Measuring urban diversity of Songjiang New Town: A re-configuration of a Chinese suburb

Abstract

Large-scale New Town projects being built in the developing world, including China, are often criticized for its lack of urban diversity. This is because these areas do not display the characteristics where urban diversity is normally found such as areas that are developed over longer periods of time, places of incremental change, and areas with small urban blocks. However, two aspects challenge the simplistic conclusion that New Towns are physically and socially monotonous: the diversification of the housing provision system in China; and rapid internal migration. Against this background, this study measures the housing and social diversity of four study areas in Songjiang, an outer suburb of Shanghai, using the entropy index to illustrate a more complicated understanding of where and how diversity occurs. The results showed that older, incrementally developed areas were diverse, but more interestingly, new comprehensively developed areas were also diverse through variations in building types and a wide housing price range. The study found disparate tendencies between housing and social diversity in other areas. In conclusion, the study highlighted the different contexts of urban diversity and its importance in drawing appropriate urban design measures which encourage the positive aspects of diversity such as urban vitality and equity. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.