Introduction

The development of Shenzhen started in the late 1970s. It was the first special economic zone in China, a “lab” of economic reform and the opening-up of the country to foreign investment. A rapid process of industrialization started ever since, and it became a “world factory” attracting foreign investments for export-oriented labor-intensive manufactory industries, which led to a huge influx of migrants. After more than three decades of development, the city grew from a town of 300,000 people to a big metropolis with a population of more than 10 million. Nowadays Shenzhen is very often mentioned as a city of migrants, with a floating population of 7.46 million, according to statistics from 2014. Although this number is not as high as Beijing (8.03 million floating population in 2013) and Shanghai (9.96 million floating population in 2014), the proportion of migrants in Shenzhen (69.2% of the total population in 2014) is much higher than in Beijing (38% of the total population in 2013) and in Shanghai (41% of the total population in 2014). These numbers imply challenges for the future urban development of Shenzhen in the context of migration, namely, accommodating newcomers and integrating them in the city socially and spatially.

In the past three decades, urban villages have contributed greatly in meeting such challenges. This is a special type of informal settlement, which emerged during the rapid industrialization and urbanization processes in Shenzhen, also seen in other cities in the Pearl River Delta (such as Guangzhou).