Guiwen Liu

The Evaluation of Urban Renewal Policies in Shenzhen, China (2009–2016): An Analysis Based on Policy Instruments

Urban renewal is a realistic approach in the development of urban areas and is essential for major Chinese cities. It is increasingly becoming a trending topic in the urban planning domain and many researchers are focusing on how to formulate scientific and practical urban renewal policies using different policy instruments. This paper aims to analyze the urban renewal policies of Shenzhen, which was the first city in China to promulgate urban renewal legislation. In doing so, an analytical framework is established by focusing on three main policy instruments and several sub instruments within them. Shenzhen’s four main urban renewal policies issued between 2009 and 2016 are analyzed through the framework. Quantitative content analysis was used in the review and analysis of the data. The results shows that Environmental-type policies are most widely applied by the government in Shenzhen, and “Regulation Control” and “Goal-planning” are the two policy instruments that are most frequently adopted. On the other hand, the application of Supply-type polices and Demand-type polices were found to be inadequate, with only a few effective instruments being adopted. These findings provide strong implications for the improvement and development of urban renewal policies in China through these key findings.

A Cluster Analysis of Real Estate Business Models in China

The globalized construction market has created strong completion among industry players. To remain competitive, the building developers are constantly in search of novel business models. As a result, diverse real estate business models have emerged and research into business model construct has also intensified. Despite the growing academic interest in the area, no commonly accepted definition and construct of real estate business models have yet been established. Also, there is a lack of quantitative studies of the real estate business models in China. The aim of this paper is thus to (1) identify the variables for studying the real estate business model; and (2) reveal the main streams of real estate business model in China. The research was carried out through the combination of a two-step cluster analysis of 117 real estate companies in China. The business model clusters were revealed using a number of variables including target customer, product, market orientation, finance, collaboration network, core capability and revenue. Five clusters of these companies were revealed: (1) commercial property model; (2) government-dominant model; (3) management-dominant model; (4) resource-dominant model; and (5) domestic leading model. The findings should help with understanding the complex profiles of real estate business models and support cross-context learning of the practices.