Residential Spatial Differentiation Based on Urban Housing Types—An Empirical Study of Xiamen Island, China

Residential spatial differentiation, also called residential segregation, is a representation of the differentiation of social stratum in economic income, social status, education degree, lifestyle, and other aspects, based on an urban geographical space. In this paper, Xiamen Island is taken as example to calculate the dissimilarity index and the multi-group dissimilarity index at three scales (districts, sub-districts, and communities) by using the land area, population size, and green space area of different housing types. The characteristics of residential differentiation are analyzed. It is found that both spatial differentiation and multi-group spatial differentiation have significant scale effects. The smaller the scale of the spatial statistics unit, the larger the spatial differentiation and multi-group spatial differentiation. Significant differences are found in residential differentiation among different housing types. The residential differentiation is, not only demonstrated in land area and population size, but also in the resources of green space. More importantly, a balanced allocation of green space will help to reduce the degree of residential differentiation. With urban expansion and social-economic development, residential spatial differentiation will likely change. An understanding of residential differentiation is a guide for urban master planning and detailed regulatory planning. It will help to promote social harmonious development and urban sustainable development by the reasonable configuration of land and resources.