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Changing Urban Renewal Policies in China pp 117–159Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Towards the Establishment of a New Urban Renewal Paradigm

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Abstract

In this chapter, the author shows how foreign knowledge inspired reforms in Yangzhou. She focuses on the local process of policy learning and translation, dwelling on its challenges and on the factors that allowed for the opening of a policy window. Once urban renewal attained an important position in the local governmental agenda, the city government started an intense phase of revision of its urban renewal policies, which led to significant changes not only in the practice of urban renewal, but also in its goals.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interview 2014.

  2. 2.

    Interview 2014.

  3. 3.

    Interview 2014.

  4. 4.

    Interviews 2013.

  5. 5.

    In 2010, the aggregated local governments’ debt balance exceeded 8.3 trillion yuan and the government was at a risk of running into sovereign default. The central government thus decided to curb the irrational expenses of local governments by reinforcing controls on their spending. For the banking industry credit supervision, the China Banking Regulatory Commission established as top priority the strengthening of risk management and control over the local government’s financing platforms. This led to a suspension of loans to these platforms.

  6. 6.

    Interviews 2013. Already in 2004, for instance, the central government issued the Commercial Bank Real Estate Loan Risk Management Guidelines (No. 57 [2004] of the China Banking Regulatory Commission), which made specific requirements to banks before granting loans to real estate companies. Later, in 2009, it issued the Notice of the China Banking Regulatory Commission on further Strengthening the Risk Management of Mortgage Loans (No. 59 [2009] of the China Banking Regulatory Commission). This document followed another series of documents issued in 2007 and 2008: Several Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Real Estate Market (No. 131 [2008] of the General Office of the State Council), Notice of the People’s Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission on Strengthening the Administration of Commercial Real Estate Credit (No. 359 [2007] of the People’s Bank of China) and Notice of the China Banking Regulatory Commission on further Strengthening the Management of the Credit Risks in the Real Estate Industry (No. 42 [2008] of the China Banking Regulatory Commission). These documents required banks to be strict with the pre-loan inspections and the standards for granting mortgage loans. Financial institutions had to strictly examine the qualifications of borrowers and prevent credit risks.

  7. 7.

    Interview 2013.

  8. 8.

    Interview 2014.

  9. 9.

    Ibid.

  10. 10.

    Interview 2014.

  11. 11.

    Ibid.

  12. 12.

    Ibid.

  13. 13.

    Interview 2014.

  14. 14.

    Ibid.

  15. 15.

    Free translation from Chinese.

  16. 16.

    Interviews 2014.

  17. 17.

    Interviews 2014.

  18. 18.

    Interview 2014.

  19. 19.

    Interview 2014.

  20. 20.

    Interviews 2014.

  21. 21.

    Free translation from Chinese.

  22. 22.

    Although the previous version of the master plan was valid until 2020, in 2009 the city government decided to modify this document because, in the mid-2000s, the city had already reached its population growth objectives and largely surpassed its middle-term and long-term objectives for urban expansion. National provisions require this type of revision, stipulating that master plans have to go through revision once every five years (Yu 2014, p. 137). The new version of the Yangzhou master plan thus establishes new targets, taking into account the main changes that took place in the early 2000s. Compared to the previous version it also presents a different structure: it has more chapters, among which one is exclusively dedicated to the ancient parts of the city, which also include the 5.09 km2 of the Old City.

  23. 23.

    Free translation from Chinese.

  24. 24.

    Interviews 2014.

  25. 25.

    Ibid.

  26. 26.

    Interview 2014.

  27. 27.

    Interviews 2014.

  28. 28.

    Free translation from Chinese.

  29. 29.

    This aspect of authenticity is discussed at length by scholars who made a critical appraisal of the concepts of heritage protection that exists in China, pointing at the lack of authenticity of many past interventions (Qiu 2014; Zhang 2003).

  30. 30.

    Interview 2013.

  31. 31.

    At the end of 2011, the Yangzhou government also adopted the Measures for the Protection of the Historical Buildings of Yangzhou (Document No. 80) and the Measures for the Protection and Management of Yangzhou Cultural Heritage (Document No. 83), both in force since early 2012. In 2008 the city government also adopted the Measures for the Protection and Management of Yangzhou Old Famous Trees and their seedlings (Document No. 52).

  32. 32.

    Interview 2015.

  33. 33.

    Interview 2014.

  34. 34.

    Interview 2015. This pilot project should have served the purpose of designing a subsidy scheme, encouraging families to introduce different measures in house renovation (from low-tech to hi-tech) according to their financial capacities. In this way, the OCO wished to promote improvements in the quality and comfort of housing in the Old City, which was still at a very low level at the time of writing.

  35. 35.

    Interview 2018.

  36. 36.

    Interview 2014.

  37. 37.

    Interviews 2014, 2015.

  38. 38.

    Interview 2014.

  39. 39.

    Interviews 2015.

  40. 40.

    Interview 2014.

  41. 41.

    Interview 2014.

  42. 42.

    Interview 2014.

  43. 43.

    Ibid.

  44. 44.

    Ibid.

  45. 45.

    Interview 2014.

  46. 46.

    Ibid.

  47. 47.

    Interviews 2014, 2015.

  48. 48.

    Interviews 2013, 2014, 2018.

  49. 49.

    Interview 2018.

  50. 50.

    The so-called purple line designates the boundaries of a “historical and cultural conservation area” as well as of areas hosting historic buildings also considered protection areas (Yu 2014, p. 139). The master plan of cities should indicate their purple lines as well as their green lines – designating protection boundaries for green areas – and blue lines – e.g. lake conservation boundaries (ibid., pp. 138–139).

  51. 51.

    Interview 2014.

  52. 52.

    Interview 2014.

  53. 53.

    Ibid.

  54. 54.

    Interview 2015.

  55. 55.

    Ibid.

  56. 56.

    Free translation from French.

  57. 57.

    Free translation from French.

  58. 58.

    Interviews 2015.

  59. 59.

    Interviews 2015.

  60. 60.

    Interviews 2014, 2015.

  61. 61.

    Interviews 2015.

  62. 62.

    Interviews 2015.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of East-Asian Studies (IN-EAST), University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany

    Giulia C. Romano

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Romano, G.C. (2020). Towards the Establishment of a New Urban Renewal Paradigm. In: Changing Urban Renewal Policies in China. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36008-5_5

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