Community sentiments and the stay-leave intention: a study of temporary migrants in villages-in-the-city in Guangzhou

This thesis presents an account of the real-life experiences and multiple subjectivities of temporary migrants in villages-in-the-city in Guangzhou. Through an engagement with literature, survey data as well as first-hand experience in the field, this study argues for a number of interrelated views: (1) While villages-in-the-city offers no more than a shelter, temporary migrants in such neighbourhoods are integrated into the city in a certain manner. (2) Temporary migrants’ perception of neighbourhood quality is the most significant factor underlying community satisfaction; perception of neighbourly relations is the most significant factor underlying community attachment. (3) Affective evaluation influences migrants’ intentions significantly in its own way and better predicts the stay-leave intention as compared with cognitive evaluation. (4) The effects of background factors are largely mediated by levels of subjective evaluation in predicting migrants’ intention of staying or leaving the host city. (5) Temporary migrants experience real-life precarity in terms of employment, housing, social welfare and emotional relations, which is central to the understanding of their subjectivities manifested in this thesis.