Environment & Urbanization

World leading environmental and urban studies journal

Spatial Mobility of Migrant Workers in Beijing, China

Author(s): 
Ran Liu

Publisher: 
Springer

Pages: 
303

Year: 
2015

This book seeks to make sense of many changes China has undergone in recent decades, which have reshaped the nature of Chinese urbanism: privatization, decentralization, state-led business and industrialization. Liu is particularly interested in how these trends affect the mobility, or lack of it, of low-income migrant workers in Beijing.

Increasingly, Beijing’s local government is prioritizing economic growth at the expense of social equality. Liu observes that the focus on marketization and “urban renewal” has hindered the ability to find secure, low-cost housing. It has also widened the gap between the haves and have-nots.

Migrants form a significant group of have-nots, accounting for one-quarter of Beijing’s population. They have followed the restructuring of the Chinese economy, which opens up opportunities in urban areas but also forces people to move when their homes and livelihoods are disrupted. Yet the same restructuring logic is responsible for the social and spatial divide between residents within cities. In Beijing, this is highly visible in the form of rent inflation, as well as demolitions and redevelopment of low-cost housing. This exclusion of low-income migrants from housing is assisted by a distinct set of policies and perceptions, including:

·         Stratified welfare systems

Welfare systems benefit those who know how to take advantage of them, including state employees. Migrants, who may have limited social and professional capital, are not well placed to do so. Even among those on low incomes, misallocation and the privileging of “locals” means that migrant workers are often excluded from public housing. This is complicated by China’s migration controls (hukou), which favour highly skilled migrants with benefits such as housing.

·         Entrepreneurial local governments

China’s urban governments depend on land redevelopment for their revenue, which incentivizes them to clear informal settlements and adopt a no-tolerance approach to squatting. This is a key distinction between Beijing and a city like São Paulo: Brazilian municipal governments are not dependent on property for revenue. Liu sees São Paulo’s authorities as being more aware of poverty and more tolerant of the informal settlements populated by the poor. They have focused on consolidation of informal settlements (including the cooperative-built housing that is home to the majority of São Paulo’s urban dwellers), while Beijing’s officials have targeted demolition of such settlements.

Clearly, political and economic structures are constraining Beijing’s low-income migrants. After reading this book, readers are likely to walk away with the question: How can a city rely on the work of low-wage labourers, yet make it impossible for them to live there?

 

Further reading:

Li, Bingqin and Xiangsheng An (2010), “Migrants as a source of revenue in small towns in China”, Environment and Urbanization Vol 22, No 1, pages 51–66, available at http://eau.sagepub.com/content/22/1/51.abstract.

McGranahan, Gordon and Cecilia Tacoli (2006), “Rural-urban migration in China: policy options for economic growth, environmental sustainability and equity”, IIED Working Paper Series on Rural-Urban Interactions and Livelihood Strategies, Working Paper 12, International Institute for Environment and Development, London, available at http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10535IIED.pdf.

Solinger, Dorothy J (2006), “The creation of a new underclass in China and its implications”, Environment and Urbanization Vol 18, No 1, pages 177–193, available at http://eau.sagepub.com/content/18/1/177.abstract.

 

Book note prepared by Christine Ro

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