Defence Urban Renewal Decision-Making in China - Taozhi (Roger) Zhuang

Abstract
Since the reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s, China has experienced high-speed urbanization and economic growth. To meet the growing rigid demand of urban housing, urban renewal has played a significant role, which significantly promotes the urban prosperity in China. However, at the same time, many problems occurred through large-scale urban renewal projects. To avoid unintended consequences that occurred in urban renewal, how these decisions were made can be one key focus (Juan et al. , 2010, Maginn, 2007, Mayer et al. , 2005, Wang et al., 2014). However, since it lacks relevant laws and regulations explicitly guiding urban renewal decision-making in China, many decisions were made in a relatively rough way, which is criticized for lacking transparency and equity (Liao, 2013). In this context, to deal with the problems, urban renewal in China has stepped into the new stage of sustainability, changing from the old mode of only focusing on the physical redevelopment, to the new mode of considering more social factors such as participatory methods, social management (CSUS, 2019). To better achieve the goal of sustainability, this thesis aims to deepen the understanding of urban renewal decision-making in China and contribute to recommend strategies to improve the system. It answers the following main research question: What are the problems of current urban renewal decision-making in China, and what strategies can address the problem?

Based on the participatory decision-making theory and the characteristics of urban renewal, a conceptual framework is built to achieve the aim of this research. In the framework, there are three vital elements in urban renewal decision-making to be understood: the stakeholders, the decision-making process, and the laws and regulations. The concept of “stakeholder” here consists of two dimensions. One is the different stakeholders’ expectations, which also refers to their interests and perceptions of the urban renewal project. Another one is the status of stakeholders’ participation, which includes their different roles, characteristics, and cooperation network in the decision-making. The exploration of the decision-making process consists of the efficiency and effect of different decision-making stages and detailed works. Through the in-depth study of the stakeholders and process of urban renewal decision-making, the functions, comprehensiveness, and the impact of laws and regulations (the third element) can also be revealed. Since Chongqing demonstrates the issue of urban renewal at stake very well and is accessible for the data collection. Therefore, Chongqing was selected as the case city in this thesis.