IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

Urban areas in China and India face social and environmental challenges such as living environment degradation, aging infrastructure, poor social services, and disaster-prone communities (e.g., floods). This makes engaging with affected communities to achieve sustainability goals and quality of life enhancement even more essential. This paper attempts to understand community engagement in sustainable urban regeneration in China and India. Specifically, focusing on the context of sustainable urban regeneration: 1) what does urban regeneration mean to cities in China and India? 2) what are the community engagement processes and approaches in China and India? Also, 3) what are the drivers for multi-scalar governments to engage with communities? Using a qualitative case study approach, we find that sustainable urban regeneration’s goals, scale, and phases differ in China and India. The former has advocated a strategic approach to existing neighborhood retrofits, while the latter has focused more on housing provision, slum clearance, and economic revitalization to address unsustainable issues. Though some regeneration and environmental policies emphasize community engagement in China and India, difficulties still exist for urban regeneration implementations to reflect local knowledge and accommodate communities’ needs due to local discretion to priorities, conflicts of stakeholder interests, and top-down governance. The research findings suggest that supportive, clear legislative foundations and meaningful engagement strategies are needed to achieve a more inclusive process and outcomes in sustainable urban regeneration.