Emerging amenity migration in China: The spatially heterogeneous process

Abstract

Amenity plays a crucial role in determining migration patterns but varies with development stages and different regions. While amenity migration, namely migration dominated by amenity factors, has been widely identified in developed countries with numerous case studies, the question of the extent to which amenity shapes migration patterns in developing countries, especially concerning the spatiotemporal heterogeneity, is less well answered. To address this gap, the paper takes China as a case to examine spatiotemporally varying roles of amenities in affecting migration patterns. The results of panel model and cross-sectional regressions showed increasing effects of amenities with upgrading development stages, while the effects of economic opportunities are weakened, indicating an emerging trend of amenity migration. The results of the multiscale geographically weighted regression model further confirmed the varying effects of various amenities in different regions. The specific roles of amenities depend on the local context. In addition, migration patterns are influenced by different dominant factors in different places. While the impact of economic opportunities on migration is important in less economically developed regions, the impact of place-specific amenity is even more important in economically developed regions. Finally, migration transition arising from changes in migration dynamics and its spatially heterogeneous processes were discussed.