**The Role of Heritage in Building a Socially Integrative City: A Comparative Approach**

by Lisbet Sauarlia and Yu Wang

This article aims to contribute to answering the research question of how to create socially integrative cities during the fast urban transition that has been adopted by H2020 TRANS-URBAN-EU-CHINA. The article is specifically focused on the critical role of community in urban transition in historical districts and uncovers the kind of role the community can play in such a process. The article compares two cases: the gentrification process since the 1970s in the Bakklandet district in Trondheim Norway and, in the Xi'an Beiyuanmen Muslim district, the urban regeneration plan in the 2000s in Xi'an China. The transformation in Bakklandet and in the Xi'an Muslim district has showcased that community plays an important role and that community building in urban transition is a key element for preserving the value of historical districts (neighborhoods).
