The impacts of relationships between critical barriers on sustainable old residential neighborhood renewal in China

In the recent years, the existence of a large amount of old residential neighborhoods has become the concentrated expressions of the unbalanced development in China. The studies related to neighborhood renewal are mostly focused on its renewal methods and contents. However, to make a significant contribution to the long-term neighborhood development, sustainable renewal for the old residential neighborhoods is crucial. This study aims to identify critical barriers to sustainable neighborhood renewal in China and explore their related inter-active mechanisms. To this end, 19 barriers were identified from comprehensive literature review and interviews with the experts. The relationships between the barriers are testified by fuzzy-DEMATEL method. The results revealed thirteen critical barriers, and among which lack of effective supporting policies is considered as the root cause of unsustainable neighborhood renewal. Besides, lack of public-private corporation mechanism, unequal and opaque information between stakeholders, lack of public participation, low profits of the private sectors, and immature law and regulations are all proved to be important causes. Accordingly, proper countermeasures are suggested to be adopted for future neighborhood renewal projects with the identified influencing paths. The study provides a theoretical basis and approach to prevent unsustainable renewal and pursuit of sustainable development in old neighborhoods.