Urban poverty in the transitional economy: a case of Nanjing, China

Abstract

In contrast to the traditional perception of the pervasive rural poverty in a developing country, poverty has become gradually urbanized in China, despite significant reduction of absolute poverty in rural areas since the late 1970s. This paper focuses on the changing context of urban poverty in China and emphasizes the difference between the “new urban poverty” and the traditional urban poverty, mainly experienced by the “three Nos” (people without stable income, working capacity, or family support) in the socialist era. A theoretical framework is proposed to address the impacts of three major transformations during the economic reform—economic restructuring, changing welfare provision, and sociospatial re-organization—on the poor segment of urban society. A case study of the city of Nanjing is conducted to examine the changing composition of urban poverty and its spatial characteristics. We conclude that new urban poverty in China is an inevitable outcome of economic restructuring, the state's retreat from workplace-based welfare provision and the urbanization process that re-organizes urban spaces. Due to the strong legacy of socialist urbanism and the limit of our data analysis, there is no strong evidence of poverty concentration at district level, though pockets of urban poverty are found at community level in the city of Nanjing.