Abstract: Why do communities in different spatial areas have different governance performance? Applying the perspective of spatial theory, this paper proposes an analytical concept of "power space". The concept refers to the distance between a community and the city administrative power center. Based on the data from Shanghai Urban Neighborhood Survey(SUNS), this study examines the variation in governance performance by communities that locate in different areas of the city power spatial structure, and analyzes the cause and mechanism of the differences. The study suggests that the spatial distance between the community and the center of governance power is not merely physical and geographical, it is social and political as well. We find that the distance to the center of power has a significant effect on the community's governance performances that are easily observable but little effect on those less perceptible. This reveals that "power space" affects strongly on things that can be easily recognized by higher level officials, but not things less visible but appreciated by residents. Such a pattern can be explained by the current governance performance assessment system and incentive mechanism. Power space exercises its influence through the mechanism of public resource allocation and performance benchmarks, which is equally applicable to other areas of social governance. In sum, this study contributes to a better understanding of the underlying logic of current grassroots social governance.

Key words: power space, governance performance, visible performance, community