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The city region has emerged as an important form of regional development and governance. However, the dynamics of spatial inequality in city regions are misunderstood. This study examines the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) to determine the spatiotemporal evolution of regional inequality across prefecture-level municipalities from 1990 to 2018. It finds that regional inequality has steadily increased since the 1990s but has declined somewhat in recent years. This is associated with faster growth and higher upward mobility of central regions in the early reform period and increases in the upward mobility of the periphery in recent years. The gradient-distance curve of the Shanghai-centered economy sharpened and then flattened, indicating the polarization of growth in the core regions, followed by the diffusion of development and improved regional integration. However, the core-periphery remains stronger within provinces between provincial capitals and other regions. Despite regional integration and peripheral development, the problem of spatial exclusion and core-periphery structures persists. More attention needs to be given to the core-periphery relationship and the development of peripheral regions to promote regional integration and reduce spatial polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predominant trend has been rapid and unprecedented migration from rural to urban China since the mid-1980s. This dramatic demographic change has profoundly reshaped the migrants' sense of the newly settled place. By examining the perceptual changes that have occurred in this usual context, we attempted to analyze the impact of social connection on the migrants' sense of belonging to the host cities. In order to accomplish this, we conducted an empirical study featuring 12,807 rural-to-urban migrants across eight Chinese cities. We found that their contact with residents who were not related to them was positively linked to the development of a sense of belonging in the host cities, whereas contact with only nonresidents had the opposite effect. In addition, we also observed that one's sense of belonging is mostly fostered by one's direct interaction with a place, but it could be also be indirectly mediated via social contacts. Furthermore, the context of place will affect one's affinity for it. Also, the availability of public services generates positive feelings regarding the new place, whereas large population size has the opposite effect. This study deepened our understanding about migrants' subjective sense place and revealed the inherent complexity in this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predominant trend has been rapid and unprecedented migration from rural to urban China since the mid-1980s. This dramatic demographic change has profoundly reshaped the migrants' sense of the newly settled place. By examining the perceptual changes that have occurred in this usual context, we attempted to analyze the impact of social connection on the migrants' sense of belonging to the host cities. In order to accomplish this, we conducted an empirical study featuring 12,807 rural-to-urban migrants across eight Chinese cities. We found that their contact with residents who were not related to them was positively linked to the development of a sense of belonging in the host cities, whereas contact with only nonresidents had the opposite effect. In addition, we also observed that one's sense of belonging is mostly fostered by one's direct interaction with a place, but it could be also be indirectly mediated via social contacts. Furthermore, the context of place will affect one's affinity for it. Also, the availability of public services generates positive feelings regarding the new place, whereas large population size has the opposite effect. This study deepened our understanding about migrants' subjective sense place and revealed the inherent complexity in this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]