Examining Links between Perception of Environmental Change and Well Being: A Pilot Study in China

Ying Xu (University of Michigan)
Noah Webster (Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan)
Robert W Marans (University of Michigan)

Over the past few decades, China has experienced rapid urbanization throughout the country. As a part of its sustainable development strategy, the central Chinese government has launched a serial of large-scale migration programs aimed at relocating 300 million rural population to urban areas by 2025. One such program is currently underway in the Qinba Mountain Area (QMA). The QMA program has prioritized the planning, design, and development of new communities near existing urban settlements, as a means of reducing poverty and enhancing the life quality of the rural migrants. However, the planning process has given little consideration to the complex integrations of environmental transformations and the well-being of the impacted (i.e. rural to urban). Moreover, these impacts, both short- and long- term, are being ignored in light of global climate change. In order to address these issues, a pilot study conducted in the QMA by the University of Michigan in cooperation with local planners and academics.

This presentation describes the research design and presents preliminary results from the pilot study. The study involved both focus group sessions with residents in several new resettlement developments and a survey conducted with 100 residents of one new development. The survey addressed issues of well-being and health as a result of resettlement and perceptions of environmental change from a rural mountainous area to a new urban setting. Specifically, respondent’s health was measured by both self-rated physical health and mental condition using the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. The well-being is measured by the subjective assessment of overall quality of life. Respondents’ demographic, social, and economic conditions and their perception of environmental changes are measured as determinants of health and well- being. Finally, the presentation reviews hypotheses drawn from the pilot study that will be tested in the long-term research program.