Page 7 - JCAU-6-4

Journal of Chinese

Architecture and Urbanism

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
World Heritage Cities in the context of urban

renewal: The reuse pathway of heritage
buildings in Suzhou, China

Xi Chen 1,2 , Qinyi Shi 1,2 , and Yiting Pan *
2
1 Department of Historic Architecture and Heritage Conservation, School of Architecture, Soochow
University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
2 International Cooperative Joint Laboratory of Cultural Heritage Conservation Science supported by
the Belt and Road Initiative, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Conservation and Revitalization of Architectural Heritage)

Abstract

Suzhou in China, as a participant in UNESCO’s World Heritage Cities Program, stands
as one of China’s pilot cities for urban renewal. Within its historic urban areas, the
city has implemented innovative practices and strategies to revitalize its tangible
and intangible heritage. This paper delves into the crucial issue of heritage building
reuse, aiming to strike a balance between their “specimen” and “living” values. To
define the success of reuse projects, this study compares evaluation criteria and
parameters from both domestic and international contexts. The paper then focuses
*Corresponding author:
Yiting Pan on examining the exemplary reuse practices in Suzhou, leading to the identification
(panyt@suda.edu.cn) and summarization of the “Suzhou reuse pathway.” Specifically, value construction
serves as a case study to assess the impact of heritage reuse through the analysis
Citation: Chen, X., Shi, Q., & Pan, Y.
(2024). World Heritage Cities in the of public feedback. This examination underscores the effectiveness of Suzhou’s
context of urban renewal: The reuse pathway, positioning it as a positive reference in the global discourse on architectural
pathway of heritage buildings in heritage conservation and sustainable development in World Heritage Cities.
Suzhou, China. Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism, 6(4),
2158.
https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.2158 Keywords: Suzhou; Reuse; Heritage buildings; World Heritage Cities; Pathways
Received: November 1, 2023
Accepted: January 29, 2024
1. Introduction
Published Online: September 3,
2024 1.1. World Heritage Cities in the context of urban renewal
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an open-access article Urban renewal has become a crucial approach for creating a better living environment
distributed under the terms of the in World Heritage Cities. It is often used to improve the physical environment and meet
Creative Commons Attribution- the material and spiritual needs of the residents through the conservation and reuse of
Non-Commercial 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits all heritage buildings. These efforts optimize the quality of architecture, the environment,
non-commercial use, distribution, and services in the area (Chen et al., 2022). However, with the rapid development of urban
and reproduction in any medium, renewal in World Heritage Cities, the conservation and reuse of heritage buildings have
provided the original work is
properly cited. encountered practical challenges: balancing the special requirements of conservation
with the economics of reuse (Engelhardt, 2010; Zhou, 2012). To address this problem, it
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with is essential to analyze the core contradiction in the reuse of heritage buildings.
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Over the past decade, the contemporary use of architectural heritage has been
affiliations. extensively discussed. Adaptive reuse is a facet of sustainable urban renewal, encompassing

Volume 6 Issue 4 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.2158