Abstract
Since the 1990s, Shanghai has experienced massive urban development and renewal as ways to respond to its demographic, economic, and living space needs. Previous policies have led to the demolishment of many historical communities and valuable heritage housing. The existing ones continue to face extreme threats, such as bad physical conditions and the marginalization of communities. Yet there is a recent trend that emphasizes sustainable urban renewal named microregeneration (微更新), launched by municipal and local states since 2016. One of the main approaches of the initiative was to form new urban coalitions to focus on collaborative governance that helps integrate different agents’ expertise and values for more sustainable urban developments and renewals. This paper explores two cases on how this concept has emerged. The first case is An Shan Si Cun (鞍山四村). This housing block was built in the 1950s for employees of some state-owned enterprises. The second case is Jing Lao Cun (敬老邨). This alley house neighborhood was built in 1930s for migrants who came to Shanghai. Furthermore, this paper is to explore and compare their approaches to sustainable urban renewal, which attempts to preserve these communities that represent cultural and built heritage in Shanghai. Specifically, this paper examines the challenges and accomplishments of these experiments, and discusses policy implications for future tactics of sustainable urban renewal.
Highlights
We argue that urban heritage is the preservation of physical form and a preservation of the intangible institutions and social networks that integrate into a broader definition of “heritage community”
An Shan Si Cun is one of the largest working class neighborhoods remaining in Shanghai
Through our research we discovered that multiple stakeholders, such as the university professor, NGOs, social enterprises, and various agents from other business and private sectors, acted as an enabling factor to empower residents with necessary knowledge and skills, and even the financial resources to make the desired changes to their heritage community
Summary
The term “heritage community” is meant to describe a social heritage area where residents live and inteTrhacettwerimth “thheeirrintaegigehcboomrsmanudnictoym” mis umneitaynmt teomdbeesrcsr,iubnedaesroachiaislthoerircitbaagcekdarreoapwofhheerreitraegseidsetrnutcstulirvees. anIdt iisntaercaocmt wmiutnhittyh-ebiarsnedeiginhtbeogrrsataionnd ocfomtamnguibnlietyanmdeminbtaenrgs,ibulendheerriatahgiest[o1r,i2c].bAacdkodprtoedp oinf h2e0r1i1t,agthee strUuNctEuSrCesO. The integrated value of historic community as a living heritage has drawn local and global attention, the historic urban areas, especially the residential-use architectures and landscapes, is becoming increasingly vulnerable to urban development and renewal. It is a challenge to relocate the vulnerable residents who tend to be older and in low-income households in these areas These efforts involve huge amounts of financial compensation for their relocation and a very lengthy period for resettlement. Another challenge in redeveloping these areas is to handle migrant workers who tend to choose to live in these areas. The concept of preserving these urban and social heritage sites can be used to guide future research, analysis and evaluation on sustainable development
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