Migrant Housing in Urban China

Abstract

China's recent waves of internal migration, primarily rural to urban, reflect a rapidly urbanizing society undergoing a transition from a planned to a market economy. The author addresses two key questions: what access migrants have to urban housing and how migrant housing conditions compare with those of the locals. The main findings are based on citywide housing surveys and interviews conducted in Shanghai and Beijing, as well as results from official surveys. Interpretations of migrant housing patterns in urban China need to be linked with the country's unique institutional factors, particularly the circulating nature of migration, the existing household registration system, and the transitioning state of the urban housing market. Restricted access to urban housing, together with the temporary status for migrants, contributes to their poor housing conditions. Population mobility, primarily in the form of circulating migration, has increased significantly in China since 1983. A transient population of about three million now lives in both Beijing and Shanghai, according to the cities' official 1997 surveys of "floating population," 1 and the majority is regarded as labor migrants. Both surveys also show that about half a million migrants have lived in each city for more than three years. For many migrants, urban life is precarious-lack of shelter, low and uncertain earnings, and worsened living conditions. For some, city experience also is an eye opener-increased

Economic segregation in transition China: evidence from the 20 largest cities

“…Economic standing and institutional factors, particularly migrant status and ranking in the work-unit system, influence the tenure choice of urban residents (Huang & Clark, 2002;Wu, 2002). The relationship between segregation along the two dimensions is complex.…”

Informality and the Development and Demolition of Urban Villages in the Chinese Peri-urban Area

“…Rural to urban migration is mainly concentrated in the eastern coastal area (Fan, 2008), especially in the peri-urban areas of large metropolises (Wu, 2002;Wang et al, 2010). To what extent can the development of Chinese cities be understood with reference to the global South (Roy and AlSayyad, 2004), especially the notion of the 'planet of slums' attributed to a world of globalising capitalism (Davis, 2006)?…”

Borderland urbanism: seeing between enclaves

“…Simultaneously, migration restrictions were relaxed and "farmers", initially welcomed as a cheap and exploitable labour force, began to move to the city to find work in factories and at construction sites (e.g., Goodkind & West, 2002;Li, 2004;Solinger, 1995Solinger, , 1999. To date, municipal governments have failed to provide a satisfactory form of urban housing for the masses of rural-to-urban migrants (Mobrand, 2006;Jianfa Shen & Huang, 2003;Wu, 2002Wu, , 2006Wu, , 2008Wu, Zhang, & Webster, 2013b;Zhang, 2001Zhang, , 2002Zhang, Zhao, & Tian, 2003;Zheng, Long, Fan, & Gu, 2009). Only a few accounts exist to document the lived experience of migrants in the city and the ways in which they succeed in finding informal solutions to their housing problem, for instance, in the basements or on the rooftops of formal housing blocks (Wu, 2007;Wu & Canham, 2008 provide insightful documentation on migrant living conditions in Beijing and Hong Kong).…”