Social Relations and Place Identity of Development-Induced Migrants: A Case Study of Rural Migrants Relocated from the Three Gorges Dam, China

The resettlement of development-induced migrants is a complex socioeconomic and cultural process. The levels of place identity among migrants may profoundly affect their long-term stability and sustainable development in host communities. For long-distance displaced migrants, their social relations undergo drastic changes, and the extent of social-relations reconstruction determines their place identity in the resettlement area. Previous studies mainly concentrated on migrant compensation schemes, housing, and land allocation, and livelihood restoration. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the mechanism by which social-relations reconstruction shapes place identity. Drawing on sample survey data collected during 2022–2023 from migrants displaced from the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) in China to various other provinces, this study conceptualizes place identity in three dimensions: group identity, permanent settlement intention, and expectations for children. A structural equation model (SEM) was employed to investigate how social relations, categorized as geographical, home-tied, and carried-over relations, mediate the influence of multiple factors on place identity. The findings are that: (1) among development-induced migrants, social relations exerted significant positive effects on place identity, along with personal characteristics, socioeconomic characteristics, land, and housing factors. Moreover, family features, socioeconomic characteristics, and land and housing factors all had a significantly positive impact on social relations; (2) social relations acted as a full mediator between family features and place identity, and a partial mediator between socioeconomic characteristics/land and housing factors and place identity; (3) among geographical, home-tied, and carried-over social relations, geographical social relations had the largest effect on place identity, followed by carried-over relations. However, continuous dependence on home-tied social relations negatively affected the migrants’ development of place identity in new resettlement areas. This study elucidates the role of social relations in the socioeconomic and cultural reconstruction during migrant resettlement, offering insight for improving resettlement policies and promoting sustainable community integration.