Industrial New Towns and Livability in China: Evidence from Chenglingji New Port Area

Industrial new towns have become important spatial instruments for regional economic development in China, yet many continue to struggle to attract and retain a stable workforce, support long-term settlement, and provide a complete urban living environment. Taking the Chenglingji New Port Area in central China as a case study, this paper applies the Industry–People–City analytical framework to examine the relationship among industrial development, residents’ everyday behaviours, and public service provision. The study combines field investigations, activity-diary interviews with 60 local residents, semi-structured interviews with 12 enterprise managers, and point-of-interest data on public service facilities. These materials are used for a primarily qualitative analysis supported by GIS-based spatial evidence. The findings show that the Chenglingji New Port Area has developed a clear basis of industrial agglomeration and four functional sectors, but public service provision remains mismatched with the everyday needs of different population groups. Managerial personnel and some technical workers continue to rely heavily on Yueyang’s main urban area for residence, consumption, leisure, and higher-order services, while locally based residents face combined deficits in commerce, transport, healthcare, education, cultural and recreational services, and public open spaces. The contribution of this study is twofold. First, it provides an empirically grounded assessment of the living conditions of labour and related residential groups in a resource-constrained inland industrial new town. Second, it demonstrates how the Industry–People–City analytical framework can be used to diagnose structural imbalances among industrial growth, population behaviour, and urban service provision. The study argues that improving the livability of industrial new towns should not depend solely on industrial expansion or one-off investment in high-standard facilities. Instead, phased, sector-specific, and user-oriented public service provision is needed to help industrial new towns gradually transform from mono-functional production-oriented growth poles into more complete and sustainable urban living nodes.