Spatial Evolution of Urban Villages in Shenzhen

Post-reform China has experienced a huge influx of people into cities coupled with massive urban expansion. As a by-product of these processes, urban villages have emerged and evolved rapidly to satisfy the increasing demand for low-cost housing and a variety of social and economic activities. In many cities, the spatial growth of urban villages represents a large share of total urban growth and has significantly shaped the cities’ land use patterns and residential profiles. In this research, a theoretical and empirical analysis is carried out in order to understand the spatial evolution of all 320 urban villages in Shenzhen over the period 1999–2009. Using exploratory spatial data analysis, multivariate models, and spatial regimes models, this research finds that the growth of urban villages is organic and highly adaptive. Their evolution is driven by the planning and development of the formal city and its resulting social and spatial diversity, and is also linked to their location in the urban fabric. Five major findings have been identified. First, the physical and socioeconomic development of urban villages is the natural and logical response of the indigenous village population and the rural migrants in facing rapid economic development and social transition. Second, the development process of urban villages follows a general trajectory characterised by three distinct but overlapping phases (expansion, densification and intensification). Third, their growth is spatially clustered and their growth centres shift over time, following the diffusion of employment. Fourth, the development of urban villages is driven by the provision of jobs and accessibility to job locations, but it is also confined by physical and institutional constraints such as diminishing land availability and environmental protection plans. Fifth, land use of urban villages evolves and the resulting land use diversity reflects different local conditions for economic activities and development. These processes are found to be faster and more advanced in the central city than in the outer districts. The speed with which any specific village moves along the general development path varies according to its location in the city and its distinctive characteristics.