Costs of suburbanization: Comparative effects of peri-urban residential relocation on household welfare measures in Shanghai

Over the past three decades, China's cities have undergone massive spatial restructuring in the wake of market reforms and economic growth. One consequence has been a rapid migration of urban residents to the periphery. Some movers have been forced out by rising urban rents or government reclamation of their residences. Others have relocated willfully, to modernize and upgrade their housing or for other lifestyle reasons. This dissertation examines some of the effects of this rapid urban spatial restructuring while contending with the impacts of economic transition, comparing the effects of relocation to the urban edge on household well-being for the most-vulnerable members of society. In this research, household survey data is gathered and analyzed under the umbrella of one over-arching question: Is there differentiation in the well-being of various social strata (e.g., low-income versus higher-income households, households who move by choice versus those forced to move) as they relocate to the urban periphery? Welfare indicators relating to changes in housing costs and consumption, work travel and regional accessibility, and disposable income are examined using multiple regression techniques.;Results show that relative to those that moved by choice, households who have relocated involuntarily are better-off in terms of housing expenditures, but experience larger losses in accessibility, have larger increases in time spent traveling to work, gain less housing, are less happy with the move, and that their wage increases that have not kept up with increases in housing and travel expenditures. The findings also show that compared with higher-income households, lower-income groups are shifting the highest proportion of their incomes to cover housing costs, experience the highest accessibility losses, have wages that are not keeping up with rising housing and travel costs, and are more likely to add workers (presumably to cover housing, travel, and other budget shortfalls). These results indicate that relocation compensation for households involuntarily relocated should be expanded to include more than just housing value - it should encompass aspects such as urban location changes, household needs, and relocation costs. The results further suggest that affordable housing and transit-accessible development should continue to be addressed by planners in Shanghai.