Resettlement and transformation

Abstract

Chapter Five assesses resettled villagers' transformation and adaptation in urban society after they lose their rural housing and land in the state sponsored urbanization. It probes how the process and outcome of rural villagers' socioeconomic changes and their assimilation to urban life following the government-engineered resettlement have been determined by the resource redistribution and the property rights system legislated by the state. In response to these resource distribution and property rights mechanisms, formal and informal property rights institutions coexist and serve their respective interest groups during and after the resettlement. The chapter illuminates that relocation and resettlement require the reconstruction of social networks and social-cultural identity among resettled rural villagers, and that local authorities encounter tremendous challenges in mitigating assimilation risks and facilitating resettlement community governance. By presenting empirical evidence from the state-sponsored resettlement, this chapter reveals main predicaments in social welfare and public service provisions and argues that social stratification has been reinforced during the adaptation of resettled rural villagers in urban society. A recent resettlement initiative of ‘two separations and two exchanges' in Jiaxing City, as a formal resettlement policy experimentation, is discussed and assessed. The phenomenon of small (or limited) property rights housing, as a spontaneous and informal contest for rural property rights, is critically scrutinized. The tradition, community governance, and rural collective economy of Hangzhou's government designated resettlement communities are depicted in detail to offer insights into policy innovations and alternatives.