By summarizing and sorting out the domestic urban renewal practice process, starting from multiple urban renewal research themes such as urban renewal planning and policy research, urban renewal governance models, urban renewal benefit mechanism research, and urban renewal effects, the current state of urban renewal research in China is analyzed, and the characteristics of practical progress and research features of urban renewal are summarized. Since 2019, under the guidance of the Provincial Department of Natural Resources, the Guangdong Province Three Olds Renovation Association has organized 11 key research projects covering multiple professional fields of urban renewal. Currently, all projects have completed final acceptance, and some results have been adopted by the competent authorities. These will gradually be transformed into provincial policy documents or technical regulations to help promote the standardized development of the Three Olds renovation work in Eastern Province. This research project is based on 11 acceptance projects and is hereby recommended for readers' benefit
This article is reprinted from the "Guangdong Three Olds Renovation Association" official WeChat account.
The Practical Process of Urban Renewal in ChinaUrban renewal is an ongoing process. As long as a city exists and develops, there will always be a need for urban renewal. Since the founding of New China 70 years ago, urban renewal has roughly gone through the following four stages.
After the founding of New China, the city's material decline and outdated facilities. To address urgent basic living needs, cities across the country have carried out urban construction efforts to varying degrees, focusing on improving environmental sanitation, developing urban transportation, renovating municipal facilities, and building workers' housing, with the main focus of renewal being the renovation of shantytowns and dilapidated houses.
For example, the Longxu Valley renovation in Beijing in 1951, the Qinhuai River in Nanjing in 1955, and Bayi Avenue in Nanchang in 1970 were all highly effective renovation projects at the time.
In 1978, China entered a new era of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization. This stage aims to meet urban residents' needs for improving living and travel conditions and to repay debts owed in the urban infrastructure sector. Urban renewal is being explored and practiced across the country at an unprecedented scale and speed.
For example, the renovation of Hefei's old city in 1983, the Confucius Temple in Nanjing in 1984, Nanjing Road in Shanghai in 1985, Tongfang Lane in Suzhou in 1987, and Ju'er Hutong in Beijing in 1989.
With the promulgation of the 1994 "Decision of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of the Urban Housing System" and the official end of the unit-based welfare housing system in 1998, Against the backdrop of rapid urbanization, market-oriented land reforms, the introduction of market mechanisms, and joint promotion by the government and market have accelerated the improvement of infrastructure in old districts, allowing land to appreciate in value and carrying out large-scale urban renewal activities in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen.
During this period, the renewal and renovation involved improvements in the old city's living environment, intensive land use, renovation of old industries, protection of historic and cultural districts, urban village renovation, and the integration and upgrading of creative cultural industries. At the same time, there were serious issues that damaged historical landscapes and intensified social conflicts.
In 2014, the "National New-Type Urbanization Plan (2014-2020)" was issued; in 2016, the Ministry of Land and Resources issued the "Guiding Opinions on Deepening the Redevelopment of Inefficient Urban Land (Trial)"; and in 2017, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening Ecological Restoration and Urban Repair Work," among other policies.
Against this backdrop, cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Wuhan have comprehensively advanced urban renewal work in both breadth and depth, based on local realities. These include comprehensive urban renewal focused on major events to boost urban vitality, renewal and reuse of old industrial zones guided by industrial structure upgrading and cultural and creative industries, protective renovation and renewal of historic areas themed on historical and cultural protection, and renovation of shantytowns and urban villages aimed at improving the living environment of disadvantaged groups. and other multi-level and multi-dimensional perspectives to explore new situations.
During this period, urban renewal emphasized a people-oriented approach, focusing on improving living environments and enhancing urban vitality, exploring community participation, urban governance, and institutional construction of urban renewal systems, focusing on urban connotation development, enhancing urban quality, promoting industrial transformation, and strengthening intensive land use.
Research on Urban Renewal in China
In the early 1980s, most research on urban renewal focused on geographers and planners sharing experiences and summarizing methods of old city renovation in China, as well as introducing foreign urban renewal experiences.
Since the 1990s, with the continuous advancement of urbanization in China, a large-scale movement for old city renovation and renewal has emerged nationwide. Research on renovation methods, planning and design, and other application areas arising during renewal has become the main focus of research, including the protection, renewal, and renovation design of historic and cultural cities, urban infrastructure renewal, residential demolition compensation ratios and resettlement, and floor area ratio for renewal and reconstructionand other practical issues.
Since 2000, driven by multiple dynamic mechanisms, urban renewal in China has gradually moved toward a multi-objective, rapid renewal phase that includes material renewal, adjustment of spatial functional structures, and optimization of the humanistic environment, covering social, economic, and cultural content. A review of recent domestic urban renewal research topics summarized mainly includes:
Research on urban renewal planning and policiesUrban planning has always attracted attention as an important aspect of urban renewal. Scholars emphasize the institutional environment for planning operations, propose the community planner system, and explore green planning in urban renewal. In recent years, domestic scholars have gradually shifted from focusing on planning research in urban renewal to improving policies and institutional construction in urban renewal.
It focuses on analyzing issues in urban renewal policy objectives and decision-making mechanisms, such as Zhao Ruoyan analyzing problems in Shenzhen's renewal policies and systems from a consultative perspective; Zhu Yizhong and Wang Tao established a policy analysis framework for Guangzhou's urban renewal based on residual rights theories, pointing out that Guangzhou faces difficulties such as poor policy stability and insufficient planning control. Lin Jian believes that current development of inefficient land faces unresolved policy bottlenecks, insufficient planning coordination, and an incomplete institutional system. The focus should be on improving the connotation of goals, prioritizing planning implementation, and promoting innovation.Urban renewal governance modelRegarding urban renewal governance models, early urban renewal projects were implemented under direct government planning, organization, and command. With continuous exploration of urban renewal practices, the market transformation model led by real estate developers has increasingly attracted public attention.
He Shenjing believes that urban renewal driven by real estate development is the driving force behind China's urban development. Tang Jingxian pointed out that urban renewal should adopt an appropriate "government-market" governance model, with the goal principle being to optimize and improve urban space rather than to enlarge the "pie"; The bottom line lies in safeguarding the public interest. In recent years, urban renewal cases have begun to emphasize community participation. Long Tengfei and others emphasize the importance of public participation, pointing out that establishing interactive participation is the most ideal model of participation.
In addition, people are gradually realizing that the difficulty and focus of orderly urban renewal lies in establishing collaborative mechanisms to coordinate the interests of multiple participants. Tong De also pointed out that in the new era of urbanization transformation, special attention should be paid to the influence and role of grassroots governance actors in the evolution of urban space, and to improve governance structures through effective policies and new market concepts.Research on interest mechanismsResearch on interest mechanisms in urban renewal is a hot topic of scholarly concern. Tian Li pointed out that urban renewal significantly increases the spatial value of renewed areas, but the ownership of the resulting value-added gains is unclear, leading to a game structure of unequal benefit distribution among the three entities of urban government, developers, and citizens.
Zhang Zeyu and Li Guicai pointed out that the social perception of land appreciation income among groups has a substantial impact on the distribution of land appreciation benefits in urban village renovation in Shenzhen through coordination and game mechanisms. Guo Youliang also pointed out that in the process of government, developers, and villagers participating in "urban village renovation," balancing land interests will lead to excessively high floor area ratios and limited cooperation space for participants.
Therefore, it is necessary to use improved laws and policy tools to enhance mutual trust and communication among stakeholders, and to deeply analyze the interests and public choices of each participant.Research on the effects of urban renewal mainly evaluates the economic impact of renewal on local economic revitalization from an economic perspective. In recent years, social equity and other related deprivation phenomena caused by urban renewal have been ongoing research hotspots among scholars. Most scholars have critically studied the changes in local social structures caused by urban renewal projects, as well as negative effects such as replacement, gentrification, social isolation, and accelerated marginalization of existing residents.
Zou Bing believes that Shenzhen's urban renewal is a practice of a stock development model, achieving results in ensuring economic growth, improving land efficiency, perfecting urban functions, upholding ecological bottom lines, and solving historical legacy problems. He Shenjing, Tao Ran, and Tian Li argue that urban renewal damages the social networks and urban fabric of residential communities, leading to a lack of social fairness, a shortage of public housing services for the neglected migrant population, and worsening gentrification.
In response, Ye Yumin attempted to build a theoretical framework and implementation mechanism for inclusive urban village renovation in China's megacities, specifically proposing that megacities need and may include affordable health housing for non-registered permanent residents in urban village renovation plans to reduce the cost of urbanization for non-registered permanent residents in megacities.
Progress and Research Summary of Domestic Urban RenewalCharacteristics of the Urban Renewal Practice Process in ChinaMultidimensional value of urban renewal. The value orientation of urban renewal is gradually shifting from the previous single orientation of economic efficiency and land value to the current sustainable development value system that balances economic efficiency, social fairness, cultural heritage protection, ecological environment protection, and other integrated aspects.
Diversified models for urban renewal. The urban renewal model changes the previous single-minded approach of large-scale demolition and construction, making renewal needs more diversified and varied in type according to differentiation and hierarchical needs. Multi-party participation in urban renewal spatial governance. In the current process of urban spatial governance, institutional development, decentralization of rights, and social empowerment are continuously improved, with multi-party participation and governance from the government, communities, enterprises, and third-party organizations.
Characteristics of Urban Renewal Research ProgressThe evolution of Chinese scholars' research content on "urban renewal" is closely related to the themes of economic construction and urban development in different periods in China. As China's urbanization continues to advance, urban renewal has also given rise to broader content.
The focus has expanded from a single geographic planning scholar to broader social, economic, administrative, and legal levels. Interdisciplinary integration and interdisciplinary approaches, including economics, sociology, geography, institutional economics, and public administration, explore various issues related to urban renewal.
(This article is provided by the Peking University–Lincoln Center "Summary and Comparative Analysis of Guangdong's Three Olds Renovation Experience" project team and published in the policy research column of Issue 14 of "Guangdong Three Olds Renovation".) ）
