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The social and spatial patterns of ageing population in urban China illuminate the influence of the socioeconomic transformation associated with the dual economic system. Guangzhou, one of China's megacities, is used as a case study in this paper. Data from the 2010 National Census were used to examine the spatial differentiation and the related factors of ageing communities in Guangzhou. Using social area analysis, the study identified six categories of ageing communities: traditional inner-city communities, traditional danwei residential communities, commercial housing ageing communities, danwei compound ageing communities, immigrant ageing communities, and rural ageing communities. The paper analyses the reasons and processes leading to the clustering of the elderly population in each category of areas associated with distinctive spatial patterns of ageing differentiation. These patterns suggest that the socio-spatial differentiation of ageing communities is a joint outcome of urban development, housing policies, personal status and family relationships. The dynamics of both ageing in place and ageing with migration had a dual impact on the spatial, social and ecological patterns of ageing communities. The spatial differentiation of ageing communities in the study area should be taken into account when formulating urban planning and public policies. In addition, a dynamic public facility and service allocation system is also necessary to meet the needs associated with evolving socio-spatial urban restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the new era, one of the keys to promoting sustainable economic growth is to give full play to the main role of migrants in innovation and entrepreneurship, and improve the overall employment quality of society. Based on the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) data, this paper attempts to use the reference group theory, self-motivation theory, human capital theory, and risk preference theory to provide the theoretical framework. Then, the relationship between immigrants' intention and entrepreneurship is examined by using PSM, Heckman-two stage model and IV method. The results clearly show that settlement intention is negatively associated with migrant entrepreneurship for both necessity-based entrepreneurship and opportunity-based entrepreneurship. Further study shows that this negative effect is achieved by changing migrants' human capital and their risk preference. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the negative effect of settlement intention on migrant entrepreneurship is among those migrants who are between 25 and 45 years old, who are female migrants, who have rural hukou , and who live in central and western China. In a sense, this study identifies a side effect of settlement intention that sublimates and complements the theory of migrant entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous penetration of global networking and post-industrialism, the island rural spatial evolution becomes an important issue in comprehensive geography. Studying the microscale evolution and driving mechanism of island rural space is of great significance for promoting its reconstruction and revitalizing island rural communities. This paper constructed a classification system of island rural space from the production-living-ecological perspective. Taking Beigang Village located in China's southeast coast as an example, we analyzed the dynamic mechanism of island rural spatial evolution from traditional agricultural space to multi-functional composite space. The findings indicated that the drastic evolution and reconstruction occurred in the production-living-ecological space of Beigang from 2006 to 2021, manifested as the following aspects: production space was expanded to the outward tourist service space from inward agricultural production space, living space was evolved into commercial space from daily space to provide tourism services, and ecological space was constantly compacted and expanded in tourist development construction and ecological redline regulation. The island rural spatial pattern evolution was the result of the game among policy, capital, society, and organization, manifested as internal roles and external feedback of governmental policy guidance, tourism capital incentive, innovation of business philosophy, and grassroots organizational initiative. During the process, evolution characteristics from simpleness to complexity and from singleness to integration were present in island rural spatial functions. Meanwhile, tourism capital intervention was a key element to facilitate island rural spatial commercialization. A crucial way to avoid island rural spatial alienation and realize rural revitalization was to improve rural resilience. Overall, this study offered a model to delve into the island rural spatial evolution in China or even developing countries around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature in population and development studies has examined the positive effects of rural-urban migration on the livelihoods and living standards of migrant workers. Less attention has been paid to the rural households trapped in poverty despite having family members working in the city. Drawing on a survey of rural households in the north of Jiangsu province, China, this paper examines how migration and an urban income affect the consumption patterns of poor rural households. The results confirm that among the rural poor, households with migrating members tend to have higher disposable incomes than immobile households. However, considerably higher living costs in the city compel these migrant households to be frugal and often split the family between the city and the rural home to minimize total household expenditures. Their incomes are often depleted by the costs of essential goods and services, such as housing, education, medication, transport, and other daily necessities. The findings reflect that many of China's poorest rural households are on the horns of a dilemma—having a job in the city mitigates poverty but often leads to the misery of family separation and the need to endure harsh living conditions for family members in the city. This urges policy changes to facilitate family migration and enhance rural welfare and resource provisions, especially in healthcare and education. • Migration affects the consumption patterns of poor rural households. • Urban livelihoods mitigate poverty but cause family separation and substandard living. • Policy recommendations to facilitate family migration and enhance education and healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although mixed land use is an important way to improve land-use efficiency and stimulate socioeconomic vitality, there are few systematic analyses of mixed land use in rural settlements. This paper proposes the connotation and measurements of mixed land use in rural settlements, considering both land-use diversity and compatibility. Case studies of Tangwei village (a tourist village), Guxia village (a commercial village), and Fulong village (an industrial village) in Dongguan City, Pearl River Delta, China, are chosen to analyze the characteristics of mixed land use in different types of rural settlements using field research, POI data capture, GIS, and remote sensing techniques. The results indicate that: (1) In 1978, 2005, and 2020, the degree of mixed land use in the rural settlement of Tangwei village was 0.68, 0.84, and 0.96, respectively, reflecting an increase of 41.17%; in Guxia village, it was 0.69, 0.86, and 0.84, respectively, growing and then declining, yielding a total increase of 21.73%; in Fulong village, it was 0.74, 0.82, and 0.89, respectively, reflecting an increase of 20.27%. (2) In 1978, 2005, and 2020, the land-use diversity of Tangwei village was 0.44, 0.94, and 0.92, respectively, representing a 109% improvement; land-use compatibility was 0.68, 0.72, and 0.96, respectively, with an increase of 41.17%. The land-use diversity of Guxia village was 0.46, 0.76, and 0.78, respectively, with an increase of 69.57%; land-use compatibility climbed by 24.64% from 0.69 to 1 to 0.84. The land-use diversity of Fulong village was 0.53, 0.83, and 0.88, respectively, which increased by 66.03%; land-use compatibility was 0.74, 0.81, and 0.89, respectively, which increased by 20.27%. (3) The mixed land use of Tangwei village is primarily influenced by policy support, resource endowment, and industrial foundation. The primary drivers of Guxia village are policy support, geographic location, and industrial foundation. Policy support, resource endowment, and industrial foundation are the most critical factors in Fulong village. Ultimately, land-use diversity and compatibility determine the mixed land use of rural settlements. This study offers suggestions for village planning, rural industrial development, and enhancing the living environment in China. • A conceptual framework of mixed land use in rural settlements was established. • The characteristics and driving forces of mixed land-use evolution in rural settlements were revealed. • Considering land-use diversity and compatibility improved the measurement of mixed land use. • Mixed land use of rural settlements can promote the coordinated improvement of villagers' living conditions and rural industrial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional Chinese villages are a successful example of active adaptation and effective use and protection of the environment. Traditional Chinese settlement landscapes form under the influence of geographical environments and environment-friendly ideas and have specific regional identities. Core factors of these residential areas can be considered cultural landscape genes. Based on this, this paper used gene analysis to identify traditional Chinese habitat patterns and decipher their environmental significance and cultural connotations. The results show that: Living patterns can be divided into six categories: 'north-sitting or south-facing', ' Yin and Yang harmony', 'mountain-backed or water-facing', 'square-surrounded', 'psychological induction', and 'site-specific' modes. These patterns correspond to the laws of orientation: Yin and Yang , mountain and water, security, auspiciousness, and synthesis, respectively. In their process of formation and development, traditional Chinese living patterns were deeply influenced by the traditional Chinese philosophical ideas of ' Yin and Yang ', 'the living earth', 'unity of heaven and human', and 'harmony between human and earth'. This study utilised the logical framework of gene identification, decoding, and expression to examine the characteristics and values of residential landscapes in traditional Chinese settlement patterns, and extracted the genome map of settlement pattern from a cross-regional perspective. This study has important implications for the construction of green habitats. • Traditional settlement patterns in China were reviewed. • Concepts of Chinese philosophy in relation to settlement patterns were described. • The influence of the environment on settlement patterns was analysed. • The importance of continued research was highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use transitions are an important research area in land system science. In seeking a feasible way to improve rural residents' livelihoods and rural development, this paper explores the mechanism and effects of farmland use transition on rural livelihood transformation from the perspective of the human-land relationship. The theoretical framework of rural livelihood transformation as affected by farmland use transition is established, and econometric models are used to test the effects based on empirical panel data from China for the period 2000–2017. The major conclusions are drawn as follows. In essence, farmland use transition is the redistribution of agricultural productivity on farmland, and rural livelihood transformation is a process of long-term and trend transformation of rural residents' livelihood capital, livelihood structure, and livelihood pattern. Land use transitions boost the transformation of rural livelihood by regulating the rural human-land interactive relationship and substitutional relationship of elements in agricultural development. For every 1% increase in farmland management scale transition and farmland efficiency transition, rural livelihood transformation can be improved by 3.748% and 3.854%, respectively. The direction and intensity of the impact of farmland use transition on rural livelihood transformation differ by area and topographic conditions. Furthermore, people's livelihood finances and farmers' planting decisions regulate the effects of farmland use transition on rural livelihood transformation. The authors argue that regulating land use transitions can be an important component of policy-making to promote rural livelihoods transformation, and rural development transformation. • Theoretical framework for rural livelihood transformation affected by farmland use transition is established. • For every 1% increase in farmland scale and efficiency transition, rural livelihood transformation can be improved by 3.748% and 3.854%, respectively. • Impact of farmland use transition on rural livelihood transformation is heterogeneous in different areas and terrains. • People's livelihood finances and farmers' planting decisions will regulate the effect of farmland use transition on rural livelihoods transformation. • Regulating land use transition can be an important component of policy-making to promote rural livelihood transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite massive new town development in megacities in China, none of the prior studies examined commuting disparities of residents of different income groups living in various types of new towns. Based on established literature on urban structure and commuting and income disparities in commuting, this paper has examined the roles of income and new town types in commuting distance, mode, and time differences. Based on Beijing's new town development context, we categorize its six major new towns into residential, national park-driven industrial, market-based industrial, and satellite new towns. Using descriptive analysis and regressions on 595 new town residents, we find that high-income commuters tend to have longer commuting distances and times and are more likely to drive to workplaces. Those living in the residential new town tend to have longer commuting distances and times. Results also show the transportation resource differences in different types of new towns. Those living in the residential new town are more likely to commute by public transit. Results also show the transportation difficulties for low-income residents who live in satellite towns. Though high-income commuters living in those towns have significantly longer commuting distances, they do not necessarily have longer commuting times than low-income people living in these towns. This study has several implications for future research and policy implications for new town development in China and other transit-dependent cities in Asia and Global South. • This paper examines commuting disparities across different types of new towns and income groups in Beijing. • High-income commuters tend to have longer commuting distances and times and are more likely to drive. • Those living in the residential new town tend to have longer commuting distances and times. • Those living in the residential new town are more likely to commute by public transit. • Results also show the transportation difficulties for low-income commuters living in satellite towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the antipoverty effect of public rental housing (PRH) in Hong Kong based on a comparison of estimated imputed rents from PRH through regression-based and stratified rental equivalence methods. Empirical analysis shows that stratified equivalence method tended to generate a larger effect of poverty rate reduction and smaller effect of poverty gap reduction than regression-based method. The study identified a trend towards upwardly biased estimate of public imputed rent in the implementation of stratified equivalence method in Hong Kong where limited strata was available for the estimation. The development of antipoverty measures may be misguided if the stratified equivalence method is used in its current form in Hong Kong. The paper suggests that the choice of estimation method has important implications for evaluating the pros and cons of PRH from both poverty reduction and budgetary perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Guangdong Provincial government in China envisages co-operation between, and development of, the three cities of Shantou, Chaozhou, and Jieyang. To these ends, it has sought to mobilise the region's untapped resources through policies encouraging these cities' integration and growth. However, the policy and rhetoric of inter-city integration has not yielded concordant material outcomes. Instead, the three separate municipal governments have engaged with the policy agenda not in pursuit of co-operation and integration, but rather to take advantage of otherwise unavailable opportunities to boost their individual economic competitiveness. This paper examines the disjuncture between the rhetoric of inter-city co-operation and the material reality of competition in the Shantou-Chaozhou-Jieyang city-region. The paper takes significance first, in its critical exploration of the grounded and political processes underpinning the formation and implementation of the city-regional integration policies proliferating in China recently. The paper's second point of significance lies in its contribution to broader literature on city-regionalism and state rescaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dramatic urbanization process might severely impact the ecosystem service functions in resource-based regions, affecting the quality of life for the residents. Taking Huaibei, a mineral resource-based city in China during the period of 1990–2011 as a case study, this paper evaluates its level of urbanization and analyzes the relationship between the level of urbanization and ecosystem service values, using Xie's ecosystem unit service value table. The results show that Huaibei's level of urbanization has progressed gradually during the study period while ecosystem service values increased at the earlier time period but dropped in later time. Moreover, the relationship between the level of urbanization and ecosystem service values over time exhibits an irregular inverse “U” shape. From 1990 to 2002, Huaibei's ecosystem service value rose with the growing urbanization level, while it declined from 2003 to 2011. This indicates the possible effect that urbanization weakens the study area's ecosystem service function by altering ecosystem structure, ecological habitat and ecosystem circulation process. This paper provides the evidence why a coordinated development of urbanization and ecosystem service function is needed towards the sustainable management of mineral resources area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes three models of state planning for land reclamation and advances a fourth in the form of a modified neo-institutional economic theory of urban rent dissipation by Steven Cheung (1974) to interpret state-led reclamations as a way to break the control of land by land oligarchs. By comparing the concepts of new towns and other strategic reclamations in Hong Kong (HK) and the urban expansion of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SSEZ), this paper illustrates how the idiosyncratic forces of the land market drive the state to seek ways to create land through reclamation to achieve its planning goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese urbanisation is occurring rapidly but faces great challenges due to its large population, the continuing level of rural–urban migration, the shortage of resources to support the present development and the urbanisation model. One result is that China is the world's largest carbon emitter. The application of low carbon eco-city development should be contribute to the solution in addressing these challenges. This paper attempts to explore the low carbon eco-city initiatives in China. By analysing critically the problems which impact upon such an environmentally friendly development model, including government policy, social value and delivery mechanisms, this paper suggests that despite problems in implementing such a model, the low carbon eco-city model must be the mainstream approach to Chinese urbanisation and industrialisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land incremental value (LIV) refers to the increase in land value through processes of land acquisition, leasing, and real estate development that result in land revenue gains for stakeholders. However, the imbalanced distribution of LIV in China is causing severe disparities between key stakeholders. To effect reasonable and fair LIV distribution requires estimations, on a national scale, of proportionate LIV shares of stakeholders. This paper presents a theoretical framework linking stakeholders' land revenue and LIV based on land rights. Our analysis of the spatial patterns, temporal evolution, and distribution of LIVs in China revealed the following. In 2010, the average LIV distribution ratio for collectives/farmers, local governments, and developers was 2, 18 and 80%, respectively, of the total LIV. LIV values were higher and gaps between different types of LIVs, according to stakeholders, were wider in eastern coastal provinces compared with central and western China. While LIVs of collectives/farmers and local governments increased between 2005 and 2010, the gaps between them also widened. Our spatial analysis revealed that this trend was particularly prominent in the eastern coastal area. This paper examines the reasons for this imbalance in LIV distribution and the resultant problems. It suggests that developing a public service orientation within the government and reducing excessive land acquisitions may help to ease imbalances in LIV distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1990's China has issued a series of unbalanced land development policies for safeguarding food security and protecting farmland from overdevelopment, which brings about serious imbalanced development among regions. Thus initiating a trans-regional compensation mechanism to enhance balanced regional development is urgent. This paper attempts to shed the light on relationship between farmland protection and land finance from the perspective of local government economic welfare, and builds a trans-regional fiscal payment mechanism to balance farmland protection and economic development among provinces or autonomous regions or municipalities. Based on the data of China's second national land survey, a comprehensive level of farmland which takes the quantity, quality and ecological attributes of farmland into account, the relationship between farmland protection and land finance, and the trans-regional fiscal payment are quantified. The results indicate that (1) farmland protection for local government has a negative relationship with fiscal revenue accumulation, and an increase in per unit comprehensive value of farmland decreases about 11.474 Yuan (1.82USD) of per capita land revenue; (2) there are 17 farmland deficit regions mainly in East coastal China which should pay 26.1778 billion Yuan (4.14 billion USD) for overdevelopment and 14 farmland surplus agricultural dominant provinces mainly in Mid China which can gain a compensation of 35.0415 billion Yuan (5.54 billion USD) for underdevelopment (farmland protection). The study may contribute to the innovation of economic compensation policy of farmland preservation and reform of horizontal transfer fiscal payment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal land development has become a key issue in relation to land use planning in many countries. A new type of informal development, the informal gate community, has emerged and has become a new form of suburbanization in China's cities. Empirical studies about this new form remain scarce, as discussions on the slum-styled urban village still dominate the existing literature about informal development in China. The paper aims to explore the facts and factors in the new type of informal development. Looking at Beijing as a case study, analysis shows that informal gated communities have a high quality of life and good services, with public facilities and public transit. The existing institutional discrimination against migrants is a major reason why people choose informal housing, although the soaring price of formal housing is an important factor. The village-owned enterprise plays the role of business manager for the village's informal development. Its collaborations with government intuitions and state-owned enterprises blur its informal development activities and give buyers more confidence in buying informal housing. Conflicting responses to the informal development from state and local governments results in ambiguous and loose controls of informal development. As a result, local governments, villages, and residents have formed a strong informal development coalition. This coalition has created an invisible institutional barrier, making it more difficult for the state to prevent informal development. In addition, the ongoing political decentralization, economic liberalization, and market-oriented reforms seem to be bringing new challenges to the control of informal land development. For future policy, a more just and inclusive governance system is imperative for managing the suburbanization process in China's cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Urban Land Use Policy is a critical component of sustainable land use in China, aiming to improve the urban land use efficiency, increase land output, protect the land ecological environment and realize the sustainable utilization of urban land resources. As part of the strategy for sustainable urbanization, the Sustainable Urban Land Use Policy has been implemented in some cities for years. To evaluate the effectiveness and reveal the future direction of development of this policy, it is essential to analyze this policy in the framework of sustainable urbanization. It is possibly a reliable measure to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy by assessing the contribution of sustainable urban land use policies to sustainable urbanization strategies and the trend of contribution over time. This paper measured the degree of sustainable urbanization and sustainable urban land use with necessary Control Variables and Instrument Variables using panel data of 31 provincial capital cities from 2000 to 2008 and 2009 to 2014. The regression results showed that the Sustainable Urban Land Use Policy had a significant positive effect on China's sustainable urbanization and the effectiveness improved after 2008. From the aspect the mechanism, the contribution of this policy to sustainable urbanization was to promote economic growth, thereby, to improve the social welfare. In contrast, the role of promoting urban development potential and the decreasing urban resource consumption was not so significant. Therefore, while maintaining the existing achievements through macro-control, reducing resource consumption, increase land use intensity, improve urban development potential are the further goals of land use policy in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the National General Land Use Plan (1997–2010) came into effect in 1999, there has been no research investigating whether the farmland protection planning embedded within the top-down general land-use plans has contributed to promoting intensive utilization of urban land. This paper aims to assess the impact of farmland preservation efforts in the plans on the changes in urban land-use intensity, by focusing on two policy tools – prime farmland preservation and farmland conversion quotas. The study developed an approach to categorize and measure the change in urban land-use intensity by combining the changes in population density (in terms of population per unit of urban land area) and economic density (in terms of GDP per unit of urban land area). An ordinal dependent variable was generated based on the categories of changes in urban land-use intensity and a multilevel ordinal logit model was used in this study. The study indicates that (1) the farmland conversion quota system did not contribute to promoting urban land-use intensification between 2000 and 2010; (2) the prime farmland preservation had very limited impact on the intensity of urban land-use intensification. The prime farmland preservation would not influence urban land-use intensity when it was not high enough. The increase in the prime farmland preservation ratio in prefectural-level regions could lead to urban land-use intensification but only when the prime farmland preservation ratio was above 93%; and (3) the central government's supervision of local land-use played a significant role in promoting urban land-use intensification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the lack of exploration of housing market sentiment in previous work, this paper uses quantile regression for panel data (QRPD) to investigate how housing price and housing market sentiment affect non-housing consumption distributions among owners and renters during their life cycles in China. The results show that the positive effect of housing price on consumption is stronger at the higher and lower parts of the distribution, and the differences caused by ages are more significant for owners. Furthermore, the housing market sentiment plays a significant role in owners' and highest-consuming renters' consumption. The heterogeneities in QRPD results suggest that the least square method provides less information. This study offers practical implication for governments in conducting different housing policy strategies for different households so as to help households benefit from the development of housing market and hence increase social welfare and equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to Western countries, China's provision of affordable housing mainly focuses on supply-side subsidies. In China, the provision of affordable housing highly depends on local governments' impetus. While this, on one hand, ensures the stable provision of such housing, on the other hand, the model is disadvantageous since local governments have great discretionary power in the construction of affordable housing. Driven by economic interests, local governments often construct high-capacity affordable housing communities in remote locations, thus potentially distorting the ambitious aims and principles of China's affordable housing scheme. The empirical findings of this paper confirm that this particular spatial distribution of affordable housing has negatively affected the social interactions and life chances of its users. The key reasons behind these negative effects were found to be primarily economic motivations of local governments to construct such housing, including reducing their losses in land finance, maintaining high housing prices in central areas, pushing the price of urban land, and promoting urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urban expansion usually leads to the change of land use pattern and poses a severe threat to land resources with high ecological value, it is necessary to model the impact of urban development on surrounding environment. The aim of our study is to construct an effective model of simulating urban expansion with protecting ecological land, which could provide a decision-making reference for sustainable development of the city and promote the rational distribution of land resources. In this paper, we proposed an urban expansion model based on land ecological suitability (LES). The proposed model involves using the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) method to evaluate and visualize the land ecological suitability of the study area. Next, the random forest (RF) algorithm and cellular automaton (CA) are combined to construct an RF–CA to simulate future growth of urban land. As a case study, the RF–CA was used to simulate the distribution of urban land in Changzhou City, eastern China in 2020. The LES evaluation results were then used as the basis of optimizing urban expansion and restrained the excessive sprawl of the city, which could reduce encroachment on land resources such as waterbody and farmland, thereby increasing the ecosystem services value (ESV) by 50.24 million RMB(1 RMB = 0.15 US dollar). It was observed that our model could reduce the spatial conflict between urban expansion and ecological land protection effectively. Therefore, we believe that the results of our case study can contribute to more reasonable urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the launch of economic reform and openness policy in the late 1970s, Chinese cities have witnessed significant growth and sprawl, resulting in a large amount of farmland converted for urban construction. Given the need to both protect farmland and provide options for urban development, the central government proposed the Link Policy in 2005. Under this scheme, farmers are relocated into centralised communities by consolidating their original homestead into farmland, and enabling the transfer of land quotas for urban construction. The implementation of the Link Policy has restructured rural farming and lifestyles but studies on the Link Policy from a farmer's perspective are limited. This paper investigates farmers' satisfaction with the Link Policy and explores the underlying factors. Using Ezhou in Hubei Province as a case study, face-to-face interviews were undertaken with farmers in centralised communities to understand their satisfaction with the Link Policy. Interview data were coded and analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to identify the factors affecting farmers' satisfaction. The results show that farmer's willingness to participate, knowledge of the Link Policy, living conditions before resettlement, and the compensation for resettlement had significant influence on satisfaction with policy implementation. We suggest that meaningful consultation and improved communications between farmers and local governments are needed to enhance the social acceptability of policy outcomes. To minimize the social impacts of resettlement, urbanised villages would be prioritised in project implementation and a long-term supporting scheme should be offered by local government to assist farmers in their lifestyle transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to stocktake the major institutional innovations in land development and planning markets in the 20th century, and looks ahead to how these ideas may affect the evolution of institutions in the 21st century. Major ideas discussed include, i) public-private-partnerships; ii) zoning and participatory planning; iii) land readjustment and developers' obligations; iv) transfer of development rights; v) Coasean bargaining; and vi) informal institutions. We suggest that the foci of institutional innovations in the present century will shift from 20th century preoccupations as a result of rapid technological development and increasing environmental concerns. The keys for success in the institutional innovations to emerge will hinge on their abilities to reduce transaction costs for market exchange through new technologies, and align property right structures to achieve common goals of preserving the globe without compromising present economic needs too much. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gated communities with tall and dense residential buildings are common in China's cities due to the limited land resources and highly concentrated populations. Living in a gated community is comfortable, safe and removed from outside pollution and vehicles, but these large enclosed areas tend to block traffic and, therefore, increase drivers' travel distance. Comparing the residential layouts and transportation in Changsha, which is a provincial capital city in Central China, with those in Leeds, which is a city in the UK, this paper discusses the choice of residential layout in Chinese cities based on the characteristics of the residential buildings (tall and densely populated) and reveals that in Chinese cities, the size of the closed residential areas should be controlled to allow more route choices for vehicles. Controlled residential areas should not be open to outside vehicular traffic but can be designed to be semi-open, allowing entry only to pedestrians from outside, to improve the proportion of pedestrian traffic and separate pedestrians from vehicles on the roads. Enclosed areas can be designed to separate people from vehicles, and vehicles should be parked together by building car parks, parking structures or underground garages to reorder traffic, improve the quality of life of the people in the community and promote the efficient use of land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts caused by housing demolition and relocation have been a major threat to social stability in China. However, our knowledge of what characterizes these conflicts and how they emerge remains inadequate. This article aims to address these two questions. In a general sense, this paper is also an attempt to promote a better understanding of the relationship between conflicts and regional culture. Based on an analysis of 575 cases of illegitimate demolition collected from news websites, we find that most illegitimate demolition cases occur against the background of the public sector's expropriation in urbanization projects. Moreover, a spatial agglomeration of illegitimate demolition cases is found north of the Yangtze River. A count data regression model is developed to assess whether regional culture is relevant. The results confirm that regional cultural features, which are quantified using 7 cultural dimensions of the GLOBE project, influence the probability of illegitimate demolition. Specifically, residents of a region with higher uncertainty avoidance, humane orientation and in-group collectivism are more likely to experience illegitimate demolition. In contrast, a region characterized by high performance orientation, assertiveness, institutional collectivism and power distance has a relatively low probability of experiencing illegitimate demolition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sensitivity of housing demand to income changes has important implications for the evolution of housing affordability and the behavior of urban households. In Hong Kong, investigations into this issue have shown the increasing importance of the private rental housing market, which is regarded as suboptimal and to contribute to gentrification and inequality problems. Using microdata from four waves of Hong Kong census data between 1996 and 2011, this paper aims to estimate the income elasticity of demand for private rental housing. A permanent income model was adopted to isolate permanent income and transitory income at household level. Then, the Heckman two-stage procedure was used to correct selection bias and the quantile regression (QR) approach was used to investigate the heterogeneity of demand elasticities across different tiers of housing expenditure. The empirical results showed that the permanent income elasticities fell within a range of 0.536–0.698 and transitory income shock had a positive and significant impact on the demand for rental housing. Moreover, a U shape of permanent income elasticity across the whole distribution of housing expenditure was revealed. Households in both the upper and lower tiers were more sensitive to permanent income changes, with the higher tier of households being more sensitive to transitory income shocks. These findings not only shed light on the long-term movement and cross-sectional heterogeneity of housing demand in the private rental housing market, but also have implications for studies of the rental housing demand in other developed cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the large-scale urbanisation process in China, the issue of ‘non-local-governed urban villages’ (NLGUV) arises within government. NLGUVs are suffering from overlapping administration, mismatched responsibilities and rights and unclear lines of authority. This fact not only violates the basic legal principle of administrative division, but also creates serious management problems and goes against the principal of coordinated development of urban and rural areas. Based on a questionnaire survey and interviews of urban villages in Beijing, this paper aims to answer two questions: first, what are the institutional barriers of the NLGUVs, and second, how they have hampered the rural-to-urban transition of those urban villages and urban-rural integration in the urban fringe areas. It is found that, while having administrative problems in common, the NLGUVs vary significantly in terms of demo-geographic, socio-economic, and management characteristics, so it is argued that solutions to the administrative management problems of the NLGUVs should be different. Upon analyses of the 155 NLGUVs distributed over 32 sub-districts and seven districts in Beijing, they are divided into four groups: lagging-behind urban villages, transformed urban villages, problematic urban villages and enclave urban villages. On this ground, urban policies including abuse of the setting criteria of sub-districts, and problems with the resettlement policy of urban villages and current land acquisition policies are identified as the main causes for the ‘production’ of the NLGUVs. The findings shed lights on the restructure of administrative system for existing urban villages and reform of urban policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the constraints to achieving optimal infrastructure sustainability for mountainous townships in Southwest China. Although such townships are relatively less developed, it is well recognized that investment in infrastructure projects in less developed townships plays a vital role in China's sustainable development mission. While the benefits of infrastructure investments are usually measured by means of economic performance, their long-term sustainability performance is largely overlooked. It is therefore imperative to understand the constraints that impede infrastructure sustainability and what corrective actions can be taken. The constraints are identified in this study via exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Twenty-one townships in the mountainous regions of Southwest China were investigated by means of a questionnaire survey. The study reveals that the major constraints include four dimensions: “Economic Capacity”, “Governance and Management”, “Policy Instrument and Public Participation”, and “Local Geographic Characteristics”. Identification of these constraints provides a valuable reference for local governments to take adequate measures to ensure that their infrastructure sustainability can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The “China Dream” is an “Urban Dream”. Urbanization is an inevitable requirement for promoting social progress. The Chinese government sees sustainable urbanization as an engine of modernization and economic growth. And the country's urbanization has followed a unique course and is perhaps the greatest human-resettlement experiment in the world history, unprecedentedly transforming the Chinese society in a very short period of time. Yet problems have arisen during the historical process, China's unique path to urbanization has avoided many of pitfalls existing in the developing countries in Africa, Asia and South America. This paper attempts to conclude the good jobs as well as problems in China's urbanizing process which might provide successful experience for the underdeveloped nations and regions to promote urbanization. The most brilliant achievement of urbanization in China is that thousands of years' agriculture-dominated country has ended and a new urbanized country has formed, which only consumed several decades. The country's urban infrastructure, living conditions and public service for urban residents have made great improvements. The fostering urban agglomerations are considered to lead the country's socio-economic transformation and possess the greatest potential for the urbanization and economic growth in the coming decades. In general, the traditional land-centered urbanization in China is a typical “incomplete urbanization” and “low-quality urbanization”, presenting impressive characteristics of “four highs and five lows”—high investment, consumption, emission and expansion, and low level, quality, harmony degree, inclusiveness and sustainability. Undoubtedly, the traditional urbanization of China is increasingly difficult to continue and the transformation process should be speeded up as soon as possible. The country should actively explore a people-oriented new-type urbanization way, i.e. an intensive, efficient, rural-urban integration, harmonious and sustainable urbanization model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researches on land changes and ecosystem services from the perspective of global and regional ecosystems have received a worldwide attention in recent years. Land space refers to a cluster of adjacent land-use units with similar functions and uses and disturbance characteristics at various scales. However, few studies has focused on synthesizing ecological, agricultural, and urban land space changes and their socio-economic driving factors at national scale using partial least square regression ( PLSR ) analysis method based on accurate and reliable data from national land surveys. The paper analyzed the spatial-temporal changes and regional differentiation of ecological, agricultural, and urban land space in China and discussed the impacts of land policies on these changes and identified the key regional socio-economic driving factors with variable importance in projection ( VIP ) value. Results indicated that ecological and agricultural land space decreased by 0.85% and 0.68% from 1984 to 2012, respectively; while urban land space increased by 1.53%. The changes in land space were characterized with spatial-temporal differentiation, mainly driven by economic level and land policies implementation. Chinese last 30 years’ economic development mode has not been sustainable for rapidly consumption of ecological and agricultural land space. From 1984 to 2005, the area of ecological land space decreased in some regions and periods but increased in other regions and periods. However, from 2005 to 2012, the area of ecological land space decreased in all regions, with high rates in Jiangsu-Zhejing-Shanghai (JZS) and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) regions. From 1984 to 2012, the area of agricultural land space generally decreased in all regions but Qinghai-Tibet (QT) region, while the area of urban land space increased in all regions. Change rates of three types of land space were generally high in the 1984–1996, 2000–2005, and 2009–2012 periods and especially in JZS region. On one hand, national and regional land policies resulted in the temporal-spatial differentiation of these changes. Regional difference of socio-economic variables was one important character of changes in ecological, agricultural and urban land space. Fixed asset investment, economic density, and per capita GDP had important effects on the changes in ecological, agricultural and urban land space. On the other hand, there were some problems and deviations for some land policies. It is necessary to optimize land spatial pattern in different regions from ecological perspective. A zoning control system and differentiated land policies and natural ecosystem protection must be implemented in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation system of human settlements focusing on housing conditions, urban natural environments, social economy, and public infrastructure. Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis are used to analyze and rank the 2003–2013 human settlements index and create five clusters for 35 major cities in China (including municipalities, provincial capitals, and Prefecture-level cities). On the basis of four years of a spatial analysis of the human settlements index, we find that living conditions of 35 Chinese cities have significantly improved; severe air pollution persists in China, with large differences between the north and the south; weak correlation between urban human settlements and the growth rate of economic development; and the infrastructure of China's mega cities is overloaded. The results confirm and quantify growing geographic disparities and deep structural urban challenges that are associated with rapid economic growth and social change, leaving many cities in China to struggle with worsening pollution, excessive demand on existing infrastructures, and housing prices that rise faster than disposable incomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization has proceeded at an unprecedented speed in China during the last 20 years, resulting in extensive natural landscapes being transformed into impervious surface. The “ghost city” phenomenon has emerged due to the unreasonable urban expansion which far exceeds the actual demand of human habitat. Previously, few research studies have provided objective and sufficient knowledge with regard to identify “ghost cities” and their spatial distribution. In this paper, we proposed an effective and feasible framework to monitor and evaluate “ghost cities” utilizing nighttime light imagery obtained from day-night band (DNB) of Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). We established a “ghost city” index (GCI) to quantify the intensity of the phenomenon in the northeast of China, and analyzed the spatial pattern of “ghost cities” for different GCI classes. Our results indicate that the intensity of “ghost city” phenomenon decrease from regions adjacent to the border to interior areas, whilst regions with extremely high GCI are mostly districts and county cities. Tests of typical regions show that non-lit built-up area for high GCI regions is spatially clustered and low population regions have a high tendency to suffer from the “ghost city” phenomenon. Therefore, our findings provide a spatial-explicit insight into the “ghost city” phenomenon, and consequently can be beneficial to assist sustainable urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation index to assess the suitability of human settlement based upon the ecological environment superiority, economic development vitality and convenience of public services. These measures are combined with an assessment of resident's preferences to comprehensively evaluate the suitability of human settlements. The spatial pattern of human settlements environment suitability and the spatial relationship between the suitability and population distribution in Zhejiang Province under different preference models were explored. The results showed that: under the ecological environment preference mode, human settlements environment suitability in Zhejiang declined from the south to the north, and the current population was mainly distributed in areas where human settlements environment suitability was lower. Under the economic development preference mode, human settlements environment suitability was higher in the northeast than the southwest, higher at the coast than inland areas, and the regional differentiation was significant. Under the public service preference mode, human settlements environment suitability in Zhejiang showed a basic pattern which was higher in the southwest than the northeast, better in the plains than mountain areas, and most of the population was distributed in areas with higher suitability. Based on different preferences, the optimization path of human settlements environment was explored. In this study, the objective entity environment and the subjective experience of the residents were combined to evaluate the suitability of regional human settlements environment according to different preferences, so as to offer a new analysis perspective for comprehensive research on human settlements environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban form may play an important role in improving air quality, but studies on already-high-density cities are relatively limited. In this paper, we developed an integrated land use-transport-emission model with TRANUS and MOBILE 6.2, selected an already-high-density city, Xiamen, as the study area, and explored the effects of compact growth on traffic emissions and exposure to air pollution. The results show that compact growth may significantly reduce regional traffic emissions even in an already-high-density city, but high-density developments may result in higher population-weighed exposures to air pollution. The finding implies that compact growth strategies should be carried out and the metric of population-weighed exposures should be considered in already-high-density cities. Integrated land use-transport-emission models may serve as a useful tool for urban planning agencies to decide appropriate locations for urban growths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulated exit from public rental housing (PRH) after lease expiration plays a crucial role in fair allocation of the PRH units in China. There were incidents of exit difficulty happened previously which undermined the PRH allocation and its principles of fairness and efficiency. However, very few studies have directly investigated the determinants of tenants' intention to exit. This paper adopts the analysis framework based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to explore the factors influencing tenants' intention to exit PRH from a variety of aspects including personal and family characteristics, satisfaction with allocation process, housing management, and understanding of exit policy. The research finds that the factors such as education level, family income, household size, floor area, allocation satisfaction and understanding about PRH policies have statistically significantly positive effects on intention to exit PRH. While tenants’ satisfactions with housing management, environment and neighborhood would inhibit intention to exit. As the study reveals, more attention is needed to provide skill training, build appropriate exit mechanisms and implement exit policies strictly to encourage the intention to exit and promote PRH exits in an orderly manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses changes to ecosystem services (ESS) over the past thirty years in a small part of the hinterland of Xi'an, a city of nearly nine million population in Shaanxi Province, China. Using field survey and interviews with local farmers, the study provides micro-scale exemplification of the transformation occurring around major urban growth centres in China in response both to urbanization and agricultural modernization. The effects of urban growth upon agriculture are illustrated by wholesale changes in the type of production, increasing the value of provisioning services by replacing traditional cereals cultivation with fruit, which reflects the impact of the dynamic urban market. Five different types of ESS are calculated and analyzed, taking into consideration changing land management practices associated with the principal new crops in the study area, cherries and grapes. The widespread adoption of cherries as the main cash crop has also afforded farmers an additional source of revenue from tourists visiting the area to see the Spring-time blossom, pick the fruit and obtain a ‘rural experience’ by interacting with farmers and eating local food. The increased wealth for farm households has prevented the ‘hollowing’ of villages close to the expanding metropolitan area, but longer distance commuting to work in the city is now common for younger rural residents. Detailed calculation of the changing pattern of EES reveals the significant effects not only of the introduction of new crops but also the role of particular land management practices. Further analysis of these practices is proposed to obtain better understanding of the balance between positive and negative changes to EES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is not neutral with respect to local quality of life. With the transformation of traditional city roles and the boom of urban tourism in China, the interaction between tourism and local livability is increasingly important for sustainable development plans of urban areas. Our paper aims to address the complex interdependence of the emerging tourist industry and local livability in Chinese cities. Based on a conceptual model and a subsequent empirical statistical analysis of 35 large and medium-sized Chinese cities for the years 2003–2012, our study finds that urban livability and its related factors benefit tourism development, and that, in turn, tourism has a reverse impact on livability in urban areas; their performance appears to vary in different sub-regions and for different factors of livability; the geographic interdependence between livability and tourism development is also remarkable. Potential threats from excessive tourism development on urban livability, in particular in the Chinese Eastern and Central large and medium-sized cities, can be inferred from our empirical analysis. These conclusions may lead to important lessons to policy makers, while various suggestions based on our findings are provided as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the housing marketization reform, China's real estate industry has rapidly developed and commercial housing prices have risen sharply. The main reason for this is the speculative demand for housing, which breaks the equilibrium of supply and demand, leading to housing prices deviating from their basic value. The housing market in China is not isolated by province, since speculative behavior in one part of the country can affect other regions. This paper analyzes the spatial relevance in housing prices among different provinces in China by calculating Moran's I index and by measuring the speculation degree through spatial autoregressive model (SAR), a spatial economic model combined with a spatial weight matrix. For commercial housing speculation degree measurement and comparison, 31 provinces in China were chosen along with the following variables: housing prices, personal disposable income, one-year personal housing mortgage rates, housing prices growing rates, the rent, amount of residential investment, and the construction areas of houses. The results show that China's housing prices have a clear interaction among the selected cities, and that housing speculation behavior also influences each other in space. Although there are speculation activities in China, from a global perspective the degree of speculation, which varies from region to region, is still just within internationally acceptable limits. Although there are some regions with high degrees of housing speculation, the speculation is not yet China-wide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of inappropriate land use planning has negative impact on environmental quality, threatens food, health and residential security, and can even lead to regional environmental disaster. In this paper, a worst-case scenario based methodology using the land use environmental tolerance index (LETI) was proposed to assess the impact of land use planning on the environment. The land use planning environmental impact assessment (LUPEA) of Lianyungang City was performed as a case study to demonstrate the novel methodology. The inappropriate land use planning of the study area was spatially identified, and adjustments for the land use planning scheme to minimize the adverse impacts were accordingly recommended. Results show that the land use planning layout of the study area is fundamentally rational as most of the planned production and living land parcels are located outside the worst-case scenario areas, but the small fraction of the parcels in the worst-case scenario areas indicates a need for an improved land use planning scheme. This methodology provides a new perspective to evaluate the impact of land use planning on the environment, especially for densely populated countries which still suffer food, health and residential security issues and thus require much attention to environmental safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural housing abandonment (RHA) is happening on a large scale in China and accumulatively leads to the phenomenon of village hollowing. This paper conducts a microscopic analysis on the influencing factors of individual decision making in the process of RHA through an empirical study on Pi County in southwest China. Our multi-level logistic regression shows that RHA is mainly influenced by the pulling forces of urban economy and the deteriorated physical condition of rural houses. We discuss that how these factors exert their influence is further linked with the institutional barriers in China that impede the free movement of residents and properties between urban and rural systems, which distorts individual choices towards RHA. Therefore, we suggest policies that promote the equalization of rural and urban residents and recognize the need for the free transfer of rural land and property, as well as the need to develop tools that effectively predict the emergence of RHA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to investigate the ripple effect of house prices between 35 metropolitans in China, using a coefficient heterogeneity model with Panel Data and VAR model. The metropolitans are divided into panels by spatial location and regional economic level. The empirical results show that prices in most regions are generally consistent with the national average, but they have different responses to changes in national fundamentals. Particularly, there is a clear differentiation in North China and East China from other regions, as well as the region of a higher level economic development. Furthermore, the findings from Granger test and impulse response function with VAR model indicate that those regions are the source where a ripple effect is from. And the diffusion path is very clear between economic regions. This study has provided a better understanding of the formation and transmission of the ripple effect of house prices across regions and also important implications for central and local governments over market changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small town urbanization in China is a heterogeneous and contested process that involves numerous actors and forces in the context of highly liberalized local economies. This paper examines the socioeconomic transformation and adaptation to small town life among landless and resettled villagers in the state-sponsored small town urbanization from the villagers' perspective. Based on survey opinions from the affected villagers in two small towns in Nanjing, it articulates how the institutional arrangements of land development and spatial-territorial reorganization have exerted their direct socioeconomic influence on the transformation of landless and displaced villagers' lives. The study concludes that, as a result of the growing establishment of socioeconomic relationships with the host small town society, villagers encounter various challenges that differ substantially from their expectations in the absence of more institutionalized labor market and full-fledged social service programs. Resettled villagers now face more subtle forms of institutional segmentations while the official implementation and villagers' awareness of social security and welfare programs are questionable. The study calls for a two-way approach for future research that, alongside exploring the perceptions of resettled villagers, also investigates the host society's attitudes and perceptions about these new residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban regeneration has emerged as a response to the process of decay in historic districts. Based on a detailed literature review and the distinctive features of this mode of project practice in China, the current paper examines critical success factors (CSFs) in historic district regeneration projects. These factors are grouped into six main dimensions, namely, external environment, project characteristics, participants, project implementation, organization governance and the conservation of historic and cultural values. The internal relations among the identified CSFs are developed with the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) Method. This is followed by a case study showing the use of these results. Project K (a renovation project) and Project J (a redevelopment project) are selected to explore and compare their critical success paths (CSPs) with the optimized Critical Path Method (CPM), drawing on project management methods. The results show that Project K relies on the strength of the real estate market to achieve development of cultural industries with cultural characteristics, while Project J creates a strong cultural atmosphere to attract tourists and then increases cultural propaganda efforts, with an operating income used to achieve cultural continuity. Both cultural operation modes can achieve the cultural objectives of the project with a different CSP. The identification of CSFs, their internal relations, and the CSPs are explored in two cases, which provide useful guidance to project parties planning to participate in dynamic management of historic district regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

City size hierarchy and distribution are always at the heart of urban studies, as they have a special ability to reveal the rules of city development and urban system spatial layouts. There is however a data deficiency with regard to city size hierarchy and distribution; in particular, an absence of complete statistics and spatial differences from the global perspective. To fill this research gap, this paper investigates global city size hierarchy based on 2014 data of more than 190 countries and regions by using classic models of “rank-size” rule, the fractal theory and the law of the primate city. We analyzed the spatial patterns, regional features, and implications for China from multi-scale and multi-dimension perspectives. The results show that: (1) There is an obvious pyramid structure of global city size distribution, but differences exist among countries and regions with different economic development types, suggesting a feature of “various types with pyramid dominated”; (2) The primate feature of global city size distribution is not very obvious. However, the primacy ratios of developed countries are much higher than others, and significant differences exist among different regions; (3) The global Zipf exponent and Hausdorff dimension are 0.66 and 1.29, respectively. Cities with middle ranks are in the majority, and the monopoly power of large and super cities is effective to a certain extent, indicating a decreasing concentration tendency in the city size distribution and a convergence trend in terms of relative population size, especially with regard to the medium and small cities; (4) The medium and small cities develop swiftly with limited agglomeration effect of large cities, and Chinese cities would significantly influence global urban progress and spatial patterns. Therefore, developing 780–800 cities will be reasonable for China's urbanization efforts by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy consumed by urban transportation systems has implications for local environmental protection and greenhouse gas emission reductions. It is widely claimed that in growing cities, individuals' transport energy use could be made more efficient by planning to control urban sprawl and create polycentric urban structures. However, existing conclusions are mixed. This paper contributes to this issue with an in-depth analysis of China's cities. Interestingly, polycentric cities demonstrated lower travel energy efficiency than monocentric ones. This is mainly because urban sub-center developments have failed to combine employment and residential land use. In these planned sub-centers, land use is usually dominated by either housing or industrial park developments, requiring people to commute long distances between home and work, and use cars at high rates. Increasing fragmentation of development management due to political decentralization has apparently worsened the job-housing imbalance. Though a significant effect of urban structure on transport energy consumption was observed, car use control policies had no effect, while a high level of metro services was associated with lower energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport infrastructure development is generally perceived as catalyst for economic growth. This has been highlighted in previous literature, generally focusing on the economic impact of transport infrastructure investments. This paper contributes to spatial econometrics by examining the causal relationship between economic strength and accessibility gains due to the development of expressways and high-speed rail, taking the Yangtze River Delta as research object. Spatial regression models that accommodate for the influence of spatial autocorrelation and the newly defined variable “weighted mode's average travel time (WMATT)” and other explanatory variables are developed for quantitative analysis. Estimation results indicate that cities' gross domestic product increases significantly with population, passenger traffic, and foreign direct investment. Especially, all the estimated models indicate that WMATT is significantly and negatively associated with gross domestic product, revealing that inter-city accessibility gains (travel-time savings) can enhance economic strength. The robustness analysis on the estimators indicates that while the β -coefficient of WMATT generally increases with the share of expressways and high-speed rail in land transportation, its p -value increases and its effect may become insignificant if inter-city travel time becomes fast enough. Findings from this study highlight the travel-speed up measures such as open China's expressway freely and speed up the high-speed rail rather than blind development and endless investments can also play an important role in enhancing economic strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing problems in China have recently aroused wide range of interests of scholars. Housing demand, which is a classical discussing point in academia, also acts as reference for governments to enact loose, tense or neutral housing policies. However, studies scrutinizing the housing demand structure, particularly from consumption and investment perspectives are scant. Existing researches have mostly focused on the mature housing market in large cities in China, and the housing market in small cities has rarely been addressed. In this study, housing demand is deliberated in two respective dimensions of rent/own and consumption/investment demand. Price elasticities are obtained through formulating demand functions of each demand category with micro-data collected through questionnaire survey in small cities in Jiangsu. Underpinned by the set of elasticity coefficients, detailed housing demand structure can be calculated proportionately. Results suggest that the improvement and investment housing needs have outweighed basic consumption demand in small cities in Jiangsu Province. Housing price rising has a promoting effect on residential housing demand, which is in stark contrast to the existing studies on price elasticity of housing demand in large cities in China. Factors of urbanization significantly influence the housing need of residents in small cities. Improvement of urbanization rate would contribute to the consumption demand booming while prosperity of tertiary industry would boost improvement and investment housing demand. Not only could the analytic methodology of housing demand structure demonstrated in this paper be referenced, but the empirical answers carry vital implications for governments implementing diverse policy design in large and small cities in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the significant contribution that development sites make to total real estate transaction activity at a global, regional and country-specific level over 2007–2014. By assessing over 216,000 major real estate transactions worth in excess of $6.35 trillion, development sites are shown to account for over $2.0 trillion or 31.6% of global real estate transaction activity. Regional and country differences are highlighted, particularly in the Asia-Pacific emerging real estate markets, with the significance of development sites in China specifically highlighted. The analysis shows that China accounted for $1.6 trillion in development site transactions or 80% of development site transaction activity globally over 2007–2014, with development sites in China being a key catalyst to providing the urban infrastructure and fabric for China's future economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in housing demand because of population migration may have a great influence on urban housing prices. The objective of this paper is to investigate how the two aspects of population migration, including inter-regional migration and rural-urban migration, affect housing prices at city level in China. By using the data of the population sampling survey in 2005 and the sixth population census in 2010, a series of empirical studies have been conducted. The results of pooled cross-section data show that an increase in inter-regional migrants by 1% will lead to a rise in housing prices by 0.701% when controlling the other relevant factors. Likewise, an increase in the level of urbanization by 1% will drive up housing prices by 0.343%. Furthermore, the study figures out that the better educated migrants are more likely to affect local housing prices, and the cities with more migrants with higher educational level are expected to experience higher housing prices, which sheds some light on the mechanism of the relationship between migration and housing price. The findings are helpful to China's government in population-related policy making and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Urban regeneration is a complicated process as it involves a lot of parties each with different interests and agendas. Regeneration of urban villages is an even more intricate issue in China due to the dual systems of property rights over urban and rural land. While a lot of attention has been given to the governance structure applied to the regeneration process, this paper tries to analyze the changing ideological foundation for local authorities in China to execute such regeneration in a more efficient and less costly way. By a detailed case study of Liede Village in Guangzhou, we find that local authorities in China are willing to explore neoliberal approach in coordinating with market forces in the process of regeneration. The results in this case study are promising as all parties involved got what they wanted from the regeneration scheme. However, one should not be mistaken that this is a paradigm shift in the governance ideology. We expect that such progress to take place only in a gradual manner when circumstances in the market and socio-political environments allow it to proceed further, a situation not dissimilar with how ships advance gradually in a canal via various locks. We coin this situation in this paper a “locks analogy”. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]