Urbanisation and Public Rental Housing in Chongqing, China: Perspectives from Rural Migrants

This thesis examines the effects of urbanisation and public rental housing policies implemented in Chongqing, China, focusing on perspectives from rural migrants. China has been experiencing a fast-paced process of urbanisation over the past four decades. The city of Chongqing in southwestern China has adopted a range of innovative urbanisation policies since the mid-2000s, which provide a different path to urbanisation. Among the policies launched in Chongqing, public rental housing has drawn a great deal of attention from across the world due to its large scale and emphasis on the role played by the government. As such, Chongqing stands out as a unique example of Chinese urbanisation. Despite an increasing body of literature on urbanisation and public rental housing in Chongqing, however, most studies focus on the macro socioeconomy of policies; few studies have investigated the perceptions held by rural migrants towards these policies. This thesis fills the gap by emphasising the perspectives of rural migrants, and conducting a systematic assessment of four critical aspects of their new urban life in Chongqing: motivations and obstacles in becoming urban residents; job choice, location and mobility; schooling for children; and everyday life in the neighbourhood. The study shows that rural migrants generally adapt well to urban life and public rental housing despite dissatisfaction with some aspects. Key findings can be summarised as follows: (1) Motivations and barriers. The mass migration to public rental housing is well-organised and purposive. The motivations for migration are not exclusively financial, but include the opportunities for better schooling, achieving urban aspirations and enhanced family bonds that come with living in public rental housing. Meanwhile, barriers experienced by rural migrants include lack of financial support and educational attainment, social stigmatisation due to lifestyle differences, and loss of a long-term safety net due to hukou conversion. (2) Job choice, location and mobility. The stability of family housing outweighs the superiority of work. The remote locations of public rental housing contribute to migrants’ low job expectations and acceptance of marginalised areas and long commutes in return for securing family bonds. Their job experience has been negatively impacted by the municipality’s pursuit of land-based financing approaches, the exclusion imposed by government authorities, and the lag in the supply of public transport and societal stigmatisation. (3) Schooling for children. As a familial strategy, attending the affiliated schools of public rental housing allows rural migrants’ children to seek increased educational opportunities and upward social mobility, and reduced social segregation by offering equal access to urban schooling. (4) Everyday life in the neighbourhood. Rural migrants have managed to develop community ties despite poor urban design and mishandled management of public rental housing. The development of community ties started as involuntary coping strategies but have gradually become voluntary choices made by rural migrants, and eventually become grounded in feelings of attachment to a physical space. This thesis contributes original findings on both positive and negative changes in rural migrants’ experience and everyday life brought by urbanisation policies in Chongqing. It provides an enhanced understanding of urbanisation in China and innovative perspectives on public rental housing through a unique lens. Drawing upon Lefebvre’s concept of the production of space, this thesis demonstrates that the urban spaces as perceived and lived by rural migrants were different from those conceived and planned by the local government and professionals. Despite living on the edge, rural migrants have managed to play an active role in placemaking and community building