Relational urban villages: Rethinking floating population impacts on urban villages through seasonal residency in Gangmen

Research on floating populations in urban villages has primarily assumed the homogeneity of these migrants and the impacts medicated through economic (tenant-landlord) transactions. However, these assumptions fail to acknowledge the increasing heterogeneity of floating populations in urban villages. A neglected segment of floating populations in urban villages not only seeks affordable living but aims to pursue alternative lifestyles. They may cultivate broader ties with local society that transcend the conventional tenant-landlord relationship. The impacts of lifestyle-seeking migrants on urban villages generated through relational channels have received little discussion. Therefore, drawing on seasonal residents in Gangmen of China, a segment of floating populations, this study aims to unpack the impacts of floating populations on urban villages from a relational perspective. Findings reveal that seasonal residents engage in entrepreneurial collaboration, community governance, and spatial negotiation. Their ties with locals involve economic interdependence and social participation, while interactions with local governments reflect a blend of cooperation and resistance. These practices—integrating seasonal entrepreneurship into local economic structure, fostering embedded social infrastructure, and co-producing environmental change—generate “relational impacts” that differ from those of transactional logic. This study advances the literature by examining an overlooked group of urban migrants in urban villages and developing a relational framework that reconceptualizes their multi-scalar interactions with local communities and highlights their socio-economic impacts beyond informal housing consumption.