Resettlement and adaptation in China's small town urbanization: Evidence from the villagers' perspective

Abstract

Small town urbanization in China is a heterogeneous and contested process that involves numerous actors and forces in the context of highly liberalized local economies. This paper examines the socioeconomic transformation and adaptation to small town life among landless and resettled villagers in the state-sponsored small town urbanization from the villagers' perspective. Based on survey opinions from the affected villagers in two small towns in Nanjing, it articulates how the institutional arrangements of land development and spatial-territorial reorganization have exerted their direct socioeconomic influence on the transformation of landless and displaced villagers' lives. The study concludes that, as a result of the growing establishment of socioeconomic relationships with the host small town society, villagers encounter various challenges that differ substantially from their expectations in the absence of more institutionalized labor market and full-fledged social service programs. Resettled villagers now face more subtle forms of institutional segmentations while the official implementation and villagers' awareness of social security and welfare programs are questionable. The study calls for a two-way approach for future research that, alongside exploring the perceptions of resettled villagers, also investigates the host society's attitudes and perceptions about these new residents.