How China’s “Floating Population” Floats: Recent Patterns in Migrant Workers’ Spatial Mobility and Destination Choice

2015 ◽  
pp. 55-71
Author(s):  
Mark Y. L. Wang ◽  
James Maino
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Floating Population ◽  
Destination Choice ◽  
Spatial Mobility

Socio-economic effects of labor migration from small towns of Russia

2016 ◽  
pp. 103-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Mkrtchyan ◽  
Y. Florinskaya
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Labor Migration ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Spatial Mobility ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
High Labor ◽  
Standardized Interview

The article examines labor migration from small Russian towns: prevalence of the phenomenon, the direction and duration of trips, spheres of employment and earnings of migrants, social and economic benefits of migration for households. The representative surveys of households and migrant-workers by a standardized interview were conducted in four selected towns. Authors draw a conclusion about high labor spatial mobility of the population of small towns and existence of positive effects for migrant’s households and the economy of towns themselves.

The Floating Village: Fostering Social Capital in Chinese Migrant Settlements through Mobile Architecture

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Vincent Woon
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Informal Settlement ◽  
Floating Population ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Rural Migrants ◽  
Communal Area ◽  
Communal Space ◽  
Cultural Origins

<p>In the past two decades, China has realised one of the fastest and largest rural to urban migrations in the world. The country’s urban population has increased by 20% over the last 20 years due to rapid urbanisation and a drastic improvement in urban opportunities. It is projected that by the year 2020 China aims to house 60% of its population in urban areas, resulting in a population shift of over 100 million people. One of the major issues which is presented to rural migrants is the hukou system. Hukou acts as a domestic passport which prevents rural migrants from attaining social benefits within urban areas. This has created an underclass within China’s urban areas known as the “floating population”.  This thesis focuses on the architecture of the “floating villages” of China which accommodate this floating population. The floating village is an informal settlement of migrant workers which develops around construction sites. The village provides services such as food, entertainment, medical care and recycling to the construction workers., However, as a pseudo-urban typology accommodating many of the functions of a town, it lacks one important element: a focused communal area. The absence of deliberately designed a communal space has led to social tensions within the floating village due to the different cultural origins of the migrant workers. Migrant workers arrive in floating villages without knowledge of urban culture and with no communal support. Varying migrant accents, and traditions, alongside struggles with poverty, creates friction between workers.  This thesis proposes a temporary and portable architectural intervention within the floating village which fosters a positive community. The research of community design is explored through an architecturalisation of Dr Robert D. Putnam’s understanding of social capital.</p>

The Floating Village: Fostering Social Capital in Chinese Migrant Settlements through Mobile Architecture

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Vincent Woon
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Informal Settlement ◽  
Floating Population ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Rural Migrants ◽  
Communal Area ◽  
Communal Space ◽  
Cultural Origins

<p>In the past two decades, China has realised one of the fastest and largest rural to urban migrations in the world. The country’s urban population has increased by 20% over the last 20 years due to rapid urbanisation and a drastic improvement in urban opportunities. It is projected that by the year 2020 China aims to house 60% of its population in urban areas, resulting in a population shift of over 100 million people. One of the major issues which is presented to rural migrants is the hukou system. Hukou acts as a domestic passport which prevents rural migrants from attaining social benefits within urban areas. This has created an underclass within China’s urban areas known as the “floating population”.  This thesis focuses on the architecture of the “floating villages” of China which accommodate this floating population. The floating village is an informal settlement of migrant workers which develops around construction sites. The village provides services such as food, entertainment, medical care and recycling to the construction workers., However, as a pseudo-urban typology accommodating many of the functions of a town, it lacks one important element: a focused communal area. The absence of deliberately designed a communal space has led to social tensions within the floating village due to the different cultural origins of the migrant workers. Migrant workers arrive in floating villages without knowledge of urban culture and with no communal support. Varying migrant accents, and traditions, alongside struggles with poverty, creates friction between workers.  This thesis proposes a temporary and portable architectural intervention within the floating village which fosters a positive community. The research of community design is explored through an architecturalisation of Dr Robert D. Putnam’s understanding of social capital.</p>

scholarly journals Realism and Fantasy in Jia Zhangke’s The World

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-47
Author(s):  
Hsiu-Chuang Deppman
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Floating Population ◽  
Complex World ◽  
The Real ◽  
Multiple Realities ◽  
Sixth Generation ◽  
The World ◽  
Corrosive Effect ◽  
Changing Society

Abstract One of the most prominent sixth-generation filmmakers, Jia Zhangke tells compelling stories about China’s floating population. He documents the quotidian activities of marginal people with long shots and long takes, showing their love, despair, and regrets. Scholars often consider Jia a neorealist or postsocialist realist, but close analyses of his works reveal his penchant for adding fantastical images to true-to-life stories. In his first officially released film, The World (2004), for example, Jia pairs long takes with animation and medium shots to capture the “surreal, unsettling effects” of a rapidly changing society. This generic mixture, I argue, allows the director to expose the psychologies of isolated migrant workers inhabiting multiple realities in a complex world. Jia’s willingness to investigate new ways of envisioning thoughts and emotions illustrates the corrosive effect of greed in postsocialist society and helps expand film’s formalistic commitments to the ethics of representing the real.

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