Suburban living and health performance : a case study of Panyu in Guangzhou

Abstract

A growing body of literature places emphasis on the health implications of urbanization with the changing lifestyles, highlighting the global trend of public health transition from infectious to chronic diseases etiology, from life expectancy to health expectancy. In China, the expeditious urbanization triggers the prosperous commodity housing development, which further grows with the spatial restructuring and socioeconomic transition. Residential suburbanization is thus generated, accompanied with the emergence of ―new-middle class‖ and the change of lifestyle. However, the health effects of suburbanization in China are overlooked. In this context, this study investigates the health performance of residents living in suburban commodity housing estates and the effects of suburban living on residents‘ health. The study aims to formulate recommendations for achieving a healthy neighborhood living environment for the middle-income people in China‘s suburbs. Three neighborhoods of different time periods in the Panyu District of Guangzhou were selected as case studies comprising different physical residential environment. Data were collected by questionnaire survey, interviews and observations, and were used to examine the associations between suburban living and residents‘ health quantitatively and qualitatively. The health performance of residents was evaluated in two dimensions using four indicators: physical health (obesity and self-reported general physical health) and mental health (depression and risks of mental disorders). The results of the survey showed that the incidence of obesity was 15.3%, and more than two-third residents (71.7%) reported good physical health. In addition, the incidence of depression was 12.1%, and the risks of mental disorders facing by the residents were not very high (3.98 on a 5 scale), but with 16.0% of residents felt serious stress. Then, the effects of suburban living on residents‘ health were examined in relation to the residential environment and health-related residential behaviors. Statistical results suggested that, six aggregated factors were associated with residents‘ health significantly: neighborhood and housing type, public service facilities, design features, travel time of different travel modes, pattern of physical leisure activity, and social interactions. Furthermore, considering the interactions between environmental and behavioral factors, this study examined the resident-environment transaction modes, arguing that residents in suburban commodity housing had to passively adapt to their residential environment, which is the obstacle for achieving a health-promoting environment. In addition, the institutional factors that affect the formation of the residential environment were addressed based on the examination on the roles of governments, developers, planners, housing managers, residents‘ committee, and ordinary residents in commodity housing development. Under the context of neoliberal urban policies and institutional uncertainty, there was no institutional support for the creation of health-promoting environments, especially with default of governments and excessive dependence on developers for public service facilities and the absence of civil society. Therefore, it is proposed that institutional innovations are necessary in term of embedding the health dimension in all sectors of the society, enlisting collaboration between public and private sectors, and between health and non-health sectors, and thus cultivating the optimization of residents-environment transactions to create health-promoting environments.