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From Social Management to Mobilisation: The Evolving Grid Management System in Shenzhen

Jean Christopher Mittelstaedt
p. 41-50

Abstract

This article examines the grid management system in Shenzhen. I argue that it is built on three pillars: data standardisation, community collaboration, and information centralisation. The standardisation of addresses and urban landscape elements means that responsibilities of information collection shift from grid members to outside actors. Gathered information is then centralised and analysed in grid management centres, which then distribute it to government agencies in the form of tasks. As a result, the grid can increasingly rely on and mobilise outside actors such as building supervisors, landlords, and property management agencies. This shifts the grid’s function from directly managing the urban population to coordinating and deploying actors for grassroots governance and the Party-state’s objectives.

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Editor’s notes

Manuscript received on 10 October 2021. Accepted on 1 June 2022.

Excerpt

Full text document will be published online on June 2024.

Outline

Introduction
Shenzhen’s grid management system
Standardisation, community collaboration, and centralisation
Linking actors to the GMS
Police and the grid
Building supervisors and the grid
Landlords and the grid
Property management and the grid
Conclusion

First lines

Introduction

On 27 August 2019, only a few months before the onslaught of Covid-19, an outbreak of dengue fever erupted in Shenzhen’s Tongxinling community. Since the patient had no travel history, the disease must have been locally transmitted. The authorities responded quickly: the Shenzhen Centre for Disease Control designated the patient’s community as “high risk” and recommended the eradication of mosquitos in the residential compound. Acting on this, the Tongxinling Urban Community Work Station, the local sanitation office, the district’s disease control office, law enforcement, and other agencies joined forces to formulate a plan. A local company was tasked with eradicating mosquitos. Led by grid members (wanggeyuan 網格員) who mobilised relevant property management agencies, they visited more than 800 apartments, publicised disease prevention knowledge, and explained the necessity for spraying the area. The work was completed in the afternoon of 28 August.

This tiny vignette high...

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References

Bibliographical reference

Jean Christopher Mittelstaedt, “From Social Management to Mobilisation: The Evolving Grid Management System in Shenzhen”China Perspectives, 133 | -1, 41-50.

Electronic reference

Jean Christopher Mittelstaedt, “From Social Management to Mobilisation: The Evolving Grid Management System in Shenzhen”China Perspectives [Online], 133 | 2023, Online since 01 June 2024, connection on 02 October 2023. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/15109; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/chinaperspectives.15109

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About the author

Jean Christopher Mittelstaedt

Jean Christopher Mittelstaedt is a departmental lecturer in modern Chinese studies at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford. Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Pusey Lane, Oxford, OX1 2LE, United Kingdom (christopher.mittelstaedt@ames.ox.ac.uk).

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Copyright

The text and other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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