The changing geography of urban China: social change and spatial re-division at the neighbourhood level

Abstract

Urban China has undergone major transformations leading to newly divided cities, fundamentally changing the ways of living of urban dwellers. The shifts in the socio-spatial fragmentations can be better understood at the neighbourhood level as neighbourhoods provide a reference to the political, institutional and social contexts that have produced a new urban geography. Given their physical form, housing differentiation is arguably one of the most meaningful manifestations of social, economic and spatial inequality.

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of the changing geography of urban China, explicitly related to inequality and segregation patterns at the neighbourhood level during the first decade of the 21st Century. It contributes to the international knowledge on large cities, which are undergoing huge social and spatial transformations. This work concentrates on four types of neighbourhoods and their socio-spatial transformations. The four types are traditional, former work-unit, commercial and urban village (chengzhoncun).

This research shows that the economic and housing reform in China have created Divided Cities. The traditional pattern of mixed communities has vanished and is replaced by a pattern of strong segregation based on citizenship and income. The low level of residential mobility exacerbates this process, leading to highly fragmented cities and rising inequality between neighbourhoods.Western housing market theories need to be adjusted to capture the Chinese context. Dwellings are not considered commodities to be traded, but assets to be shared by extended families. Residential mobility is not a way to pursue a housing career. Instead, immobility is an active strategy to maintain access to crucial amenities like schools, transportation and medical care.As urbanization continues in China, development and redevelopment processes will continue to reshape the urban socio-spatial structure affecting how, where and the type of housing in which different social groups can live.