-led neighborhood governance in the context of housing privatization development in China.
Little attention has been paid to the impacts of institutional–human–environment dimensions on the outcome of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) abatement. Through the diagnostic social–ecological system (SES) framework, this review paper aimed to investigate what and how the multifaceted social, physical, and governance factors affected the success level of seven selected Asia-Pacific countries (namely, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and New Zealand) in combatting COVID-19. Drawing on statistical data from the Our World In Data website, we measured the COVID-19 severity or abatement success level of the countries on the basis of cumulative positive cases, average daily cases, and mortality rates for the period of 1 February 2020 to 30 June 2020. A qualitative content analysis using three codes, i.e., present (P), partially present (PP), and absent (A) for each SES attribute, as well as score calculation and rank ordering for government response effectiveness and the abatement success level across the countries, was undertaken. Not only did the standard coding process ensure data comparability but the data were deemed substantially reliable with Cohen’s kappa of 0.76. Among 13 attributes of the SES factors, high facility adequacy, comprehensive COVID-19 testing policies, strict lockdown measures, imposition of penalty, and the high trust level towards the government seemed to be significant in determining the COVID-19 severity in a country. The results show that Vietnam (ranked first) and New Zealand (ranked second), with a high presence of attributes/design principles contributing to high-level government stringency and health and containment indices, successfully controlled the virus, while Indonesia (ranked seventh) and Japan (ranked sixth), associated with the low presence of design principles, were deemed least successful. Two lessons can be drawn: (i) having high number of P for SES attributes does not always mean a panacea for the pandemic; however, it would be detrimental to a country if it lacked them severely, and (ii) some attributes (mostly from the governance factor) may carry higher weightage towards explaining the success level. This comparative study providing an overview of critical SES attributes in relation to COVID-19 offers novel policy insights, thus helping policymakers devise more strategic, coordinated measures, particularly for effective country preparedness and response in addressing the current and the future health crisis.
Recognising the existence of socio-economic and demographic disparities across metropolitan cities such as Greater Sydney, this study gauges the determinants of homeownership affordability in the different regions of Greater Sydney using local government area (LGA) data over 1991–2016 with a system generalised method of moments (GMM) and a panel error correction model (ECM). The results of the study showed that the determinants of homeownership affordability vary across the regions of Greater Sydney. Although house price and median personal income are the key drivers of homeownership affordability across all regions, the difference in the magnitude of these determinants between regions have also been documented. Specifically, Western Sydney is more sensitive to income and house price change than the other regions. In addition, Western Sydney is also sensitive to other determinants (i.e. housing supply, residential population, median rent, and housing investors), while no comparable evidence is found for the other regions. This clearly highlights the differences across regions and the importance of submarket considerations in the analysis of homeownership affordability. The implications of the study have also been discussed.
This paper explores a new type of housing in India and resulting urban dynamics in Nagpur, a Grade A city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The accelerating urban growth rate led to a dynamic housing market to accommodate the on-going migration. A new housing typology can be identified as clusters of residential towers, developed as gated communities and marketed as first-class neighbourhoods for emerging higher income groups. This research is a timely effort to address the occurring challenges of future urban patterns produced by this housing typology in India. Various urban qualities are needed to foster sustainable urbanism. Housing patterns have a major impact on how urban environments work efficiently, how they accommodate different user groups and how city images, perceptions and thus lifestyles are affected. The paper investigates these new urban sites in relation to their socio-spatial interactions and the resulting production of urban qualities to foster a new understanding of this particular housing typology and its impact on urbanism in India. Analysing through the lens of three major urban qualities of urban efficiency, diversity and identity the study identifies the complex socio-spatial dynamics fostered by vertical gated communities in Nagpur city. The paper concludes with an outlook on the distinctive roles of architects and urban designers to develop synergies between this urban typology and its surroundings
Considering the importance of the 11 th Sustainable Development Goal on sustainable cities and communities and the New Urban Agenda, it is imperative to address one of today's crucial urban planning challenges, which concerns overexploitation, mismanagement, and quality issues related to public parks and state-owned public open space (POS). Selecting an appropriate methodological framework to formulate a solution to cope with the encountered challenges is necessary; however, finding a suitable one is difficult as there is a lack of research, particularly on the step-by-step development of a conceptual countermeasure (solution). Against this background, we adopted the revised design science research (DSR) framework and its procedural methodology to formulate a conceptual solution, represented as an artifact, within the institutional-social-ecological context of Sabah, Malaysia. The data obtained for the development and validation of the solution were secondary, based on a review via content analysis of prior studies. The proposed conceptual artifact (self-governing collective action) based on the root causes (i.e. property rights and transaction costs issues) from the 'why' analysis was then validated via the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework using its social-ecological system (SES) criteria. The main contribution of this study is to showcase the application and relevancy of the DSR framework for urban and environmental planning research through a problem-solution analysis by demonstrating the process of how the artifact was systematically constructed, validated and standardised. It was found that the proposed conceptual solution can be considered valid and appropriate to address the local governance issues of POS. Abstrak. Mempertimbangkan pentingnya Tujuan Pembangunan Berkelanjutan ke-11 tentang Kota dan Komunitas yang Berkelanjutan dan Agenda Perkotaan Baru, penting untuk mengatasi salah satu tantangan perencanaan kota yang krusial saat ini terkait dengan permasalahan eksploitasi yang berlebihan, salah kelola, dan kualitas taman maupun ruang terbuka milik publik/negara (POS). Mencari kerangka metodologi yang tepat untuk mengatasi tantangan tersebut dirasakan perlu, tetapi menemukan yang cocok masih sulit karena kurangnya penelitian, terutama tahapan dan langkah mengembangkan konsep tindakan penanggulangan. Dengan latar belakang ini, dalam konteks kelembagaan-sosial-ekologis Sabah, Malaysia, kami mengadopsi 16 Gabriel Hoh Teck Ling et al. kerangka kerja Penelitian Ilmu Desain (DSR) yang telah direvisi dan metodologi proseduralnya untuk merumuskan solusi konseptual yang direpresentasikan sebagai artefak. Data yang diperoleh untuk pengembangan dan validasi solusi adalah data sekunder, berdasarkan tinjauan melalui analisis konten dari studi sebelumnya. Artefak konseptual yang diusulkan (tindakan kolektif yang mengatur diri sendiri) berdasarkan akar penyebab (yaitu, masalah hak milik dan biaya transaksi) dari analisis 'mengapa'yang kemudian divalidasi melalui kerangka Analisis dan Pengembangan Kelembagaan (IAD) dengan menggunakan kriteria social-ecological system (SES). Kontribusi utama studi ini adalah penerapan dan relevansi kerangka DSR dalam penelitian perencanaan kota dan lingkungan melalui analisis solusi masalah, dengan menunjukkan proses bagaimana artefak dibangun, divalidasi, dan distandarisasi secara sistematis. Akhirnya, artikel ini menunjukkan bahwa solusi konseptual yang diusulkan dianggap valid dan sesuai untuk mengatasi masalah tata kelola lokal POS. Kata kunci. Ruang terbuka publik, design science research, sistem tata-kelola mandiri, ekonomi kelembagaan baru, solusi konseptual.
In Hong Kong, statutory requirements applicable to building services maintenance activities appear in a wide variety of ordinances and regulations, which can be confusing and may be misinterpreted or overlooked. This paper reviews the key statutory requirements, common problems with complying with the requirements, and the potential liabilities consequent upon non-compliance. To help focus the analysis, the statutory requirements were categorised with reference to the involved compliance procedures, and a process model was devised to represent the procedures under each category. Attention of individuals and firms responsible for maintenance work is drawn to their liability for damages that could arise due to negligent acts to show that maintenance work shall be conducted not simply to satisfy statutory requirements, but far beyond.
Elinor Ostrom's IAD (Institutional Analysis and Development) and SES (Social-Ecological Systems) frameworks are widely used by social scientists and policy analysts, but many applications fail to take full advantage of the potential utility of either framework. The IAD framework lacks detail regarding the specific variables that influence social interactions and neglects questions of asymmetric power and collective evaluation. The SES framework, meanwhile, supports detailed variable-oriented analyses of social-ecological systems, but rarely addresses the dynamic processes that lie at the heart of the IAD framework. We outline a Combined IAD-SES (CIS) Framework that remedies these problems by combining them in a format suited both to social-ecological systems and other policy settings. Institutional analysts using this combined framework should start their analysis by identifying a set of focal action situations, learning how the relevant collective and constitutional choice arenas shaped their structures, and then thinking deeply about the processes through which those conditions have been (or might be) changed. We demonstrate the potential utility of CIS by applying it to previous research on Maine's lobster fishery. Keywords: IAD Framework, institutional analysis, lobster fishery, SES framework 2 Daniel H. Cole et al.
Enclave denotes an internally homogeneous territorial unit dominated by distinct social, cultural, and economic features, demarcated by a clear boundary, either visible or invisible, to differentiate insiders from outsiders. Scholars have examined the global spread of enclave urbanism from political economy, technological, and sociopsychological perspectives. It has been widely perceived that enclave urbanism threatens social integration and causes widening social segregation. Yet, urban enclaves are highly heterogeneous and often lead to divergent sociospatial consequences in different contexts. We thus call for a context‐sensitive and relational approach to decipher the global diffusion of enclave urbanism and its sociospatial implications through looking beyond the conventional forms of urban enclaves.
In the last two decades, Malaysia has embedded good neighborhood principles in its planning plans that promote diversity and accessibility in urban residential areas. However, the emerging trends of the privatization of public streets and open spaces in urban residential areas in Malaysia offer the opportunity to study complex urban governance processes in a democratic and developing country. Using empirical evidence, this article recounts the fascinating saga of how various actors - urban planners, resident associations, residents of open neighborhoods and residents of guarded neighborhoods - responded to the privatization of public streets and open spaces in Malaysia. While planners described Greater Klang Valley as a diverse city in Malaysia, they sometimes tolerated the privatization of public streets and open spaces through neoliberal policies.
Externalization that became prominent in 1980s with the globalization brought along dramatic changes in social and spatial areas. The social, cultural and economic events that took place on an international level thanks to globalization made the impact of change felt which was reflected on the urban space and, therefore, on the house, resulting in an increase in the importance of the residential sector. Externalization and developed economic structure enabled more investments into houses which introduced a concept of housing populated in urban fringes starting from the city centers. The housing concept which was shaped by the impacts of the urban transformation after 1980 turned into a new emerging lifestyle in Istanbul in 2000s. Accordingly, the study aims to establish the position of housing in Istanbul and new meanings formed by the socio-cultural changes. In this sense, housing before and after 1980, globalization, gentrification, urban transformation, spatial segregation, socio-economic and cultural aspects were discussed based on the structural benchmarks, and 4 different housing forms, namely the "Loft", "Residence", "Terraced House", and "Gated Communities", with individual structural examples. This study, thus, aims to question the form of tenancy of these houses created through varying concepts and concerns today. The results obtained showed that the housing as an indicator of cultural life in Istanbul has turned into a lifestyle that is shaped by similar aspects and commercial concern, despite different approaches or production forms, eliminating the traces of the cultural life of the society.
Governments in urbanising Latin America encourage low-income homeownership. In practice, this means that low-income urban families become owners of units in condominium properties. While the homeownership dream may thus be achieved, difficulties with maintenance can lead to deterioration. This paper considers condominiums as collective action arenas and applies the Institutional Analysis and Development framework of Ostrom (2005 Ostrom, E. (2005). Understanding institutional diversity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.) to explore the links between the characteristics of (1) the communities, (2) governance and (3) the physical environment with the perceived level of maintenance (PML). Using data from a survey of 414 households carried out in 2014, we compare the circumstances of low-income condominiums in Bogota (Colombia) and Quito (Ecuador), two cities with similar housing policies but different horizontal property laws. Our central hypothesis is that the more modern law in Colombia enforces self-organisation and therefore better maintenance outcomes. In line with our hypothesis, the results demonstrate that the maintenance level in Bogota is higher than in Quito. Contrary to our hypothesis, participating in self-organisation in Bogota had a negative effect on PML, while in Quito the effect was positive. This indicates that the law matters but the relationship between the formal arrangements required by law, self-organisation and maintenance outcomes is more complicated than expected.
It is important to analyze the governance of private community from the homeowners’ perspective because they are the ultimate force to drive the institutional choice of private community. Based on a survey of three private communities in Chongqing, China, this paper studies the determinants of how homeowners evaluate the importance of HOA (Homeowners Association) and their satisfaction with PMC (Property Management Company). It is found that personal costs and collective costs are significant variables to HOA importance. Collective benefits are important to HOA importance but not so to PMC satisfaction. Scale economy affects the satisfaction with PMC rather than HOA importance. Furthermore, it is found from simultaneous bivariate ordered probit regression that HOA importance is significant and negative in the PMC equation while PMC satisfaction is significant and positive in the HOA equation. This result suggests that HOA and PMC are like rivals with regard to PMC satisfaction while they are complementary with regard to HOA importance.
Worldwide, the development of gated and guarded communities has grown tremendously. Within the
context of residential property industry, gated communities are growing rapidly, contributing to spatial
transformation in a very significant way. Thus in turn, has a great influence on urban development and
social integration at the local level. The scenario can be influenced by diverse factors, but has continued
to be associated with the issue of security. In Australia, for instance, residents of gated communities
around Sydney revealed that this neighborhood concept helped them to reduce uncertainty and provide
self and family protection against unwanted intrusion (Quintal D. and Thompson S., 2007). In the United
States, gated communities and developments are spreading fast. It is revealed that the gated communities
are able to increase residents‟ perception of affluent, more security, being protected behind the fences and
walls (Wilson-Doenges, 2000). In the recent years, the development of gated and guarded communities in
Malaysia has also shown tremendous growth in the residential property industry.
Collective actions of owners in a multi-owned residential building are not only important, but also necessary towards the effective management of the property. However, according to Olson's theory of collective action (1965), those actions may not be initiated or sustained to ensure quality management. Despite the considerable research efforts on successes and failures of owners' collective actions in the literature, little ink has been split on classifying those actions and measuring them. This paper intends to bridge the research gap. First, it outlines the boundaries of owners' collective actions in building management. Second, it classifies owners' actions into three categories, namely collective decision-making, collective rules enforcement, and collective performance monitoring. Third, it devises a method to evaluate the cooperative abilities of an owner group. Using survey data from 72 apartment buildings in Hong Kong, it finds that the cooperative abilities of an owner group vary with building age, management style, group size, owners' average income level and age level. The results of this study could contribute to better collective action theories and shed light on the formulation of a building-care culture.
The social-ecological system (SES) framework investigated in this special issue enables researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds working on different resource sectors in disparate geographic areas, biophysical conditions, and temporal domains to share a common vocabulary for the construction and testing of alternative theories and models that determine which influences on processes and outcomes are especially critical in specific empirical settings. We summarize changes that have been made to this framework and discuss a few remaining ambiguities in its formulation. Specifically, we offer a tentative rearrangement of the list of relevant attributes of governance systems and discuss other ways to make this framework applicable to policy settings beyond natural resource settings. The SES framework will continue to change as more researchers apply it to additional contexts; the main purpose of this article is to delineate the version that served as the basis for the theoretical innovations and empirical analyses detailed in other contributions to this special issue.
The south Indian city of Bangalore provides a challenging yet representative context within which to examine issues of governance of urban social-ecological commons. The city was once famous for its numerous large water bodies, which have witnessed tremendous encroachment and pollution in recent years. These water bodies, called tanks or lakes, were typically managed by adjacent village communities but are now administered by a number of government departments involved with aspects of lake management, with multiple overlapping jurisdictions. The public's perceptions of lakes has also changed with urbanization, transitioning from community spaces valued for water and cultural services to urban recreational spaces used largely by joggers and walkers. We focus on a set of seven lakes located in the urbanizing peripheral areas of southeast Bangalore. Some water bodies have been restored and managed effectively by newly forged collaborations between citizens and local government. Others are extremely polluted, and some have completely dried up and have been encroached. We use a social-ecological system (SES) framework to investigate why some locations have been successful in negotiating changes in governance from community-based systems to state management following urbanization, whereas other lakes have deteriorated. We use seven second-tier SES variables that were associated with self-organization in previous research: size of resource system, number of actors, leadership, social capital, importance of resource, existence of operational-choice rules, and existence of informal mechanisms for monitoring. We also include three third-tier variables previously identified as important in urban lake commons in Bangalore: scale and type of pre-existing pollution, exclusion of socioeconomic groups from the planning process, and networking with government organizations. We use this subset of 10 variables to examine social outcomes of the lakes, which we define as the extent of collective action by residents working together for lake restoration and ecological outcomes based on the ecological condition of the lakes. Collective action was low in only one of seven lakes, which challenges the presumption that citizens will not organize efforts to cope with common-pool problems. However, only two of seven lakes were highly successful in regard to both the extent of collective action and the level of ecological performance. While one lake was small and the other moderate in size, these two cases shared similar ranking in all other variables. Both lakes were polluted at a relatively low level compared with the other lakes, and in both cases, the leaders of local groups were able to network with government officials to clean up the lakes. Unfortunately, the challenge of cleaning up urban lakes after many decades of pollution is very difficult without effective interaction with various governmental units. Our analysis illustrates the usefulness of the SES framework in examining the combination of variables that makes a collective difference in affecting the outcomes of collective action and ecological performance. Our findings illustrate the need for polycentric arrangements in urban areas, whereby local residents are able to organize in diverse ways that reflect their own problems and capabilities, but can also work jointly with larger-scale governments to solve technical problems requiring changes in major engineering works as well as acquiring good scientific information. Such arrangements can reduce transaction costs for city governments by actively engaging local communities in processes that include coordination of collective activities, design of inclusive and locally suited ecological and social restoration goals, and planning and enforcement of regulations limiting access and withdrawal. At a time when many city governments are facing financial and administrative challenges that limit their ability to regulate and maintain urban commons, models of public-community partnerships could provide more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable institutional alternatives. This is an aspect that needs significant further consideration because the attention of most urban planners and scholars has remained on privatization while studies of successful instances of cooperative action in the urban context remain few and far between.
Focusing on high rise residential gated community, this article concentrates on evaluating the effectiveness of surveillance factors in gated community in influencing the residents perceptions of safety at the shared outdoor spaces. Five common shared outdoor spaces in gated community were identified based on the literature review and extensive observations. These were measured and tested through a combination of questionnaire surveys, in-depth interview and unstructured direct observation techniques. Results revealed that the effectiveness of natural surveillance gave the most significant influence on the residents perceptions of safety in the shared outdoor spaces compared to the organized surveillance and mechanical surveillance in gated community.
Despite the anticipation that the legal system would be able to offer a civilized and institutionalized means in settling the infringement of homeowners' property and consumer rights, empirical evidence has instead indicated a decline in the employment of litigation in dispute resolution. This paper attempts to examine the complex interaction between the rule of law and homeowner activism in upholding their rights. Information on property related litigation was collected from online court rulings in Shanghai which is supplemented with in-depth interviews with homeowner activists who were involved in litigation. In this paper, the rule of law in China is analysed within a wider socio-political context of neighbourhood governance and the emerging civil society. Despite the inadequacy in the legal system in protecting homeowners' rights, empirical evidence has shown that homeowner activists have explored the legal system, not just as a means of redress but also to employ creatively as part of their action strategy in settling their problems outside the court.
Gated communities, a recognizable form of housing developments in the Gulf region, have dramatic impact on neighborhoods and cities as well as on the quality of urban life of people. This paper attempts to understand the impact of this rapidly emerging housing typology on urban sustainability. It investigates the sustainability of gated communities and explores their perception by the society. Primary data was obtained through standardized questionnaire and personal interviews. Secondary data was obtained from publications, journals, and textbooks. The results indicated that the trend of living in gated communities is very low priority among Qataris. They do not consider gated communities suitable for their lifestyle, needs and wants. They prefer living in independent residential units which have no shared entries or staircases with others. The paper concludes that new legislation and guidelines are needed to make gated communities more socially and economically sustainable and attractive to residents and citizens.
المجمعات السكنية المغلقة هى شكل من احد انماط الاسكان المنتشرة في منطقة الخليج ، ولها تأثير كبير على الأحياء السكنية والمدن وكذلك على نوعية الحياة الحضرية للسكان. تحاول هذه الورقة تفهم تأثير هذا التصنيف السكنى على الاستدامة الحضرية للمدينة. تم الحصول على المعلومات المباشرة من خلال استبيان موحد ومقابلات شخصية، كما تم الحصول على المعلومات الثانوية من المطبوعات والوثائق. أشارت النتائج إلى أن لهذا الاتجاه السكنى للعيش في مجتمعات مغلقة هو المفضل لدى العائلات الوافدة ولكنه ذو أولوية منخفضة جدا بين العائلات القطرية حيث أنها لا تنظر الى المجمعات المغلقة كنمط مناسب لأسلوب حياتهم واحتياجاتهم و رغباتهم حيث انهم يفضلون العيش في وحدة سكنية مستقلة ليس لها مداخل مشتركة أو سلالم مع الآخرين. تخلص الورقة إلى أن هناك حاجة إلى تشريعات ومبادئ توجيهية جديدة لجعل المجمعات السكنية المغلقة أكثر استدامة ونجاحا اجتماعيا واقتصاديا واكثر جاذبية للمقيمين والمواطنين.
China's massive transformation in urban governance, which is characterized by breaking the link between workplace and residence and consolidating state territorial agencies at the grassroots level, has profound implications for urban residents. While community building is employed as a deliberate (top-down) approach to restore a governable urban society, the establishment, development and problems of bottom-up civic territorial organizations — homeowners associations — are garnering increased attention from academia. Based on field research conducted in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Meizhou in Guangdong Province from 2009 to 2011, we show that civic engagement, a necessary condition for the development of homeowners associations, is inadequate across urban communities. To understand why, we identified and analyzed three elements — lack of awareness of partitioned property ownership, the hidden costs of civic engagement and deficiency in social capital — as factors that impede civic engagement across urban communities. These elements also provide yardsticks for scholars to evaluate why, whether and how homeowners (dis-)engage from neighborhood affairs.
Gated communities are fast becoming global commodities and cultural icons eagerly consumed by the urban elite world-wide. This article examines the rise of gated communities in Istanbul and presents a case study of one of the leading gated communities in the city. It shows how this global urban form has been transplanted and translated into the city's landscape with the help of urban and cultural politics and has transformed the dynamics through which elite localities and identities are produced. The case study documents discourses and practices of this new urbanism at work and discusses their socio-political ramifications.
Previous studies have scrutinised the proliferation of privately governed neighbourhoods and the role of homeowner associations (HOAs) in governing the neighbourhood and residents' conducts in different contexts, while little attention has been paid to individual residents' agency. This research introduces a novel perspective to examine the role of neighbourhood residents and their perception of property rights, which carry significant weight in governing the private neighbourhoods in transitional urban China. Based on a large-scale neighbourhood-based survey in Shanghai, this study employs multilevel regression models to understand the determinants of individual-level consciousness on property rights and its correlations with the outcomes of HOA governance efficacy at neighbourhood level. Empirical results suggest that housing tenure, community participation, sense of collectivism, gatedness, size and age of neighbourhoods are significantly correlated with residents' consciousness on property rights, and that the rise of consciousness among individual residents is positively associated with the governance efficacy of HOAs. Through presenting a contextualised examination of the emerging “private” governance in China and addressing a missing account of consciousness on property rights in the literature, this study makes theoretical and empirical contributions to understanding the complex social processes of neighbourhood governance in China and beyond.
With the digital technologies boom, theories and practices regarding coproduction have evolved. We developed an analytical framework to reveal the theoretical relationship between digital technologies and coproduction; we then employed the case of neighbourhood governance during the COVID-19 lockdown in Hangzhou to illustrate this framework. The case study shows that the stakeholders had utilized digital technologies as an instrument in many ways to exercise coproduction, and then protected neighbourhood health and created public value. This research not only deepens the theoretical understanding of coproduction, but it also contributes a neighbourhood-level solution for the global war against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Land fragmentation is an interesting physical character in some developing countries, especially China. This study aims to discover the direct and mediated effects of land fragmentation on collective action in China based on an empirical test and the social-ecological system framework. We introduce three innovations to the literature on collective action in the commons. First, we focus on the mechanism of land fragmentation on collective action in the commons, which has been largely ignored in the literature. Second, building on the social-ecological system framework, we use structural equation modeling, which is robust to endogeneity and latent variable problems. Third, we use original survey data from 3895 households and 284 villages from 17 provinces/regions in China, a critical case because China has some of the most fragmented farmland use in the world. We find that land fragmentation has a direct negative effect on irrigation collective action. And besides the direct negative effect, there are four indirect factors: dependency on farming, irrigation rule-making, economic pressure and land circulation. Of these, the first three have a negative effect, and the last one, a positive effect. Our findings add to the theoretical literature on collective action in the commons and suggest new policy handles for more efficient land and labor markets in China.
The governance of the commons depends on collective action by resource users, which may be influenced by land use dynamics and changes in livelihood. We examine the case of China that has experienced massive outmigration of its rural population and significant changes to its land use policy. We contribute to the literature by examining the interaction effects of farmland use rights trading and rural labor out migration on collective action for the governance of the irrigation commons, which has the potential to open up a new line of theoretical and empirical inquiry. Using the socio-ecological system framework, we run ordered probit regression based on data from a survey of 125 villages in 18 provinces in China. We find that a moderate degree of farmland use rights trading has a positive effect on collective action for the governance of the irrigation commons and can slow down and mitigate the negative effect of rural labor outmigration. We conclude with implications for land use policy and governance of the commons.
The 1998 housing reforms in Chinese cities have played a substantial role in setting social transition in motion. Not only has it produced an urban middle class of homeowners but it has also powerfully patternized collective mobilization. Fieldwork conducted in Shanghai reveals that homeowner communities living in ‘commercialized apartments’ (CAs) versus ‘government-sold apartments’ (GSAs) undertake distinct types of collective action. CA owners contentiously defend their rights and interests, whereas GSA owners remain compliant and lobby for welfare subsidies. This distinction in collective mobilizations between homeowners seems to originate in the distinct sources of homeownership. The logic of state capitalism underlies CAs and that of socialist patriarchy underlies GSAs. Analyzing a couple of mobilization episodes, the authors, by theory of contentious politics, focus on exploring the crucial mechanisms in the process of mobilization to explain why in the different settings the similar mechanisms have produced different outcomes.
Informal land development has become a key issue in relation to land use planning in many countries. A new type of informal development, the informal gate community, has emerged and has become a new form of suburbanization in China's cities. Empirical studies about this new form remain scarce, as discussions on the slum-styled urban village still dominate the existing literature about informal development in China. The paper aims to explore the facts and factors in the new type of informal development. Looking at Beijing as a case study, analysis shows that informal gated communities have a high quality of life and good services, with public facilities and public transit. The existing institutional discrimination against migrants is a major reason why people choose informal housing, although the soaring price of formal housing is an important factor. The village-owned enterprise plays the role of business manager for the village's informal development. Its collaborations with government intuitions and state-owned enterprises blur its informal development activities and give buyers more confidence in buying informal housing. Conflicting responses to the informal development from state and local governments results in ambiguous and loose controls of informal development. As a result, local governments, villages, and residents have formed a strong informal development coalition. This coalition has created an invisible institutional barrier, making it more difficult for the state to prevent informal development. In addition, the ongoing political decentralization, economic liberalization, and market-oriented reforms seem to be bringing new challenges to the control of informal land development. For future policy, a more just and inclusive governance system is imperative for managing the suburbanization process in China's cities.
This chapter seeks to classify condominium crime, explain its neglect in light of the growth of condo living in cities and closely consider the prospects for greater visibility and legal regulation of these acts. We deploy traditional dichotomies of white-collar/street crime and insiders/outsiders to construct a two-dimensional typology of condo crime and illustrate each type using empirically grounded examples from extensive qualitative research in Ontario and New York State entailing analysis of media accounts, condo owner association and corporation websites, and numerous interviews with owners, board directors and industry actors. We argue that the condo form retains peculiar characteristics that tend to prevent public reporting of condo crimes and leaves the 'usual suspects' (i.e. street criminals) in the spotlight while other, potentially more damaging, acts are neglected. We conclude by discussing barriers to knowing the extent of condo crime and their relationship to legal regulation.
In China, urban housing demolition increasingly challenges the maintenance of social sustainability. Social sustainability is a multi-dimensional concept that contains complex implications. Therefore, an assessment system that considers a range of key social indicators could substantially simplify this concept and improve decision-making pertaining to sustainability practices. However, no such system exists in studies on housing demolition. To bridge this gap, this study sought to develop an assessment system for measuring the social sustainability of urban housing demolition. Firstly, an interview-based pilot study was conducted with scholars and practitioners to develop an optional list of indicators that reflect social sustainability. Subsequently, these indicators were validated via focus group meetings with key stakeholders in housing demolition programs. In addition, a two-wave questionnaire was designed to collect data to quantitatively analyze these sustainability indicators. Based on the questionnaire data, the indicators were ranked according to their relative importance and classified into five categories. Finally, the score of social sustainability of Shanghai was calculated to examine the impact of current housing demolition practices. The results showed that health and safety, social equality, and adherence to the law were the most critical dimensions that determined the social sustainability of urban housing demolition in Shanghai. The authors also found that to achieve greater social sustainability, existing housing demolition practices should be modified to reduce the negative impacts on the daily lives of residents that lived near demolition sites.
First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Housing reforms in China have popularized a new type of settlement that is often constructed in the form of gated communities. This study reports on a survey in Shanghai revealing that most neighborhoods are only semi-enclosed and not technically gated. It was also discovered that gatedness enhances residents' perception of security, but does not contribute significantly to their sense of community. This latter finding may be a result of two competing processes-the retreat of middle-class households to private spaces in order to escape the control of the state versus the escalated efforts of the state to regain control at the neighborhood level by enhancing local sense of identity. Hence, interpreting the social construction of gated communities has to be undertaken with care, taking into account the local production and meaning of gated communities in the distinctive context of post-reform China.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree of housing affordability in China's 35 large and medium cities. Furthermore, this paper investigates the relationship between housing affordability and the house prices using data from China's 35 large and medium cities from 1996 to 2007.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper constructed the housing affordability index and classified cities in terms of their housing affordability degree. OLS, unit root test and cointegration test have also been used in the empirical test section.
Findings
The results exhibit that the housing price has played a more important role in housing affordability than household income. Thereby, decreasing housing price is more important than household income to alleviate the housing affordability problem. Meanwhile, housing size has exerted a great impact on housing affordability. Accordingly, developing more affordable houses is an alternative to mitigate the housing affordability issue in China. In addition, it is also found that the housing reform facilitates the housing affordability issue due to the low sale price of the public houses; the population growth rate and geographic locations have no significant impact on the housing affordability.
Research limitations/implications
In terms of the research limitations, the heterogeneity factor may be introduced considering the regional heterogeneity of cities in China. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the propositions with enriched datasets.
Practical implications
Practical implications are that decision‐makers in government should pay close attention to the risk of the housing bubble. That is, the soaring house price was driven by investment instead of by the demand side.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to defining the dynamic upper boundary of the percentage of housing expenditure to income ratio via Engel's coefficient using the housing market data of 35 large and medium cities in China from 1996 to 2007.
We conceptualize social‐ecological systems (SESs) as complex adaptive systems where public policy affects and is affected by the biophysical system in which it is embedded. The study of robustness of SESs combines insights from various disciplines including economics, political science, ecology, and engineering. In this paper we present an approach that can be used to explore the implications for public policy when viewed as a component of a complex adaptive system. Our approach leverages the Institutional Analysis and Development framework to provide a platform for interdisciplinary research that focuses on system‐wide outcomes of the policy process beyond just policy change. The main message is that building robustness can create new vulnerabilities. Fail‐free policies cannot be developed, and instead of a focus on the “right” policy, we need to think about policy processes that stimulate experimentation, adaptation, and learning.
Previous studies on housing management collectivism have conventionally suggested that perceptions of efficacy play a significant role in predicting resident participation. Efficacy beliefs were presented in two dimensions: self-efficacy and collective (or group) efficacy. The former refers to an individual's belief about his ability to influence the collective outcome, while the latter refers to an individual's belief about the group's ability to realize the collective good. The present study re-examines and goes beyond this two-dimensional view. It proposes that, apart from self and collective efficacies, an individual's perception of the ability of an intermediary to achieve the collective good (i.e., proxy efficacy) also matters. By adapting the collective interest model, which has commonly been used to explicate political participation and environmental activism, this study empirically explores the factors affecting how actively an individual homeowner participates in multi-owned housing (MOH) management. The explanatory analysis is based on the findings of a structured questionnaire survey in Hong Kong. In brief, apart from the value of the collective good and the selective benefits and costs of participation, individual residents' perceptions of self, group and proxy efficacies are significant determinants of their participation behaviour. These findings have far-reaching policy and practical implications for MOH governance.
It is commonly accepted that leaders play a crucial role in collective action. Existing literature has suggested a number of factors that contribute to the emergence of leaders including, among others, personality, sense of moral responsibility, community pressure, self-interest and institutional exclusion. However, current research tends to suggest that activists are driven by a particular reason to become leaders and that their motivation is static. Based on intensive fieldwork in residential communities in Beijing, this article illustrates that leaders' motivations can be mixed or multiple and that leaders may re-prioritize or adjust their objectives over the course of collective action. The re-prioritizing tends to alter the leaders' behaviour and affect group solidarity and interactions with other group members.
