Paths and strategies for sustainable urban renewal at the neighbourhood level: A framework for decision-making

With the rapid process of urbanisation in China, the challenges facing cities with regard to urban fabric, urban function, and human living conditions are enormous. Urban renewal provides opportunities to address these challenges and realise sustainable development. This study proposes a framework for integrating an indicator evaluation system and a decision-making matrix for urban renewal at the neighbourhood level in China; the level at which most development projects take place in a city. The indicator system covers subjective and objective evaluations on different aspects of neighbourhoods to shed light on specific problems and characteristics, namely, social aspects, economic aspects, environmental aspects, land use forms, building conditions, and facility conditions. The decision-making matrix is designed to provide implementation paths and corresponding strategies for urban renewal. The proposed framework was tested using a case study of eight neighbourhoods of Qixinggang, Yuzhong District, Chongqing in China. The results show the status quo and problems of the selected neighbourhoods and specific strategies to address these are subsequently proposed. Via in-depth investigations on various neighbourhoods within a city, decision-makers are capable of locating key areas and adjusting practical approaches from a ‘one size fits all’ approach to ones that are customised and offer small-scale improvements. The proposed framework can shed light on other empirical cities that possess similar local characteristics.