Abstract
Many disaster studies in the social sciences have so far pointed out that contemporary urbanization catalyzes the transformation of actual and potential risks into disasters. Compared with the greater attention paid to the losses of disasters, there is inadequate recognition of the roles of deep-seated social factors in addressing environmental changes and risks. In addition, very few discussions about social vulnerabilities have paid attention to China, even though they focus on developing countries. In the past four decades, China’s rapid urbanization, urban expansions, and large-scale rural-urban migration have led to increasing difficulties in urban management, generating a large number of marginalized populations and spaces that are often called urban villages. The current marginalization problems are connected with economic poverty, sustained exclusion, and social inequality under state-managed urbanization. This study aims to provide a valuable discussion on the relationship between rapid urbanization and urban marginalization to identify the underlying causes of social vulnerability from the perspectives of institution, space, and urban governance, reviewing the experiences of China’s urbanization. This study concludes that urbanization-induced marginalization has adverse impacts on structural resistance to external pressures such as natural disasters.
Highlights
In the era of the risk society, with its distinct characteristics from other periods in history, human beings must cope with traditional risks, including natural disasters, public health concerns, industrial accidents, and social security (Kong et al 2017) and with the new challenges of population growth and aging, resource shortages, environmental pollution, climate change, ecological destruction, and so on
There is evidence that fast urbanization and increasing megacities have resulted in the creation of extremely vulnerable urban populations, notably through informal settlements and poor land management practices (Garschagen and Romero-Lankao 2015)
What kinds of relationships are there between urbanization, marginalization, and social vulnerability? What causes are deeply rooted in the urbanized society? To answer these questions, this study theoretically explores the root causes of social vulnerability in urban China by reviewing a variety of extant studies—both from within and outside of China—and by emphasizing the interaction of the spatial, demographic, institutional, and social elements of the country’s urban system
Summary
In the era of the risk society, with its distinct characteristics from other periods in history, human beings must cope with traditional risks, including natural disasters, public health concerns, industrial accidents, and social security (Kong et al 2017) and with the new challenges of population growth and aging, resource shortages, environmental pollution, climate change, ecological destruction, and so on. BAillitthyoius gshtillththe enmumaibnecroonfcevrunl.nSeoracbiaillitvyulsntuerdaibesiliitsy irnecsreeaarscihn,gbtoothathceerotraeinticeaxltaenndt, pprhayctsiiccaall, vhuaslnreercaebivileitdyliisttlsetialltttehnetimona.in concern Social vulnerability research, both theoreticaTloasnudmpmraacrtiizcae,l,dhiassasrteecreirveesdealrictthlehaatstepnrtoiognr.essed steadily over the past 20 years internationally, but China’s key study topics remain concentrated in the natural sciences, and disaster research from the perspective of social sciences is severely weak. Space provides a place for powers, interests, ideas, and other elements but the country’s reform and opening up in the 1980s, the national government implemented preferential policies in the eastern coastal cities to encourage their prioritized development This led to an imbalance in the growth of the eastern coastal and inland regions at the national level, mobilizing rural resources to support urban development, which created marginalized areas at the regional level. It appears in every process of spatial expansion and social mobility, as well as in the construction of new social relations
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
