Research on residential segregation in Chinese cities

This chapter provides an overview of research on the evolution of residential segregation in Chinese cities since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. There were almost no discernible patterns of segregation during the central planning period, largely due to the socialist work-unit systems and the de-commodification of land and housing. Since the initiation of economic reforms in 1978, Chinese cities have witnessed significant spatial divisions across socioeconomic groups, driven by forces such as rapid economic and spatial restructuring, market-oriented housing and land reforms, and massive rural-to-urban migration. Residents of similar socio-economic status tend to cluster in the same neighbourhoods, with the elite moving to expensive gated communities and the urban poor to dilapidated residential areas. The impacts of segregation on residents’ social contacts and labour market outcomes are profound and long-lasting. While social segregation is regarded as a widespread urban phenomenon worldwide, the causes and consequences of segregation in Chinese cities should be interpreted within the country’s specific historical, social, cultural and institutional contexts.