How can large-scale housing provision in the outskirts benefit the urban poor in fast urbanising cities? The case of Beijing

Abstract

In most fast-urbanising cities there is an enormous challenge in the provision of decent housing for the urban poor. It is common for the housing for the urban poor to be sited in areas of poor transport and job accessibility. This paper hypothesizes that for those cities that have reasonable growth potentials, the priority for such housing provision should be a much greater effort in coordinating the distribution of jobs and transport infrastructure construction with housing. To examine this hypothesis, we establish a systematic and quantitative approach to evaluate the long-term impacts of alternative urban development strategies by extending a recursive spatial equilibrium model through differentiating socio-economic groups based on the Erikson-Goldthorpe-Portocarero schema. The model is tested using empirical data from Beijing, a city where the imbalance among housing, jobs and transport has become an acute issue. The model results show that the current required level of effort in the coordination is likely to be a magnitude higher than what the current policies envisage. Further decentralisation of employment coordinated with improved transport interventions and enhanced housing supply in new towns is critical in resolving the problems of increased commuting demands and low job accessibility. • Only when housing, jobs and transport are in good balance can large-scale housing in the outskirts benefit the urban poor. • A much greater effort in the coordination than currently planned is needed to avoid serious costs to all citizens. • Continuous and sufficient coordination strategies are required to solve the job accessibility problem for the poor. • The RSE model provides a systematic approach to assess the long-term impacts of strategies for housing the urban poor.