Community formation in talent worker housing: the case of Silicon Valley Talent Apartments, Shenzhen

ABSTRACT

Policies to provide housing of a quality and price suitable for young talent workers have become a priority in cities such as Shenzhen that are managing the transformation to a knowledge economy. Based on qualitative data gathered through interviews and participant observation, this article examines the lived experience of talent workers and their extended families to gain an understanding of community formation in high-rise housing. Five key findings emerged from the qualitative data. Talent housing is provided through employers and many talent workers live in an extended three generation family setting. The public-private space of the gated enclosure accommodates a variety of recreational activities and opportunities for social interaction. Unlike many other high-rise rental housing complexes, there is a rich social network reminiscent of traditional danwei housing. Like most small districts in China, the complex is secured and gated, which contributes to community formation despite the challenge imposed by verticality.

KEYWORDS:

• Community formation
• talent worker housing
• lived experience
• gated community
• Shenzhen

Acknowledgements

Professional library support from Rumi Graham and Rhys Stevens was most helpful. We are indebted to our three graduate student interviewers for their initiative and thoughtful contributions: ZHANG Yu, XUAN Lingyi, and GU Jinglin. Astute comments by anonymous reviewers and constructive advice from the editor are gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Defining a high-rise building is ultimately arbitrary. We use over ten floors in height because that is the highest building category for which data are published in China (see Figure 1). American definitions typically consider a high-rise structure to be one that extends higher than the maximum reach of available fire-fighting equipment, 23 meters or 7–10 floors depending on building configuration (Craighead, 2009). In an Australian context, the bar is raised to “15 stories or more” (Nethercote & Horne, 2016, p. 1595).

2. Suzhi is literally translated as “quality.” A person with a high level of suzhi is typically educated, sophisticated, genteel, and urbane.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Funding [41641006].