Page 81 - JCAU-5-4

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism The role of planning

planning authorities, site management companies, tenants cover a much larger land area (2.7 times larger) than the
of the business park, and urban planning professionals other. The average plot size of comprehensive projects is 5
(Appendix for the list of interviews). hectares, while only 2 hectares are for incremental projects.
The former also has a higher average FAR than the latter.
3.2. Framework of analysis The average floor number in the incremental approach is
This research paper aims to analyze various types of 19 floors, almost 4 times higher than incremental projects.
regenerations through case studies, adopting a holistic An overview of projects in the two approaches is presented
approach that extends beyond single cases with significant in Table 1.
media exposure. Special focus is given to the common A notable difference between cases in the two categories
yet rarely researched type of adaptive reuse for normal of industrial redevelopment is that the comprehensive
business/industrial parks. redevelopment projects, involving demolition and
The analytical framework consisted of two steps. reconstruction, often follow rigid planning control
First, the 395 projects were investigated and categorized procedures. On the other hand, incremental redevelopment
into “comprehensive redevelopment” or “incremental projects through adaptive reuse are not regulated by
redevelopment.” A descriptive analysis of, and comparison the planning system, making them more controversial
between, the two categories of industrial redevelopment regarding their legitimacy. Nevertheless, the adaptive reuse
in Shanghai is presented. Second, the institutional roots of industrial land for business parks catering exclusively
and underpinning rationales of the different approaches to the needs of office tenants contributes to social
to redevelopment were analyzed. This analysis provides infrastructure provision, partially demonstrating their
insights into the role of planning and the understanding legitimacy through practices. Accordingly, the frequent
of legitimacy issues in current industrial redevelopment approaches associated with the two categories of industrial
practices. redevelopment in Shanghai are named planning-led and
practice-led approaches, respectively. The two approaches
3.3. Data description and preliminary results to industrial land redevelopment are further illustrated
Among the 395 projects, comprehensive redevelopment and compared below, with two cases presented as examples
through large-scale demolition and reconstruction to reveal more details.
accounts for 208 cases. The remaining almost half of the
cases (187 cases) adopt incremental strategies, where 4. Case study-based comparison:
adaptive reuse for business or industrial parks is common, Planning-led and practice-led industrial
some of which feature publicly accessible facilities like the redevelopment
well-known M50 Creative Industrial Park.
4.1. Planning-led industrial redevelopment
In a comprehensive approach, a new settlement
with high-rise buildings featuring mid-rise industrial 4.1.1. The formal approach
buildings replaces the formal manufacturing site. The In China, a master land use plan typically has a planning
new functions are dominated by commodity housing, horizon of 20 years and functions as a long-term orientation
offices, and commerce, with only a few cases retaining of development strategies, covering the entire territory of
industrial parks. Through an incremental approach, a city. At the land parcel level, the regulatory plan has a
the original buildings are spared from demolition legal status that defines the FAR, building height, and plot
and are instead refurbished and renovated for non- density through a land use classification and control index
industrial uses. The result is a dense and heterogeneous system. Driven by a “pro-growth” approach, urban plans
agglomeration of small-scale mixed uses for offices and have been formatted to promote economic growth (Wu,
commerce, catering to individual tenants. Occasionally, 2015). In the process of plan-making and implementation,
creative uses can also be found. Although the number of local political leaders play a more determining role than
projects for each type is nearly 50%, the scale of projects urban planners (Yin et al., 2023). In urban redevelopment
with comprehensive redevelopment is much larger than projects, the local government tends to build a coalition
projects with incremental redevelopment. Comprehensive with developers to maximize their benefits through the
projects tend to occupy larger plot sizes, higher floor area urban planning system, typically resulting in a gentrification
ratios (FAR), and more floor numbers. In incremental process (Zhu, 1999; He & Wu, 2005; Zhang & Fang, 2004).
redevelopment projects, the status quo of industrial sites As the local government does not have de facto control
has been maintained, resulting in a spatial form typical over all land in its territory, land acquisition must occur
of industrial sites. Comprehensive redevelopment projects before a redevelopment project. As a historical legacy, the

Volume 5 Issue 4 (2023) 4 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0433