Growing threat to urban retail? Residential suburbanization and shopping behavior change in Shanghai, China

Abstract

Many studies found the rise of suburban retail in the Western countries had negative impacts on the urban centers. Although there is a debate on that the form and process of suburbanization in Chinese cities are different from those in the developed countries, limited research have examined the impact of suburbanization on inner city retail in the context of Chinese cities. This study analyzed the changing retail hierarchy under the process of suburbanization in Shanghai, restricted by the state-led retail regulations and planning. Then, we investigate how relocating to a suburban new town influenced residents' shopping behaviors given the local and city-level retail supply. An in-home household survey is conduced to examine the changes in shopping frequencies and destination choice, in particular the difference between the residents moved from the inner city and those from the suburbs.We found the combination of the construction land quota system, the “top-down” planning and the state land ownership have protected retail hierarchy of Shanghai. The transit oriented development (TOD) mode not only delineates the catchment area of the local retail supply of the suburban new town, but also connects those suburban residents with limited car access to the inner city retail agglomerations. The survey result indicates that the residential suburbanization hasn't significantly changed the shopping frequencies of the respondents, but is associated with reduced propensity of patronizing inner city retail agglomerations. However, the willingness to shop at inner city for comparative goods such as beauty and health care, and apparel is still high for those who used to live in the inner city. In contrast, there are significant reductions in the likelihoods of shopping at the old suburban town center for those who previously lived in the district. This suggests the rise of suburban new towns might weaken the old town centers of the suburban districts rather than the inner city.