Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/118023.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does the culture of property normalise eviction and demolition? The case of Kampung Sungai Baru, Kuala Lumpur

Author

Listed:
  • Salleh, Alia
Abstract
In Kuala Lumpur, the redevelopment of old housing is framed by the state as a ‘residential upgrading’ as it involves rehousing residents to newer apartment complexes. This paper intends to shine a critical relook at rehousing programs’ assumed virtue. To inquire about this, I use the debate around the ‘culture of property’ and its naturalising effect on processes of gentrification as posed by Ley & Teo (2014) in Hong Kong and transport it to a case study of an ongoing eviction in Kampung Sungai Baru, Kuala Lumpur. Guided by a phenomenological approach, I use interviews and focus group discussions to understand residents’ views. I also trace the institutional origin of the ‘culture of property’ through policy document analysis. I argue that the ‘culture of property’ as seen in Kuala Lumpur is shaped by a housing policy that takes a residual approach which then leads to increased financialisation and anxiety over inheritance. However, this does not stop residents from opposing the redevelopment of their kampung. Instead, their knowledge of property ownership, either as homeowners or individual investors, becomes a useful tool to fight against rogue redevelopment. I also find that the demand for compensation is less about seeking ‘residential upgrading’ for social mobility but a matter of reclaiming ‘sweat equity’ and demanding better treatment as a basic right. Finally, I suggest that ‘development’ holds a bigger virtue than property ownership and may motivate residents to support redevelopment programs that they deem beneficial to society.

Suggested Citation

  • Salleh, Alia, 2023. "Does the culture of property normalise eviction and demolition? The case of Kampung Sungai Baru, Kuala Lumpur," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118023, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:118023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/118023/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Ley & Sin Yih Teo, 2014. "Gentrification in Hong Kong? Epistemology vs. Ontology," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1286-1303, July.
    2. Rodrigo Fernandez & Manuel B. Aalbers, 2020. "Housing Financialization in the Global South: In Search of a Comparative Framework," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 680-701, July.
    3. Daniela Gabor, 2021. "The Wall Street Consensus," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(3), pages 429-459, May.
    4. Minister of Finance Malaysia, 2016. "The 2016 Budget Speech: Malaysia," Working Papers id:10551, eSocialSciences.
    5. Ian Holliday, 2000. "Productivist Welfare Capitalism: Social Policy in East Asia," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 48(4), pages 706-723, September.
    6. Tan, Teck Hong, 2008. "Determinants of homeownership in Malaysia," MPRA Paper 34950, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Thandika Mkandawire, 2004. "Social Policy in a Development Context: Introduction," Social Policy in a Development Context, in: Thandika Mkandawire (ed.), Social Policy in a Development Context, chapter 1, pages 1-33, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. Peter Marcuse, 2015. "Gentrification, Social Justice and Personal Ethics," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1263-1269, November.
    9. Tan, Teck Hong, 2008. "Determinants of homeownership in Malaysia," MPRA Paper 34909, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Teck Hong Tan, 2022. "Perceived Environmental Attributes: Their Impact on Older Adults’ Mental Health in Malaysia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Aizawa, Toshiaki & Helble, Matthias, 2016. "Determinants of Tenure Choice in Japan: What Makes You a Homeowner?," ADBI Working Papers 625, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    3. Tan, Teck Hong & Khong, Kok Wei, 2012. "The Link between Homeownership Motivation and Housing Satisfaction," MPRA Paper 46890, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Hyun Bang Shin & Loretta Lees & Ernesto López-Morales, 2016. "Introduction: Locating gentrification in the Global East," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(3), pages 455-470, February.
    5. Teck-Hong Tan, 2014. "Satisfaction and Motivation of Homeowners Towards Green Homes," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(3), pages 869-885, May.
    6. Alami, Ilias & Alves, Carolina & Bonizzi, Bruno & Kaltenbrunner, Annina & Kodddenbrock, Kai & Kvangraven, Ingrid & Powell, Jeff, 2021. "International financial subordination: a critical research agenda [working paper]," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 33233, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    7. Megat Mohd Ghaza Rahman & Maryanti Mohd Raid & Asmma' Che Kasim & Khadijah Hussin, 2015. "Impact Of Indoor Environmental Quality And Innovation Features On Residential Property Price And Rent In Malaysia: A Review," ERES eres2015_133, European Real Estate Society (ERES).
    8. Seon Young Lee, 2018. "Cities for profit: Profit-driven gentrification in Seoul, South Korea," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(12), pages 2603-2617, September.
    9. Tan, Teck Hong, 2011. "Measuring the willingness to pay for houses in a sustainable neighborhood," MPRA Paper 30446, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Bo Kyong Seo & Dayoon Kim, 2024. "THE HOUSING‐WELFARE REGIME AND THIRD‐SECTOR HOUSING IN HONG KONG AND SOUTH KOREA: A Historical Institutionalist Perspective," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 442-462, May.
    11. Huck-ju Kwon, 2007. "Transforming the developmental welfare states in East Asia," Working Papers 40, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    12. Brendan Whitty & Jessica Sklair & Paul Robert Gilbert & Emma Mawdsley & Jo‐Anna Russon & Olivia Taylor, 2023. "Outsourcing the Business of Development: The Rise of For‐profit Consultancies in the UK Aid Sector," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(4), pages 892-917, July.
    13. S. G. Sternik & N. B. Safronova, 2021. "Financialization of Real Estate Markets as a Macroeconomic Trend of the Digital Economy," Studies on Russian Economic Development, Springer, vol. 32(6), pages 676-682, November.
    14. Dimitar Anguelov, 2024. "State‐owned Enterprises and the Politics of Financializing Infrastructure Development in Indonesia: De‐risking at the Limit?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 55(3), pages 493-529, May.
    15. repec:grz:wpsses:2015-03 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Chenhong Peng & Lue Fang & Julia Shu-Huah Wang & Yik Wa Law & Yi Zhang & Paul S. F. Yip, 2019. "Determinants of Poverty and Their Variation Across the Poverty Spectrum: Evidence from Hong Kong, a High-Income Society with a High Poverty Level," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 219-250, July.
    17. Jose Torres-Pruñonosa & Pablo García-Estévez & Josep Maria Raya & Camilo Prado-Román, 2022. "How on Earth Did Spanish Banking Sell the Housing Stock?," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, March.
    18. Alejandra Reyes & Patricia Basile, 2022. "The Distinctive Evolution Of Housing Financialization In Brazil And Mexico," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(6), pages 933-953, November.
    19. Valenzuela, Jose Maria, 2023. "State ownership in liberal economic governance? De-risking private investment in the electricity sector in Mexico," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    20. Yoon Kyung Kwak & Ming Sheng Wang, 2022. "Exclusion or Inclusion: National Differential Regulations of Migrant Workers’ Employment, Social Protection, and Migrations Policies on Im/Mobilities in East Asia-Examples of South Korea and Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-17, December.
    21. Wing-Shing Tang, 2017. "Beyond Gentrification: Hegemonic Redevelopment in Hong Kong," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 487-499, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    culture of property; Asian gentrification; eviction and demolition; Kuala Lumpur;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:118023. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.