Page 94 - JCAU-6-1

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Urban regeneration market mechanism research

relationship is a kind of market behavior, and the focus strong social influence and good demonstration effect,”
of the establishment and maintenance of the cooperative and the projects represent the latest frontier of Beijing’s
relationship is whether the pricing is reasonable and urban regeneration practice and exploration. However, in
unanimously recognized by all participants. The the official publicity, most of the implementers describe the
government has an obvious involvement in the relationship experience and exploration in the promotion of the project
between principal-agent and management services, and from their own perspectives, and in-depth horizontal
it is difficult to quantitatively measure the investment of comparison is lacking.
financial subsidies and system dividends, the generation of This study analyzes the typical governance structures
public interests, and whether public interests can be shared. of 34 cases based on systematically comparing their
Thus, it is still controversial whether urban regeneration functional types, subject cooperation relationships,
projects are fair and just.
market participation mechanisms, multi-party resource
3.2. Research methods contributions, and benefits. As such, we selected typical
cases and further analyzed the operation mechanism of the
The research method is a qualitative and quantitative project through field research, semi-structured interviews,
analysis based on case information collected from field and comparative analysis. In general, the 34 cases can be
research, semi-structured interviews, and other public divided into three typical governance structures, including
ways. The goal of the analysis is to objectively describe the welfare protection type, economic growth type, and
participants, operation process, renovation methods, and comprehensive development type, which are relatively
cost-benefit relationship of the regeneration project and evenly distributed in urban regeneration projects in
to analyze the evaluation of stakeholders on whether the Beijing. Among them, the welfare protection-oriented
effect of the urban regeneration project meets expectations
and whether the benefit allocation is balanced. type mainly includes public space, facilities, and residential
projects, with less economic value-added potential. The
The case information comes from two sources: first- economic development-oriented type mainly focuses
hand information comes from the fund calculation, on industrial projects such as old buildings and old
planning, and design materials provided by the project factories, which involve residential projects promoted
team, as well as the author’s interviews with multiple by private enterprises. The comprehensive development-
participants; second-hand information comes from the oriented type mainly refers to regional comprehensive
public, such as news reports and official propaganda. projects, which contain large-scale industrial projects
Research, interviews, and discussions on three typical (Table 1 and Figure 2).
cases were conducted between February and March
2022. The interviewers involved administrative personnel 4. Findings: Three governance structures and
representing government departments, implementers and benefit distribution of market participation
investors representing business entities, lessee enterprises in Beijing’s urban regeneration
and residents representing social entities, and university
scholars representing experts, including all stakeholders in 4.1. Welfare guarantee-oriented governance structure
the renewal project.
Welfare guarantee-oriented governance structure, which
3.3. Case introduction mainly exists in urban regeneration projects, such as public
space, infrastructure, and old neighborhoods, and which
In 2022, under the guidance of the Beijing Urban has the nature of quasi-public goods, but the economic
Regeneration Special Group with the support of the value-added characteristics are not obvious. In these
Municipal Party Committee’s Urban Affairs Office, projects, market players, mainly state-owned enterprises,
Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Committee, are usually responsible for the concrete implementation,
and Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development and government departments provide financial guarantees
Committee, the “First Beijing Urban Regeneration Best for the projects through special funds. However, residents
Practice Selection Activity” was hosted by the Beijing
Urban Planning Society. After expert evaluation and public do not directly pay or only pay part of the construction
voting, 16 Beijing urban regeneration “best practice” costs and enjoy the benefits, such as environmental
projects and 18 Beijing urban regeneration “excellent cases” improvement and facility additions at a very low cost.
were selected from 210 projects declared by more than 100 Guangming Building 17 in Chaoyang District is a
enterprises and departments in Beijing. According to the district government-owned public housing project, built
evaluation of the Beijing Department of Planning and in the 1960s, suffering from problems such as inadequate
Natural Resources, these 34 projects are “rich in types, have kitchen and bathroom facilities and safety hazards. The

Volume 6 Issue 1 (2024) 6 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0885