Too Privileged to Move? Neighbourhood Perception and Relocation Intention in China's Gated Communities

Abstract The association between neighbourhood characteristics and residential relocation is a classic topic in urban studies. In China, where gated communities (GCs) have become a highly popular residential form, how and to what extent residents’ perceptions of GCs affect their relocation intention has not been quantitatively examined. Drawing on a large‐scale household survey conducted in Shanghai, we use multi‐level logistic regression models to examine the impact of the perceptions of neighbourhood environment, attachment and gatedness on relocation intention. Our findings are threefold: (1) the greater the perceived improvement of the neighbourhood environment, the lower the likelihood of relocation intention; (2) respondents with higher levels of neighbourhood attachment tend to have lower relocation intention and (3) respondents living in neighbourhoods with higher levels of gatedness are less likely to have relocation intention. This research contributes to the literature of neighbourhood studies and GCs by quantifying the ramification of entrenched ‘gated mindset’ in urban China.