Local land Governance and the Livelihoods and Well-Being of Urbanized Rural Residents in Urbanizing China

As urbanization continues to spread in developing countries, the quality of local land governance is crucial for enhancing citizens’ livelihoods and well-being in newly developed urban areas. In this study, we developed measures of local governance specifically concerning land in the context of China’s national new-type urbanization and rural-urban integration since 2014. In particular, we calibrated the proportions and modes of land transactions for infrastructure, housing, commerce and industry, and welfare and services, respectively. We further linked the developed measures to a nationwide household survey—the 2018 Urbanization and Quality of Life Survey (N = 3,229)—conducted in 40 carefully selected sampling sites undergoing rural-urban transition. We estimated three-level mixed effects models to assess the potential impact of local land governance on five specific measures of livelihoods and well-being among urbanized rural residents: occupation, insurance, household wealth, housing satisfaction, and life satisfaction. Contrary to expectations, only the proportion of land transactions for commerce and industry yielded significant coefficients, and these were only positive for potential sites of urbanization. Such results may well indicate that land transactions for commerce and industry targeting economic development, in fact, bring more benefits to local residents in locations not yet urbanized. Conversely, in newly urbanized areas, the purposes and modes of land transactions did not account for the livelihoods and well-being of urbanized rural residents. The research calls for more in-depth examination of rural-urban transition and its consequences for citizens’ livelihoods and well-being at the smaller and lower levels of governance. We develop innovative measures of local governance, specifically concerning land. These measures are linked to a household survey conducted in 40 urbanizing localities. Land transactions targeting economic development benefit locations not yet urbanized. In newly urbanized areas, purposes and modes of land transactions show a limited impact.