A ‘Place’ of Shenzheners? Urban Renewal, Indirect Stakeholders and Relational Place‐Framing in Hubei Old Village, Shenzhen, China

Existing studies on anti‐urban redevelopment struggles focus primarily on the role of local communities and their interactions with state–capital coalitions. Although considerable attention has been paid to the resistance of local residents, far less emphasis has been placed on the practices of indirect stakeholders, who do not reside locally but may have conflicting interests with local residents. Through a detailed analysis with various types of qualitative data, this study examines the redevelopment of Hubei Old Village as an intriguing case to illustrate the diverse forms of participation by indirect stakeholders in contested redevelopment processes. By drawing on and contributing to the relational place‐framing thesis, this study finds that indirect stakeholders in the Hubei case cannot be treated uniformly as mediators or representatives of local residents. Instead, their engagement in the preservation of the old village shows internal contradictions and is motivated primarily by their affective connections to the place rather than material benefits. Moreover, the place‐frames they strategically constructed in different phases significantly (re)shape the pathways and outcomes of the redevelopment project. This study enriches the literature on China's urban governance and extends existing frameworks for capturing the complexity, diversity and uncertainty of state–society relations in urban redevelopment.