Migrant workers’ choices of resettlements in the redevelopment of urban villages in China: the case of Beijing

ABSTRACT

In China, urban villages have provided low-cost housing for the workers who have migrated from rural area into a city, but confronted redevelopment as they have resulted in various urban problems. In comparison to the rural–urban migration, this study pays an attention to the second-stage migration caused by redevelopment of urban villages in which migrant workers have four choices of settlements: return to rural area, relocation to another urban village, relocation to urban area, resettlement in redeveloped urban village. Based on the field survey data collected from six urban villages of Beijing, it empirically analyses migrant workers’ choices for settlement options and the factors influencing the choices, using multinomial logistic regression model. The results show that the migrant workers take serious consideration of all four settlement options and their choices are affected by various personal characteristics as well as redevelopment characteristics. Based on the findings, this study suggests some policies to encourage resettlements of migrant workers from a viewpoint of sustainable development of Chinese cities.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban village
• migrant workers
• redevelopment
• settlement choices
• Beijing China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution, was a social-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 to 1976. Set into motion by Mao Zedong, then Chairman of the Communist Party of China, its stated goal was to enforce communism in the country by removing capitalist, traditional and cultural elements from Chinese society, and to impose Maoist orthodoxy within the Party.

2. ‘Notice on the strict control of rural-urban migration of labor force’, State Council of China, October 12th, 1983.

3. ‘Ten Policies about Activating Chinese Rural Economy’, the CPC Central Committee & State Council, January 1st, 1985.

4. ‘Urgent Notice on Strictly Controlling Rural–urban Migration of Labor Force’, General Office of the State Council, March, 1989.

5. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee was held from November 9 to November 12, 2013 in Beijing. Third plenums of different stages have been the launch-pad for many of China’s major reforms (www.news.xinhuanet.com).

6. By incorporating rental costs into income, we can also avoid the correlation problem between commuting time and rental costs.

7. Article 17, the PRC Labor Contract Law, 2008