Adaptation Analysis of Urban Village Resettlers Based on Lefebvre’s Spatial Production Theory in Qingdao, China

The demolition and resettlement of urban villages is a new urbanization strategy widely used by the Chinese government. It is a massive development intervention designed and implemented by the Chinese government to promote the relocation and resettlement of the rural-to-urban population. However, limited research has focused on how rural residents adapt to their new urban lives within these large-scale relocation and resettlement projects. This paper aims to analyze this adaptation process. This study employs Lefebvre’s spatial production theory, based on a survey of 256 resettled residents in Qingdao, China, using a structured questionnaire and the statistical analysis software SPSS 24.0 to quantitatively evaluate the adaptability of resettled residents based on three dimensions: material space, institutional space, and social space. Descriptive statistics and correlation analyses are conducted to explore the relationships among these dimensions. Our findings reveal an association between high adaptation levels and urban resident identity recognition among the resettled residents. Our research findings raise more substantial concerns about the transparency of government decision-making and the community participation of resettlers in the current resettlement process.