Property-rights regime in transition: Understanding the urban regeneration process in China – A case study of Jinhuajie, Guangzhou

• Published in: Cities Vol. 90; pp. 181 - 190
• Main Authors: Liu, Xuan, Huang, Jiangming, Zhu, Jieming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2019; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Case studies; Guangzhou; Institution; Interest groups; Land; Market forces; Neighborhoods; Neoliberalism; Property rights; Property-rights regime; Public enterprise; Redevelopment; Refurbishment; Stakeholders; Urban regeneration; Urban renewal; China; Urban regeneration; Property-rights regime; Guangzhou; Institution
• ISSN: 0264-2751; 1873-6084
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2019.02.008

A variety of stakeholders have proposed different models of urban regeneration of China, and indicate an institutional arrangement that is more complex than a model dominated by the government or neoliberal interests. This study argues that the path to an effective property-rights regime for urban regeneration has become circuitous as it has needed to follow the trial-and-error process of institutional transition in China. Operational-level rights originally assigned to different actors have been gradually reclaimed by the land users and by the effect of market forces through ‘property-rights regime in transition’. Four rounds of regeneration were observed in Jinhuajie, Guangzhou over the past three decades, indicating the adoption of four property-rights regimes that have evolved sequentially, namely, a semi-open market for neighbourhood redevelopment, a semi-open market for land occupied by state-owned enterprises, an open market for redevelopment and an open market for both redevelopment and refurbishment. Each property-rights regime only reassigns one or two bundles of operational-level property rights from one actor to another to provide opportunities for older organisations to adapt to the new system. This inevitably led to an interweaving urban fabric and sub-optimal results of urban regeneration. This research suggests greater attention should be paid to cases of regeneration in different contexts as well as the interactions among the various stakeholders. •Regeneration of Jinhuajie, a community of Guangzhou in the last 30 years•Trial-and-error institutional transition resulting in ‘property-rights regime in transition’ for regeneration•Each property-rights regime only reassigning one or two bundles of operational-level property rights•Continual redefinition of rights leading to change of regeneration forms•Sub-optimal results from the process of urban regeneration