Following the central government's strategic shift last year, which emphasized transitioning urban development from expansion to improving existing stock, provincial urban work conferences have recently reiterated the need to proactively adapt to new trends and requirements in urban management. The focus is on pursuing intensive development and fostering cities' self-improvement and organic growth, akin to living organisms. As part of implementing these directives, Guangzhou has been actively piloting and summarizing approaches to organic renewal in megacities in recent years. It enacted the nation's first local regulation on urban village renovation, addressing the longstanding challenges of "stalled and ineffective" redevelopment. Completed projects like Huadu Cluster Street No. 2 and Yuexiu District's Xiaoshi Ji, which involved the original demolition and reconstruction of dilapidated buildings, have become exemplary cases offering valuable experience nationwide.
Building on this foundation, Guangzhou is intensifying its urban renewal efforts this year. Not only are planned investment levels increasing, but the city is also refining its policy framework and launching a new batch of pilot projects. The goal is to better leverage urban renewal as a driving force for enhancing the city's overall capacity and functionality. During district inspections since the beginning of the year, Municipal Party Committee Secretary Feng Zhonghua has emphasized the steady advancement of urban renewal and urban village renovation. He highlighted the need to deepen and expand the experience of self-initiated renewal, fully mobilize public enthusiasm, meticulously renovate old residential communities, continuously improve living environments, optimize public services, and better meet residents' aspirations for a better life.
From a vantage point overlooking the surrounding neighborhoods, the first phase of the Jiangnanxi Deshenggang renovation project, which officially commenced construction last October, is now in full swing. Workers operate excavators and pile drivers to remove earth, creating a bustling construction site. The project experienced a nearly two-month delay due to the unexpected discovery of suspected ancient tombs and artifacts during routine archaeological surveys. However, with the completion of the archaeological phase, work resumed swiftly after the new year. A resident from a nearby community expressed hope for the early completion of the affordable housing units. This would allow former neighbors to return and enable the expansion of Wansong Road and Wansongyuan Primary School, ultimately improving the entire community's service infrastructure.
As the city's first large-scale, self-initiated renewal project for dilapidated housing, the Deshenggang model is regarded as Guangzhou's 3.0 version of owner-occupied renewal. Compared to previous single-building projects like Huadu Cluster Street No. 2 and Yuexiu Xiaoshi Ji, its concentrated, area-wide redevelopment approach holds greater relevance for aging, small, and poorly-maintained communities in the city center. Nevertheless, when compared to original demolition and reconstruction projects in cities like Shanghai and Hangzhou, Deshenggang's scale remains relatively modest. For this model to be replicated and promoted in other areas of Guangzhou, further exploration is needed in areas such as mechanisms for negotiating owner interests.
What is innovative about the Deshenggang model? Since the municipal government released the "Guangzhou City Urban Dilapidated Housing Renovation Implementation Measures (Trial)" in 2024, projects like Huadu Cluster Street No. 2 and Yuexiu Xiaoshi Ji have emerged. The most distinctive feature of the Deshenggang project, compared to its predecessors, is its concentrated, area-wide redevelopment approach.
Located in the core commercial area of Haizhu's Jiangnanxi, the Deshenggang project covers approximately 1.87 hectares. The pre-renovation total floor area was about 28,300 square meters, originally comprising 25 dilapidated buildings constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. Preliminary surveys indicated severe aging of the main structures, materials, and facilities, posing significant safety hazards. Most residences lacked independent kitchens and bathrooms, as well as separate sewage systems, leading to prominent environmental and sanitation issues. The property rights structure primarily consists of city-managed public housing, including approximately 679 public housing tenants and 36 private property owners, with some properties having mixed ownership.
Project financing follows a model of "owners contribute a portion, enterprises invest a portion, and the government subsidizes a portion." Private property owners fund their self-initiated renewal according to policy and will relocate back to the original site upon completion. According to Guangzhou Anju Group, residents showed strong willingness for renewal during preliminary surveys. In Phase One, involving 3 private properties, 2 owners agreed to renovate. In Phase Two, with 5 private properties, 3 agreed. In Phase Three, covering 28 private properties, 24 agreed. Communication and negotiation with private owners will continue as the project progresses, fully respecting residents' wishes and ensuring all reasonable demands are properly addressed.
The entire project is divided into northern and southern plots for phased construction of two high-rise towers. The northern plot includes Phases One and Three, while the southern plot is Phase Two. It is estimated that over 40 relocation housing units will be provided, all equipped with independent kitchens and bathrooms, elevators, and accessible facilities. The remaining 300-plus units will serve as affordable housing, catering to new residents, young people, and urban wage earners seeking stable housing in Guangzhou.
The renovation scope also includes the provincial-level public Wansongyuan Primary School and Wansong Road. The current school building is small, of poor quality, and lacks facilities like running tracks. Wansong Road is currently a single one-lane road with poor traffic capacity. Future renovations will expand the school's teaching area, increasing from the current 16 classes to 24 classes. Wansong Road will be widened from 11 meters to 26 meters, upgraded from a one-way single lane to a two-way four-lane road. The project will also simultaneously equip the community with facilities such as a neighborhood committee office, meeting halls, service stations, senior activity centers, and health service stations to improve community amenities.
The concentrated, area-wide original demolition and reconstruction approach of Deshenggang is highly significant for Guangzhou's central urban "old, small, and dilapidated" communities. The head of the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau has previously stated on multiple occasions that there is substantial market demand and existing stock for the original demolition and reconstruction of dilapidated housing in Guangzhou. A large number of homes built long ago, due to low construction standards and prolonged lack of maintenance, face serious safety hazards and urgently require renovation and upgrading. Building on earlier pilot projects, the municipal housing and urban-rural development department continues to plan and select a new batch of 12 pilot projects this year. Preliminary work funding has been allocated to support the drafting of initial renovation plans, and relevant functional departments have been organized for specialized discussions.
At a thematic session on self-renewal of old residential communities during the 2025 (19th) Urban Development and Planning Conference held in Guangzhou last December, Qiu Baoxing, former Vice Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, highly praised Guangzhou's pilot efforts in owner-initiated renovation of dilapidated housing. In his view, following the central urban work conference's emphasis on shifting urban development from expansion to improving existing stock, urban renewal has become a second opportunity for China's urbanization development. With a large amount of residential commodity housing built during the earlier expansion era now becoming personal property, the transition from government-led renewal to owner-initiated renewal is an inevitable choice. Guangzhou, with its active market economy and vibrant private sector, has owners who are among the earliest groups in the country with the capability and awareness for self-initiated action, laying a public foundation for Guangzhou's pilot in owner-occupied renewal.
How can the model be replicated and promoted? Nationally, while the Deshenggang project represents an important pilot innovation for Guangzhou, its overall scale is noticeably smaller compared to original demolition and reconstruction cases in other cities. The Deshenggang project covers 1.87 hectares of land, with a pre-renovation floor area of approximately 28,300 square meters, involving a total of about 700 public and private housing residents, including 36 private property owners.
In contrast, the renovation of Pengyi Community in Pengpu New Village, Jing'an District, Shanghai, implemented in October 2020, involved as many as 2,110 households, including 362 private property owners. It is Shanghai's largest original demolition and reconstruction project to date. The four-year process involved demolishing 107 old residential buildings from the 1950s and constructing 17 new high-rise residential buildings. Community service facilities such as party-mass service centers, swimming pools, basketball courts, gyms, and childcare centers were also added. The entire project successfully completed the relocation of all residents back to the original site by mid-2025.
Another large-scale self-initiated renovation project in China is the Zhegong Xincun project in Gongshu District, Hangzhou. Originally faculty dormitories for Zhejiang University of Technology, the community comprised 13 dilapidated buildings constructed before 2000, with a pre-renovation floor area of about 40,000 square meters. In 2023, with support from government renovation funds, 548 households self-raised 470 million yuan to demolish the 13 dilapidated buildings and construct 7 new 11-story medium-rise buildings. All residents had completed their relocation and housing allocation by early 2025.
The most challenging aspect of original demolition and reconstruction for dilapidated housing is reaching consensus among owners through negotiation. This is particularly difficult with private property owners due to diverse and often conflicting demands. The complexity of interests increases with the number of owners. The Shanghai and Hangzhou cases involved 362 and 548 private owners respectively, placing the difficulty of project advancement in the "deep water zone" compared to Deshenggang's 36 private owners.
For Guangzhou, since owner-initiated original demolition and reconstruction is still in the pilot phase, starting with relatively easier-to-advance projects is a prudent strategy. The Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau also stated earlier this year that strong resident willingness for renewal and high participation of private owners remain key criteria for selecting the 12 new pilot projects. However, drawing from the experiences of Shanghai and Hangzhou, Guangzhou will inevitably face more complex challenges in negotiating owner interests as it continues to promote owner-initiated original demolition and reconstruction. How the government establishes dialogue platforms and guides and assists residents in rational negotiation will be particularly crucial.
Ma Xiangming, Chief Planner at the Guangdong Provincial Urban and Rural Planning and Design Institute, noted that in the current context of urban development shifting towards improving existing stock, expecting the government to manage all aspects of urban renewal is no longer realistic. Owner-initiated original demolition and reconstruction of dilapidated housing is an inevitable path. However, some owners in Guangzhou have not yet shifted their mindset, believing that regardless of how dilapidated the property is, "as long as it can be rented out for income, even as a warehouse, it's acceptable." This perspective leads to a lack of motivation for self-initiated renovation. Government departments can strengthen supervision while providing guidance. Supervision should make owners aware that they are accountable for safety hazards in their properties; they cannot simply collect rent without responsibility. Guidance involves informing them of the option to pursue self-initiated renovation.
Li Yujia, Chief Researcher at the Guangdong Housing Policy Research Center, added that many old residential communities and dilapidated buildings are former housing reform properties of state-owned enterprises and institutions. Owners are often retired elderly from these units, who may hold traditional "wait, rely, demand" attitudes towards the government. Government departments can enhance policy communication and establish negotiation platforms to help them realize that "they are in charge of their own homes." The government's role is to provide planning and policy support and address public amenities. Only when owners widely develop a sense of self-reliance and autonomy can the original demolition and reconstruction model be promoted on a large scale.
At Guangzhou's urban renewal project promotion conference for the first quarter of this year, Yan Feihu, General Manager of Anju Housing Real Estate Company under Guangzhou Anju Group, introduced the Deshenggang renovation model and revealed plans to promote it to Tianhe Yuancun Xincun and Haizhu Shixi Shaxi Community. The former has a current total floor area of 82,500 square meters, significantly larger than Deshenggang. He emphasized, "Both promotion projects are currently in the stage of surveying owner willingness for renovation. We will proceed cautiously and steadily, implementing them step by step once all conditions are met."