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Urban Renewal and Built Heritage Management

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2018) | Viewed by 27221

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Esther H.K. Yung

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Guest Editor

Department of Building and Real Estate, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 11 Yuk Choi Rd, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China
Interests: heritage conservation; adaptive reuse; urban planning and design; urban sustainability

Dr. Michael Sing

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Guest Editor

Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
Interests: smart asset management; building surveying; project performance; project evaluation; policy modelling; construction digitalisation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Edwin H.W. Chan

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Guest Editor

Department of Building and Real Estate, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China
Interests: urban development policy; urban sustainability; land use
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This special issue on ‘Urban Renewal and Built Heritage Management’ aims to address challenges arise in the process of urban renewal in old decayed districts while addressing the need of conserving the built heritage.

Cities worldwide face urban decay in the older districts. Urban renewal has been a responsive approach to tackle the problem of dilapidated buildings and urban fabrics, obsolete urban infrastructure and land uses. However, it is often believed that built heritage conservation sits uneasily with the demand for urban redevelopment and the balance between conservation and redevelopment has not been easy to achieve. Yet, redevelopment and heritage conservation should not be mutually exclusive. What would be the sustainable management of built heritage under the dynamic changes brought by urban redevelopment? The role of the built heritage in the urban renewal process is complex and the understanding of the multifaceted impacts of urban renewal process on built heritage has not yet been comprehensive. The common issues recognized including, but not limited to: district-wide concept to built heritage conservation, gentrification, community involvement, social exclusion, social justice, property rights, authenticity, commodification, governance, institutional arrangements, decision makings and business models on built heritage management etc. Integrated efforts in the field of urban planning, land use control, urban economics and heritage conservation could contribute to minimize, if not resolve these problems.

It is expected that collection of high quality papers in this special issue will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the juxtapositions and interactions between the two discourses from the broader urban sustainability framework. Papers published in this special issue will not only enrich the literature, but also will contribute to the practice and policy in the field.

Dr. Esther H.K. Yung
Dr. Michael C.P. Sing
Prof. Dr. Edwin H.W. Chan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Urban renewal
Built heritage
Conservation
Land use planning
Sustainability
Governance
Urban policy
Public participation

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1404 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring Participatory Microregeneration as Sustainable Renewal of Built Heritage Community: Two Case Studies in Shanghai

by Xiaohua Zhong and Ho Hon Leung

Sustainability 2019, 11(6), 1617; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11061617 - 18 Mar 2019

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3958

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. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Renewal and Built Heritage Management)

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12 pages, 393 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Urban Renewal and Built Heritage Conservation in a Global Real Estate Revolution

by Lawrence W. C. Lai and Frank T. Lorne

Sustainability 2019, 11(3), 850; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11030850 - 06 Feb 2019

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 5534

Abstract

A global real estate revolution has been transforming the urban landscape everywhere. Development and redevelopment projects have mixed with, if not become an integral part of, real estate construction. At the same time, there is a drive to commodification in this revolution, as shown by a growing trend to conserve built heritage in new development projects characterised by the rise of museums. This paper reviews some examples of attempts in various parts of the world to combine real estate development and conservation and applies the fourth Coase theorem to explore how built heritage conservation and urban renewal in Hong Kong, hitherto problematic in terms of their invasion of private property, can become a win-win outcome in the context of this global real estate revolution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Renewal and Built Heritage Management)

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27 pages, 1488 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluating Comparative Research: Mapping and Assessing Current Trends in Built Heritage Studies

by Nir Mualam and Nir Barak

Sustainability 2019, 11(3), 677; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11030677 - 28 Jan 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3986

Abstract

The question leading this research is: what are the attributes and scales of comparative research that applies to built heritage studies? The paper begins by recognizing the interrelatedness of built heritage protection and sustainable urban development. While comparative research into built heritage studies analyses and documents existing practices, policies and impacts, its generalizable capacities are often lacking and therefore less applicable to policy-makers. In an attempt to further the potential contribution of such studies, the paper maps comparative built heritage research based on a critical review of over 100 articles and books. The analysis of these sources relies on an evaluative categorization of comparative built heritage studies. This categorization consists of four criteria: the number of compared cases, their geographic location, the scope of comparison and its degree of structuredness. The findings suggest that heritage studies compare a relatively small number of cases; they are quite structured; focus on local as well as national-level analysis; and lean towards Western-centered comparisons. The paper concludes by suggesting that built heritage studies can contribute to sustainable urban development policies by taking on comparative research that has a large enough N, expanding non-Eurocentric and Anglo-American research, comparing local jurisdictions in more than one country and by utilizing highly structured categories for comparison. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Renewal and Built Heritage Management)

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22 pages, 531 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Demolition of Existing Buildings in Urban Renewal Projects: A Decision Support System in the China Context

by Kexi Xu, Geoffrey Qiping Shen, Guiwen Liu and Igor Martek

Sustainability 2019, 11(2), 491; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11020491 - 18 Jan 2019

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 7574

Abstract

Much of the rapid urbanization of China’s cities has occurred at the expense of the existing urban fabric. Across the nation, whole city blocks have been replaced with new structures, requiring large numbers of buildings to be demolished while still serviceable. This curtailed lifespan of existing buildings not only comes with an economic cost, but results in loss of urban culture, wastes resources, degrades the environment, exacerbates pollution, and inflames social conflict and instability. For the purpose of evaluating the merits of building demolition, this study develops a decision support system (DSS) for building demolition in the China context from the perspective of sustainable urban renewal. The indicators of this system cover economic, social, environmental, and institutional aspects of sustainable development. Meanwhile, both the individual characteristics of buildings and the external or extrinsic indicators at the neighborhood, local, or city level are taken into account. Based on exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), 24 critical indicators containing qualitative and quantitative factors are identified. These indicators are classified into six parameters: (1) service performance; (2) economic impact; (3) social identity; (4) local development; (5) building location; and (6) building safety. Empirical results reveal considerations of local development to be of greatest significance with the value of standardized factor loading standing at 0.911, followed by service performance (loading = 0.870) and building location (loading = 0.863), with social identity (loading = 0.236) ranking substantially lower. The findings contribute to the practice of urban renewal and, in particular, provide practical guidance to the building demolition decision-making process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Renewal and Built Heritage Management)

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12 pages, 1026 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Urban (Un)Sustainability: Cases of Vilnius’s Informal and Illegal Settings

by Tomas Kačerauskas

Sustainability 2018, 10(12), 4615; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su10124615 - 05 Dec 2018

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2613

Abstract

The current analysis addresses cases of both informal and illegal settlements in Vilnius, Lithuania. By using semiotic means (specifically, semiotic squares), the author presents the Romani district (tabors), as well the Šnipiškės district, describing the circumstances of their emerging and comparing these cases. In addition to that, the philosophical questions about the dichotomies ‘formal/informal’, ‘temporal/eternal’, ‘order/chaos’, ‘legal/illegal’, ‘sustainable/unsustainable’ are discussed. On the one hand, illegal buildings serve as a signal about too high a barrier of bureaucracy, about a surfeit of law and even about the violation of certain rights. On the other hand, some urban districts can become illegal because of a changed urban vision reflected in a new General Plan. The paper also analyzes the issue of public interest. Additionally, the tendency of democratic society to turn into bureaucratic society is analyzed. The paper addresses sensitive issues related to sustainable development of cities, intercultural dialogue and equal opportunities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Renewal and Built Heritage Management)

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23 pages, 9207 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The 2001–2017 Façade Renovations of Jongno Roadside Commercial Buildings Built in the 1950s–60s: Sustainability of Ordinary Architecture within Regionality

by Dai Whan An and Jae-Young LEE

Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3261; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su10093261 - 12 Sep 2018

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2827

Abstract

This paper examines 41 roadside commercial buildings of the Jongno region built in the 1950s–60s that received façade renovations between 2001 and 2017. The aim is to show the relations between the forms of renovation and the regionality of the commercial areas, which have been historically formed in the original city center of Seoul, as well as the relation of these connections to the sustainability of ordinary architecture. Because Jongno has been the city center for the 600 years following the Joseon dynasty, the region is still a center for politics, administration, economics, and culture. Specialized commercial areas exist in each region within Jongno, and each of these reflect their own regionality. Within such regionality, the roadside commercial buildings are adapting and changing to fit the times, and regionality is sustained through façade renovation of ordinary architecture. The façade renovations of roadside commercial buildings that reflect such regionality and sustainability do not involve redevelopment through overall demolition, which represents a loss of regionality and history and is conducted undemocratically; rather, the practice should be acknowledged for adding value as past heritage and the simultaneous incorporation of present and future values. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Renewal and Built Heritage Management)

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