Urbanization, Migration and Welfare in China: A Comparative Study of Migrant Families, Social Service Provisions and Welfare Policies in Greater Bay Area and Yangtze River Delta

Rapid urbanization is a critical social issue in China as it creates profound challenges for those rural-to-urban migrant workers and their family members. This is a collaborative project between Hong Kong Baptist University and The University of Chicago aiming at examining the situations and concerns of these migrant workers, their family members, migrant service organizations, as well as accessing the influences of newly implemented children, migrant and welfare policies, through a comparative analysis of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and Yangtze River Delta (YRD). This project will employ surveys, interviews, policy scan, and creating a database on migrant and associated service landscape, producing rich data contributing to multiple fields in academia and developing practical solutions to the challenges of urbanization in China through engaging policy makers, international service agencies, and local service providers. This project also aims to facilitate responses to the challenges that urbanization creates for migrants and their families through the building of “enabling environments.” An enabling environment reflects a set of interrelated conditions including social, institutional, economic, cultural, and legal dimensions, that affect the capacity of migrants and their families to achieve an enhanced quality of life and have better access to relevant and necessary services, information, opportunities, and support. Building enabling environments for them requires interventions that work at multiple levels with individuals, families, organizations, communities, and at the societal level. To meet this goal, interviews and focus groups will be conducted to access the well-being of migrant workers and their families, and caregivers, and continued to solicit solutions with local service providers including social workers, teachers, and government officials involved in serving the migrant populations.