Spatial characteristics and new changes of the “ant tribe” urban village in Beijing: Cases studies of Tangjialing and Shigezhuang

Abstract

In recent years, many new college graduates in Chinese mega-cities have opted for affordable yet substandard housing in urban villages as a survival strategy in the increasingly commercialized and polarized cities, forming living quarters described in media as ‘ant tribes’. This chapter analyzes the spatial characteristics and effects of the ‘ant tribes’ using Tangjialing and Shigezhuang, Beijing, as case studies. The findings show that concentration of the low-income college graduates in a substandard built environment is a unique phenomenon associated with the particular stages of urbanization in China. The ant tribes are deeply rooted in China’s transitional process characterized by the interweaving pro-growth strategy via higher education expansion with the persisting socialist legacy of an urban-rural divide.