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Heritage Conservation and Advocacy Coalitions: the State-Society Conflict in the Case of the Enning Road Redevelopment Project in Guangzhou

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Heritage Conservation and Advocacy Coalitions: the State-Society Conflict in the Case of the Enning Road Redevelopment Project in Guangzhou International Journal of Heritage Studies ISSN: 1352-7258 (Print) 1470-3610 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjhs20 Heritage conservation and advocacy coalitions: the state-society conflict in the case of the Enning Road redevelopment project in Guangzhou Anna Ka-yin Lee To cite this article: Anna Ka-yin Lee (2016): Heritage conservation and advocacy coalitions: the state-society conflict in the case of the Enning Road redevelopment project in Guangzhou, International Journal of Heritage Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13527258.2016.1195427 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2016.1195427 Published online: 17 Jun 2016. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 11 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rjhs20 Download by: [University of Technology Sydney] Date: 22 June 2016, At: 22:37 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HERITAGE STUDIES, 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2016.1195427 Heritage conservation and advocacy coalitions: the state-society conflict in the case of the Enning Road redevelopment project in Guangzhou Anna Ka-yin Lee Domain of Social Science, Centennial College, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY The Enning Road redevelopment project has been controversial in Received 20 March 2016 Guangzhou as the site possesses many vernacular buildings that are not Accepted 20 May 2016 officially recognised by the authorities as significant but are nevertheless KEYWORDS highly regarded by non-state stakeholders as important entities that Advocacy coalition embody the unique essence and culture of local neighbourhoods. This paper framework; heritage examines the positive role led by the press media, the New Express, in bringing conservation; public about changes in the government-sanctioned Enning Road redevelopment opinion supervision; urban project plan through the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). redevelopment; semi- The significance of this paper lies in detailing how the news group has helped authoritarian; China shift the project priority from being property-led to conservation-led. Its reports have gained a wide audience in appreciating and recognising the conservation value of non-designated vernacular architecture in inner city areas. Nonetheless, this paper raises question about the sustainability of civil mobilisation in subsequent conservation efforts, due to a general lack of enthusiasm. Neither urban redevelopment strategies nor conservation agenda have been subject to a major overhaul due to the impact of this individual redevelopment project. Therefore, the promise of change is at best a tactical compromise adopted by the municipal authorities to nullify opposing public voices in Guangzhou. Introduction This study uses the case of the redevelopment project on Enning Road in Liwan District, an inner-city district of Guangzhou and examines, through the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), Downloaded by [University of Technology Sydney] at 22:37 22 June 2016 the changes in the project contents brought about by the non-state stakeholders that are situated outside the traditional arenas of policy-making. Conflicts between urban redevelopment and herit- age conservation are best illustrated by the constant struggle between the two coalitions namely the Urban Redevelopment Coalition (URC), which consists of the municipal authorities and property developers, and the Urban Conservation Coalition (UCC). This study contends that the appearance of a new group of non-state stakeholders such as community-based groups, specialists and academics, non-governmental organisations, and the mass media presents emerging opportunities for urban herit- age conservation. The case reveals that the coordinated activities undertaken by members of the UCC, led by an outspoken Guangzhou-based commercialised news group, the New Express (Xinkuaibao), CONTACT Anna Ka-yin Lee [email protected] © 2016 Anna Ka-yin Lee. Published with license by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. 2 A. K.-Y. LEE became an important engine for the changes in the redevelopment project. The significance of this paper lies in the fact that the collective actions were particularly critical in safeguarding vernacular architecture that are not officially recognised by the authorities as significant but are nevertheless highly regarded by non-state stakeholders as important entities that embody the unique essence and culture of local neighbourhoods. The first part of this study begins with a description of the site itself, the research design and methodology, followed by an overview of the ACF as the analytical framework. The framework helps tease out how the newsgroup has mobilised the public and subsequently forced the government to re-prioritise the nature of the project from property-led to conservation-led. However, the second part of the case study reveals that while the public have vigorously protested against the ‘indiscrimi- nate demolition and re-building from scratch’ strategy for urban redevelopment and the closed-door dealings between the local governments and property developers, the members of UCC have only managed to secure perfunctory conservation measures from the government. Civic mobilisation and interest levels have dwindled in the subsequent conservation phase of the project. Coupled with the problem of foot-dragging among the members of URC, conservation efforts on the site have come to a halt. This paper suggests that the impacts of this redevelopment project, in terms of the emergence of conservation aspirations and the government’s tactical concessions, have not led to an immediate overhaul in urban conservation policy that could dynamically enhance the value of vernacular archi- tecture in the redevelopment process. Study area Enning Road is located in Liwan district, one of the earliest and most densely populated neighbour- hoods in Guangzhou that is collectively referred to as the Xiguan or literally the ‘West Gate’ area (i.e. the area in the west of Guangzhou) where the upper classes once resided (Figures 1 and 2). The district is also the cradle land of Lingnan culture of Guangdong Province and the birthplace of Cantonese Opera. Enning Road was built in 1931. It spans 1,115 m connecting Baohua Road in the east, Duobao Road in the north, and Longjin West Road in the northwest. This Road was once lined with vernacular Lingnan architecture such as qilou or arcade buildings, granite streets and lanes, bamboo tube houses, and Xiguan mansions, which were the typical dwellings for wealthy businessmen (Figures 3–5). The redevelopment project site is over 100,000 m2 in size, stretching from Enning Road, Duobao Road, and Baohua Road (Guangzhou Daily 2007; Figure 6). The total gross floor area of that project site was 207,000 m2 and it was expected that an area of over 140,000 m2 would be demolished after the redevelopment plan that was announced in 2007 (Wu 2008). Research design and methodology Downloaded by [University of Technology Sydney] at 22:37 22 June 2016 This study adopts the case study approach as the research strategy to collect, interpret, and analyse the relevant data and to report the findings. Case study research is an empirical inquiry that metic- ulously examines a contemporary phenomenon (the ‘case’) within its real-world context (Yin 2014). This inquiry involves purposeful sampling which selects information-rich cases for in-depth study (Patton 2015). Case study research is a distinctive form of inquiry that possesses the following merits. Firstly, it helps explain interrelationships in real-world interventions that are too complex for survey or exper- imental methods (Hodkinson and Hodkinson 2001; Yin 2014). Secondly, it is grounded in ‘lived reality’. Unlike experiments which are conducted in a controlled environment to focus precisely upon the particular phenomenon, real significance of case study research is often derived from complex contexts and conditions that help describe and illustrate certain real-world interventions (Hodkinson and Hodkinson 2001; Yin 2014). Thirdly, case study research can facilitate rich conceptual/ theoretical development (Hodkinson and Hodkinson 2001). InternatiONAL JOURNAL OF Heritage STUDies 3 Downloaded by [University of Technology Sydney] at 22:37 22 June 2016 Figure 1. The location of Liwan district in Guangzhou. Map created by Anna Lee. Yet, the rigour of case study research has been subject to debate. In particular, case study research does not lend itself to numerical representation and its findings are not generalisable in conventional sense (Hodkinson and Hodkinson 2001; Patton 2015). In face of this limitation, both Yin (2014) and Patton (2015) suggest that case study research offers analytical generalisation and extrapolation instead. Analytical generalisation generalises findings beyond the setting for the specific case that has been studied (Yin 2014). Analytical generalisation can be based on modifications, rejections, or advancement of existing theoretical concepts. In addition, it can also come from new research focuses and concepts generated upon the completion of the case studies. In other words, the process can be either derived from the conditions specified at the outset or uncovered at the conclusion of the case 4 A. K.-Y. LEE Figure 2. The location of Enning Road redevelopment project site. Map created by Anna Lee. Downloaded
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