Sustainability Performance Differences of Industrial Heritage Regeneration Implementation Modes

Abstract

In high-density cities around the world, the contradiction of sustaining development and limited resources has become more evident. Transforming historic industrial buildings, through both functional and spatial adjustments, has emerged as a key strategy to manage these challenges effectively. There is a significant demand for the quick regeneration of industrial heritage districts, resulting in the emergence of various implementation modes (IMs). While the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have gained widespread acceptance, the integration of sustainability principles into urban regeneration practices has strengthened globally. However, in many regions, approaches to achieving sustainable regeneration are still unclear, with a lack of evaluation and adjustment of sustainability performance (SP). This paper combines qualitative analysis and a quantitative assessment of indicators to compare three representative case studies with different IMs. It explores whether there is a connection between the chosen IM and SP, examines the mechanisms of impact, and discusses how to select the most suitable IM for industrial heritage regeneration. The study confirms the practicality of an SP evaluation system and identifies key factors within IMs that affect SP. Future research is expected to produce tools that support the promotion of sustainability in industrial heritage regeneration efforts.

1. Introduction

Under the contradiction between limited resources and rising demands in high-density cities around the world, the development method of expanding construction land has been gradually abandoned, and urban regeneration in the stock of spatial resources has become the mainstream choice nowadays. Many high-density cities have experienced the industrialization period, and a large amount of industrial space occupies the city center. Under tight resource constraints, it is necessary to carry out urban regeneration of the industrial heritage to realize the demands of industrial and spatial restructuring. Shanghai, once the largest industrial city in China [1] and one of the highest-density cities today, has rapidly entered a de-industrialization phase, with prominent contradictions between its industrial and spatial status quo and its urban development aspirations [2]. In 2022, Shanghai’s per capita industrial output value was 7.72 billion yuan/km², which is at a relatively low level compared to that of other global cities such as London, New York, and Tokyo [3]. Meanwhile, Shanghai’s proportion of industrial land to all construction land is about 25%, while that of most similar global cities is 5–15%, with New York only 7.5% and Tokyo only 4.9%. With a 45–65% reduction of industrial land planned in the Shanghai 2035 master plan, there is a large amount of industrial heritage that needs to be regenerated and transformed. Industrial heritage is a representative of urban regeneration objects that combine importance, complexity, and urgency [4,5]. Its regeneration involves not only environmental improvement but also upgrading industrial structures, preserving historical and cultural heritage, adjusting population structures, etc. Because of its large scale and strong influence, it will relate to the urban development goals and benefit redistribution and have a direct impact on the overall urban space, functional structure, and social relationships [6]. Under the current large-scale rapid regeneration, the appropriate implementation mode (IM) and its regeneration mechanism are of great research value as the determining factors of the effectiveness of industrial heritage regeneration (IHR) [7].

The IMs of IHR are determined by different relationships and interaction mechanisms between stakeholders [8,9], and the IMs can be distinguished according to the differences in the three dimensions of stakeholder features, institutional features, and features concerning policy content. The cases selected for this study are all from Shanghai City, China, and share the same institutional characteristics, so it focuses on two aspects: the actors’ relationship refers to the cooperation and gaming relationship constituted by the participants in the regeneration decision, influenced by their roles, expectations, influence, and other attributes [10], and the policy context includes the planning objectives, policy tools, and knowledge. In urban regeneration, the public–private partnership mode, single actor-led mode, and decentralized autonomy mode are presented [9]. Given the complexity and specificity of IHR, three types of multi-actor cooperation mode, market-led mode, and government-led mode, which are significantly different from each other, are selected for comparative analyses in this paper.

Around the world, urban sustainability has become a widely recognized and valued development goal. As a key component of the SDG, “Sustainable Cities and Communities” has been emphasized by the United Nations to place greater emphasis on the preservation of cultural heritage, the improvement of environmental quality, the creation of green spaces, and the mitigation of natural disasters [9]. The Chinese government has taken the lead in setting sustainable development as a national strategy, announcing a carbon reduction target in 2021 and proposing the implementation of the urban regeneration initiative to realize “sustainable development throughout the entire life cycle of cities” (On 22 September 2020, the President of China stated that China will adopt more vigorous policies and measures, strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, and strive to achieve “carbon neutrality” by 2060). Industrial heritage, as an important stock resource in high-density cities, can be regenerated into office buildings, housing, public service support facilities, etc. [11], reducing construction waste and saving natural resources, making a major contribution to sustainable development [12]. This is an excellent opportunity to harmonize social and environmental development with economic growth and to promote sustainable urban development [13,14,15]. IHR can have a great effect on the sustainability enhancement of the city, but there is a wide range of evaluation indicators with different levels of influence [12]. There is also a lack of a standardized and unified evaluation system and an analysis of the causes and mechanisms of the regeneration. Therefore, this paper aims to optimize the framework and indicator system for the sustainability performance (SP) of IHR.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the methodology, establishing the case study framework and the SP evaluation system for IHR. Section 3 presents the case studies, investigating three representative cases of different modes in detail, sorting out their industrial heritage conditions, the actors’ relationships and policy context, and SP. Section 3.4 presents the results and discussion, evaluating the SP of the three cases, obtaining the SP characteristics of different regeneration IMs, and analyzing the mechanism of the IMs’ influence on SP. Section 4 is the conclusion, proposing IM selection methods and policy recommendations.

2. Methodology

2.1. Case Study

According to the theory proposed by Driessen, urban regeneration has three modes of implementation: the public–private partnership mode, the single actor-led mode, and the decentralized self-government mode [9]. For industrial heritage, it is large in scale and centralized in rights, and mostly adopts the public–private partnership mode, and the single actor-led mode of government, the rights owner, or the market owner. The public–private partnership mode forms the constraints of the actors’ interest objectives, the government-led regeneration aims at public interest, and the market subject-led regeneration takes economic returns as the primary task, and the differences in expectations will present significant differences in the sustainable performance of the regeneration projects. In view of this, this paper selects three modes with representative industrial heritage regeneration and differences in sustainable performance: multi-actor cooperation mode, market-led mode, and government-led mode for comparative analysis.

Based on the principles of typicality, comparability, and accessibility of information for the above three IMs, Red Town (RT), Columbia Circle (CC), and the Public Space of Yangpu Riverfront (PSYR) in a high-density city, Shanghai, were selected as representative cases. The three cases share similar institutional backgrounds, socio-economic conditions, and urban development goals. Still, the differences in policies and actor relationships form different modes, and sustainable performance shows differences in the overall level and distribution of the dimensions. RT adopted a public–private multi-actor cooperation mode. The government, property owner, and the market formed an alliance with a unified goal by means of innovative policies, and achieved a short-term all-win situation in cooperative and constraining relationships. However, due to the temporary policy, it failed to avoid being overturned and rebuilt 13 years after its completion, and its sustainability decreased. CC adopts a market-led mode, the market actor aims at economic benefits and brand image establishment and possesses professional resources, technology, and capital, where the transformation of the high-end culture and art community has been completed, and sustainability enhancement in some dimensions has been realized. However, the trend of gentrification has also been unavoidable. PSYR adopts a government-led mode, relying on the government’s coordination to complete the regeneration of areas with a large scale, a strong influence, and complex historical legacy problems, which improves the sustainability of public interest-related dimensions but also faces unsustainable problems in terms of funding and management. The three cases are comparable and typical in terms of similar regeneration contexts, differentiated IMs, and sustainable performance. Therefore, RT, CC, and PSYR were selected to represent the multi-actor cooperation mode, market-led mode, and government-led mode.

The case studies were investigated via literature collection, interviews, fieldwork, and questionnaires. Firstly, documents such as policy documents, negotiation records, and planning schemes were obtained to collate process information; subsequently, semi-structured interviews with actors, including officials, original property owners, new enterprises, and management and operating agencies were conducted. Additionally, questionnaire surveys with specialists were deployed, and fieldwork was completed to obtain on-site information.

An analysis framework was used to conduct a comparative analysis, considering Industrial Heritage Conditions, Actors’ Relationships and Policies, and Sustainable Performance, which was constructed after a background and literature review. Each case involves a comparative analysis through vertical elaboration and horizontal comparison. Firstly, the mechanisms of IHR under different modes are explained through the background and actors’ relations and policies. The SPs of the three modes are then summarized and compared. Finally, the factors of the regeneration mechanism behind the relationship modes that cause the sustainable performance differences are identified (Figure 1).

2.2. Establishment and Application of Indicator Systems

2.2.1. Framework Establishment and Indicator Collection

Sustainable industrial heritage regeneration (SIHR) refers to both the “process”, which means planning, construction, and operation having been produced in a sustainable way, and the “outcome”, i.e. the resulting physical environment enabling end users to undertake their activities more sustainably [16]. Sustainable regeneration is an integrated development process with social, economic, and environmental dimensions, which is reflected in a large number of well-established and validated indicator systems such as the “System d’ Indicaters pours les Projects de Regeneration de Friches Urbaines (SIPRIUS)”, etc. [17,18]. With a more comprehensive understanding of the value of industrial heritage, the continuity of its cultural dimensions, including the industrial development history [19], industrial architectural feature [20], native culture [21], and factory culture [22], has been emphasized.

Governance, as another current concern of urban development, is pointed out as a core factor of regeneration implementation performance [16]. Stakeholder composition and expectations [23], the public participation level [24], legislation and administrative framework establishment [25], policy making [26], the decentralized decision-making framework [27], and financing and application costs [28] were noted as important factors affecting the effectiveness of urban heritage regeneration. In this case, this paper establishes an SP evaluation framework to form a comprehensive and systematic SIHR evaluation from the Economic, Social, Environmental, Cultural, and Governance dimensions.

The initial collection of indicators originated from a literature review and consisted of three themes: the sustainability of cities, urban regeneration, and industrial heritage. For the sustainability of cities, the perspective treats the city as a living organism in which resources and energy are either conserved or consumed [29]. This concept emphasizes balancing economic development with ecological protection [30,31,32]. It also focuses on reducing carbon emissions and promoting the use of renewable resources [33,34]. Additionally, it considers the density of development and the diversity of land use [17,35]. Another critical aspect is the integration of new functional uses with the preservation of cultural and historical assets [34,36]. Although not aimed at industrial heritage urban regeneration or high-density urban contexts, these elements are still worth referring to. For urban regeneration, it is an important way to revitalize the city’s vitality and quality. This theme focuses on driving economic development and industrial upgrading, improving social well-being and bringing in employment opportunities, and introducing multiple participants in regeneration to promote institution-forming and social equity [37,38,39,40,41]. For industrial heritage, there are particular concerns compared to general regeneration objects. First, when industrial buildings are transformed from serving machines to serving people, the buildings’ thermal comfort and energy efficiency from the human orientation are new tests. Second, the environmental pollution brought by the industrial production period is crucial for its treatment and ecological restoration. Third, the industrial heritage should fit with the new functional space and continue to be reused. Given this, relevant assessment indicators are added to the environmental and cultural dimensions of the indicator system [12,27,28,38,42]. Indicators are derived from, but not limited to, research papers, official city policy documents such as sustainable urbanization plans, evaluation criteria for global city rankings, and publications by research organizations.

2.2.2. Indicator Selection and Application

IHR is different from the regeneration of other spatial types in that it carries a variety of social and industrial relations and faces radical changes. In contrast, large-volume industrial heritage with unique styles is often regenerated into large-scale cultural sports and other public facilities, which closely connect with social development. At the same time, due to industrial production, there is a threat of environmental pollution within the site, while a large amount of outdoor space creates the possibility of public facility construction and activity organization for its regeneration. Given the consideration of its specificity and complexity, the final indicators will be screened through a series of requirements and principles to ensure the rationality of the system:

i. Comprehensive: an assessment framework that systematically responds to the five dimensions, with detailed and comprehensive measurements for each dimension;

ii. Targeted: needs to be relevant to urban regeneration projects, mainly industrial heritage, adaptable to the specificities of industrial heritage, and able to respond significantly to changes in its dimensions of sustainability;

iii. Objective: needs to control the ambiguity and uncontrollability of subjective evaluations and be fair and precise;

iv. Accessible: the required data and information are known, measurable, and accessible, quantitative indicators must be easy to calculate, and qualitative indicators should rely on clear descriptions.

Subsequently, based on the selection of indicators, eight indicators for each dimension with 40 indicators were finally selected for the evaluation system (

Table 1. Sustainable performance assessment indicator system for industrial heritage regeneration.

Dimension	Theme	Indicator
Social	Well-Being	Public satisfaction and accessibility
		Availability of public space
		Skills training and quality development
	Public Facilities	Abundance and availability of public facilities
		Inclusiveness of regeneration design
	Public Perception	Perceived value of industrial heritage
		Sense of belonging and collective identity
		Social equity, avoiding gentrification and spatial segregation
Economic	Economic Benefits	Return on project investment
		Financial dependence
		Actor coverage of economic returns
	Economic Promotion for Neighborhood	Value-added rate of neighboring properties
		Promotion of regional industrial restructuring
	Economic Development Potential	Employment opportunities
		Prospect of core industry development
Cultural	Historic Heritage and Industrial Character	Authenticity and integrity of heritage
		Continuity and identifiability of industrial elements such as industrial buildings and equipment facilities
		Continuity of workers’ life and factory culture
		Uniqueness of historical style
	Cultural Functions and Activities	Percentage of cultural functions
		Number and richness of cultural activities
		Degree of public participation in cultural activities
	Cultural Heritage Integration	Adaptability and integration of old and new culture
Environmental	Architecture and Land Use	Architectural style and spatial quality after regeneration
		Mixing degree of functional types
		Control of development density
	Ecology, Landscape, and Energy	Remediation and reuse of polluted land
		Quality of landscape environment
		Energy efficiency and renewable energy ratio
	Transport	Convenience of private transport
		Accessibility of public transport
Governance	Partnerships	Diversity of participating actors
		Equity of cost-benefit distribution among participating actors
		Public Participation in Regeneration Activities
	Institutions & Funding	Systemicity and stability of the policy system
		Coverage of multiple interests by the policy system
		Diversity of funding sources
	Implementation & Decision Making	Openness and transparency of the decision-making process
		Completeness of the continuous micro-regeneration mechanism

).

Finally, the SP evaluation system was applied to three cases. Each indicator was scored separately, and the scores for each dimension and the whole were calculated. Radar chart histograms were produced to visualize and make an intuitive comparison of the data.

3. Case Studies

3.1. Regeneration of Red Town Culture and Arts Community (RT)

3.1.1. Industrial Heritage Conditions

The former Shanghai 10th Iron and Steel Factory (10th Steel), located in the center of Shanghai, was established in 1956 and was the first independently founded iron and steel factory in Shanghai. Due to the city’s industrial restructuring, the factory closed in 1995. At the beginning of the 21st Century, Shanghai aimed to develop the cultural and creative industries and to enhance its international competitiveness. The Shanghai Municipal Urban Planning Administration Bureau (Planning Bureau) planned to build a sculpture art promotion center on site. The factory was selected by the Planning Bureau for its spaciousness, recognizable red brick walls, and the lack of cultural facilities in the surrounding area, and it was then regenerated into an arts and cultural community (Figure 2 and Figure 3).

3.1.2. Actors’ Relationships and Policy Context

The regeneration of Red Town Culture and Arts Community (RT) is guided by the government, implemented by cultural institutions, and participated by property owner. It is a public culture and arts-oriented urban regeneration accomplished through a public-private multi-actor collaboration (Figure 4). The Planning Bureau, as a local government representative, is the initiator and coordinator of the reuse of the 10th Steel factory. To build a high-quality arts and culture center, conduct large-scale public events, and save financial expenses, the Planning Bureau introduced a market actor, Red Town Cultural Development Co. (Red Town Co.), for construction and operation. The property owner, 10th Steel, leased the site to the government and Red Town Co. for RMB 23 million/year, ceding part of its land rights and participating in the regeneration management.

The Government has provided policy and resource protection for this regeneration. The regeneration of RT did not raise the land value by increasing the plot ratio to attract market actors, but rather, the path to complete the regeneration and transformation through leasing lowered the cost of regeneration and the threshold of participation of market actors while providing art resources to increase the motivation of market actors. The government only pays RMB 3 million/year to 10th Steel for the rent of the factory building and a small amount of exhibition funds, which leads to the launch of large-scale urban public cultural flagship projects. The Red Town company provided professional services and financial support and was rewarded with substantial business opportunities and economic returns. Using this project as an anchor, the Red Town company was awarded the right to host the annual Shanghai Urban Sculpture Exchange Exhibition, turning the park into a well-known sculpture-themed public art community. The Red Town company has provided a large number of public service facilities and public cultural and art activities in place of the government. Its brand awareness and influence have increased significantly, attracting more pan-cultural organizations and commercial brands to lease the community space at high prices for high returns, with total tax payments of up to 200 million RMB/year for the companies residing in the RT (Source: Interview with Chairman of the Board of Directors of Red Town Culture, August 2023). Property owner 10th Steel has ceded part of its land rights, retaining the right to participate in regeneration in an “informal” way and gaining benefits. As the property owner, 10th Steel has given up part of its rights to land revenue and use while retaining its status as the property owner. In this way, 10th Steel has gained more than ten times the rental income of the site and some re-employment, while continuing their shared memory and spiritual demand for the factory.

The synergy and consistency of multiple actors cannot be separated from the supply of policies adapted to the demands of multiple actors. Around 2005, to promote the transformation of inefficient industrial land and the development of creative industries, Shanghai launched the “three no changes” policy (A policy of industrial transformation and functional upgrading under the conditions of no change in the ownership of property, no change in the land usage, and no change in the structure of the building), which reduced the transformation costs of property owners, the entry threshold of social capital, and the difficulty of government guidance. The relaxed transformation policy has realized the possibility that the government, property owners, and market actors can benefit from each other’s benefits simultaneously. However, the disadvantages of the separation of the nature of land usage in name and, in reality, the limited direction of transformation and the fact that the proceeds of land appreciation have not been channeled to the government have led to the inevitable informality and temporary nature of the policy.

3.1.3. Sustainable Performance

Based on the data and information obtained through interviews, surveys, and observations, RT regeneration was analyzed in terms of social, economic, cultural, environmental, and governance dimensions. The SP of RT has a more balanced performance in the five dimensions, and the overall SP is more significant (Figure 5,

Table 2. Comparison of three cases with different implementation modes.

		RT	CC	PSYR
Industrial Heritage Conditions	Area	2 hm2	4.7 hm2	Shoreline length 5.5 km
	Industrial Heritage Identity	Shanghai Excellent Historical Architecture	Shanghai Excellent Historical Architecture	National Cultural Relics Protection Building, Shanghai Cultural Relics Protection Building, Shanghai Excellent Historical Architecture
	Function and Positioning	Sculpture-themed cultural and creative industrial park	Cultural artistic district with culture, art, fashion, new media	World-class waterfront public space, themes of industrial culture and public life
Implementation Mode Character	Implementation Modes	Multi-actor Collaboration Mode	Market-led Mode	Government-led Mode
	Actor’s Relationships	Government led, cultural organization implemented, property owner participated	Property owner initiated, developer planned, implemented and operated, public organizations involved	Government co-ordinated, state-owned enterprises implemented, public organizations involved
	Policies Context	“Three-unchanges”	Land premium for stock sites	“National Relics Protection Demonstration Area Construction”
	Role of Local Government	Participant. Provided policy, information, resources, event organization	Monitor, policy Leader	Dominant; organized, planned, invested, supervised the whole process
Sustainability Performance Character	Overall Performance	Medium	Lowest	Highest
	Dimensions Distribution	More evenly, higher economic, lower cultural	More evenly, higher culture, lower social and economic	Unevenly, highest in social & cultural, lowest in economic

). Regarding social sustainability, RT achieves a high degree of publicness, with the public part occupying more than 50 percent of the site, both in terms of floor area and functional ratios. RT has ecologically restored the waste steel stockyard in the center of the park and transformed it into a large grass slope open to the public for public cultural and art activities and recreation (Figure 6), which is very precious in the high-density city center. It becomes a good choice for residents and students to feel the cultural life and daily recreation. RT is one of the earliest industrial heritage clusters to complete adaptive reuse in Shanghai. In the phase of de-industry, most of the abandoned industrial buildings in the city center of Shanghai have been rapidly demolished and rebuilt, and the RT regeneration project refreshes the people’s perception of the value of the industrial heritage through the collision of the factory’s large scale and alterations with the sculpture and modern art. The RT regeneration project has refreshed people’s perception of the value of industrial heritage with the large scale and alterations of the factory and the collision of sculpture and modern art. However, more than a hundred small traders in the factory before the regeneration were forced to face the displacement problem; the original low-price market no longer exists, and it is no longer a place where the grassroots can spend their money. The original workers of the factory were also laid off in the 1990s and moved out of the city center because they could not afford the high cost of living. After the renovation, Red Town has no traces of the original social relations and social activities.

The project’s economic sustainability is outstanding, partly because of RT’s good investment and operation mode. The project is a joint venture between the government and cultural organizations, with the government only taking a small share of the funding but providing significant cultural resource support. It has attracted more than 80 influential pan-cultural organizations to the site, hosting more than 60 exhibitions each year with an audience of more than five million. The place is a resource anchor to form an art and culture industry chain and has become the city’s art resource center. It has created 4000 jobs, and on the day of the exhibition’s opening, it drove up the neighboring house prices by 2000 yuan (Source: Interview with the Chairman of Red Spinning Culture, August 2023). At the same time, when Shanghai put forward the development goal of “building into a cultural metropolis”, the transformation direction of the cultural and creative industries gained support from the government and the society, and the cultural companies in the park developed rapidly, providing high tax revenues for the government.

An essential feature of governance sustainability is fairness, equity, and participation in the decision-making process and effectiveness of regeneration projects. The pluralistic governance structure and innovative policy path of RT’s regeneration have contributed to a high degree of sustainability in the governance dimension. All three parties—government, property owners, and market actors—have strong self-interest incentives. At the same time, the dispersion of power and interests creates mutual constraints to ensure the rationality of IHR decision-making and implementation. The plant was initially planned to be demolished and rebuilt to adapt to the urban landscape of downtown Shanghai. The Planning Bureau provided policy support, such as adjusting the control plan and transferring the plot ratio, so that the industrial heritage, which was supposed to be demolished and rebuilt, could be preserved. The innovative informal regeneration policy of “three no changes” was introduced to enhance the willingness of property rights holders to regenerate while at the same time lowering the threshold of participation for market actors, expanding the scope of participants, and making regeneration concepts and cultural backgrounds the main factors to be taken into account, avoiding an imbalance in the capital-dominated governance structure.

3.2. The Columbia Cycle

3.2.1. Industrial Heritage Conditions

Columbia Circle (CC) is located at the intersection of three historical and cultural protection zones in the center of Shanghai, covering an area of 4.7 hectares, including three historical buildings and 11 industrial buildings (Figure 7). The site was first built in the 1920s as the “Columbian Life Circle”, and after the 1950s it was allocated as the production, research, and development base of the state-owned Shanghai Institute of Biological Products (SIBP). In 2016, SIBP was relocated out of the city, and with the incentive of the land premium policy, the industrial heritage began to transform into a mixed-use cultural district.

3.2.2. Actors’ Relationships and Policy Context

The regeneration of CC was initiated by the state-owned enterprise, planned, implemented, and operated by the developer, participated by public organizations, and is an enterprise-led IHR (Figure 8). SIBP, the property owner, took the initiative to promote the IHR through the “stock premium” path. SIBP obtained the right to change the nature of the site, adjusting the industrial land to commercial, office, and community service facilities and accepting the requirement of a minimum area of 12,500 square metres for the public space. SIBP then ceded the right of building, operation, and income to a more experienced developer and received RMB 75 million in annual rent, realizing the transformation and benefits of the inefficient industrial building and land.

The developer acts as a joint hub of actors to complete the collaborative organization and regeneration implementation. The developer, Vanke, signed a 20-year operation contract with SIBP, with Vanke paying the RMB 510 million land premium fee on behalf of SIBP, and Vanke will have a priority right to renew the contract after 20 years [42]. The developer has protected several historical buildings over 50 years old, including the Columbia Club and Sunke Residence, retained the characteristic industrial buildings (Figure 9), and re-positioned a mix of 69% business offices, 14% restaurants, 14% arts and culture, and 3% amenities. The overall return of the project is about 10%, and it takes more than ten years to recover the cost [42]. However, CC, as a cultural landmark, has become a business card for Vanke, opening up the market for it in urban regeneration projects across the country.

In this project, the public is introduced to the process of regeneration and operation. Columbia Circle cooperates with several cultural and artistic institutions (Shanghai Architectural Society, Tongji University, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Cultural and Creative Studies, Shanghai Academy of Arts and Crafts, Pengpei City Hall, etc.), social organizations (Explore Shanghai Heritage), and commercial brands (Louis Vuitton, Heathley, Sephora, etc.) [43], and intervenes with targeted professional forces in different segments during the process. For example, Vanke invited historical building research scholars from Tongji University and the Historical Building Conservation Design Institute of Huajian Group to research the historical building and evolution process of CC, the results of which were presented to the city’s public as an opening exhibition to showcase its historical changes and humanistic underpinnings.

In the policy context, in 2014, Shanghai issued the “Implementation Measures on the Revitalization of the City’s Inventory of Industrial Land (Trial)”, and the Shanghai 2035 Master Plan released in 2017 put forward the development goal of “reducing the amount of industrial land by 45–65%”. In this context, Shanghai launched the “stock premium” policy: state-owned enterprises holding allocated land property rights of the stock of historical Industrial land only need to pay the price difference according to the market price gap of the land, which can be allocated land to lease land, and then complete the transfer of the land usage and spatial regeneration, which is a functional transformation. This policy protects the right owner from losing the opportunity to continue to benefit from the land because it is no longer possible to obtain the property right to the land after the land auction, thus effectively enhancing the motivation of the property owner to regenerate as well as the speed and quality of the functional transformation of the industrial heritage.

3.2.3. Sustainable Performance

The sustainability of CC regeneration is high in the cultural and environmental dimensions but limited in the social dimension, and the overall sustainability performance is low compared to the other two cases (

Table 3. SP assessment of three IHR cases with different implementation modes.

Dimension	Theme	Indicator	RT	CC	PSYR
Social	Well-being	Public satisfaction and accessibility	3	3	5
		Availability of public space	4	4	5
		Skills training and quality development	3	2	3
	Public Facilities	Abundance and availability of public facilities	2	2	4
		Inclusiveness of regeneration design	4	2	4
	Public Perception	Perceived value of industrial heritage	4	3	5
		Sense of belonging and collective identity	2	2	4
		Social equity, avoiding gentrification and spatial segregation	3	1	5
	Total		25	19	35
Economic	Economic Benefits	Return on project investment	4	3	1
		Financial dependence	3	2	1
		Actor coverage of economic returns	4	3	1
	Economic Promotion for Neighborhood	Value-added rate of neighboring properties	4	3	4
		Promotion of regional industrial restructuring	3	4	4
	Economic Development Potential	Employment opportunities	4	3	3
		Prospect of core industry development	5	4	3
		Investment attractiveness	4	3	2
	Total		31	25	19
Cultural	Historic Heritage and Industrial Character	Authenticity and integrity of heritage	3	4	5
		Continuity and identifiability of industrial elements such as industrial buildings and equipment facilities	3	4	5
		Continuity of workers’ life and factorybculture	2	3	5
		Uniqueness of historical style	2	4	5
	Cultural Functions and Activities	Percentage of cultural functions	4	4	3
		Number and richness of cultural activities	4	4	4
		Degree of public participation in cultural activities	3	3	4
	Cultural Heritage Integration	Adaptability and integration of old and new culture	4	2	4
	Total		25	28	35
Environmental	Architecture and Land Use	Architectural style and spatial quality after regeneration	3	4	4
		Mixing degree of functional types	3	4	2
		Control of development density	5	5	5
	Ecology, Landscape and Energy	Remediation and reuse of polluted land	4	3	5
		Quality of landscape environment	4	3	5
		Energy efficiency and renewable energy ratio	2	2	2
	Transport	Convenience of private transport	4	4	2
		Accessibility of public transport	4	3	2
	Total		29	28	27
Governance	Partnerships	Diversity of participating actors	5	3	2
		Equity of cost-benefit distribution among participating actors	4	3	2
		Public participation in regeneration activities	3	4	3
	Institutions & Funding	Systemicity and stability of the policy system	2	4	4
		Coverage of multiple interests by the policy system	2	3	4
		Diversity of funding sources	4	2	2
	Implementation & Decision Making	Openness and transparency of the decision-making process	4	3	3
		Completeness of the continuous micro-regeneration mechanism	4	3	4
	Total		28	25	24
Total			138	125	140

). CC is endowed with rich historical and cultural resources, and the developer did not put economic benefits in the first place. The developer did not put economic benefits at the top of the list and proposed a culture-led transformation of spatial functions, with a project investment of RMB 340 million and a cost–recovery target after more than 10 years. As a culturally orientated regeneration of industrial heritage, CC focuses on the development of cultural industries and the establishment of a city brand, which is expressed more diversely, from the floor tiles to the trendy brands that are housed in the building to the art exhibitions and launches, all of which emphasize the continuation of the historical heritage and the fusion of contemporary culture. The Country Club’s open-air swimming pool has been transformed into a “cultural and fashion showroom” (Figure 10), the 1930s Sunke Villa has become a gathering place for art and cultural exhibitions, and Shanghai’s first art and culture-themed Niaoya Bookstore is set against historical architecture (Figure 11). CC is a year-round venue for exhibitions, theatre, concerts, lectures, comedy, and other cultural activities. It has been named the “most vibrant neighborhood for urban regeneration”, making it a new cultural landmark in Shanghai.

At the social level, the park is open to the public at all times, with some cultural and artistic venues and activities. Still, most of them have high entry thresholds and have not formed an organic connection with the general public. The year 2017 saw the release of the Shanghai 2035 Master Plan, which calls for creating a “15-min community living circle”, and the CC has become an essential part of this circle in its district. As it is adjacent to many residential areas, CC opens up the passageways to the residents, who often come here to take a stroll, walk their dogs, and have a cup of coffee. However, its leisure functions are limited, and the partners in the activities held in the park are also mostly high-end commercial brands such as Louis Vuitton and Heathley. There are 11% of the activities using the invitation system [43], which is only open to specific people, and many others require the purchase of access qualifications so that the middle and upper classes still monopolize the city’s scarce resources. At the same time, the history of CC and pharmaceutical R&D on the site is challenging for visitors to truly read and understand, and it has not formed a connection with the community. For public visitors, CC is more like a symbolic literary mecca, which invariably reinforces gentrification and spatial segregation of the place.

New operation and use methods are crucial elements for the sustainable development of IHR in the commercial office category, which hinges on the choice of industries and functions. The developer has abundant resources and operational experience in the cultural industry, organizing cultural consumption while emphasizing cultural production and requiring the creative companies and trendy brands in the park to initiate 2–6 events per year to enhance the park’s brand vitality and form a self-cycling economic mode. Vanke’s advanced operational concepts and abundant resources have attracted a gathering of pan-cultural industries, including creative agency IDEO, special effects company Digital Kingdom, architecture company AAI, and streaming media platform Aqiyi, which have moved into CC, creating a large number of employment opportunities and a high occupancy rate of office space, which bring stable rental income and effectively promote the transformation of regional industries. In addition, the new functions are highly diversified, including office, catering, shopping, culture, entertainment, and residential. The diversity of functions has also contributed to the enhancement of sustainability.

3.3. Public Space of Yangpu Riverfront (PSYR)

3.3.1. Industrial Heritage Conditions

Yangpu Riverfront, the “World’s Largest Remaining Riverside Industrial Exhibition Belt”, with a total length of 15.5 km along the Huangpu River, carried a large number of the largest and most advanced industrial enterprises and factories in Shanghai and even the whole country and was one of the most concentrated areas of Shanghai’s industry in the last century. The industry gradually exited at the end of the 20th century, and the industrial zone was gradually abandoned (Figure 12). In 2010, the Shanghai Expo was held in the upper reaches of the Huangpu River, promoting the significant improvement of the functionality and environmental quality of the Huangpu River and the transformation of the Yangpu Riverfront Section from an “industrial rust belt” to a “life show belt” with parks and green spaces (Figure 13). This article focuses on the 5.5 km public space of the southern section, completed in 2019, and the former enclosed industrial wasteland has been transformed into a public space of leisure and recreation for the public, combining history and humanity with ecology and nature.

3.3.2. Actors’ Relationships and Policy Context

The regeneration of PSYR is a large-scale, high-level IHR completed under government coordination, implemented by a state-owned development company, and with the participation of public organizations (Figure 14). The Vice Mayor of Shanghai was appointed as the team leader to provide direct coordination and supervision of the regeneration project. The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage and other government departments jointly set up the Yangpu Riverside Comprehensive Development and Management Command, which serves as the core hub for coordination, organization, and supervision, coordinating relevant government departments, construction & operation companies, original land rights holders and newcomers to the project, and organizing the full cycle of policy formulation, planning, land resumption and storage, construction management, investment promotion, and other works. At the same time, the city and district governments jointly provide strong financial support as the primary source of funding, and high-quality public space will attract a large number of creative science and technology enterprises and multinational companies to the hinterland, leading to the transformation of the region and enhancing the influence of the area.

The actual implementation of the regeneration is carried out by Shanghai Yangpu Riverfront Investment and Development (Group) Company Limited (“Riverfront Company”), a state-owned enterprise in the district. In addition to being the investment and financing platform and comprehensive operator for the development and construction of the riverfront, Riverfront Company has several subsidiaries with different specializations, which are responsible for various aspects of regeneration, such as investment and financing, development and construction, operation and management, industrial management, cultural and technological development, and corporate services. Riverfront Company also undertakes a small portion of the investment to supplement the financial input.

Many public organizations are involved in the regeneration process as decision-making advisory and supervisory actors. Multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary experts were jointly organized into the Decision-Making Advisory Committee, which was divided into three groups, namely the Planning and Construction Group, the Industry Group, and the Governance Group, to provide decision-making advice for the regeneration. The four enterprises involved in the regeneration jointly established the Yangpu Riverfront Governance Association, which unites 43 regional enterprises, institutions, and social organizations. They provide supervision and technical support for riverfront planning, construction, operation, and social services. In addition, regular public opinion forums are held during the regeneration planning process. Many citizen service stations and suggestion collection stations are set up in the public space after the construction so that citizens’ and enterprises’ demands and comments can be incorporated into the decision-making considerations. A continuous micro-regeneration mechanism is formed to adapt to the needs of the site’s use.

The IHR, with its high energy level, large scale, and diverse stakeholders, cannot be achieved without a strategic positioning and strong policy support. In September 2020, Yangpu Riverside was listed as one of the six National Heritage Conservation and Utilization Demonstration Zones in the first batch. The “Implementation Plan for the Construction of National Cultural Relics Protection and Utilization Demonstration Area of Shanghai Yangpu Living Showbelt (2021–2023)” was released to provide implementation methods and to include the protection and regeneration of industrial heritage as an essential part of the process. In addition, Shanghai has proposed a method of compensating the plot ratio off-site in the historical and cultural areas to safeguard the contiguous historical landscape. Industrial heritage has been protected to the maximum, with 66 buildings totaling more than 260,000 square metres of industrial remains being preserved. When protection and construction conflict, tolerance mechanisms arise, such as adjustments of the road planning and building regeneration schemes to pass the road through the first floor to preserve the buildings in conflict with the new road from being demolished.

3.3.3. Sustainable Performance

The SP of PSYR regeneration is generally remarkable, thanks to the outstanding social and cultural sustainability. PSYR is positioned as an urban park for the public, and its social dimensions of inclusiveness, publicness, and equity are greatly satisfied. Industrial buildings have been turned into exhibition and activity centers; factory annexes and equipment facilities have been transformed into sports and entertainment stations (Figure 15) and cafes to provide convenient services for citizens and visitors; infrastructure including workers’ hospitals and schools have been transformed into citizen-oriented services and public space nodes; art exhibitions and sports and leisure activities are organized in the open space so that citizens’ well-being has been comprehensively enhanced. In addition, workers’ residences and living facilities on the periphery of the industrial belt are entirely protected, old workers and residents still occupy a large proportion of the applicable population in PSYR, and the social network is continued, effectively reducing gentrification and spatial segregation. Centuries-old industrial culture is reinforced as an icon and regional symbol in the regeneration. Old workers and neighboring residents can strengthen their sense of belonging and identity in the traces of industrial history such as piers, anchors, and chimneys.

The industrial cultural characteristics of the “World’s Largest Remaining Industrial Heritage Exhibition Zone” have been maximized, and contemporary culture has been highlighted here. The industrial heritage of the site is used to the greatest extent; for example, the dredging trucks and pump pits have been transformed into children’s playgrounds, rain gardens, and cafes as industrial elements, and various types of industrial heritage provide adaptable spaces for art, fashion, and sports activities (Figure 16). Additionally, there was the Shanghai Forum in 2018, the 3rd Shanghai Urban Space Art Season in 2019, the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer Show in 2021, and the FIS City Cross-Country Skiing China Tour in 2021. The regeneration of the riverfront industrial heritage has effectively enhanced the soft power and shaped a new image of the city.

PSYR, as a social welfare project mainly invested by the government, has low economic sustainability but a non-negligible role in the city’s economic sustainability. The regeneration of PSYR has the advantage of having a stable and guaranteed flow of funds. Still, the vast scale of the project puts the government under tremendous pressure, and the PSYR is constrained by the financial system, which restricts PSTR’s operation and management. The profitability of PSYR mainly comes from leasing buildings and venues of industrial heritage and public space, and to avoid the loss of state-owned assets, there are many restrictions on the path of investment promotion, making it difficult for enterprises to settle in. There are only a few exhibition halls and cafes to complete the introduction of enterprises. Some commercial activities rent venues temporarily, and the limited earnings are far away from the high inputs. However, as the city’s flagship project, Yangpu Riverfront has a deep hinterland, and the high-class commercial office space needs the radiation effect of PSYR’s influence and service. PSYR has attracted a large amount of capital, technology, and talent to the vast hinterland and achieved the return of the government’s capital and the enhancement of the city’s comprehensive competitiveness through the transaction of the hinterland. Under these special conditions, Yangpu Riverside has given up its economic benefits to promote the rotation and influence of the larger regional economic chain.

3.4. Results & Discussion

3.4.1. Different IMs Result in Different SPs

A comparison of the three IHR cases reveals that the IHR presents different SP characteristics (Table 2), which are closely related to the mode of implementation. Among the five dimensions of SP, the social, cultural, and economic dimensions are most significantly affected, the sub-dimensions of governance are affected, and the environmental dimension is not considerably affected. Overall, PSYR regeneration had the highest sustainability and CC the lowest. PSYR benefited from outstanding performance in the social and cultural dimensions, but the economic dimension was the weakest of the three. RT had more balanced sustainability among the five dimensions and economically took the first place among the three. CC had limited sustainability in the social, economic, and governance dimensions, which led to an overall poor performance (Table 3, Figure 17).

Specifically, for the multi-actor collaboration mode represented by RT, it is built based on a more mature cooperation mechanism, which can mobilize more diversified social forces to intervene, and the redistribution of benefits is more balanced under the gaming and constraints relationships. Still, at the same time, there is also a loss in the efficiency of decision-making. For the government-led mode represented by PSYR, industrial heritage is mostly of high historical and cultural value, contributing to urban development but challenging to implement. This type of IHR is usually included in specific policy schemes, initiated and subsidized by the local government, and supported by other stakeholders. This mode better guarantees the performance of socio-cultural development and improves the built environment. Still, it is financially constrained with limited social capital introduction, so a greater economic pressure is borne by the government. For the market-led mode represented by CC, market actors tend to be more flexible and innovative in their regeneration strategies and operation methods, developing new and effective profit-making modes, and their SP depends on the project positioning and objectives of the market actors, which are more uncertain. Under the long-term planning of large cultural property companies, the SP of their cultural and environmental dimensions has been significantly enhanced. In contrast, the economic dimension has not been centrally reflected, but the developers have gained a reputation from it and opened up the national market. The social dimension of sustainability cannot help to achieve the expectations, so it is bound to have a shortfall in SP.

3.4.2. Influence Mechanisms of IMs on SP

The guidance and co-ordination of government departments are indispensable for promoting stakeholders to reach collaboration into the regeneration process, so the difference in the intervention degree of public power in different IMs has a direct impact on the SP in social, cultural, and economic aspects (Figure 18). In CC’s regeneration, the local government only provides functional guidance and heritage protection guarantees through policies and administration approvals. The supportive policies protect the property owners and new tenants, reducing the uncertainty faced by the actors, which promotes the actors to initiate regeneration on their own and seek social capital collaboration, thus activating the IHR market and stimulating economic growth, but with a limited impact on the social and cultural dimensions. Specifically, through the policy of “land premium for stock”, the property owner is guaranteed to continue to enjoy the land appreciation benefit, which motivates them to initiate regeneration; the compatibility and conversion of the land usage are allowed, and the investment promotion can also be started at the planning stage, which motivates both actors to drive the IHR under the trend of their respective interests but does not guarantee the public interest will not be harmed.

In the regeneration of RT, the local government not only provides the path of regeneration to meet the interests of multiple actors but also builds a platform for information and resources, which leads to the establishment of trust and cooperation between the property owner and the market actor, and the social and cultural resources can be tilted towards this. In addition, funds are invested in regeneration decision-making and long-term operation, and they play a continuous role in function setting, activity organization, and resource guidance, so the sustainability of industrial heritage in the cultural and social dimensions is further guaranteed. In the regeneration of PSYR, the government has taken the lead in the IHR, coordinating stakeholders with diverse backgrounds on a large spatial scale (enhancing the efficiency and integrity of the regeneration). Most property rights were recovered, a state-owned enterprise was set up to plan, build, and operate the project unified, funding was provided through city and district double-level finance, and the municipal government agencies coordinated various professional departments and provided a tolerance mechanism. Under the high-intensity intervention of public power, the government, which represents the public interest, holds the right to decide, and under the performance goal of building a “Heritage Conservation and Utilization Demonstration Zone”, the city image and historical cultural inheritance are put in the forefront of the consideration. At the same time, the economic benefits are inevitably given up.

The complexity of cooperative and constraint relations between actors in different modes determines the equilibrium of SP and the performance in the economic and governance dimensions (Figure 18). The higher the complexity of the cooperative–constraint relationship, the more balanced the distribution of SP in each dimension, and at the same time, in the economic and governance dimensions, the project’s financial efficiency, potential, and the effectiveness of decision-making and implementation subsequently increase. In RT, the government, the property owners, and the market support each other, provide each party’s rights, resources, or skills, and simultaneously pursue their own goals and maximize their interests, forming multi-faceted constraints, so SP can be distributed evenly in all dimensions. The government provides the factory with higher and more sustainable profit programs, removes planning obstacles through the right of planning and management, and hopes to achieve the official goals of urban image enhancement and cultural construction with minimal financial expenditure; the factory gives up the right to use and generate income from land rights, and concludes a contract with the government and the market actors to obtain rents and jobs. At the same time, adaptive conservation and reuse of the old factories greatly satisfy the factory workers’ sense of belonging and pride. For the factory to provide its rights, resources, or technologies while pursuing its own goals and maximizing its interests, the SP can thus be distributed evenly in all dimensions—a sense of belonging and pride. Red Town uses the convenience of the market actor to complete the investment, financing, and construction. It gives full play to the specialty of the cultural company to introduce the pan-cultural industry chain to convert the right resources into brand influence and economic benefits. In CC regeneration, only market actors and property owners participate in regeneration decision-making, and in PSYR regeneration, the government holds the absolute right to make decisions. With limited cooperation and constraints, the objectives of the dominant party can be fully realized. Still, the distribution of benefits is inevitably lopsided, leading to an unbalanced distribution of SPs and difficulties in implementation and operation due to limited capacity.

4. Conclusions

This study aims to illustrate the SP characteristics and differences of IHR in different IMs. First, an IHR analytical framework and an SP assessment system for IHR were established. Then, three representative cases of different IMs in the high-density central city of Shanghai were detailed and compared, which revealed the correlation between the IHR IMs and SP and the influencing mechanisms behind them. The main conclusions of this study are as follows.

• The characteristics of the IHR IM are partly determined by the actors’ relationship and the policy context, which depend on the conditions and objectives of IHR; for the SP of the IHR, the five dimensions of society, culture, economy, environment, and governance can be measured in a more comprehensive and integrated way.
• The IHR of different IMs presenting different characteristics in the SP is mainly affected by the intervention degree of public power and the complexity of cooperative and competitive relationships.
• IHR can choose the appropriate IM according to the project’s heritage conditions and sustainability goals. For projects that have a significant value and impact and provide public welfare with limited profitability, the impact intensity of the public sector should be increased. For projects with specific heritage value or projects that need to enhance sustainability in a balanced way, more actors should be organized to build a self-governance mechanism. For projects with limited heritage value or that can give up part of the dimensions of sustainability, the market’s initiative can be brought into full play for developing a wider range of IHR.
• The degree of public rights involvement and the complexity of cooperative and competitive relationships in the IHR IM can be adjusted through policy supply, social resource deployment, and information platform construction. The public authority can adapt the intervention degree according to the SP demands, as a leading actor, co-ordinator, or guardian. A more diversified coalition of actors consisting of government, enterprises and institutions, residents, and social organizations is advocated to promote the self-governance mechanism with a more complex relationship and guarantee the all-around sustainable development of IHR.