The Shifang Hesheng Youth Community, located on Songjiang East Road in Yinzhou District, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, used to be an industrial factory, whose environment was dirty with safety hazards, however, after the investment of a professional company, great changes have taken place, and the old factory has transformed and revitalized into a new youth social and cultural commercial circle. Attracting social capital to take part in urban renewal projects to achieve a win-win situation for all parties is an exploration of Ningbo City in promoting urban renewal.
For the past two years, Ningbo has been actively exploring the mechanism for urban renewal planning, sustainable implementation models, and supporting institutional policies, aiming to create a more dynamic and happy city.
Design is key
Design is the key to urban renewal. As it is being stated in "Ningbo Urban Renewal Measures" implemented in July this year, in the process of urban renewal planning, great efforts should be made to carry out urban design research, utilize urban design methods, and clarify the requirements for renewal design at different scales.
“We would commit ourselves to passing down the historical memory by taking advantage of design measures”, said the chief of Ningbo Urban Renewal (Urban Physical Examination) Leading Group Office. He believes that in addition to emphasizing the city's overall style, attention should be paid to connecting the urban design of key areas at the district and county levels, so that the cultural memory and spatial energy efficiency can be continued and improved.
Cicheng Ancient Town, Jiangbei District
The Cicheng Ancient Town in Jiangbei District retains the historical layout of the old city during the renovation, combining the local living characteristics of the original residents with the cultural and leisure tourism of the ancient county town, refining the historical and cultural characteristics, landscape characteristics, and spatial relationship elements of the block, and focusing on developing urban design guidelines for street and alley spaces, public spaces, and other contents.
Referring to the "full stock" block renewal, further efforts have been made to integrate spatial resources through urban design to improve spatial quality and service efficiency in Ningbo. Zhaobaoshan Community in Zhenhai District efficiently utilizes existing spatial resources through refined urban design, shares school playgrounds and other facilities at different time according to the schedule, opens up closed waterfront trails in residential areas, forms a continuous and open slow moving water friendly space, which effectively fills the gaps in living and service facilities in existing areas.
Neighborhood Community plays a remarkable role in urban renewal
Neighborhoods are the basic unit of urban renewal, playing a positive role in coordinating the implementation in Ningbo. Technical guidelines have been issued to establish a physical examination index system that reflects the environmental performance of neighborhoods, and set up a database of renewal projects that accurately match problem needs with existing space. At the same time, a special subsidy fund for district renewal has been set up and it is clearly declared that the district renewal projects could only be applied for in the name of the community. From 2021 to 2023, 347 million yuan have been invested as financial awards and subsidies in Ningbo in municipal level for 13 renewal projects in Xingyang District, Yasaiyan Community, and other districts, attracting effective investment of 2.7 billion yuan. The small investment really leads to large-scale construction.
The introduction and implementation of the series of policies and subsidies have pushed the "fast forward" button for the construction of pilot demonstration projects for urban renewal.
The Yasaiyan community in Yongjiang Street, Jiangbei District focuses on "key issues" such as waterlog on the road, difficulty in parking and so on. Soon after, a drainage network was relaid and 192 parking spaces were reallocated. In addition to supplying "hard facilities","soft services" have been highlighted in Ningbo, including supplementing public services such as education, elderly care, and healthcare, promoting the transformation of traditional property service enterprises into urban operators, and improving the upgrading of community governance. The Bailong Community in Zhaobaoshan District, Zhenhai District has innovatively introduced a large property management service model, integrating 5 residential communities, 8 independent residential buildings, and public areas into one property service area. “The scope of management has shifted from scattered to unified, service projects from few to many, and management capabilities from weak to strong. The 'big property' service effectively takes care of the benefits of the property service company, the community, and the residents unions, which is an indispensable force in our community”, said Weng Lei, Secretary of the Party Committee of Bailong Community.
Market participation
Recently, an additional leisure option have been open to Ningbo citizens as the "IPN | Fishing Ship Factory" project has started its trial operation. When citizens get off work in the evening, they can bring their families to the fishing boat factory to experience the warmth of "Dreamland Music", or invite several friends to have a few drinks at the dock stall. The original Ningbo Fishing Boat Factory plot was situated on the east bank of Yongjiang River, formerly known as Ningbo Shipyard built in 1956. The operating company was granted a certain period of use rights through a lease agreement, and it transformed the old factory into a entertainment center featured with culture and tourism.
In the past two years, social capital such as central enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and private enterprises have been attracted to enter into urban renewal projects through renewal funds, entrusted operation, and equity investment and so on, what’s more, the capital exit mechanism has been introduced in Ningbo. To address the shortage of funds for urban renewal, Haishu District has registered the Haishu District Urban Rural Organic Renewal Fund, which has received active support and response from financial institutions, real estate developers, and construction enterprises.
At the same time, an urban renewal implementation mechanism with two levels of urban platforms as the main body have been set up in Ningbo, highlighting the pre-operation and expediting the integrated linkage of "planning, establishment, management and operation". The Old Street Block in Zhenhaizhuang City is promoting protective development and construction in accordance with the principle of "unified land use, multi-party construction, and coordinated operation".
According to the relevant person in charge, three modes of social capital participation in urban renewal have been explored currently, that is the "led by state-owned enterprises +innovation driven" mode, the " driven by the market + social participation" mode, and the "asset revitalization+industrial transformation" mode.