Green Spaces and Migrants' Social Integration in Guangzhou's Urban Villages

ABSTRACT As China's urbanization enters a quality‐oriented phase, urban villages serve as critical sites for examining how neighborhood environmental resources intersect with everyday social life under institutional inequality. This study investigates how no‐cost green spaces in Guangzhou's urban villages are associated with residents' perceived neighborhood‐level social integration. Using survey and geospatial data, we conceptualize green space through physical characteristics, use patterns, and subjective perceptions, and investigate whether these associations differ by hukou status. Results show that migrants report lower perceived social integration than locals. Vegetation coverage, green space exposure duration, social activities, perceived importance, and perceived safety are positively associated with perceived social integration, whereas green vision rate, physical activities, and perceived proximity are not. The association between social activities in green spaces and perceived social integration is stronger among migrants than among locals. These findings suggest that, in resource‐constrained urban villages, perceived neighborhood‐level integration is associated not simply with the presence or physical quality of green space, but with socially meaningful forms of green space use. No‐cost green spaces may therefore serve as low‐threshold everyday settings where neighborhood sociability is practiced under hukou ‐based inequality.