Neighbourhood cohesion under the influx of migrants in Shanghai

This study explores the current neighbourhood cohesion in Chinese cities and how it might be affected by the influx of migrants. Our multilevel analysis is based on a 1420 sized household survey conducted in Shanghai in 2013. The results reveal that the influx of migrants does not generate all negative results contrasting existing literature where migrants tend to reduce cohesion in the neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods with a higher share of migrant residents between 20 and 50% have the strongest cohesion potentially because local residents have adjusted to their migrant neighbours. Neighbourhood cohesion is also stronger in migrant-dominated enclaves with more than 50% migrants as migrant residents may have formed their own in-group community. Comparatively, local-dominated neighbourhoods are still adjusting to the gradual influx of migrants and therefore residents tend to have lower levels of social solidarity, sense of belonging and informal social control. Nevertheless, the strongest deterrent of cohesion is the prospect of displacement and lack of resources since low-income areas and traditional courtyard neighbourhoods, which face demolition and redevelopment, have the weakest cohesion.