Place-makers in the digital age: Lifestyle migrants and the emergence of lifestyle-oriented urbanization in China

The increasing significance of lifestyle migration provides a compelling opportunity for exploring the role that lifestyle migrants play in urban changes. This paper establishes lifestyle migrants as place-makers to comprehend their profound influence on Dali, a city in Southwest China. Three forms of place-making, namely creative, transgressive, and aesthetic place-making, are identified in this paper, which have forged connections between the online and offline worlds and transformed the city into an attractive place for developers, investors, and migrants, thereby giving rise to a distinct mode of urbanization (termed lifestyle-oriented urbanization in this paper). By characterizing this urbanization mode and the triad of place-making, this paper illuminates how lifestyle migration has sparked off socio-spatial rearrangements in a peripheral place and how these changes, in turn, have sustained lifestyle migration. Through this exploration, this paper highlights the importance of further research on the interplay between lifestyle migration and urbanization.

Automated summary

This paper explores the impact of lifestyle migration on Dali, China and establishes lifestyle migrants as place-makers. By identifying three forms of place-making, the paper reveals how lifestyle migration triggers urban changes and highlights the importance of further researching the relationship between lifestyle migration and urbanization.