Living environments that promote rural-urban immigrants integration in Shanghai

Abstract: The floating population, also known as rural-urban immigrants, is a typical type of domestic migration appearing in the process of urbanization in contemporary China. Due to the policy restrictions, the Floating population is in a disadvantageous position and lacks social security. Though the ultimate goal for many domestic immigrants is to transform into urban residents, the biggest challenge they are facing is the housing problem. This thesis aims at providing feasible solutions regarding this phenomenon from an urban and housing design perspective. The preliminary study gives a general introduction to the background of the floating population and explains the research framework. Following a literature review of the academic approaches so far and trying to give a deep understanding of the floating population. After that, a case study on the public housing system in Singapore was introduced and show how could their achievements could be applied to the Chinese context. The design proposal starts with a site study in Shanghai, China. By applying the urban grid system and the social cohesion theory, aiming to develop the qualities that can be used to meet current challenges. Shanghai is the city that holds the biggest portion of the domestic immigrants among many Chinese cities, it is therefore chosen as the target city to develop the proposal. The Design area is approximately 160 hectares in total, and is expected to provide housing and infrastructures to a minimum of 70,000 new residents. From an urban scale, the neighborhood is applied to a polycentric structure and is connected with the central town with the railway systems. The neighborhood scale explored the relationship between the proposed neighborhood and the existing communities to examine the potential qualities of social sustainability. The block scale presents the different qualities and benefits of different amenities and facilities