CCTV News: Urban renewal is related to the improvement of urban appearance and living quality, and is an important starting point for expanding domestic demand. In Chang'an Community, Dadong District, Shenyang, Liaoning, the renovation and reconstruction here started with the residents' "negative list", and through extensive solicitation of opinions and full supervision by residents, the old community was given a new look.
Chang'an Community was built in the early 1990s, with a construction area of 115,800 square meters, 13 residential buildings and 1,098 households. Before the renovation, the community's weak current cables were messy, the roads were damaged, the corridors were full of debris, and the abandoned boiler room had been idle for a long time.
In 2023, the community will be included in the scope of renovation of old communities. In the early stages of community renovation, the community distributed questionnaires and found that in the same unit, first-floor residents were worried about light blocking and mosquitoes, high-rise residents were concerned about the difficulty of climbing stairs; the elderly were concerned about sunbathing, and young and middle-aged people were concerned about parking and safety. In response to the differentiated needs of different residents, the renovation party conducted a new household survey and compiled a "negative list".
Cao Xue, secretary of the Party Committee of Chang'an Community, Chang'an Street, Dadong District, Shenyang, Liaoning, said that more than 1,500 opinions were collected at that time, and new problems were constantly discovered during the renovation. We have held more than 30 meetings on public sentiment, and we have continued to improve this plan.
After the plan is determined, how to ensure that the construction is implemented as required? The community took the lead in forming a supervisory committee composed of community residents, and Qian Shuhe was one of them. During the construction, she promptly put forward opinions and pushed the construction party to make adjustments as required.
In the renovated Chang'an Community, the construction of roof waterproofing, roads and leisure squares has been completed, barrier-free facilities, leisure corridors, charging piles and intelligent security systems have been added, and underground pipelines have been transformed. In addition to improving infrastructure, the community renovation also retained the chimneys of the old boiler room and the coal bunker conveyor belt, integrating industrial relics into the community's public space.
Zhao Chen, director of the old community renovation department of the Dadong District Real Estate Bureau in Shenyang, Liaoning, said that the purpose of learning from previous renovation experience step by step is to complete the renovation of these pipe networks at once and try to avoid repeated construction after the renovation.
Urban renewal accelerates, development investment shifts to existing renovation and operation
Since 2026, various regions have continued to promote the renovation of old urban communities, accelerate the renewal of old residential elevators and the construction of complete communities, so that the results of urban renewal can better benefit residents. The contribution of real estate to the macro-economy has also shifted from being mainly incremental to increasing stock, and the way real estate drives investment will shift to participating in urban renewal.
In recent years, the scale of urban renewal investment has gradually increased, exceeding the 3 trillion yuan mark in 2025, reaching 3.2 trillion yuan. Experts pointed out that such size and scale are enough to support the transformation of the real estate and construction industries.
Liu Guiwen, Vice President of Chongqing University, said that in the face of the stock era, development companies must make some changes. The first thing that will be more tested is the developer's ability to transform and follow-up operations on an individual project. It is not based on scale, but one project per policy. The second aspect is to make profits through the initial investment and the subsequent ten or twenty-year operating cycle to test the long-term operating capabilities of the development enterprise.
In the first three quarters of 2026, the renovation of old residential communities in cities and towns across the country has been steadily advancing. The renovation of 16,000 residential communities has been completed and the renovation work of 13,000 residential communities is underway. At the same time, ultra-long-term special treasury bonds continue to increase support, with 30.9 billion yuan allocated throughout the year to support the renewal of 197,000 old residential elevators. Experts said that it is necessary to establish a sustainable urban renewal model with government guidance, market operation, and public participation, encourage property owners to renew independently, and guide business entities to participate.
Yu Xiaofen, dean of the China Housing and Real Estate Research Institute of Zhejiang University of Technology, said that we still need to adhere to the principle of who benefits and who contributes. In particular, we must encourage residents-centered renewal, and the government will provide some policy support to help people complete the renewal and transformation of old communities to meet their needs for maintaining and increasing the value of their assets and for a better life.
Recently, six departments including the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Renovation and Upgrading of Old Block Factory Areas", deploying the implementation of 1,500 old block factory area renovation and upgrading projects during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Experts point out that this type of urban renewal project needs to rely on future cash flow from the project operation phase to make up for the investment in the construction phase, so project operation capabilities are particularly critical.
Yu Xiaofen said that we must put operational thinking in advance. We must first understand where the demand is and what the suitable business formats are, and then build the business format, scale, and positioning of urban renewal planning. We must emphasize the integration of investment, construction, management, and operation.
