Residential Mobility of Locals and Migrants in Northwest Urban China

With the increase in urbanization, intraurban residential mobility, which underlies urban growth and spatial restructuring, is gradually becoming an integral part of migration in China. However, little is known about the differences in residential mobility between locals and migrants, especially in urban areas in Northwest China. In this study, we aimed to fill this void by investigating the residential mobility patterns among Urumqi’s locals and migrants based on data from a survey and face-to-face interviews that were conducted in 2018. The results first show that the migrants with low homeownership rates relocated more frequently, but had less intentions to move within Urumqi, compared with the locals. A larger proportion of migrants than locals was forced to migrate. Evidence also suggests that the migration directions of locals and migrants differ: both locals and migrants tended to relocate from the southern areas, like Tianshan and Saybark Districts, to northern areas, like Xinshi and Midong Districts, which show the northward migration process of the urban population center in Urumqi. In contrast to the locals, whose net migration direction was from marginal areas to the central area, the net migration direction of migrants was from the central area to the marginal areas, contributing to the formation of migrant communities in the suburbs and spatial segregation between locals and migrants. Lastly, the locals’ intentions to move were widely influenced by age, ethnic group, type of employment, family population, housing area, and residential satisfaction; the migrants’ mobility intentions were mainly influenced by housing type and residential satisfaction. To attract more migrants to the urban areas in Northwest China, a more relaxed migrants’ household registration policy should be implemented, and the inequalities of the social security system and housing system between migrants and locals should be reduced to bridge the gap between migrants and locals.