Relationship between Urban Floating Population Distribution and Livability Environment: Evidence from Guangzhou's Urban District, China

The livability environment is an important aspect of urban sustainable development. The floating population refers to people without local hukou (also called 'non-hukou migrants'). The floating population distribution is influenced by livability environment, but few studies have investigated this relationship. Especially, the influence of social environment on floating population distribution is rarely studied. Therefore, we study 1054 communities in Guangzhou's urban district to explore the relationship between livability environment and floating population distribution. The purpose of this article is to study how livability environment affects floating population distribution. We develop a conceptual framework of livability environment, which consists of physical environment, social environment and life convenience. A cross-sectional dataset of the impact of livability environment on the floating population distribution is developed covering the proportion of floating population in the community as the dependent variable, eight factors of livability environment as the explanatory variables, and two factors of architectural characteristics and one factor of location characteristics as the control variables. We use spatial regression models to explore the degree of influence and direction of physical environment, social environment and life convenience on the floating population distribution in livability environment. The results show that the spatial error model is more effective than ordinary least squares and spatial lag model models. The five factors of the livability environment have statistical significance regarding floating population distribution, including four social environment factors (proportion of middle- and high-class occupation population, proportion of highly educated people in the population, proportion of rental households, and unemployment rate) and regarding life convenience factors (work and shopping convenience). The conclusion has value for understanding how the social environment affects the residential choice of the floating population. This study will help city administrators reasonably guide the residential pattern of the floating population and formulate reasonable management policies, thereby improving the city's livability, attractiveness and sustainable development.