Examining spatial pattern and location choice of affordable housing in Beijing, China: Developing a workable assessment framework

Little research is devoted to evaluating the spatial patterns of affordable housing in Beijing. For filling this gap by developing a workable assessment framework, this paper addresses the importance of assessing the spatial patterns of affordable housing, not only for the wellbeing of low- and middle-income households but also for urban sustainable development, and presents Beijing as a case study. Using GIS-based spatial analysis, this study assesses the spatiotemporal dynamics of location and affordable housing in Beijing from 1999 to 2012. We posit that spatial agglomeration is gradually decreasing, and the spatial patterns demonstrate an equilibrium distribution in this urban area. The hypotheses were tested using three indexes, Lorenz curves and data on 294 affordable housing projects within the Sixth Ring Roads in Beijing. Our analysis demonstrates that affordability patterns are obviously spatially clustered, and affordable housing is mainly located at the urban fringe. The direct cause is that low- and middle-income households have little impact on determining the location of affordable housing. Therefore, clustering pattern should be reconsidered and improved when constructing future affordable housing projects in Beijing.