IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v157y2021i3d10.1007_s11205-021-02695-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spatial Patterns and Determinants of Village Abandonment in the Mountainous Areas of China

Author

Listed:
  • Chengchao Wang

    (Fujian Normal University
    Fujian Normal University)

  • Yuan Wang

    (Fujian Normal University
    Fujian Normal University)

  • Ying Tian

    (Fujian Normal University)

  • Shanshan Chen

    (Fujian Normal University
    Fujian Normal University)

Abstract

The phenomenon of village abandonment has occurred during the past decades as an extreme result of rural migration in many developing countries. It has brought about many socio-economic and environmental problems, such as farmland abandonment, decapitalization of properties, rural economic stagnation or decline, disappearance of rural settlements, secondary vegetation succession, landscape homogenization and increasing risks of wild fires. Village abandonment has been happening widely in mountainous areas of China in response to increasing urbanization and industrialization. But the spatial patterns and determinants of village abandonment are not well understood. The aim of this study is to investigate the spatial patterns of abandoned villages using Kernel Density analysis, and to identify determinants of village abandonment using the Ordinary Least Square regression based on a case study in Pucheng County, Southeast China. Our results show that abandoned villages mainly agglomerate in some scattered kernels with higher elevations and poor accessibility or with thriving local industrialization and Insitu urbanization. These results corroborate previous findings elsewhere. Research on determinants identifies that public goods provision and accessibility are the most important predictors to explain substantial variations in village abandonment. Remote villages with poor public goods provision (such as road, healthcare and education) and poor accessibility are most possibly abandoned. With projected increasing concentration of elementary schools in townships and cities and rising urbanization, village abandonment is likely to increase in remote rural areas. However, natural conditions are surprisingly the least significant determinants, which is contrary to previous studies. In addition, hamlet size and the progress on characteristic agriculture have some negative impacts on village abandonment. Finally, several research prospects and policy implications on village abandonment have been proposed to promote future studies and rural sustainability respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Chengchao Wang & Yuan Wang & Ying Tian & Shanshan Chen, 2021. "Spatial Patterns and Determinants of Village Abandonment in the Mountainous Areas of China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 1111-1130, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:157:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-021-02695-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-021-02695-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-021-02695-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-021-02695-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Everett Lee, 1966. "A theory of migration," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 3(1), pages 47-57, March.
    2. Yuri Andrienko & Sergei Guriev, 2004. "Determinants of interregional mobility in Russia," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, March.
    3. Anna Mayda, 2010. "International migration: a panel data analysis of the determinants of bilateral flows," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(4), pages 1249-1274, September.
    4. Yu Zhu, 2000. "In Situ Urbanization in Rural China: Case Studies from Fujian Province," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 31(2), pages 413-434, March.
    5. Luca Di Figlia, 2016. "Turnaround: abandoned villages, from discarded elements of modern Italian society to possible resources," International Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 278-297, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Chengchao & Gao, Bidan & Weng, Zudeng & Tian, Ying, 2020. "Primary causes of total hamlet abandonment for different types of hamlets in remote mountain areas of China: A case study of Shouning County, Fujian Province," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    2. Vakulenko, Elena, 2019. "Motives for internal migration in Russia: what has changed in recent years?," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 55, pages 113-138.
    3. Simon Winter, 2020. "“It’s the Economy, Stupid!”: On the Relative Impact of Political and Economic Determinants on Migration," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(2), pages 207-252, April.
    4. Fullerton, Thomas M., Jr. & Walke, Adam G. & Villavicencio, Diana, 2015. "An Econometric Approach for Modeling Population Change in Doña Ana County, New Mexico," MPRA Paper 71141, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 28 Jan 2015.
    5. Jordi Ripollés & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso, 2021. "African Asylum Seekers in Europe: The Interplay between Foreign Aid and Governance in Origin Countries," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(5), pages 829-865, November.
    6. Daniel Meierrieks & Laura Renner, 2017. "Stymied ambition: does a lack of economic freedom lead to migration?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 977-1005, July.
    7. Dean Fantazzini & Julia Pushchelenko & Alexey Mironenkov & Alexey Kurbatskii, 2021. "Forecasting Internal Migration in Russia Using Google Trends: Evidence from Moscow and Saint Petersburg," Forecasting, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-30, October.
    8. Mauro Lanati & Rainer Thiele, 2022. "South-South refugee movements: Do pull factors play a role?," RSCAS Working Papers 2022/60, European University Institute.
    9. Tilman Brück & Kai M. Dunker & Neil T. N. Ferguson & Aline Meysonnat & Eleonora Nillesen, 2018. "Determinants and Dynamics of Forced Migration to Europe: Evidence from a 3-D Model of Flows and Stocks," HiCN Working Papers 277, Households in Conflict Network.
    10. Koji Murayama & Jun Nagayasu & Lamia Bazzaoui, 2022. "Spatial Dependence, Social Networks, and Economic Structures in Japanese Regional Labor Migration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-31, February.
    11. Libman, Alexander & Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten & Yadav, Gaurav, 2013. "Are human rights and economic well-being substitutes? The evidence from migration patterns across the Indian states," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 139-164.
    12. Schmid, Lena & Renner, Laura, 2020. "The Decision to Flee: Analyzing Gender-Specific Determinants of International Refugee Migration," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224596, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Franc Sanja & Časni Anita Čeh & Barišić Antea, 2019. "Determinants of Migration Following the EU Enlargement: A Panel Data Analysis," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 14(2), pages 13-22, December.
    14. Dustmann, Christian & Okatenko, Anna, 2014. "Out-migration, wealth constraints, and the quality of local amenities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 52-63.
    15. Giltman, M. & Pit, V. & Batyreva, M. & Sumik, E., 2020. "Which cities do we like to live in? Empirical analysis of employees' attitude to cities," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 45(1), pages 111-130.
    16. Victor Agadjanian & Evgenia Gorina, 2019. "Economic Swings, Political Instability and Migration in Kyrgyzstan," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(2), pages 285-304, May.
    17. Rawaa Laajimi & Julie Le Gallo, 2022. "Push and pull factors in Tunisian internal migration: The role of human capital," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 771-799, June.
    18. Vera Barinova & Sylvie Rochhia & Stepan Zemtsov, 2022. "Attracting highly skilled migrants to the Russian regions," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 147-173, February.
    19. Katherine Curtis & Elizabeth Fussell & Jack DeWaard, 2015. "Recovery Migration After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Spatial Concentration and Intensification in the Migration System," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(4), pages 1269-1293, August.
    20. Iva Vuksanović Herceg Tomislav Herceg Lorena Škuflić, 2020. "New EU member states’ emigration: Projections for future and lessons for the new EU candidates," Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 23(2), pages 129-140, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:157:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-021-02695-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.