「住宅委員會」是晚近國家干預大型城市住宅發展過程的一種常見組織；本研究透過上海檔案館關於1936年成立的公共租界集合住宅委員會的相關檔案，分析其設置目的、過程及其對住宅問題之闡述，藉以理解城市住宅政策與政權體質之間的對應關係。研究並平行比較於同一時期前倫敦、紐約集合住宅問題的國家干預，試圖進一步說明「國中之國」的政府體質與政權正當性來源之考量，何以使得在上海公共租界「積累之必要性」恆常凌駕於「政權之正當性」之考量，進而闡明為何國家對住宅的干預會逐步傾向於以無關乎行動效果的社會控制換取中產階級認同，持續保障環伺政權之支持者的既得產權利益。上海的住宅發展經驗見証國家與特定階層政治動員的過程，也同時見証著資本主義城市恆常持續的矛盾。

Housing committees are a common organization set for housing interference by the state in numerous contemporary industrial cities. By studying the archives on the housing committee of Shanghai, including its establishment, social formation, and the agendas it set to identify the housing issues facing modern Shanghai, this study tried to clarify the complex relationship between housing policies and the political/economic nature of the capitalist state . Furthermore, this study also compared state interventions in housing between Shanghai and other large industrial cities such as London and New York. This study then concluded that both the specific characteristics, namely the
independence and autonomy, of a ‘city state within another greater state’, and the legitimate concerns of the Municipal Council of Shanghai help create the specific governing structure, which is inclined towards capital accumulation rather than sustaining its governing legitimacy. Consequently state interventions tended to invalidate social controls which manipulated to fit the preferences of the middle class and protect the interests of the established elite. The housing debate not only revealed political interactions between the state and specific vested interests, but also demonstrated the endless contradictions associated with capitalist urban development.