Abstract
Chinese cities nowadays face profound restructuring and transformations, manifested in the urban built environment by booming redevelopment projects. Property-led urban redevelopment might cause large-scale displacement of low-income residents, generating unintended place- and people-based consequences. Despite the magnitude of these displacement processes, there is a general lack of insight into the
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patterns, dynamics, and mechanisms of this urban phenomenon in China. The main aim of this research is therefore to identify the mechanisms and selective socio-economic consequences of redevelopment-induced displacement. A particular interest lies in the redevelopment of urban villages, a type of informal settlements in urban China that mainly accommodates low-income rural migrants. Through in-depth empirical studies in Shenzhen, this research finds that varied forms of displacement have manifested themselves as a result of urban redevelopment. First, demolition of old residential buildings directly displaces large populations of low-income residents, leading to serious impacts on these social groups. Second, urban redevelopment poses spill-over effects on the housing prices in adjacent urban areas, with indirect displacement as a main consequence. By mapping the location of relocation after displacement, we find that displaced migrants tend to attach to their original neighbourhoods and move only short distances, since imperative economic, spatial, and social resources are all affiliated to the original neighbourhoods. This research also unravels considerable heterogeneity that exists in the displaced population in Chinese cities, which can result in diverse behaviors and associated consequences of redevelopment. Based on this finding, this research calls for further theoretical delineation of the heterogeneity of the displaced population, in which socio-economic and institutional characteristics that are individually embedded need to be considered so as to develop a more robust and nuanced theory of residential displacement. In addition, this research develops a theoretical view on displacement as a redistributive process of urban resources. Specifically, it shows that residential displacement tends to redistribute the real income of those displaced, defined as access to urban resources in economic (market exchange), social (reciprocity), and institutional (redistribution) spheres. Through this critical theoretical lens, the inherent redistributive nature of the displacement process is more evidently and fully revealed, which can also be applied in other contexts. Situating within the Chinese context, this research outlines two policy implications. On the one hand, the absorptive capacity of the urban system for displaced migrants needs to be improved. Granting displaced low-income migrants access to public low-rent housing is a possible solution. In the long run, migrants’ tenancy rights need to be recognized, so that they can be considered for compensation for their relocation. On the other hand, this research calls for the integration of people-based elements into currently predominant place-centred policies. These elements address economic, spatial and social dimensions of inclusion, of which the recognition and empowerment of migrants are of great importance. Overall, this research calls for an integrated planning strategy, in which place-based initiatives need to be complemented by locally responsive people-based approaches.
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