The sustainable development of land-lost peasants' citizenization: A case study of Dongbang town, China

Urbanization can be categorized as “spontaneous” and “compulsory” according to its mode of occurrence. In the latter case, the local government acquires the agricultural land and then promotes the transformation of the land-lost peasants to urban residents by enforcing various policy combinations. Based on an empirical case analysis of compulsory urbanization in China, this study proposes that the material assistance and guarantee mechanism provided by the local government is of great significance in the process of rapid conversion of land-lost peasants to citizens. However, the local government needs to continue adopting various policy measures to support the land-lost peasants in order to further adapt to urban life and develop their identities as urban citizens. The local government should also maintain the balance between “compulsive” and “spontaneous” policy styles in the midst of urbanization, and transform the concept of urbanization from “economy-oriented” to “people-oriented”.