Many studies have examined the impacts of neighborhood characteristics on residential satisfaction. However, because their performance is not connected with their importance in residential choice, community planners have yet to know which characteristics need to be prioritized for neighborhood improvements. Using the 2014 data from Xi'an, China, to examine environmental correlates of residential satisfaction, this study pioneers the application of importance-performance analysis and three-factor theory for a joint evaluation of importance and performance. It classifies neighborhood characteristics into basic factors, performance factors, and excitement factors for urban, suburban, and exurban neighborhoods. By considering their performance, it further identifies development priorities for neighborhood self-improvement and the priorities for competition among different neighborhoods. These priorities allow local governments to deploy scarce resources to improve residential satisfaction of existing residents and attract more residents.

Most studies regarding the effects of rail transit on auto ownership have yet to disentangle the influences of the built environment surrounding stations and residential self-selection from the impact of rail transit itself. There is also limited knowledge on the effects of rail investments in developing countries on ownership of mobility instruments, which has recently proliferated because of economic growth. Using the 2014 data from Xi'an, this study explores the joint influences of metro transit on the ownership of autos, bikes, ebikes, and motorcycles. The cross-sectional analysis shows that metro is negatively associated with auto ownership and ebike ownership whereas it has a positive association with bike ownership. The quasi-longitudinal analysis indicates that moving into metro neighborhoods is negatively associated with the changes of auto and ebike ownerships. These results suggest that metro development helps curb the growth of autos and fight against the negative consequences of ebikes, and has the potential to achieve sustainable travel.

No abstract

No abstract

Return migration has become a critical socio‐economic phenomenon—both between countries and within countries—and profoundly affects the development prospects in a migrants' country or region of origin. Studies have mainly focused on the return of overseas migrants and their employment transformation and social integration upon return; few studies have investigated internal return migrants and their residential choice and urbanisation effect. To fill this gap, the present study used nationally representative data from China to construct a moderated mediation model for examining the relationship between internal return migration, nonagricultural employment, and urban settlement intention. The empirical results indicated that return migration affected urban settlement intention through two paths. In addition to directly strengthening migrants' urban settlement intention, return migration indirectly strengthened this intention by promoting nonagricultural employment. Compared with those returning to eastern China, returnees to central China were less likely to be in nonagricultural employment and had weaker intention to settle in a town. Among return migrants, the impacts of age at return and workplace during migration on the urban settlement intention were mainly through direct effects.