Multiple deprivation in transitional Chinese cities: A case study of Guangzhou

1. Multiple deprivation in transitional Chinese cities: A case study of Guangzhou Yuan YUAN, Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Centre for Urban and Regional Research, Sun Yat-sen University， Guangzhou, China Fulong WU, School of City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK 14th December, 2007, Hong Kong

2. Outline • Introduction • Literature review and theoretic perspective • Data and methods • Analysis of Guangzhou • Conclusion and Discussion

3. Introduction • During the past decade, within the fields of urban social geography and urban studies, deprivation has emerged as an important research theme. • Researches have emphasized the concept and the multidimensional aspect of deprivation. • The majority of research has focused on developed countries under market economy. By comparison, no research has been conducted on defining and applying this phenomenon in the context of developing countries, especially the socialist transitional countries.

4. Introduction • Within a decade after reform, Urban poverty has become significant issues in transitional China. • Important studies have been conducted on urban poverty generation, distribution of urban poor, typology of poor neighborhoods in transitional Chinese cities. • Less attention has been paid to spatial concentration and spatial differentiation of new urban poverty. • The paper aims to examine spatial differentiation of new urban poverty in transitional China from perspective deprivation.

5. Literature review and theoretic perspective • Deprivation in the Western Literature • The deprivation concept has its origins in Britain in the late 1960s, where it emerged as a means of providing a framework within which to examine a broad array of social and economic issues (Norris, 1979). The Index of multiple deprivation (IMD) and area-based approach promoted the development of Geography of deprivation (Knox P L, Pinch S , 2000 ) . • Townsend (1993) defines deprivation as a “state of observable and demonstrable disadvantage relative to the local community or the wider society to which an individual, family or group belongs”. • It refers to specific conditions such as the lack of clothing, housing, household facilities, education and social activities, rather than resources and is thus distinguished from poverty. If various forms of deprivation are present, then some people will experience multiple deprivation.

6. Literature review and theoretic perspective • Deprivation in the Western Literature • Most studies of deprivation tend to focus on the economic dimension. Poverty is a central factor in the multidimensional problem of deprivation (Pacione,1995) . • Studies have pointed to the association between the proportion of the population in lower social classes, the unskilled and the level of deprivation in an area. ( Fieldhouse and Tye ,1996) . • Considerable research has been conducted examining the propensity of certain ethnic groups and immigrants to suffer from deprivation (Wilson ,1987, 1993, 1996; Fieldhouse and Tye, 1996; Ley and Smith,1997; Kazemipur and Halli, 1997).

7. Literature review and theoretic perspective • New urban poverty in transitional China • The transition towards a market-oriented economy since the 1990s has given rise to new urban poverty in China. The existing literature focused on urban poverty generation, distribution of urban poor, typology of poor neighborhoods in transitional Chinese cities. • The concept of ‘poverty of transition’ examine the root of poverty generation from the institutional change perspective (Wu F., 2004, 2007). The following aspects of the creation of new urban poverty are: the adjustment of industrial policy, the reform of state-owned enterprises, evolution of the household registration system, and the transformation of the welfare state (Liu and Wu F., 2006a). • Evidence suggests that there are mainly three types of poverty neighborhoods—inner-city dilapidated neighborhoods, workers’ villages and rural migrant enclaves (Wu F., 2004; W.P. Wu, 2004; Wang,2004; Liu and Wu F., 2006b).

8. Literature review and theoretic perspective • New urban poverty in transitional China • When talking about distribution of urban poor, the existing literatures pay more attention to absolutely / extremely poor people. It means researchers only focus on economic dimension of new urban poor and neglect other dimension of their living conditions such as housing, education etc. • Though three typology of poor neighborhoods are identified, researchers didn’t pay enough attention to their discrepancy and mechanism.

9. Literature review and theoretic perspective • Research questions • From perspective of multiple deprivation and living conditions of new urban poor, what is the spatial differentiation of the group? • What is the driving forces and the mechanism?

10. Literature review and theoretic perspective • Theoretic perspective • In socialist country, income may not (or not yet) be decisive for access to some important resources (Logan and Bian, 1993; Logan etc, 1999), and it didn’t have high association with living conditions of different groups. The new urban poor who were in different social status under state socialism had different living conditions, especially in housing, indoor facilities, outer environment and education level etc. • During transitional era, though these new urban poor have experienced unemployment and poverty resulting from the industrial restructuring and welfare reform, some institutional factors are still affecting the living conditions of different poor groups which bring spatial differentiation of new urban poverty. Not all new urban poor are in multiple-deprived condition.

11. Literature review and theoretic perspective • Theoretic perspective • Specifically, the policies, such as uneven development of urban space and housing provision system in socialism, the selected regeneration of government and market, the housing reform in transition, play leading roles in creating of two main kinds of spatial differentiation of new urban poverty. • Firstly, in the inner city, new urban poverty groups are in poor living conditions and multiple-deprived. • Secondly, in the inner suburbs, new urban poverty groups are in better living conditions and not multiple-deprived. • From this perspective, the paper highlights that deprivation can tell us more on the multiple dimensions and spatial differentiation of new urban poverty in transitional era.

12. Data and methods • Data • Deprivation indicators are usually obtained from local surveys or the national census. There are disadvantages of relying upon the census. • First, the census is not the best source of data on deprivation; in fact, it contains no measures of income or wealth with which to assess poverty; • Secondly, the census is decennial with no means of up-dating individual variables between censuses. • In this paper, the fifth census data of Guangzhou was combined with MLSP (Minimum Living Standard Program) recipients’ data from the civil administrative records. In all, 14 census variables and 10 MLSP variables were selected for the urban deprivation index of Guangzhou.

13. Data and methods • Data • Table 1 lists and defines the variables which are grouped into three main dimensions: economy, housing and education. • (1) The economy dimension includes nine variables representing income, employment and family situation. • (2) Nine housing-related variables are included in the index representing floor area, indoor facilities, housing expenditure. • (3) The education category includes a direct indicator of deprivation—people with a low level of schooling.

14. Tab.1 Domains and Variables of urban multiple deprivation of Guangzhou

15. Data and methods • Method • In the first step, a factor analysis, using an orthogonal rotation, is performed on the selected indicators to cover the main dimensions of urban deprivation. • Then, based on the main factor scores and variances contribution rate, we calculate the comprehensive score of each census tract and judge the intensity of urban deprivation. • Third, compared with the distribution of urban poor, four different types of new spatial pattern can be defined. • Spatial scale • In our study the geographic unit of analysis was the census tract which is the sub-district (street-office area，jiedao) of city.

16. Analysis of Guangzhou • Distribution of urban poor • Through the location quotients for the new urban poor (Minimum Living Standard Program recipients), the residential distribution of the new urban poor in a sub-district can be measured quantitatively. • There exists the concentration of urban poverty which was located in some part of the old city center and industrial areas built up in the planned economy.

17. Location quotient • Firstly, as a whole, that the middle-western part of the city has seen higher poverty concentration, belonging to the old center areas of the city. • Secondly, the southern and eastern parts of the city have seen higher poverty concentration, belonging to the traditional industrial areas and their residential areas built up in different times during the planned economy. Fig.3 Location quotient of urban poor on sub-district level

18. Analysis of Guangzhou • Distribution of deprivation • These patterns may be of four different kinds (Knox P., Steven P., 2000). Accumulative: where there is a high degree of spatial overlap in the distribution of deprivations, resulting in areas of ‘multiple deprivation’. • When we examine the distribution of five main factors of deprivation, there exits an accumulative characteristic of deprivation of Guangzhou. Then, the paper calculates the comprehensive scores of five main factors on the level of sub-districts.

19. Analysis of Guangzhou • Distribution of deprivation • 0 is the average scores of sub-districts, the higher the scores the more deprived in multiple dimension. • All of 97 sub-districts areas are divided into 5 categories. • the first and second categories, the score of 55 sub-districts are lower than average one; • the third to fifth categories, the score of 42 sub-districts are higher than average one.

20. Comprehensive scores Spatial morphology of multiple deprivation • A combination of concentric layers and muti-dots. • Concentric layers: the comprehensive scores of sub-districts decrease from inside to outside, while the most deprived areas are in the inner core. • Muti-dots: There are several sub-districts with high scores located in the northern-east, middle-east and southern-east of the outer city. Fig4 Comprehensive scores of multiple deprivations on sub-district level

21. Analysis of Guangzhou • Spatial overlap of the distribution of urban poverty and multiple deprivation. • LQP :location quotients for the new urban poor • MD: comprehensive scores of five main factors • There are four areas defined as follow (Fig. 5):

22. Poverty-concentrated and multiple-deprived area Poverty-concentrated area without multiple deprivation Mutiple-deprived area without poverty concentration Area without multiple-deprivation and poverty concentration New spatial pattern ① poverty-concentrated and multiple-deprived area (LQP>1, MD>0): located mainly in inner center and partly in the east area of the city. ② poverty-concentrated area without multiple deprivation (LQP>1, MD<=0): located mainly on southern and eastern areas, partly on northern areas of the city. ③ mutiple-deprived area without poverty concentration (LQP<=1, MD>0): mainly located on the northern area of the city center and partly on the east-northern area. ④ area without multiple-deprivation and poverty concentration (LQP<=1, MD<=0). Fig5. New spatial pattern of overlap of poverty and multiple deprivation Guangzhou

23. Poverty-concentrated and multiple-deprived area (LQP>1, MD>0) Poverty-concentrated area without multiple deprivation (LQP>1, MD<=0) Mutiple-deprived area without poverty concentration (LQP<=1, MD>0) Area without multiple-deprivation and poverty concentration (LQP<=1, MD<=0) New spatial pattern • Two main kinds of special areas: • poverty-concentrated and multiple-deprived area • poverty-concentrated area without multiple deprivation A B Fig5. New spatial pattern of overlap of poverty and multiple deprivation Guangzhou

24. Analysis of Guangzhou • Institutional causes and mechanism of new spatial pattern • Firstly, in the inner city, new urban poverty groups are in poor living conditions and multiple-deprived. • It was matured in early times with lower construction standards compared with today’s. It was under-investment in the background of socialist urban development which was driven by the policy of concentrating limited capital to build industrial areas in inner suburbs. It was lack of essential maintenance. • For workers in collectively owned and small enterprises and peripheral groups, lower status in the rank system with lower skill and education level, there was no housing provision, and they were domiciled in the housing provided by the municipal housing bureau in old urban areas. • In transitional era, some of the inner areas are left out of the redevelopment due to the high density of population and construction and the high socioeconomic cost. The residual residents left are mainly composed of the elderly, laid-off workers, the unemployed and low income families with lower skill and education level. They had no right to get property of their housing in housing reform and living expenditure increased year by year. • These areas became multiple-deprived area: poor people lower with skill and education level, low quality of outer door environment, lack of indoor facilities and maintenance.

25. Analysis of Guangzhou • Institutional causes and mechanism of new spatial pattern • Secondly, in the inner suburbs, new urban poverty groups are in better living conditions and not multiple-deprived. • In socialism, the development of industrial areas along with the construction of workers’ villages led to the concentration of workers in state manufacturing industries in the inner suburbs. These workers with higher skill and education level were higher in the rank system. These worker’s villages were built according to urban planning principles and had much better quality of residential environment than that of inner city. Factories took charge of regeneration of physical environment and this kind of areas was still one of the best residential areas in the city ten to fifteen years ago. • During the housing reform, most of workers got the property of their houses at very lower prices. Though most of them are unemployment and poor now, they are not absolutely proletarian. • Different levels of municipal governments pay more attention to workers’ re-employment and regeneration of physical environment of workers’ villages which is easer to realize.

26. Tab.2 Characteristics of housing, environment, economy and education of two neighborhoods Sources: Survey of households in two neighborhoods conducted in January 2005 and May 2007, 300 households, 150 per neighborhood Notes: a: housing expenditure per month per household includes housing rent or loan and managing fee of property; the comparing time is 2005 and 1995. b: Percentage of the third type architectures: the percentage of floor areas of the worst quality architectures in total floor areas according to the standards of Urban Planning Bureau of Guangzhou

27. Conclusion and Discussion • Two main kinds of special areas by overlapping of poverty and multiple deprivation, one of which is multiple deprived area with poverty concentration mainly distributed in inner-city, and the other of which is poverty-based area without multiple deprivation mainly located in inner suburb. • In sum, this spatial differentiation of new urban poverty is rooted in the uneven outcome of spatial policy both in socialist and transitional China. While some policies in socialist such as inequality in socialist urban development and housing provision system sowed the seeds of spatial differentiation, some polices in transitional era such as inequality in housing reform, selected regeneration of urban poor communities play important roles in spatial differentiation.

28. Planned economy Spatial differentiation of new urban poverty Transitional era Physical characteristics of neighborhood Socialist urban development Construction standard Selected regeneration by government and market Opportunity of community regeneration Inner city Inner suburb Poverty-concentrated and multiple-deprived areas Poverty-concentrated area without multiple deprivation Socialist housing provision Rank of working unit and residents constitute Housing reform policy Occupation and re-employment of residents Living expenditure（eg. housing）of families Social characteristics of neighborhood Fig Mechanism of Spatial differentiation of new urban poverty

29. Conclusion and Discussion • On the whole, this research has focused on the impacts of institutional factors; however, it has not shed light on the individual and market factors. • Future research should pay more attention to the life chances of the urban poor, the location and transportation of poor neighborhood, asking how the institutional policy may intersect with individual and market factors to produce spatial differentiation of new urban poverty in transitional era. • Based on two main the kinds of special areas divided by the research, economic policy should be adopted in the poverty-based area without multiple deprivation, while a package of regeneration schemas will be applied to multiple deprived areas with poverty concentration.

30. Thank you!