Deciphering the meaning and mechanism of migrants' and locals' neighborhood attachment in Chinese cities: Evidence from Guangzhou

《Deciphering the meaning and mechanism of migrants' and locals' neighborhood attachment in Chinese cities: Evidence from Guangzhou》

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关键字: Neighborhood attachment; Residential satisfaction; Social trust; Migrant; Moderation effect; Guangzhou; RURAL-URBAN MIGRANTS; PLACE ATTACHMENT; SOCIAL NETWORKS; COMMUNITY; IDENTITY; SENSE; ENVIRONMENT; INTEGRATION; SENTIMENTS; DIVERSITY

作者单位: [Wu, Rong; Huang, Xu; Liu, Ye] Sun Yat Sen Univ, Sch Geog & Planning, 135 West Xingang Rd, Guangzhou 510275, Guangdong, Peoples R China. [L, Zhigang, I] Wuhan Univ, Sch Urban Design, 229 Bayi Rd, Wuhan 430072, Hubei, Peoples R China. [Liu, Yuqi] UCL, Bartlett Sch Planning, 14 Upper Woburn Pl, London WC1H 0NN, England. Li, ZG (reprint author), Wuhan Univ, Sch Urban Design, 229 Bayi Rd, Wuhan 430072, Hubei, Peoples R China. E-Mail: wurong5@mail2.sysu.edu.cn; huangx253@mail.sysu.edu.cn; zhigangli@whu.edu.cn; liuye25@mail.sysu.edu.cn; yuqi.liu.13@ucl.ac.uk

摘要: The rising fluidity of the society in contemporary China has led to a restructuring of people's cognition and emotion toward their place of residence. Although a growing body of literature has attempted to identify place-based factors that influence residents' attachment to their neighborhoods in Chinese large cities, little effort has been devoted to unraveling the migrant-local distinction regarding the meaning and mechanism of neighborhood attachment. Using both questionnaire survey data and in-depth interview data collected in 23 neighborhoods of Guangzhou, China, this paper aims to explore the meaning and mechanism of neighborhood attachment through the combination of both structure equation modelling and qualitative analysis. The novelties of this study relate to the focus of migrant-local distinction and to the breakdown of place attachment into its social and functional dimensions. Results from structure equation modelling show that local residents have stronger attachment to their neighborhoods than migrants. Migrants' neighborhood attachment is more related to its social dimension, as measured by social contact and social trust, and locals' neighborhood attachment is more linked to its functional dimension, as measured by satisfaction with living environment of the neighborhood. This paper enhances our understanding of the nature of place attachment by taking into account the effects of institutional constraints and migration experiences.