The Impacts of In Situ Urbanization on Housing, Mobility and Employment of Local Residents in China

Yanxu Li, Zhenfa Xie, Bo Li and Muhammad Mohiuddin
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Yanxu Li: School of Economics, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Zhenfa Xie: School of Economics, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Bo Li: School of Management, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China
Muhammad Mohiuddin: Faculty of Business Administration, Laval University, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-21

Abstract: Rapid economic growth and infrastructure development force in situ urbanization in locations where people from rural areas gain urban residency without experiencing long-distance geographical relocation. However, the impacts of in situ urbanization on farmers’ and other residents’ well-being remains unclear, and there are some arguments about the idea that “urbanization of people lags behind urbanization of land” in China. Therefore, this study firstly finds a reasonable way to measure in situ urbanization: the transfer of rural-urban division codes. On this basis, by applying the PSM-DID method, we use national census data to explore the impacts of in situ urbanization on farmers from the perspective of housing, mobility and employment. The research results show that after the in situ urbanization, the possibility of farmers moving into non-self-built high-rising buildings increases, while the possibility of farmers leaving the county for employment decreases. Besides, the employment structure in the county where in situ urbanization takes place has shifted from primary industry to secondary and tertiary industry. Moreover, this paper also discusses the spillover effects of in situ urbanization on other residents in the county. Our study shows that in situ urbanization can improve residents’ well-being and offers sustainable land-people integrated urbanization.

Keywords: housing; mobility; employment; spillover effects; in situ urbanization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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