Chongqing, a megacity in southwest China, has undergone a unique urbanisation process, which can be likened to ‘one tiny horse pulling a huge cart’. That is, one small area of the municipality defined as urban (5% of land area and 31% of population) is driving the development of the much more extensive area defined as rural (95% of land area and 69% of population). Chongqing’s former socialist organisation of residence and the work-unit system has been transformed through housing privatisation and commercial property development into a diversified and complex urban neighbourhood arrangement. Different types of neighbourhoods have emerged, each exhibiting diversity in residents’ socio-economic characteristics, housing conditions and the neighbourhoods’ internal spatial arrangements, commercial amenities and access to public services.