Sociospatial Differentiation: Processes and Spaces in Subdistricts of Shanghai

Abstract

Social space in urban China has been experiencing fundamental reorganization in line with economic reform. This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework concerning the processes of sociospatial differentiation as well as to shed light on major outcomes of differentiation. Specifically, we examine urban spatial structure through the spaces of subdistricts (jiedao). The processes of sociospatial differentiation include the revealing of historical legacies of inequalities that existed prior to the socialist city and the inequalities forged under socialism, fragmentation of the structure of housing provision, the market economy of urban development, globalization and economic restructuring, and rural-urban migration. At the subdistrict level, these processes are interacting and reinforcing each other and creating new social spaces in urban China. Through comparing the demographic composition of selected subdistricts, spatial inequalities among these districts are revealed. The differentiation of social spaces includes but is not limited to several dimensions: the level of educational attainment, occupational and working status (manufacturing vs. the tertiary sector, working active vs. the retired), and the status of household registration (concentration of rural migrant population).

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