Li, Z;
Wu, F;
(2013)
Residential satisfaction in China's informal settlements: A case study of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
Urban Geography
, 34
(7)
923 - 949.
10.1080/02723638.2013.778694.
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Abstract
China's informal settlements - villages inside urbanized areas - are often characterized by local governments as dirty, chaotic, and dangerous places. This negative discourse inevitably leads to recommendations for demolition. A number of criteria have been invoked in state decisions regarding the demolition of informal settlements; however, rarely are these places evaluated from the residents perspective. This paper, following a long tradition of residential satisfaction research in Western nations, uses a household survey to examine this topic in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. We find that local contexts not only matter, but may be the principal determinants of residential satisfaction. The residential satisfaction of village dwellers is not necessarily low, and most socioeconomic attributes are not statistically significant determinants of resident satisfaction. Migrants and low-income groups are not less satisfied than nonmigrants or middle-range income earners; the most important determinant is social attachment within the community. The perception of being excluded, or lacking neighborhood social attachment, significantly reduces residential satisfaction. No facilities can compensate for this negative exclusion factor. We conclude that demolishing informal settlements does not help to build a "harmonious society," which is the purported goal of such programs. Removing the social and institutional barriers for migrant integration into the city is likely the most effective way to enhance residential satisfaction and neighborhood quality. © 2013 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Residential satisfaction in China's informal settlements: A case study of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/02723638.2013.778694 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2013.778694 |
| Additional information: | © 2013 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted. |
| Keywords: | residential satisfaction; urban villages; Chinese cities; rural migrants; slums; informal settlements; |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > The Bartlett School of Planning |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1421323 |
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