Incomplete-ownership property communities: Informal gated communities in Beijing and the issue of life satisfaction

Informal housing and social inequality are key issues when building sustainable societies in many developing countries. Informal gated communities on the urban fringe are common in many cities in China. This article presents a micro-case in Beijing in an attempt to uncover the reasons for this informal land development and its impact on residents' life satisfaction. We investigated three groups of people, namely local rural villagers who hold local rural Hukous, local urban residents who hold local urban Hukous, and migrants without local Hukous who live in informal communities in Beijing. We found that villagers, migrants and local urban residents have significant differences in economic income levels, housing areas and subjective satisfaction with their quality of life. Although the difference in subjective well-being between migrants and urban people is not obvious, those who own illegal housing in informal communities have higher levels of happiness than those who rent housing. It seems that ownership of informal housing plays a positive role in enhancing life satisfaction, despite it being illegal. These findings enhance our existing knowledge of the formation mechanism and the effects of informal development. •Informal gated communities on the urban fringe are common in many cities in China.•Villagers, migrants and local urban residents have significant differences in their quality of life.•Those who own illegal housing in informal communities have higher levels of happiness than those who rent housing.•Ownership of informal housing plays a positive role in enhancing life satisfaction