Research On Residential Differentiation From The Perspective Of Social Structure

In the context of China's reform and opening up,after nearly 30 years of development,trational towns in Taihu Basin have undergone rapid tourism urbanization,which has brought about the improvement of economic level,the adjustment of social structure,the revival of history and culture,the development of natural resources,etc..The towns steps into the transforming and upgrading period from "quantity" to "quality" gradually.While gaining good development benefits,the tourism urbanization in the former stage of trational towns in Taihu Basin has also triggered a lot of urban problems,such as the migration of aboriginal people and the hollow of historic towns,the relocation of peasants and the decline of rural communities,the residential segregation of the rich and poor in the town.Residential differentiation is the most direct embodiment of the interaction between urban social structure and urban spatial.Residential differentiation of the trational towns is beneficial to the promotion of capital and land use efficiency,but with the formation and reinforcement of differentiation,the material space form of the trational towns is fragmented,the infrastructure constructionurban and public service facilities of different residence spaces are unequally allocated,and the rich and poor stratum of the trational towns live in isolation.The unfair distribution of urban space resources makes differenet service for the ancient town residents in the living environment,lifestyle,employment opportunities and social intercourse,which leads to the phenomenon of "urban space deprivation",resulting in the exclusion of the ancient town social groups and even conflict.On the basis of social structure,this paper exanines residential differentiation of ancient towns in Taihu Basin further:On the one hand,after the reform and opening up,the market economy and urbanization of tourism have led to the surge in the local population and the influx of foreign population,making the population structure of the ancient town increasingly complex.Social stratification and group differentiation have gradually emerged,resulting in groups of different socio-economic status;on the other hand,as a result of the historical development of the inertia,the trational towns have a large number of traditional dwellings,unit rooms(Fang Gaifang),farmers'houses and so on,while China's housing system has been transformed from the "unit system" of balanced distribution and unified supply in initial period of founding of PRC into the "market system" of optimal allocation of resources.The type of residence space is constantly dissimilating,producing multi-level and multi-type dwelling.The residents of the towns according to their own"need","preferance" and "ability" to make the best residential choice and couple with the existing different levels and different types of housing,leading to residential differentiation—the distribution of rank difference in geographic space of different economic power and social stratum groups.Residential differentiation of trational towns in Taihu Basin has unique pattern representation and pattern characteristics:the replacement of the ancient town area—the migration and staying of the aborigines;the isolation and contrast of the marginal area—the deconstruction and placement of rural communities and the invasion and isolation of migrants;the mixed residence and heterogeneity of mid-range area—the migration of local farmers and the clustering of foreign tourism workers.This paper takes TongLi as a typical case to analyze the historical context and current situation of the development of residential differentiation in trational towns and makes a comprehensive review.The mechanism of exploring the residential differentiation of the trational towns can be developed from the driving force and the action process.The driving force includes four aspects of the development of economy and improvement of purchasing power,the housing marketization,the cultural value guidance and the group psychological demands and the family life-cycle requirements and its action process is the coupling of social mobility and residence migration,followed by amendment and adjustment of couplingThe residential differentiation of the trational towns has produced a series of influences:the isolation and labeling of the living space,the differentiation and conflict of the stratified groups and the shock and remodeling of Water Culture.This paper puts forward reasonable guidance and control strategy from the aspects of planning,construction and management,to alleviate these adverse effects and build a harmonious livable environment in the trational towns.