Doctoral Dissertation Research: How People Become Urban

这个项目考察了在不断扩张的城市中成为城市的三条道路：出生在城市，从农村迁移到城市，以及生活在被城市不断扩张的边界吞没的以前的农村地区。重点是那些没有迁移但通过城市扩张进入城市的人，因为他们是迄今为止研究最少的。调查的问题涉及人们如何理解当地的归属，哪些人和哪些地方被视为真正的城市和地方，谁被视为群体内或群体外的一部分，以及谁被认为值得享有当地公民权利和共享公共空间。研究结果将有助于政策制定者和其他有关方面寻求在快速变化的城市中更有效地促进社会包容。该项目的数据收集包括在一个快速发展的大城市进行实地考察。心理测绘和城市漫步等空间方法补充了大约140次采访：对三种类型的城市居民每种都进行了40次采访，对来自城市不同地区的城市规划专家进行了20次采访。访谈调查了居民如何主观地界定空间和社会文化边界，以区分城市和非城市、本地和非本地以及他们心目中的应得和不应得。调查结果将为不同类型的城市居民是否以及为什么持续存在归属感或疏离感，以及不同类型的城市居民如何看待其他人的公民权利要求提供更清晰的图景。这一裁决反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project examines three pathways to becoming urban in an expanding city: being born in the city, migrating from a rural area to the city, and living in a formerly rural area that is swallowed up by the expanding borders of the city. The emphasis is on those who did not migrate but become urban through city expansion as they have been the least studied to date. The questions investigated concern how people understand local belonging, which people and what places are viewed as truly urban and local, who is viewed as part of an in-group or out-group, and who is deemed worthy of local citizenship rights and shared public spaces. Findings will be useful to policy makers and other concerned parties seeking to more effectively promote social inclusion in rapidly transforming cities.Data collection for this project consists of fieldwork in a large and rapidly growing city. Spatial methods such as mental mapping exercises and city walks complement approximately 140 interviews: 40 interviews with each of the three kinds of city residents and 20 interviews with urban planning experts, drawn from different parts of the city. The interviews investigate how residents subjectively define the spatial and sociocultural boundaries that distinguish the urban and non-urban, the local and non-local, and the deserving and undeserving in their minds. Findings will yield a clearer picture of whether and why a sense of belonging or alienation persists among different types of city residents and how different kinds of city residents view the claims of others to citizenship.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.