Speaker
Description
China's urbanization is transitioning from rapid development to high-quality development, with community renewal in old urban areas being a key component. However, due to the dispersed property rights and complex interests in old communities, the difficulty of community renewal has increased. New governance models are urgently needed to alleviate the contradictions and conflicts that arise.
As a representative city in China's developed southeast coastal region, Hangzhou has been continuously renewing its urban landscape, driven by the Internet industry and major events such as the Asian Games. The renewal of its residential neighborhoods is imminent. This paper uses Zhegong Xincun as an observation window to examine the community renewal process and the development of autonomous governance in Hangzhou over the past 30 years. It explores the continuous coupling process between the two and the factors affecting autonomous community renewal, proposing adapted policy suggestions.
We propose an analytical framework of “Evolution - Coupling Process - Role Mechanism - Adaptation Strategy.” First, we summarize the coupling process between Hangzhou's urban renewal from 1993 to the present and the evolution of self-governance through text analysis and expert interviews. We then conduct an in-depth examination of multiple stakeholders, including residents of Zhegong Xincun, local and higher-level governments, design and construction units, and media, using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Additionally, we interview residents from other communities, such as Cuiyuan and Binfen, to reveal the mechanism of autonomous renewal from dimensions of environmental variables, acceptance criteria, participation criteria, and participants.
The study finds that: 1. Over the past 30 years, Hangzhou's community development and renewal have shifted from material renewal to organic renewal, encompassing elemental renewal, tenure renewal, and organizational renewal from a spatial governance perspective. 2. With people-oriented urbanization and the awakening of public property rights awareness, public participation in Hangzhou has evolved from non-participation to tokenistic participation to public control, currently manifesting as empowerment. 3. Factors influencing public participation are multidimensional. Environmentally, they benefit from Hangzhou's urban renewal concept, its economic environment, and real estate situation. Acceptance criteria are enhanced by the independence and transparency of the participation process and early resident involvement. Participation criteria are supported by the accessibility of resources through public platform construction, standardized decision-making, and professional, public cost-benefit calculations. Participants, being retired teachers in Zhegong Xincun, have overall economic conditions, cultural literacy, cognitive abilities, and social integration that are necessary for autonomous renewal success, giving Zhegong Xincun certain unique characteristics. 4. Essentially, autonomously-governed renewal succeeds through top-down empowerment and bottom-up governance. Future urban renewal should focus on developing standardized reception and participation criteria, including processes and consultation mechanisms.
This study provides a clearer understanding of Hangzhou's community renewal and autonomous governance evolution and their coupling process. Theoretically, it offers a new research framework revealing autonomous governance's underlying logic and influencing mechanisms. Practically, it emphasizes promoting relevant norms and standardized processes to improve the autonomous governance system and capacity. Despite the project's localization and specificity, it serves as a benchmark for demonstration.
| Keywords | Community Renewal;Autonomous Governance;Coupling Process;Influencing Mechanisms; |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
