Accessibility and socio-spatial inequalities between locals and migrants in Xiamen city, China

Through in-depth empirical analysis, this study aims to understand the differences in the spatial relationships of employment, housing, and public services among different socioeconomic groups and the resulting socioeconomic inequalities. Our study confirms that the spatial reorganization caused by housing and economic reforms further marginalized weaker socioeconomic groups. This is primarily reflected in their choice of housing location and tenure types. Our results show that the majority of the locals are homeowners, while the majority of the migrants are renters. For the locals, low-income groups are in a disadvantaged position when competing for educational resources and the surrounding environment. For the migrants, the amount of rent and proximity to work are the most important factors in their housing choice, and the accessibility of public service facilities around the housing has no obvious impact on the rental market than on the owner-occupied market. On the one hand, disparities in housing choices among distinct socioeconomic groups lead to different degrees of accessibility to public services. Regardless of the inner city and outer city, areas with a high proportion of migrant renters who do not own cars tend to have lower accessibility to public services than those with a lower proportion of such groups. Similarly, areas with a high proportion of local populations with low education and poor skills tend to have less access to public services than those with a low proportion of such groups, which is mainly reflected in outer cities. These results indicate that disadvantaged groups experience a greater level of inequity. On the other hand, differences in the spatial distribution of employment and residence among distinct socioeconomic groups result in varying degrees of job accessibility and spatial mismatch. In general, it shows that the level of spatial mismatch is more substantial for blue-collar and pink-collar locals than for respectively blue-collar and pink-collar migrants. This is mainly because migrant renters are much more flexible than local homeowners and can easily adjust their living place to accommodate changes in the working place. However, the commuting time of local workers is shorter than that of migrant workers due to the differences in travel modes. In addition to potential accessibility, this study also investigates actual commuting activities at the individual level. The micro-level analysis shows that the commuting distance of migrant workers is shorter than that of local workers, which once again confirms that the migrant workers experience a lower level of spatial mismatch than the local workers. This research extends the current comparative study of commuting patterns of local and non-local workers by distinguishing their occupations and confirms that there is considerable heterogeneity in commuting time and distance between different types of workers. In the context of China, this study delivers two policy implications. On the one hand, newly built areas should maximize the provision of housing, jobs, and public services within walking distance of transit stations. On the other hand, the study calls for extending the coverage of low-rent housing to the migrant population.