Urban Form, Neighbourhood Governance, and Real Estate Management: Chinese Cities Fighting a Pandemic

Success in fighting a pandemic such as COVID-19 requires global collaboration. However, local leadership and efficient operations are the most critical contributing factors for saving lives and restoring urban normalcy. This chapter examines the intertwining relationship among urban form, neighbourhood governance, and the commercialised real estate management sector, and explores the dynamic impact this relationship generates on urban resilience. The chapter presents three effective urban approaches that facilitated China’s efforts to fight the pandemic: the formal quality of urban form and mixed-use nature of Chinese cities contributed to urban resilience; a territorial-based institutional structure with grid management rendered accountability of urban governance and formed an effective state–society synergy with full-scale public participation; and the recently emerged commercialised real estate management sector, accompanied with technology, offered merits in curbing the spread of the virus. In summary, the various characteristics through which Chinese cities and neighbourhoods were spatially formed, administratively governed, and financially operated helped save lives and shaped resilient multi-dimensional urban environments.