Urbanization and Urban Villages in China

AUTHOR: Latdavone Vilaysouk
FACULTY: Dr. Megan Dixon
DEPARTMENT: Environmental Studies

ABSTRACT

Cities across Asia are urbanizing rapidly, especially in East Asia. Among the 1.6 billion people in East Asia, more than 60 percent live in urban settings. Today, urbanization in China is increasing exponentially. The increasing rural-urban migration makes the inequality in the cities more noticeable. This study aims to explore issues resulting from the rapid urbanization in Chinese cities. ArcGIS Online and Google Earth were used to observe the overall trend of urbanization in cities and were supported by database resources and peer-reviewed articles. Among the issues resulting from rapid urbanization, inequality in housing is the primary issue presented in almost every city. In China, the term Chengzhongcun or "urban village" refers to high-density, low-income neighborhoods located in the middle of the city. Urban villages are the remnants of rural areas that survived urban expansion and remain in urban settings. The issue of the urban village is tied to the Hukou System (household registration) that the Chinese government uses to control rural-urban migration. Many social issues in Chinese cities can be traced back to Hukou, urban expansion, and urban villages. The findings indicated that urban development projects are threatening people who live in the low-income neighborhoods of the cities. As a result, it creates social and economic disparities between local and rural people (according to their hukou status). The study also showed that the use of online mapping tools in the study of urbanization could lead to the understanding of social issues that cannot be derived from official maps.