VIRTUAL London.

Abstract

This research delves into contemporary issues facing China, but more than China. The collapse of China’s real estate industry in the 2020s goes beyond its surface implications and should be regarded as more than an independent economic or industry crisis. The collapse of the real estate market will not only lead to changes in housing typologies but also bring about changes in social structures, living forms, and urban/social context. Simultaneously, the housing market’s collapse represents a symbolic transformation of the four-decade-old system dominated by the powerful government in China, which prioritized “economic priorities” and rapid urbanization as the ultimate goals. The thesis’ primary objective is to explore the new forms of living in China’s ‘post-real estate era’. These new forms of living will be profoundly influenced by changes in power relations between the government, developers, and citizens resulting from the fall in land and housing prices and the rise of real estate tax. The burgeoning middle class in China, which has emerged in the hundreds of millions in the last two decades, will be a crucial subject of inquiry in this thesis. How they will exert influence in the housing system, fight for their agency, cooperate with the government/developers, and ultimately establish a new housing system will be explored. The central argument’s ambition is to project such a change in living forms as a reflection of the state, providing the author with an opportunity to re-evaluate China’s past, present, and future. This projection serves as an entry point to explore how different forces have played a role in the complex context during the past 70 years of the People’s Republic of China, which has undergone significant changes, ultimately shaping the prospect of China’s modernization.