The industrialization and urban development in China have driven a huge portion of the rural population to its urban areas. While discriminating institutions engendered by the hukou system exclude most rural migrants from urban rights and benefits, the option of converting hukou has become increasingly available. Nevertheless, few rural migrants have chosen to settle down in cities by obtaining an urban hukou, which contradicts a common perception that rural migrants desire an urban hukou. Based on a recent migrant survey in Jiangsu Province, this paper explores rural migrants' intention of hukou conversion with respect to the availability, type, and quantity of rural landholdings in their home countryside, as well as their socioeconomic attributes and migration patterns. The results of regression analyses indicate that both the possession of farmland and housing land in rural areas significantly influences the intention of rural migrants to obtain an urban hukou in their destination cities. Moreover, systematic variances in settlement intention are found between the “born-after-1980” generation and their older counterparts, as well as between migrants from the more and less affluent regions. These findings suggest that the decision of hukou conversion incorporates varied concerns and purposes among rural migrants in Chinese cities, which should be addressed with more responsive rural and urban policies.

China's dynamic urbanisation since 1978 has led to the proliferation of so-called ‘urban villages’ in many cities. Their development, via a self-help approach by indigenous villagers, delivers low-cost housing and various other social and economic activities. Consequently, urban villages are characterised by growing numbers of buildings and a mix of functions, including residential, industrial, commercial, and public services. These uses enable different activities in urban villages, assimilating migrants into the city by providing an alternative niche for working and living. Variations in land-use diversity in Shenzhen's 318 urban villages were analysed using 2009 data, for more than 333 000 buildings. Four statistical models, including three based on a spatial regimes analysis, are used to explain their land-use diversity. The results reveal that an urban village's land-use pattern is linked to its location in the urban fabric, its phase of development, and the development level of its environs. Different patterns are apparent inside and outside the Special Economic Zone of Shenzhen, suggesting that the current uniform redevelopment policy for urban villages may not be appropriate.

China’s rapid urbanisation has created a special form of urban built environment known as ‘village in the city’ (ViC). Various governance approaches have been applied to redevelop ViCs, which are prevalent in big cities. However, owing to the specific conditions of ViCs and the diverse contexts of urban development within and across cities, those approaches remain largely case-specific and are hampered by a lack of guiding principles. This article presents a framework on modes of governance to understand the choice of and the differences between modes of governance as well as their positive and negative consequences for the regeneration of ViCs. Case studies of various types of ViC regeneration practices in Guangzhou and Shenzhen are used to illustrate the framework’s application. The article concludes that new modes of governance that are interactive, inclusive and collaborative are called for to achieve the sustainable regeneration of ViCs.