A revanchist city in the making? Economic repositioning, strategic selectivity and the changing politics of migration in Beijing, China

This study draws upon the thesis of urban revanchism to examine recent exclusionary policies towards migrants in China's first-tier cities amidst a progressive political climate at national level that advocates inclusive urbanization and the social integration of migrants. By focusing on the transformation of migrant policy in Beijing, China's capital city, this study identifies traces of revanchism in recent strategies and practices of economic repositioning and withholding urban services as a tool to deter in-migration and control urban population growth. The case study suggests that the form of revanchism in urban policies toward migrants in China is not solely driven by the logics of capital accumulation as suggested in the extant literature, but also conditioned upon the non-economic concern of urban manageability embedded in the new politics of urban environmentalism. It points to the necessity to go beyond hukou reform and pay more attention to the territorial politics of collective provision in order to better understand the barriers restricting migrants' legitimate right to the city in urban China.