Visualising urbanisation and semi-urbanisation of rural migrants in China: a perspective from migration network and destination preference

Aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which emphasise creating inclusive and sustainable human settlements, China launched the New-Type Urbanisation plan to promote equitable urban development. This study seeks to deepen understanding of urbanisation and inform policy interventions by visualising the geographical characteristics of urbanisation and semi-urbanisation among rural migrants in China. Using social network analysis (SNA) and survey data from 82,762 rural migrants across 287 cities, we compare the spatial migration patterns of urbanised and semi-urbanised groups. Our findings highlight distinct geographical patterns: urbanisation is concentrated in economically advanced regions such as the Jing-Jin-Ji, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, while semi-urbanisation is more dispersed, driven by short-range migration flows. These insights underscore the necessity for targeted policy interventions to promote inclusivity and support hukou reform.