Urban Residential Land Use Reconstruction under Dual-Track Mechanism of Market Socialism in China: A Case Study of Chengdu

Yongchun Yang, Deli Zhang, Qingmin Meng and Corrin McCarn
Additional contact information
Yongchun Yang: Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems, School of Resource and Environmental Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Deli Zhang: Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems, School of Resource and Environmental Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Qingmin Meng: Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA
Corrin McCarn: Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 12, 1-17

Abstract: We study urban residential land use changes by analyzing the massive migration and relocation of two typical social classes: employees in government departments (EGD) and urban demolition displaced households (UDDH). After the reform and opening-up of China that has taken place during the last 30 years, the residential land use of both the EGD and UDDH groups has been notable in terms of the changing urban landscape in China’s cities. A considerable number of studies highlight the large scale relocations of weaker groups usually through sample surveys at a microscopic scale, which sheds light on the relationships between market forces and government intervention and power. However, employees hired by state government departments and related branches ( Shiye Danwei ) have been neglected. Bridging the empirical research gap and using Chengdu as a case study, we compare residential relocations of EGD and UDDH groups in Chengdu. Our analysis based on field surveys conducted from 2009–2013 indicates that the relocations of EGD and UDDH are spatially agglomerated due to China’s unique dual-track mechanism driven by market forces and government power since the late 1970s. The study shows that most of the UDDH are migrated from urban centers to fringes, while a large number of EGD still agglomerate close to urban centers. Government interventions differentiate residential relocations of EGD and UDDH, and market mechanisms reinforce these relocations. Potential problems caused by the dual-track mechanism are finally discussed and summarized.

Keywords: urban residential landscape; employees in government departments; urban demolition displaced; residential spatial differentiation; market mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/12/15850/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/12/15850/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:12:p:15850-16865:d:60972

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().