The Effects And Mechanism Of Neighborhood Built Environment On Migrants’ Health In Urban China

In the new era,the research of “People’s Life Health” is of great significance.Since the reform and open-up policy,China has experienced rapid urbanization.While promoting the high-speed development of the economy and society,it also has a significant negative impact on people’s health.The health problems confronted by migrants may be more prominent than the locals due to their lack of health resources,low income and limited activity spaces.Their community-based health demands have already become an objective fact.Thus,it is urgent to clarify the relationship between the neighborhood built environment and migrants’ health to formulate relevant planning policies.At present,researches on the built environment and residents’ health in China’s high-density environment have been extensively explored,but they still have the following characteristics.Firstly,the measurement of built environment of the study is not clear.Secondly,there is a lack of in-depth understanding of the built environment’s impact on migrants’ health and its pathways.Thirdly,insufficient research has been done on the age and neighborhood heterogeneity of the built environment’s impact on migrants’ health.Thus,this research takes Wuhan as an example and uses the mediating effect test and multilevel models to explore the relationship between the built environment and migrants’ health based on national and specific-city surveys and GIS data.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)Migrants’ health in Wuhan is relatively poor,and there has been a certain gap compared with other megacities,municipalities,and provincial capital cities.Based on the questionnaire of the “Wuhan Migrants’ Settlement Environment and Quality of Life Survey” with 716 valid samples,it is found that migrants have suffered some psychological issues but exhibited better self-rated health,which is higher than the locals,showing “Health Migrant Effect”.Secondly,the spatial distribution of migrants’ health is imbalanced with significant differences in circle-road districts,residential locations(central vs.suburban areas),and diversified neighborhoods.The health status of migrants also shows substantial heterogeneity in social groups.Migrants who are unmarried,with higher education,employment stability and higher housing-quality satisfaction may exhibit better physical and mental health.(2)Neighborhood built environment has a significant impact on migrants’ health.The conclusion is still valid and robust when controlling the individual and community social attributes.In detail,self-rated health correlates with building density,sky view factor,walkability index,and density of grocery stores positively,but with FAR and density of drinking places negatively.Mental health is positively correlated with FAR and park density but negatively with building density,drinking places,and spatial disorders.(3)Notably,environmental perceptions,especially safety and green quality,can mediate the relationship between built environment and migrants’ health,revealing environmental-psychological mechanisms.(4)Sense of belonging,social interaction,and community participation as three critical facets of social cohesion,play an intermediary role in the relationship between the built environment and migrants’ health,revealing social processing mechanisms.For instance,higher walkability index,environmental perceptions and park density can enhance the migrants’ physical and mental health by improving social interaction and community participation.Oppositely,spatial disorders can reduce mental health by weakening the sense of belonging.Importantly,the built environment can affect self-rated health through the chain mediating role of social interaction(or community participation)and the sense of belonging.However,these mediating chains can not be demonstrated in mental health but confirmed in Subjective Well-being.These findings highlight the complex nature of the association between neighborhood built environment and migrants’ health.(5)The mechanisms of built environment on migrants’ health are heterogeneous in age groups and neighborhoods.Specifically,the positive effects of groceries density and safety perception on the middle-aged migrants’ physical health are higher than young groups.Promoting neighborhood environmental satisfaction can effectively improve migrants’ physical health who reside in affordable housing and chengzhongcun.Also,the high density of drinking places and spatial disorders has a more significant negative impact on their mental health,etc.This study enriches the theoretical framework of interdisciplinary research on urban planning and public health and proves that neighborhood built environment plays a vital role in migrants’ health through social activities and community emotion,enhancing the understanding of social cohesion.The conclusions of this study have important policy implications for the construction of migrants’ health-oriented livable environment and the promotion of the Healthy China Strategy.First,we should pay attention to improving health protection for different age groups and neighborhoods,particularly chengzhongcun and affordable housing.Second,a multi-dimension cooperation mechanism should be established to integrate the concept of health into the planning policy system,including spatial planning,community building,and environmental governance.Overall,this study promotes the theoretical and methodology innovations,and the conclusions have essential reference significance for building an healthy living environment for a whole and advancing the Healthy China Strategy.