International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2019

The spatial turn of the relations between the neighbours in old blocks: the Dashilar, Beijing(Abstract)

BJUT Research Team on Dashilar

The BJUT (Beijing University of Technology) Research Team on Dashilar explains the increasing estranged relations between the neighbours in the Dashilar area with the idea of “spatial turn of neighbourhoods.” While tight space or societal homogeneity was believed contributing to creation of close social relations, our study finds tight spaces tend to distance each other in the old blocks in which the structural order of societal space is in rapid restructuring. It is reflected in the severe disputes of house ownership, public space, privacy and so on – which would result in tensions and even hostility – in the restructuring orders of family, collective and private spaces. The tensions would increase as the differences brought by the policies on space from the outside, resulting in fragmentation of communities. The team believes the “spatial turn of neighbourhoods” appears after the beginning of the reform towards market and it has relations with the three factors in restructuring of orders of societal spaces: 1) individualisation driven by selfish interests; 2) space becomes commodity; 3) space becomes resources.