CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF PUBLIC-HOUSING PROVISION IN URBAN CHINA

Housing provision in a socialist country is generally characterised by the dominance of public housing, However, provision of public housing is a complicated process, which involves various social agencies, In the case of China, the simple notion of 'state provision' covers huge differences between municipally-managed and work-unit housing, The lac k of understanding in the structure of public housing provision has le d to unsuccessful efforts in promoting the 'commercialisation' of hous ing in recent years, This paper, adopting a perspective of structure o f housing provision (SHP), attempts to examine the changes in public-s ector housing in China and to reveal the critical role of state work-u nits in the SHP, Housing reform has led to some significant changes in the SHP, The transformation, however, is far from a process of commer cialisation or privatisation of public housing stock, On the productio n side, work-units do withdraw themselves from direct involvement in h ousing construction, However, on the consumption side, the low incomes of state workers, due to the political economy, have forced the work- unit system to remain as an indispensable part of the SHP, The increas ing role played by state work-units shows the contradiction embedded i n a socialist market economy-i.e. the reproduction of labour through m arket mechanisms and the persistence of public ownership of production , The changes certainly have profound implications for the nation's ur ban development and urban spatial structure.