Unravelling residential satisfaction and relocation intention in three urban neighborhood types in Guangzhou, China

Abstract

With the deepening of housing reform, housing mobility and residential differentiation in urban China are on the rise. Extant studies on residential satisfaction and relocation intention tend to focus on rural to urban relocation, while little is known about their interactions in the context of urban China. This study attempts to fill this void by offering an updated and detailed account of intra-urban relocation, and by unravelling the complex mechanism and interactions between residential satisfaction and relocation against a general background of residential differentiation. Based on a questionnaire survey in three types of neighborhoods representative of the dominant residential patterns in contemporary Chinese cities, namely traditional inner city neighborhoods, urban villages and commodity housing estates, this paper examines determinants of residential satisfaction and relocation intention in each residential segment. The results from linear regression and multivariate logistic regression models show that residential satisfaction is influenced by different factors in the three types of residential neighborhoods, but is generally shaped by community attachment and the housing facilities. Relocation intention is generated by a combination of various factors that differ from neighborhood to neighborhood. In traditional inner city neighborhoods, residents are less likely to develop relocation intentions, and satisfaction levels tend to go down with the age of the housing estates. The situation is slightly different in urban villages, where residents with a weak sense of community prefer to relocate. The diversified determinants of relocation intention in the three types of neighborhoods are by no means incidental, being closely related, in fact, to the demographic composition, built environment and development history of the neighborhood. This study offers a multilayer explanation of intra-urban relocation and its interactions with residential satisfaction in post-reform urban China.