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During the urbanization process in China, issues such as the widening wealth gap, class stratification, and social exclusion influenced residents' decisions to pursue entrepreneurship. Inclusiveness is an inevitable trend in new urbanization, and it is also a key factor in promoting residents' entrepreneurship and stimulating the potential for social innovation. Based on three key principles, "fairness, openness, and sharing, " this paper assesses the relationship, and the internal mechanism driving the relationship, between urban social inclusiveness and resident entrepreneurship. This includes constructing an urban social inclusiveness index, and analyzing data from the 2018 China General Social Survey (CGSS). The key results indicate that urban social inclusiveness has a significant positive effect on resident entrepreneurship. The mechanism analysis shows that urban social inclusiveness can improve the probability of residents being entrepreneurial, by improving risk attitude, promoting class mobility, and expanding social networks. Heterogeneity analysis shows that urban social inclusiveness has a significant impact on the entrepreneurial of local residents, and low-class and high-class residents; urban social inclusiveness has no significant impact on the entrepreneurial choice of transient residents and middle-class residents. Besides, urban social inclusiveness plays a more significant role in promoting residents' choice of survival entrepreneurship, compared with opportunistic entrepreneurship. • Explore the relationship between urban social inclusiveness and resident entrepreneurship in China. • A new method for assessing the social inclusion of cities, which considers "fairness, openness, and sharing." • Examine the mediating role of risk attitudes, class mobility, and social networks. • Understand the heterogeneity of social classes, household registrations, and entrepreneurial types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Despite the fact that China is becoming increasingly urbanised, some Chinese cities have witnessed a loss of urban population. In recent years, with the extensive expansion of the Chinese High-Speed Railway (HSR) network, the reduction in travel time has greatly increased the mobility of people across cities, thus affecting the spatial redistribution of the urban population in China. An important question arises: for cities experiencing population loss, when they were connected to the HSR network, did the HSR further aggravate this urban shrinkage? Using cities experiencing population loss as a sample, the paper provides a quantitative assessment of population loss in HSR-served cities. A Difference-in-Difference (DID) method was adopted to investigate whether the HSR aggravated population loss in shrinking cities. On the whole, empirical results show that the phenomenon of urban shrinkage in China was further aggravated by the HSR. Furthermore, the results unveil the dynamic impact of the HSR on shrinking cities, and multi-stage DID results reveal that the impact of the HSR on urban population may have a certain time lag effect. The HSR has significantly contributed to the population loss of shrinking cities four to five years after it first started operating. The paper highlights that the HSR does not always yield growth opportunities; on the contrary, for cities suffering from population decline, the HSR may bring a serious challenge. Highlights • The phenomenon of urban shrinkage in China was further aggravated by the HSR. • The multi-stage DID results reveal that the impact of HSR on urban population may have a certain time lag effect. • The paper highlights that HSR does not always yield growth opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of city shape variation on residents' happiness in Chinese cities. We first measure the city shape index of Chinese cities between 2000 and 2015 using matched data from the European Space Agency Global Land Cover dataset and the Chinese administrative map to delineate the changes in city shape in China's urbanization. Then we use a reduced-form estimation strategy to examine the causality between city shape variation and urban residents' happiness using our city shape dataset and the microsurvey data of CHIP (Chinese Household Income Project). We find that city shape exerts a negative influence on the happiness of urban residents. Such an effect is more pronounced in large cities. However, well-developed public transportation infrastructure can mitigate the negative impact of a non-compact city shape. Turning to the mechanism, commute time to the workplace and amenities is the main channel through which city shape works. We find that bad shape significantly increases the commute time between residential, workplace, and commercial amenities and therefore makes urban residents unhappy. • Non-compact city shape has significant negative effects on the subjective happiness of residents. • The impacts of city shape has a greater impact on highly educated individuals. • Residents in large cities suffer more from bad city shape than anyone else. • Residents in cities constructing subways and dense bus networks are less impacted. • Non-compact city shape significantly extends the commuting time of residents or eliminates their accessibility to amenities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization is an important part of the modernization of traditional societies, and the growth of major cities is a prominent manifestation of urbanization. This paper uses historical maps and demographic data to measure the urban population and construction land growth of 47 major cities in China during 1900–1978, and examines the influence factors with different politic backgrounds. (1) China's cities were generally experiencing rapid growth. The growth rate of urban land was higher and more stable than urban population. (2) The growth rate of city size was negatively correlated with initial sizes, deviating Gibrat's law; the population's rank-size structure converged the Zipf's model during 1910–1949, but deviated during 1949–1978. The spatial pattern of urban system gradually shifted from regionalized core-periphery to a nationally-integrated, regional-egalitarian structures. (3) The patterns and mechanisms of urban population growth and land growth are not identical, reflected in the change of the distribution of urban construction land per capita. Urban land growth is more correlated with capital investment. (4) China was in a typical preconditions for take-off phase before 1949, but did not fit into the take-off phase as Rostow argues in 1949–1978. This period is crucial in comprehending China's rapid take-off after 1978, as it established the industrial foundation at the expense of urbanization. The previous process has left indelible traces and highlights the problem of the abnormal growth of urban land in recent years, thereby prompting a reflection on the role of land finance in China. • The changes of political background significantly influenced the industrialization and urbanization. • The two-dimensional measurements of land and population accurately portray urban growth. • The urban growth rate in China has undergone significant fluctuations. • The urban system shifted from a regionalized core-periphery to nationally-integrated, and regional-egalitarian pattern. • The mechanism of urban population growth and land expansion is not identical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a large amount of population moved from countryside to cities in China during its urbanization in the past two decades. The majority of these people have no formal qualifications for city residency, and they are so-called ‘floating population’. The increase of this group of people has induced the pressure of land use in cities, and the contradiction between the demand and the supply of urban land has been intensifying particularly in those developed regions in China. This paper examines the impacts of floating population on urban land by presenting the interrelations between floating population and urban land expansion from the perspective of production land and living land. Structural equation model (SEM) is employed in conducting the analysis. The result shows that the floating population alone does not have direct effect on urban land expansion, but have indirect impacts through engaging in the production or living process. It is particularly interesting that floating people's living conditions have no direct positive effect on the increase of construction land. Based on the research results, suggestions are offered for improvements in government policy towards a more sustainable and integrated urbanization, including the provision of housing support, the formation of more urbanized society and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most urban network studies, advanced producer service firms and transportation carriers are regarded as the main agents building intercity connections. With rising global incomes and increasing mobility of people worldwide, however, flows consisting of ordinary consumers have become a new way for cities to be connected to the globe. Using transaction data from China UnionPay, this paper explores the spatial network pattern of emerging Chinese overseas consumption by tracing the origins, destinations, and volumes of spending flows. We find that a global network built on consumption flows originating from mainland China improves the global-ness of countries and regions that have historically been peripheral in the financial networks created by multinational firms or inter-port transportation. Given the soaring consumption capacity of urban Chinese residents and the re-orientation of urban policies in China, it is expected that Chinese consumption will keep re-shaping the global-ness of both Chinese cities and numerous destinations worldwide. • This paper analyzed Chinese overseas consumption by tracking the origins and destinations of consumer flows. • This paper showed a more inclusive map of consumption that differs from conventional analyses of production global-ness. • The consumption network improves the status of some places that have historically been peripheral in the production network. • It reveals that China not only joins the world as a producer, but also exerts its influence through rising consumer power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper makes up for the deficiency related to population inflow and social infrastructure in the urban vitality literature by using empirical data. • This paper provides a new method reference for the quantitative representation of urban vitality by using NPP-VIIRS nighttime light data. • With the inflow population increasing, the educational financial expenditure's positive effect on urban vitality will be enhanced. • However, with the inflow population increasing, the medical and health financial expenditure's positive effect on urban vitality will be suppressed. Maintaining urban vitality and promoting sustainable urban development is a critical concern because global urbanisation continues to accelerate. This study creates a model to measure urban vitality by means of NPP-visible infrared imager radiometer sensor (VIIRS) nighttime light data and observes that urban vitality and NPP-VIIRS nighttime light data are highly positively correlated, which greatly expands the application of nighttime light data in urban research. This paper further researches the impact of population inflow and social infrastructure on urban vitality by establishing a panel fixed effect model based on the data of 35 large- and medium-sized cities in China to provide new ideas to understand urban vitality from the perspective of public service. The results illustrate that increasing the financial investment of social infrastructure can effectively improve urban vitality, and population inflow influences urban vitality through the interaction effect with social infrastructure. With the inflow population increasing, the educational financial expenditure's positive effect on urban vitality will be enhanced, and the medical and health financial expenditure's positive effect on urban vitality will be suppressed. This paper provides guidance regarding reasonable population inflow and urban vitality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how transport access affects the land values in peripheral regions, by exploiting the recent expansion of China's high-speed rail (HSR) network. Based on a nation-wide land transaction dataset and applying a DID-hedonic approach, we find that industrial parcels in distant peripheries benefit from the HSR-induced growth spillover, while residential parcels in the immediate vicinity of a high-tier core experience larger price appreciation after HSR connection. Based on comprehensive firm-level datasets, additional tests of the HSR impact on the location choice and performance of firms in peripheral regions show much similar patterns. These findings add to the understanding of the impact of HSR on the spatial distribution of economic activity. By accelerating the growth spillovers from the highly agglomerated urban core to remote peripheries, transport access can play an essential role in reducing spatial inequality. By contrast, peripheries neighboring highly agglomerated urban cores may benefit more from the relocation of residents from urban core, at the expense of a shrinking manufacturing sector due to agglomeration shadow effect. • We examine how access to high-speed rail affects land values in China's peripheral regions. • Industrial parcels in distant peripheries benefit from the HSR-induced growth spillover. • HSR effect on residential parcel prices diminishes monotonously with the distance to high-tier cores. • The HSR effects on the location choice and the performance of firms in peripheral regions show much similar patterns to that of land prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While China's urbanization has been characterized by 'growth-oriented' development models, the recent literature has highlighted the emergence of urban shrinkage in China, i.e., cities and regions that endure sustained population losses. For example, some mining towns in Northeast China have been losing both population and economic growth. Extending from Martinez-Fernandez et al.'s (2012) theoretical conjecture that urban shrinkage is a 'symptom' of the lack of global/external economic connections, this paper assesses whether the loss of investment precedes urban shrinkage. The empirical study draws upon a unique dataset of investment flows between mainland Chinese cities. The analysis shows that the correlation between investment network centrality and urban population changes is positively significant, and this significance is increased after the lag period of investment network centrality is prolonged. Furthermore, when the value of investment network centrality climbs, their effect on urban population changes is going to be enlarged. The results are highly policy-relevant and will inform future policies regarding urban shrinkage management. • Investigate the typology of urban trajectories in China from both population changes and investment connections. • The correlation between investment network centrality and urban population changes is positively significant. • When the value of investment network centrality climbs, their effect on urban population changes is going to be enlarged. • The lack of external economic connections will lead to population shrinkage. • Population shrinkage also has comparatively few effects on the reduction of external investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Guangzhou has experienced a pattern of dual-track urbanization since economic reforms began in the 1980s. Industrialization and an increasing population have caused the city to relocate jobs and housing to the suburbs. Simultaneously, town governments have developed township and village enterprises (TVEs) and built affordable housing in villages. TVEs have become major industrial processing centers, and the towns that house them have seen the emergence of co-location effects whereby migrant workers become concentrated in urban villages and live near TVEs to optimize their commuting time. It is argued that these co-location adjustments are heavily influenced by institutional policies. This paper reports the results of two surveys, the first a questionnaire survey administered in Shijing Town and the second comprising a series of in-depth interviews carried out in two of Shijing’s urban villages. The results show that a high proportion of the respondents worked and lived in Shijing Town or one of the research villages. Most respondents spent a short time commuting to work. The results also suggest that the pattern of co-location among migrant workers and TVEs observed here reflects the desire to optimize commuting time. Some respondents noted that they had relocated to the research villages because they were ineligible to apply for public housing due to the hukou system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]