Preface
In recent years, high-rise residential buildings have sprung up in urban skylines, and their weight in urban residential space has increased significantly. However, as this trend develops, there is a growing concern about the future fate of high-rise housing. Some observers have even predicted that these towers could one day become "urban slums".
In fact, this prediction is not a distant assumption, and many high-rise housing buildings are already in the predicament of "slumification". Looking back on history, as early as the 90s of the last century, a number of high-rise residential projects were built on a large scale in mainland China. After 30 years of weathering, these buildings have not only suffered from aging facilities and lack of maintenance, but have also effectively transformed into "slums". Next, we'll dive into this phenomenon.
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1. Small-scale units: This type of high-rise housing is often the first choice for first-time buyers or to meet basic living needs. In the early stage of community construction, most of the owners are groups with similar economic conditions, and they have a certain sense of social identity and ownership among themselves, which is conducive to the maintenance of community order and environmental sanitation. However, over time, some owners have improved their economic conditions and moved to higher-end residential areas, resulting in significant changes in the demographic composition of the community.
2. Remote location and lack of educational resources: The community is located on the edge of the city and lacks high-quality schools and other supporting facilities. This geographical disadvantage not only limits the convenience of residents, but may also affect the increase in property value, further encouraging families who can afford to move out. The lack of quality educational resources is particularly repulsive for families with children, leading to a decrease in the ability of communities to attract new owners and increased population mobility.
3. Maintenance and transformation of the initial good condition: For 10 to 20 years after the completion of the community, the overall environment of the community is usually good due to the brand new houses, stable residents and a sense of ownership. However, over time, the group of owners has diverged: some owners with improved economic conditions choose to move out, while others stay or replace with larger units in the same community due to limited financial means.
4. Rising tenant ratio and intensifying community problems: As the original owners move out, the number of tenants in the community gradually increases. Tenants often lack long-term commitment and a sense of belonging to the community, and are less motivated to maintain the public environment and build neighborhood relations, resulting in frequent problems such as deterioration of the sanitary environment and improper use of public facilities. At the same time, after the original owners moved out, their participation in community affairs decreased, and it was even difficult to contact, which further hindered the effective resolution of community problems and the raising of maintenance funds.
5. Vicious circle and the trend of impoverishment: The above factors interact to form a vicious circle: the increase in the proportion of tenants leads to a decline in the environmental quality of the community, and the deterioration of the environment further drives the capable owners to move out, so that the proportion of tenants continues to increase. Eventually, the community fell into the predicament of low-income households mixed with a large number of tenants, serious aging of public facilities, and difficulties in community management, and gradually slipped into the situation of slum settlements.
Careful observation shows that there are some high-rise residential communities in foreign countries that have gradually evolved into slum settlements for more than 20 years, and their evolution process has significant characteristics. First of all, such communities are mainly rented and lived, and the composition of residents is complex and diverse, including various social groups, and chaos is inevitable. Large, high-quality high-rise homes are less likely to be impoverished, as tenants tend to be less financially well-off and tend to sell rather than rent out if they are vacant.
Second, residential areas located in urban centers with access to quality educational resources (e.g., proximity to prestigious schools) are less likely to become slums. This kind of area is mainly occupied by the owner, and the motivation of residents to buy a house is mainly due to the education needs of their children, so the community environment is relatively clean, the community management is orderly, and the conflict is easy to resolve. Although some of the buildings are old and seemingly "old and dilapidated", their intrinsic value and living quality are maintained, and it is not easy to slide into slums.
There is a misconception about whether third- and fourth-tier cities will become slums. Although such cities may face the risk of "ghost towns" due to population loss, the probability of large-scale slums forming is extremely low due to the limited number of migrant populations. On the contrary, urban villages in large cities have actually played the role of slum settlements, and with the advancement of urban village transformation, more low-income groups may move into small apartments in high-rise residential communities in the future.
The urbanization process in mainland China has only lasted about 20 years, and there are still a large number of urban villages as the main accommodation space for low-income groups. At this stage, high-rise residential communities have not yet clearly shown a trend of crowd differentiation, which is also the reason why many people do not have enough understanding of this problem.
In addition, low-rise residential communities are less likely to become slums for two main reasons: first, the small household base and low proportion of tenants, which is convenient for community management and problem coordination; The high rents of such communities and the lack of high-quality educational resources for tenants make it rarely rented out.
epilogue
To sum up, high-rise residential communities dominated by small apartments, if they are located in remote areas and lack high-quality educational resources, are prone to gradually evolve into poor settlements due to changes in the structure of the owner group and the increase in the proportion of tenants over time. This problem requires comprehensive measures from the aspects of optimizing urban planning, improving the level of community management, and strengthening the education of tenants' rights and responsibilities.