Institutionalizing informal conversions: how industrial buildings became rental apartments in post-industrial Shanghai

The adaptive reuse of industrial buildings has become a significant urban transformation in post-industrial cities. In Shanghai, industrial building converted apartments initially emerged as informal, unsanctioned practices, before gradually gaining legitimacy as a state-sanctioned housing solution. This article traces the transformation through a framework combining historical institutionalism and a governance-agents perspective. Through analysing policy documents, interviews and case studies, we identify three developmental stages: grassroots informality, semi-institutionalized practice with partial state recognition and full institutionalization as an affordable housing provision. Our findings reveal that successful institutionalization depends on achieving a balance of interests between government and market participants, facilitated by professional operators and state-owned enterprises as crucial intermediaries. By demonstrating how interactions among governance agents drive the formalization of an initially informal housing practice, this study advances understanding of institutional change in urban housing markets and offers insights for governing adaptive reuse in post-industrial cities.