Migrant Workers' Resettlement Choices to the Redeveloped Urban Village in Guangzhou, China

Abstract

Urban villages in China have provided low rent housings for migrant workers. However, these cheap houses are not available any longer because most urban villages are confronting redevelopment due to serious environmental and social problems. When the migrant workers lose their dwellings in these urban villages, the urban area also loses its cheap workforce. Therefore, it is important for the planning community to consider the possibility of migrant workers’ resettlement to the redeveloped urban village. This study established a conceptual framework pertaining to the influencing factors of migrant workers’ resettlement choices, based on the push–pull theory and Todaro model, to investigate how urban regeneration will influence the migrant workers’ resettlement to the redeveloped urban village. Based on data collected by questionnaire survey and multivariate logistic regression analysis, this study found that the expected high rent will push the migrant workers out of the redeveloped urban village; however, the expected enhancement of job opportunities, the reduction of water pollution, and the improvements of educational facilities and emergency response capacity will pull them back. Therefore, some suggestions are provided for the government and planners to increase the intentions of the migrant workers’ resettlement, thus ensuring the supply of the urban workforce.