“Renovate to rent” as a spatio-temporal fix under state entrepreneurialism: Urban renewal through long-term rental apartment development in China

Abstract

China has recently witnessed the rise of long-term rental apartments (LRAs) developed by institutional investors, following various state interventions to promote the institutionalization and financialization of the rental housing sector. As many LRAs are converted and renovated from underused properties, such as industrial buildings, they have become an integral part of the ongoing urban renewal yet remain insufficiently explored. Through the conceptual lens of spatio-temporal fix and state entrepreneurialism, and drawing on a field investigation in Beijing, this study presents three key findings. First, the renovation and conversion of diverse property stocks into LRAs exemplify a spatial fix strategy to defer the crisis resulting from excessive capital accumulation in the housing sales market over the past two decades. Second, financialization, as an effective political-economic instrument to promote LRA development, provides a temporary fix for the mounting capitalist crisis but may generate new crises if not properly regulated. Third, market practices of renovation and financialization are closely intertwined with and deeply influenced by state initiatives. This paper not only reveals a novel practice of urban renewal through the development of LRAs, but also advances the theoretical understanding of spatio-temporal fix under state entrepreneurialism. In the Chinese context, it goes beyond neoliberal endeavors addressing the capital accumulation crisis in the housing sector to mitigate the growing housing affordability crisis and maintain social stability through active state intervention.