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Systemic Research on Owner Participation in Old Residential Community Management from the Perspective of Identity——a Case Study of a Typical Old Residential Community in Xi’an, China

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Abstract

Enhancing owner participation and realizing the long-term management of old residential communities is conducive to the sustainable development of human settlements. “Owner identity” is the premise that the individual has a comanagement right to the community, but little research has studied owner participation in old residential community management from the perspective of identity. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to establish a systematic conceptual model based on the identity perspective that systematically abstracts and explains the process of whether and how owner involvement occurs and transforms. This paper, which adopts the method of theory-driven case study with identity and social identity theories as the reference theories, conducts a single case study of the M community in Xi’an, China. The results show that the intention of owners to participate in the management of the community depends on their identity salience; the behavioral norms of participation are internalized identity standards and in-group prototypes, and the behavioral practice is a combination of interactive identity verification and a positive distinctiveness process. This paper proposes five promotional countermeasures, including exploring public issues and organizing intergroup contact, to provide practical guidance for grassroots governments, property management companies and other comanagement subjects in guiding owner participation. This study contributes both to academic research and to policy decision-making by using the systemic and identity perspective to understand the mechanism of owner participation in old residential community management.

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Notes

  1. Rong He. Shaanxi province to promote the renovation of old urban residential areas implementation guidelines issued[EB/OL]. Website of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Department of Shaanxi Province,2019-10-15: http://js.shaanxi.gov.cn/zixun/2019/10/108687.shtml

  2. Jin Wen. Xi ‘an has transformed 186 old residential communities in the past five years[N]. Shaanxi Daily. 2019-10-16. http://www.shaanxitoday.com/index.php?v=show&cid=34&id=11507

  3. Lin Xiao. By June 2021, xi ‘an will have completed the renovation of more than 80% of the old residential communities within the expressway around the city[N]. Hua Shang Daily. 2019-11-21. http://www.xiancn.com/content/2019-11/21/content_3522328.htm

  4. Zi Meng Fan. Li Keqiang visits old residential communities in Xi ‘an: The key is not only to look good but also to live well[EB/OL]. the website of the Central People’s Government of the PRC,2019-10-14: http://www.gov.cn/guowuyuan/2019-10/14/content_5439362.htm

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Funding

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Program of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development [Grant 2019-R-008].

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Bin Guo, Runyu Zhou and Yang Li conceived the idea; B. G. and R.Z. contributed to the design of the research; R. Z. and Y. L. collected and analysed the data; all authors contributed to the writing and revisions.

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Correspondence to Runyu Zhou.

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Guo, B., Zhou, R. & Li, Y. Systemic Research on Owner Participation in Old Residential Community Management from the Perspective of Identity——a Case Study of a Typical Old Residential Community in Xi’an, China. Syst Pract Action Res 34, 607–634 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-020-09549-2

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