Case Studies
Oct 10, 2022

Satisfaction Differences in Urban Features Between Natives and Floating Population: Evidence from Eleven Cities in China

Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 148, Issue 4

Abstract

The reason for constructing urban features is to enhance the happiness of local residents in a city. It can also enhance the favorability of the floating population to a city and attract population inflow. In order to clarify the differences of satisfaction with urban features (SWUFs) between natives and floating population and explore their influencing mechanisms. On the bases of a large-scale questionnaire survey data involving 11 cities in the pilot city of an urban physical examination conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China in 2019, this paper used the hierarchical linear model (HLM) to empirically analyze the perception and influencing factors of SWUFs of the floating population and local people. The conclusions are as follows: (1) there are obvious differences between the natives and floating population's SWUFs. And the floating population's evaluation of the urban features is more convincing; (2) the higher level of the city's economy and the higher protection rate of the historic district will both take the higher the SWUFs of the floating population; and (3) floating populations are more sensitive than locals when it comes to perceiving urban features. Based on these conclusions, this paper suggests that the government should start more from the perspective of floating populations when planning and designing urban landscapes and fully consider the influencing factors affecting the satisfaction of floating populations with urban features. In addition, this study can enrich the literature of subjective research on urban features and provide practical suggestions for the concept of people-centered urban construction.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

Acknowledgments

This paper was supported by General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (41871170 and 42071215); Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. XDA23100302. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their many insightful comments and suggestions.

References

Angeoletto, F., J. Santos, and L. G. A. Pippi. 2020. “Avian ecology in Latin American cityscapes.” Cities 99: 102615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102615.
Ballas, D., and M. Tranmer. 2008. “Happy places or happy people? A multi-level modelling approach to the analysis of happiness and well-being.” Int. Reg. Sci. Rev. 35: 1–32.
Bosker, M., S. Brakman, H. Garretsen, and M. Schramm. 2012. “Relaxing hukou: Increased labor mobility and China's economic geography.” J. Urban Econ. 72 (2/3): 252–266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2012.06.002.
Campbell, A., P. Converse, and W. Rodgers. 1976. The quality of American life: Perceptions, evaluations and satisfactions. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Cao, X. 2016. “How does neighborhood design affect life satisfaction? Evidence from twin cities.” Travel Behav. Soc. 5: 68–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2015.07.001.
Chen, H., X. Wang, Y. Liu, and Y. Liu. 2020a. “Migrants’ choice of household split or reunion in China’s urbanisation process: The effect of objective and subjective socioeconomic status.” Cities 102: 102669.
Chen, S. S., and C. Y. Jim. 2003. “Quantitative assessment of the treescape and cityscape of Nanjing, China.” Landscape Ecol. 18: 395–412. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026146123459.
Chen, Y., Y. Dang, and G. Dong. 2020b. “An investigation of migrants’ residential satisfaction in Beijing.” Urban Stud. 57 (3): 563–582. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019836918.
Cobbinah, P. B., E. Gaisie, N. Y. Oppong-Yeboah, and D. O. Anim. 2020. “Kumasi: Towards a sustainable and resilient cityscape.” Cities 97: 102567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.102567.
Cohen, J. 1988. Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences, 2nd ed. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Cornelsen, I., and P. Franz. 1995. “Changing structures, functions, and townscape; the transformation of a middle-sized city in Thuringia.” Neht. J. Housing Built Environ. 10 (2): 107–125. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02496530.
Cresswell, T. 1992. Vol. 1 of In place-out of place: Geography, ideology, and transgression. Minnesota, MI: University of Minnesota Press.
Dang, Y., L. Chen, W. Zhang, D. Zheng, and D. Zhan. 2020. “How does growing city size affect residents’ happiness in urban China? A case study of the Bohai rim area.” Habitat Int. 97: 102120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2020.102120.
Dang, Y., G. Dong, J. Yu, W. Zhang, and L. Chen. 2015. “Impact of land-use mixed degree on resident’s home-work separation in Beijing.” Acta Geog. Sin. 70 (6): 919–930.
Egerer, M. H., H. Liere, P. Bichier, and S. M. Philpott. 2018. “Cityscape quality and resource manipulation affect natural enemy biodiversity in and fidelity to urban agroecosystems.” Landscape Ecol. 33 (6): 985–998. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-018-0645-9.
Gan, X., J. Zuo, K. Ye, D. Li, R. Chang, and G. Zillante. 2016. “Are migrant workers satisfied with public rental housing? A study in Chongqing, China.” Habitat Int. 56: 96–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2016.05.003.
Garnham H. L. 1985. Maintaining the spirit of place: A process for the preservation of town character. P D A Pub Corp.
Gentile, M. 2005. “Urban residential preferences and satisfaction in the former Soviet Union: Results from a survey in Ust’-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan.” Urban Geogr. 26 (4): 296–327. https://doi.org/10.2747/0272-3638.26.4.296.
Gilks, D. 2018. “The fountain of the innocents and its place in the Paris cityscape, 1549–1788.” Urban Hist. 45 (1): 49–73. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926816000791.
Goldstein, H. 2003. Multilevel statistical methods. 3rd ed. London: Arnold.
Goodkind, D., and L. A. West. 2002. “China’s floating population: Definitions, data and recent findings.” Urban Stud. 39 (12): 2237–2250. https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098022000033845.
Gu, P., and X. M. Ma. 2013. “Investigation and analysis of a floating population’s settlement intention and environmental concerns: A case study in the Shawan River Basin in Shenzhen, China.” Habitat Int. 39: 170–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2012.12.005.
Kuppinger, P. 2014. “Flexible topographies: Muslim spaces in a German cityscape.” Social Cult. Geogr. 15 (6): 627–644. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2014.882396.
Liang, Z., Z. Li, and Z. D. Ma. 2014. “Changing patterns of the floating population in China, 2000–2010.” Popul. Dev. Rev. 40 (4): 695–716. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2014.00007.x.
Lin, S., and Z. Li. 2017. “Residential satisfaction of migrants in Wenzhou, an ‘ordinary city’ of China.” Habitat Int. 66: 76–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2017.05.004.
Liu, Y., F. Zhang, F. Wu, Y. Liu, and Z. Li. 2017. “The subjective wellbeing of migrants in Guangzhou, China: The impacts of the social and physical environment.” Cities 60: 333–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2016.10.008.
Liu, Z., S. Liu, W. Qi, and H. Jin. 2018. “Urban sprawl among Chinese cities of different population sizes.” Habitat Int. 79: 89–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2018.08.001.
Luo, J. J., X. L. Zhang, Y. Z. Wu, J. H. Shen, L. Y. Shen, and X. S. Xing. 2018. “Urban land expansion and the floating population in China: For production or for living?” Cities 74: 219–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2017.12.007.
Ma, J., G. Dong, Y. Chen, and W. Zhang. 2018. “Does satisfactory neighbourhood environment lead to a satisfying life? An investigation of the association between neighbourhood environment and life satisfaction in Beijing.” Cities 74: 229–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2017.12.008.
McAndrew, F. T. 1998. “The measurement of “rootedness” and the prediction of attachment to home-towns in college students.” J. Environ. Psychol. 18 (4): 409–417. https://doi.org/10.1006/jevp.1998.0078.
McReynolds, L. 2007. “St. Petersburg - The national destiny in the cityscape.” J. Urban Hist. 33 (5): 857–863. https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144207301411.
Montello, D. R., M. F. Goodchild, J. Gottsegen, and P. Fohl. 2003. “Where's downtown?: Behavioral methods for determining referents of vague spatial queries.” Spat. Cogn. Comput. 3 (2–3): 185–204. https://doi.org/10.1080/13875868.2003.9683761.
Morrison, P. S. 2011. “Local expressions of subjective well-being: The New Zealand experience.” Reg. Stud. 45 (8): 1039–1058. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343401003792476.
Mouratidis, K. 2018. “Is compact city livable? The impact of compact versus sprawled neighbourhoods on neighbourhood satisfaction.” Urban Stud. 55 (11): 2408–2430. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017729109.
Nigro, H. O., and S. E. G. Cisaro. 2016. “The citizen satisfaction index: Adapting the model in Argentine cities.” Cities 56: 85–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2016.03.010.
Norberg-Shulz, C. 1979. Genius Loci. Toward a phenomenology of architecture. New York: Rizzoli.
Oba, T., and H. Iseki. 2020. “Transportation impacts on cityscape preservation: Spatial distribution and attributes of surface parking lots in the historic central districts.” J. Urban Plann. Dev. 146 (2): 04020014.
Oswald, A. J., and S. Wu. 2009. Well-being across America: evidence from a random sample of one million U.S. citizens. Coventry, UK: Univ. of Warwick.
Pettigrew, T. F. 1998. “Intergroup contact theory.” Annu. Rev. Psychol. 49 (1): 65–85. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.49.1.65.
Pettigrew, T. F., and L. R. Tropp. 2006. “A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory.” J. Pers. Social Psychol. 90 (5): 751–783. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.90.5.751.
Pred, A. 1984. “Place as historical contingent process: Structuration and the time geography of becoming places.” AAG 74: 279–297.
Rasbash, J., F. Steele, W. J. Browne, and H. Goldstein. 2012. A User's Guide to MLwiN (Version 2.26). Bristol, UK: Centre for Multilevel Modelling, University of Bristol.
Salesses, P., K. Schechtner, and C. A. Hidalgo. 2013. “The collaborative image of the city: Mapping the inequality of urban perception.” PLoS ONE 8 (7): e68400. https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0068400.
Tuan, Y. F. 1980. “Rootedness versus sense of place.” Landscape 24: 3–8.
Wang, Y. P., Y. Wang, and J. Wu. 2009. “Urbanization and informal development in China: Urban villages in Shenzhen.” Int. J. Urban Reg. Res. 33 (4): 957–973. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2009.00891.x.
Winters, J. V., and Y. Li. 2017. “Urbanisation, natural amenities and subjective well-being: Evidence from US counties.” Urban Stud. 54 (8): 1956–1973. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098016631918.
Yao, L., T. Li, M. Xu, and Y. Xu. 2020. “How the landscape features of urban green space impact seasonal land surface temperatures at a city-block-scale: An urban heat island study in Beijing, China.” Urban For. Urban Greening 52: 126704.
Zhan, D. S., M. P. Kwan, W. Z. Zhang, J. Fan, J. H. Yu, and Y. X. Dang. 2018. “Assessment and determinants of satisfaction with urban livability in China.” Cities 79: 92–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.02.025.
Zhang, L.-M., R.-X. Zhang, T.-S. Jeng, and Z.-Y. Zeng. 2019. “Cityscape protection using VR and eye tracking technology.” J. Visual Commun. Image Represent. 64: 102639.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 148Issue 4December 2022

History

Received: Jan 8, 2022
Accepted: Jun 24, 2022
Published online: Oct 10, 2022
Published in print: Dec 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Mar 10, 2023

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Authors

Affiliations

Research Institute of Central Jiangsu Development, Yangzhou Univ., Yangzhou 225009, China. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7704-6072. Email: [email protected]
Associate Professor, College of Applied Arts and Science, Beijing Union Univ., Beijing 100191, China (corresponding author). Email: [email protected]
Professor, Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, A 11 Datun Rd., Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China; Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19 Yuquan Rd., Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2340-7295. Email: [email protected]

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Download citation

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

View Options

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Copy the content Link

Share with email

Email a colleague

Share