Relations between individual residence trajectory and macro social transformation: Passive relocation migrants in shanty town in Shanghai, China

Abstract

In the context of socio-economic transformations, Chinese cities have entered the era of inventory land renewal, large-scale urban renewal, and old city renovation, which have triggered a large number of passive relocation behaviors, which led to intra-urban movements and migration. It is essential to understand what the Chinese family is undergoing before and after the relocation and how the macro social power impacts the trajectory of residence and living patterns of individual families step by step. Based on the oral history of Hongzhen Old Street informal settlement in Shanghai, using a qualitative research method, this article takes the life course of passive relocation migrants as a starting point, and summarizes a migrant residence transformation pedigree and survival mechanism from the gradual and struggling spatial practice before relocation, the decision-making and negotiation process, to the life after relocation with difficulty in taking root and community re-connection. This study reveals that in the long process of top-down land expropriation, residents have always been in an unsettled and temporary state, with their dynamic residential needs ignored, accelerating the decay and disorder of their neighborhood. In addition, although they have improved their spatial living conditions after the relocation, they still face the marginalization and deprivation of social resources. These problems reflect land economy, social capital, housing policy, and urban development mode.