Land Value Revitalization in Urban Renewal: Institutional Logic, Practice Models and Optimization Paths from China’s First-Tier Cities

Investigating the mechanisms of sustainable urban land renewal: A perspective of spatial development rights

Most Chinese cities have spent decades achieving urbanisation. So far, rural urbanisation has shifted to urban renewal. However, the distinction between a rapidly changing social environment and the establishment of an institution has led to the failure of urban renewal policies to sustainably achieve complete transformation through urban modernisation involving many stakeholders. Owing to the top-down political system in China, the formulation and implementation of urban renewal policies are carried out in a closed-loop process in which “decisions are issued by the central government to the local government which gives feedback to the centre”. This seems to affect urban renewal through a transfer of renewal policies in a local area. Therefore, it is essential to explore the differences between the urban renewal policies at different government levels and to analyse these policies in diverse urban contexts with multiple stakeholders. Based on the policy transfer theory, this paper selects 216 core policy texts at the state level and at the level of four first-tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen), and uses the methods of text mining and semantic analysis to form open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Furthermore, it discusses the policy transfer and impact mechanism of urban renewal policy at different levels with diverse characteristics of policy subsystems. We found that the transfer of urban renewal policy occurred in China through top-down coercive vertical transfer, bottom-up combination reverse transfer, and voluntary horizontal transfer among cities. Finally, we suggest that “inspiration”-type policy transfer is an effective method to promote urban renewal in China.

This theoretical research paper explores the relationship between real estate tax policies and land property rights in the context of capturing land value. It discusses international perspectives on property taxation, case studies of land value capture policies, and their implications for property owners and governments. The paper also delves into how property rights influence land value, the role of property rights in land use planning, and the impact of land use regulations on land value capture. The empirical analysis section includes a study sample, data sources, regression analysis of real estate tax effects, and case study analysis of property rights and land value. The discussion section interprets the empirical results, offers policy recommendations, and highlights limitations and future research directions. The conclusion summarizes the findings, their contributions to land economics, and final remarks.

Existing literature on China's urbanization focuses primarily on the expansion of cities and towns, with little attention being paid to urban renewals. The wasteful use of urban land has conventionally been attributed to the ambiguous definition and ineffective protection of property rights. This study examines recent practices in urban redevelopment in Guangzhou – a site chosen by the central authorities to pilot urban renewals (sanjiu gaizao). The research identifies a local practice in which institutional changes are made not in the delineation of land property rights but instead in the redistribution of the benefits to be made from land redevelopment. Current users of the land are offered a share of the land conveyance income previously monopolized by the state as an incentive to encourage them to engage in urban renewal. Land-use intensity and efficiency have increased, along with social exclusion and marginalization. Research findings cast doubt over the perceived notion that the uniform and unambiguous definition of property rights is the prerequisite for improved land-use efficiency and call for a critical evaluation of the current urban renewal policies that completely ignore the interests of the migrant population who outnumber local residents by a large margin.

Existing literature on China's urbanisation has been based primarily on the expansion of cities and towns with little attention paid to urban renewals. Wasteful use of urban land has been conventionally attributed to the ambiguous definition and ineffective protection of property rights. This study examines the recent practices of urban redevelopment in Guangzhou – a site chosen by the central authorities for the experiment of urban renewals (san jiu gai zao 三旧改造). The research identifies a local practice in which institutional changes are made not in the delineation of land property rights but instead in the redistribution of the benefits to be made from land redevelopment. Original land users are motivated to engage in urban renewals by a share of the land conveyance income previously monopolised by the state. Land use intensity and efficiency have been improved along with intensified social exclusion and marginalisation. Land property rights are practiced not so much as a bundle of rights with standardised and uniform legal assignments but more as a diverse set of local and informal arrangements adaptable to various political and social conditions. Findings of this research cast doubt over the perceived notion that uniform and unambiguous property rights definition is the prerequisite for improved land use efficiency and call for a critical evaluation of the current urban renewal policies that completely ignore the interests of the migrant population who outnumber local villagers by a large margin.

The purpose is to study the theoretical innovation and account construction of natural resource liability taking land resources as an example. This paper adopts the empirical research method of land resource liability accounting based on the theory of liability. It forms the land resource balance sheet based on “the arable land red line”and “ecological red line”. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Liability accounting for natural resources (including land resources) requires innovation in debt theory; (2) Construction of three - tier structure accounting system for land resources assets and liabilities of the accounting system; (3) The accounting of land resources liabilities must be limited to the “the arable land red line” and “ecological red line”, Which improves the third floor of the land resources balance sheet. In practice, The feasibility of land resource liability accounting is also constrained by various factors such as data caliber, land property rights and land valuation.

From the arrival cities to affordable cities in China: Seeing through the practices of rural migrants' participation in Guangzhou's urban village regeneration

Evaluation on new first-tier smart cities in China based on entropy method and TOPSIS

• The study examines the impact of land property rights on take-up of agricultural development interventions in Ethiopia. • We find that land certification has a positive impact on the take-up of agricultural extension package program. • Land certification status significantly predicts farm household adoption of chemical fertilizer. • Secure land rights play a key role in household participation in community level land and water management programs. • The study promotes land rights as mechanism to promote agricultural development and sustainable land and water management. Access to secure land plays a key role in the socio-economic development of agricultural households. Since 1998, large-scale land certification programs aimed at strengthening the land property rights of agricultural households in Ethiopia have been implemented across regions to varying degrees. Using a three-period, large-scale nationally representative panel dataset from Ethiopia, this paper investigates the importance of access to secure land property right in the form of land certification for household take-up of agricultural development interventions that aim to improve household agricultural productivity and sustainable land use at a community level. We studied the take-up of agricultural extension packages and participation in community level sustainable land and water management programs as outcome variables. To account for potential endogeneity in the allocation of certificates and other confounding factors, we applied different panel data methods including instrumental variable approach. We find that access to secure property rights have a positive and significant effect on household take-up agricultural development interventions: agricultural extension packages and sustainable land and water management interventions. Additionally, we find that land certificates significantly predict household adoption of chemical fertilizers.

Urban renewal is an essential means of urban development. It improves the city's physical environment and has a wide range of significance for an economic, social, and cultural revival. The subject analysis of the policy text's content helps clarify the policy subject and its evolution path. This paper takes the policy text of Hangzhou urban renewal from 2002 to 2021 as the research object, uses text analysis to extract key terms as the basis for policy content analysis, identifies the essential elements of Hangzhou's urban organic renewal model, and divides them into three main thematic categories, namely urban renewal strategies, urban renewal mechanism, urban renewal activities, three main thematic categories and five thematic subcategories, namely objectives of urban renewal, principles of urban renewal, types of urban renewal, models of urban renewal, and urban renewal activities. By analyzing the coding structure of policy themes, this paper summarizes the relevant experience of “urban organic renewal” in Hangzhou. It puts forward some suggestions on improving urban renewal policy according to the research conclusions. KeywordsUrban organic renewalUrban renewal policiesText miningHang Zhou

The network governance of urban renewal: A comparative analysis of two cities in China

The uncertainty of property rights in natural resources in Fiji is not a new problem. However, it has been pointed out that since the mid-1980s, the new economic policies pursued by Fiji have increasingly been frustrated by the nature of property rights in natural resources and in particular, property rights in land. The discussion of the nature of property rights in land has always been a politically sensitive issue. Eighty-three percent of the land in Fiji is owned by the indigenous Fijians and is deemed inalienable. The nature of property rights in land has been highlighted as a major constraint to the economic performance of the key economic sectors in Fiji. This thesis therefore, explores several theoretical and practical issues in relation to the nature of property rights in land. More specifically, this study analyses the impact of property rights on the Fijian economy in relation to the sugar, tourism and the forestry sectors. The major contribution of this study is that it provides an economic perspective to the problem of property rights in land in Fiji. This study also represents the first attempt to analyze in detail the impact of the nature of property rights on the performance of the Fijian sugar, tourism and the forestry sectors. Specifically the contributions of this study include the following. First, it presents an analysis of the role of the institutions that govern the nature of property rights in land. These include the Native Lands Trust Board (NLTB) and the Agricultural Landlord and Tenants Act (ALTA). The ALTA legislation is considered in detail and some of the strengths and weaknesses of the legislation are highlighted. Within the framework of ALTA legislation the method of rent determination and the level of rent charged by the NLTB are analysed. The role of NLTB is discussed using the neoclassical microeconomic model that shows the consequences of the operation of NLTB in the land market in Fiji. A simple model is developed using the production data to analyse the production disparities amongst the Fijian farmers and the non-Fijian tenants and its implications for the sugar industry. Second, the study makes an empirical contribution by using farm-level data from the sugar industry to find the impact of secured and unsecured leases on production and investment in the sugar industry and by identifying the implications of these leases for the conservation and management of the land quality. The empirical contribution is further extended to determine the impact of sharecropping in the sugar industry. A simple model of sharecropping is postulated to find the differences between fixed rent contracts and sharecropping arrangements. Third, another key sector in the Fijian economy is the tourism industry. Despite various tax and financial incentives, the level of investment in this industry has remained sluggish. This study reviews the investment climate in Fiji for the development of the tourism industry. It points out that the insecure and ill-defined property rights may be responsible for the lack of investment in the hotel industry. Fourth, a rent-capture model based on previous studies is postulated and is used to find the level of rent capture in the forestry sector. The forestry sector accounts for about 1.5 percent of the GDP, however, in terms of the environment and the involvement of the Fijian landowners it is very significant. Landowners in the past have questioned the benefits from this sector and whether the level of royalty paid to the owners reflects the value of the resource. The results show that landowners receive very low levels of revenue and there is a significant level of 'high grading' that has implications for the environment. This thesis addresses one of the most controversial issues in Fiji and provides significant insights into how the performance of key sectors in the economy may have been affected by the nature of property rights. From the analysis, it can be concluded that uncertainty of property rights in land has affected the level of production and investment in the sugar, tourism and the forestry sectors. This study demonstrates that desirable conservation of natural resources and management of the environment is undermined by ill-defined property rights for the use of natural resources.

Informal development, as a unique phenomenon that has become widespread in China’s urbanization process in recent years, has continued to attract the attention of both the government and academia. Existing studies focus on urban village redevelopment strategies, and little research has been conducted on informal development in urban villages under the land property approach. In particular, research needs to further explore what impact China’s collective land property rights have had on informality in urban villages. This study mainly adopts a qualitative research method, including field observation and in-depth interviews. The research was conducted in urban villages in Guangzhou. The study finds that land property rights have an important impact on urbanization and property rights arrangements have an important impact on resource allocation efficiency. Due to the ambiguity of collective land property rights in China, informal development in urban villages is the result of the collective action of villagers, government, and enterprises under the stimulation of economic development. The interaction of the stakeholders has promoted the rapid development of informal housing in urban villages.

Spatial determinants of land redevelopment in the urban renewal processes in Shenzhen, China

Purpose This study is dedicated to investigate why Mainland Chinese students pursuing higher education in Hong Kong are more likely to return to first-tier cities in Mainland China rather than stay in Hong Kong after graduation, despite Hong Kong’s increasing efforts to retain them as talent. By identifying the rationale that leads them to make such a choice, a critical gap in talent retention strategies for emerging education hubs can thus be addressed. Design/methodology/approach Through semi-structured interviews among 20 Mainland Chinese students have recently graduated from Hong Kong institutions, this study analyzes the two-way push and pull factors between Hong Kong and first-tier cities in China, elucidating how international students are influenced by various factors and make the common decisions to go to first-tier cities rather than Hong Kong after graduation. Findings The study reveals that while Hong Kong’s favorable visa policies and sector-specific employment opportunities serve as significant pull factors, they are outweighed by the comparative advantages of first-tier cities in mainland China. The comparative advantages of first-tier cities in China, including stronger economic incentives, better social integration prospects and more attractive talent recruitment policies, ultimately determine students' destination choices. Research limitations/implications One major limitation lies in the relatively small and specific sample size, which may not fully capture the diversity of experiences among the targeted population. Moreover, the potential destinations of graduates are not limited to Hong Kong or the first-tier cities in China. Originality/value This research extends the traditional two-way push-pull theory by integrating comparative advantage analysis, offering a nuanced framework to evaluate international student mobility and talent retention dynamics. The research simultaneously provide insights for policymakers and higher education institutions to refine talent retention strategies, enhance the appeal of emerging education hubs and better align policies with global student mobility trends.