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Shantytown Tenants’ Housing Choice in Beijing: A Perspective from the Consumer Equilibrium Theory

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Chinese Cities in the 21st Century

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Abstract

During the urbanization process in China, numerous shantytowns have appeared in cities. Bei Si Cun (BSC) in the suburb of Beijing is one of them. The three existing theories that explain the formation of shanty towns cannot fully explain why young people with good income live in BSC, a shantytown in the suburb of Beijing. Therefore, this chapter attempts to use the consumer equilibrium theory to further analyze. Based on the interview and questionnaire, three conclusions emerge from this study. First, the consumer equilibrium theory can explain why the middle-income group like the cheap housing in BSC. Second, consumer equilibrium theory can be used to analyze the BSC tenants’ hours allocation of a day. Third, although consumer equilibrium can provide additional explanations, Marx’s class analysis can help us understand that the young white-collars from underdeveloped provinces have reduced the cost of housing to support the parents who live in the home town.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Shangyi Zhou, Jing Zhang & Mengting Luo

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  1. Shangyi Zhou
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Correspondence to Shangyi Zhou .

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  1. University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

    Youqin Huang

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Zhou, S., Zhang, J., Luo, M. (2020). Shantytown Tenants’ Housing Choice in Beijing: A Perspective from the Consumer Equilibrium Theory. In: Huang, Y. (eds) Chinese Cities in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34780-2_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34780-2_10

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