New Book by XJTLU Scholars Probes Flexible Mechanisms for Incentive-Based Urban Renewal

New Book by XJTLU Scholars Probes Flexible Mechanisms for Incentive-Based Urban Renewal

A new book titled as Incentive‑Based Urban Renewal: International Reflections and China’s Explorations on Flexible Mechanisms has been recently published. It is co-authored by a team of researchers led by Dr. Yunqing Xu, Senior Associate Professor at Department of Urban Planning and Design and Director of University Research Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies (UES), and Dr. Sheng Zhong, UES researcher and PhD supervisor.

The book inquires into how cities, transitioning from rapid expansion to quality-driven renewal, can leverage flexible policies and discretional planning to transform urban functions, redistribute value, and enhance urban vitality. It seeks to address critical challenges such as institutional constraints, rigid planning, insufficient participation incentives and difficulties to balance interests in outcomes. By integrating both international and domestic practices, the book highlights key breakthroughs and their underlying institutional rearrangements to advance incentive-based urban renewal strategies.

Dr. Xu elaborated: “The book introduces the incentive-constraint integrating model, the key to empower effective flexibility strategies. This is grounded in a comprehensive analysis of five paired investigative dimensions: formal and informal environment, collaboration and rationality, efficiency and cost, equity and quality, as well as market-led and standardised means. ”

The book includes two insightful prefaces contributed by Dr. Xingquan Zhang, Senior Adviser at the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and Professor Changchun Feng, Boya Distinguished Professor at Peking University. It has also benefited from the expertise of a number of prominent figures with groundbreaking practical experience, such as Keming Xu, Deputy Director of Suzhou’s Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, Bingjun Xiang, Chief Engineer at Tsinghua Tongheng Planning & Design Institute, and Dasheng Zhao, Former Director of the Suzhou Industrial Park Office for Learning from Singapore’s Experience.

Professor Feng highlighted: “The research team’s focus on incentive policies and flexible mechanisms in urban renewal offers critical perspectives and in-depth analysis for innovations in the models, strategies, and policy framework on urban renewal.”

The book traces the evolution of urban renewal concepts and elucidates the principles, tools, and conditions of flexibility, including deregulation, extra-legal experiments, and pro-choice mechanisms. It also features comprehensive case studies that span a wide geographic scope, including UK, USA, Canada, and Japan and various cities in China. These case studies delve into the localised solutions tailored to different institutional systems, while also identifying barriers and lessons for transferring the experiences across contexts.

It serves as a valuable resource for policy makers, urban planners, development operators, as well as researchers and students, offering profound insights to enhance responsiveness, predictive capacity and decision-making abilities for complex, dynamic and systematic urban challenges.