Practical Dilemmas and Breakthrough Paths in the Renovation of Old Urban Residential Communities

Abstract

As China's urbanization enters the "quality and efficiency improvement" stage (with an urbanization rate of 66.15% in 2023), the renovation of old residential communities has been endowed with the dual attributes of "livelihood project" and "development project", becoming a core driver for optimizing urban stock space and upgrading urban functions. Based on policies such as the State Council's Guiding Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Renovation of Old Urban Residential Communities (2020) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development's Refined Design Guidelines for the Renovation of Old Urban Residential Communities (2023), this study focuses on the practice of old residential community renovation and systematically sorts out its practical dilemmas: At the capital level, over-reliance on central and local finances leads to project "scale reduction", while social capital shows low willingness to participate due to the lack of profit points and complex property rights; At the data and design level, fragmented basic data (such as comprehensive pipeline drawings and ownership certificates) combined with compressed design cycles result in insufficient project demonstration and poor quality control; At the resident coordination level, mixed property rights of "publicly-funded housing + commercial housing + unit-managed housing" trigger divergent demands, and the problem of public space encroachment existing in 40% of communities (data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, 2023) increases the resistance to demolition; additionally, the long opinion feedback chain (resident → community → sub-district → district government → renovation entity) makes it difficult to implement plans; At the function and space level, fixed land use in core areas leads to insufficient supporting facilities for rigid needs such as parking and fire protection, while the "unified appearance" assessment and "one-size-fits-all" vegetation protection result in "uniform appearance across communities" and loss of community characteristics. To address the above dilemmas, this study proposes breakthrough paths: Construct a diversified capital mechanism of "PPP model + reward-based subsidies", and activate social capital through tax reductions and subsidies linked to resident participation rates; Establish a "one community, one file" GIS-based digital data platform, refine design standards, and promote resident-participatory project demonstration; Establish a coordination team led by the Party organization to clarify property rights, implement differentiated cost-sharing, and build an online opinion collection platform to shorten the feedback chain; Optimize space through the integration of existing land, three-dimensional space utilization (roof gardens, three-dimensional parking lots) and cross-community co-construction and sharing, and allow differentiated design (e.g., building facades with the same hue but different color temperatures) to preserve community characteristics. This study aims to provide practical references for solving the problems in the renovation of old residential communities and achieving the goal of "resident satisfaction and urban quality improvement".