Yeqin Zhao et Florence Padovani, « Expulsion des résidents d’habitats délabrés (penghuqu) et reconstruction de la vie des nouveaux migrants à Shanghai. Enquête sur le quartier de Yuan He Nong. » (Transformation of dilapidated housing and reconstruction of new immigrants’ life. A Survey in the Yuan He Nong area in Shanghai municipality), L’Espace Politique, 22 | 2014-1
URL : http://espacepolitique.revues.org/2984 ; DOI : 10.4000/espacepolitique.2984
This paper investigates the issue of housing rights of the migrants in Shanghai. Using Yuanhenong, a shantytown in Shanghai as a case study, it examines rural migrants’ housing rights in the context of urban renewal. Authors demonstrate that rural migrants (nongmingong) have encountered a “collective housing exclusion”. As the most vulnerable social group in urban China, they are not only deprived of the possibility of demanding benefits but also lack the ability to express their demands. While their predicament is largely caused by the “collective housing exclusion,” particularly the neglect of migrants’ housing rights, exercised by the authorities, the lack of reaction from the migrants can be attributed to their own collective unconsciousness.
Significant fieldwork during several months and interviews with several actors such as institutional ones and civil society was done to inform the situation of YHN’s residents. The aim is to demonstrate the existence of a non-proactive group of people during the eviction process, nevertheless very real. Why this hiding actor does not participate in the negotiations and how does it justify its silence? What is the attitude of the other actors? How the triangular game is articulated between the different players?
