This case is derived from Jingmingjiayuan Compound of Yuhuatai District of Nanjing City in Jiangsu Province. It was established in 2002 as Nanjing’s first compound that offered economically affordable housing. Its residents consist of two groups. One group are those who have resettled after their homes had been demolished. Since members of this group had lived in the same neighborhood before resettling at the Compound, they had certain emotional ties with one another. The other group are low-income residents either from Nanjing or from other places. The government played a leading role in providing funding and management in the process of community building at the Compound. Partly due to high proportion of vulnerable groups and groups with special needs to the Compound population, there have emerged many governance challenges related to issues such as public security, public facilities, and public spaces.

To address these challenges, Yuhuatai District Government collaborated with a social organization (i.e., “Wulixiangshequfuwuzhongxin”) as the third-party platform to develop social capital of the residents in the Compound. The organization took part of its management funding from the government and enterprises as the fund to which residents can apply to address certain needs of the Compound. It then offers residents suggestions and supports as needed for completing their self-initiated projects. This process has greatly enabled the formation of new social capital. The organization also designed and carried out an activity that encouraged residents to share freely their ideas about how their community could be built. This activity has helped residents to transform from those being called for to those willing to partake in community governance. Since social capital continues to develop in a virtuous circle, newly established social networks in the Compound have entered the phase of acquaintance society in which residents actively engage with self-governance in a sustainable manner.

This case presents a new approach to addressing governance challenges in old residential communities. That is, increasing residents’ self-governance capacities and sense of belonging by developing their social capital through the collaborations among five parties: 1) the government, 2) the third-party platform, 3) public benefit organizations, 4) experts from universities, and 5) residents. For one thing, this approach can facilitate generating new social capital particularly by the third-party platform’s integrating resources from various parties. For another, this approach, particularly through community building activities, can lead to sustainable development of social capital.