Historic Construction Of Public Space: Political Analysis On Shanghai Community Development

Public space, as the result of the differentiation between nation and society, is a field running under the influence of both nation and society. With the development of contemporary political civilization, especially the development of grass-root democracy, community public space (CPS) , as a communicating platform between nation and society, gradually comes forth. With the transition of city administration and the conmmunity development, community that once covered by the strong nation-weak society relationship is no more a foot of governmental administration. Instead, it gradually becomes a stage for people to participate in community public affairs. The development of CPS presents its historic value because it has become a body for the development of civil society. Started with the CPS, and based on the development of Shanghai communities, this article discussed the community system, functions, subjects, community NGOs and the resource conformity for CPS. The author tries to describe the solid figure of Shanghai CPS from a new angle of view, and tries to set up an academic framework for the research on community development. This framework based on the evolvement of nation-society relationship, the development of grass-rooted democracy and the community social capital, and the CPS is also an analysis tool for the framework. The researcher's aim is to stress the great meaning of community development to CPS.As a kind of life, community has been in existence for a long time. People began to look for their traditional memories of community with the step of scientific technology and economic globalization, especially after the World War II, which brought many new problems and chanllenges to government and society. With the drive from U.N., community development has become a movement covered more than 100 countries. The development of modern market economy and modern democracy gave more important role to community as a public space. More and more countries attach importance to community development, which has become an international movement.Chinese government started the process of community development with community service from 1980s. The change of nation-society relationship broke the integration system in Chinese cities, and community presented its diversified solid sides. Facing developing jam of street-community residents' committee system, the government has to re-survey and rebuild the grass-rooted administrative system in cities. The evolvement from street-community residents' committee system to community system has provides structural support and institutional room for the progress of CPS. As more and more people play their roles in community instead of in units, more and more social functions depend on the development of community, and more and more social problems appear in community, community has become an important conformity field to harmonize nation and society. The kind of community function has changed the roles of government and society. By the intermedium of community service, government and society established a negotiation and contract -based cooperating relationship which provides a foundation for the future governance of CPS.CPS as a kind of social public space provides a platform for the development of community members. Both the mass cultural and physical entertainment and grass-root democratic training in community can foster people's civism. The community NGOs, who can aggregate interests and self-govern, provides a kind of organization path for the growth of civism. Both the growth of people in community and the development of community organizations provide active subjects for the historic construction of CPS, and which formed the essential element for the growth of CPS. The construction of CPS substantially is a process to conformity the resources in community. Social transformation promotes resources to flow into community, so the conformity of resources is much important. No matter community resources conformity dominated by government, Party or by society, it can promote the mutual response among multi- subjects and form a resultant force for community development. This kind of conformity supplies reciprocal basis and cooperating drive for the mulitl-governance of CPS.The historic foundation of CPS not only provides platform for government and society to communication and cooperation, but also supplies system and room for the growth of Chinese citizen society, and which also prepares conditions for governmental reform and social self-governing. The growth of all kinds of subjects is important to the modernization of China, and the community development is a good learning process for the subjects. A harmonious community is the foundation to the harmonious society construction. So the constrction of community is of great value in today's China. The co-governance in CPS will promote the establishment of strong-nation and strong-society relationship, and will provide foundation and drive for Chinese modernization. The construction of CPS accelerates the organic unification of government, citizen society and the third field, and also is a kind of forces to make democracy work. The construction of CPS will provides a tri-view ( nation-public space-society ) , not a dualistic-view ( nation-society ) for conmmunity development reseach, which is the meaning of political science to research on Shanghai community in virtue of the public space theory.