*3.2. Empirical Observation and Field Study: The Obsolescence of the Existing Resettlement Communities*

A detailed analysis of the spatial features of six communities was carried out, which represents well the characteristic conditions of this kind of settlement in Suzhou (Figure 2). The communities are:


**Figure 2.** The typical inner courtyards of the resettlement communities.

The direct observation of the resettlement communities highlights how some elements and standards are constantly repeated:


The direct observation of the spatial characteristics of the case study was combined with some data on urbanization in Suzhou, such as the rapid growth of the wealthy middleclass population, the rapid adjustment of the economic structure, and the constant attraction of new residents over the years. This allows concluding that resettlement communities can be considered a potentially transformable part of a city for four reasons:


One element to take into consideration for the definition of the densification level is the existing regulation. At the national level, when the resettlements started to be designed in large quantities in the special economic zones, the Code of Urban Residential Areas Planning & Design GB50180-93 (updated in 2002, issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development), article 5.0.6.2 [92], decided that the communities designed as the resettlement communities—the multilayer housing—must not have a FAR higher than 1.8. The most updated version of this code for the same kind of communities issued in 2018 defines a range of 1.6–1.8, but these national limits can be exceeded and should be reassessed at the municipal government level to become context driven.

#### **4. Research Results: The Resettlement Communities as an Opportunity for Renewal**

In a fast-changing China, where the middle class is rapidly increasing and consumption is encouraged, and especially in Suzhou, a city that wants to shift to creative and innovative productions and attract talents, the existing obsolescent resettlement communities initially built for farmers and families with a low income—are not considered housing environments able to provide an up-to-date standard of living in the near future. Considering the obsolescence on one side and the improvement of economic conditions on the other side, the resettlement communities can be considered a part of the city to renew.

This idea of renewal is coherent with the guidelines of the national government established in *the 14th Five-Year Plan 2021–2025* for the national economic and social development

of the People's Republic of China. In the *Outline of Long-term Goals for 2035*, for the first time, China has officially promoted an urban renewal approach to improve the existing built environment next to the usual large-scale incremental development. The plan supports the renewal of the communities built before 2000 and the policy of regeneration that targets the "three-old"—that is, the old village, the old town, the old factory—by "encouraging intensive land use" that started in Guangdong province in 2008 and spread to the whole country [93,94]. Suzhou is included in the demonstration sites for old town renewal.

### *4.1. GIS Spatial Analysis Results*

In this transformation, densification can be considered to increase land-use efficiency, renew the obsolescent stock, and provide housing to more diversified inhabitants. The analysis of the parameter of the density of the 176 resettlement communities in Suzhou already shows a small trend of densification over 30 years. In the early years of urbanization, the units were smaller, and the FAR was lower, less than 1.3; the cases with a FAR higher than 1.5 were realized after 1999, but in the 2000s, FARs higher than 2 and lower than 1.5 coexisted. After 2008, almost no communities had a FAR lower than 1.5. Since 2016, nearly all cases have had a FAR higher than 2, with some also reaching more than 3, and units becoming larger (Figure 3).

**Figure 3.** Average resettlement communities' FAR change from 1983–2019 in Suzhou city. (The dashed line is the trend of the column chart).

According to the FAR calculation via GIS (Figure 4a), 42% of the resettlement communities have a FAR between 1.0 and 1.5; a total of 35% have a FAR between 1.6 and 2; a total of 19% have a FAR higher than 2; and 4% have a FAR lower than 1. The analysis does not show a general rule in the distribution of the resettlement communities in the city, and neither can reasons be found for the different FARs of the cases, if not a higher FAR in proximity to the edges of Gusu, the oldest district of Suzhou, and a lower FAR in the most distant ones from Gusu.

For the house conditions calculation (Figure 4b), the areas with the highest housing conditions are located around Jinji Lake and Dushu Lake in the industrial park, at the junction of Gusu District and the industrial park, near Xinqu Road, and exhibit a typical centrality, with lower housing conditions occurring further to the periphery. Compared with areas with high housing prices, areas with lower housing conditions have wider coverage and cover the complete urban development boundaries. Low-density resettlement communities tend to concentrate in areas with slightly higher urban housing conditions.

For community accessibility analysis (Figure 4c), the highest area is located in the area west of Jinji Lake in the industrial park and at the junction of the ancient city, as well as the area around Dushu Lake. Similar to housing prices, it shows a clear centrality. However, compared with housing prices, its coverage area is relatively small, located in the city's core area. In addition, there is no obvious consistency with reachability for low-density and high-density resettlement communities.

According to the integration analysis of accessibility and house conditions superposition (Figure 4d), the area with high house conditions and accessibility is the area where the industrial park is close to Gusu District, which has a strong centrality in the overall distribution. However, because the two are not completely superimposed in space, the core area radiates from the industrial park to the new area, forming a larger radiation area.

**Figure 4.** The GIS analysis. (**a**) The location and the FAR of the 176 resettlement communities identified in Suzhou. (**b**) The resettlement communities and the areas with different housing conditions. (**c**) The resettlement communities and the areas with different accessibility (bus stops and subway stations): the red areas represent the best accessibility in Suzhou. Note: accessibility is calculated using sDNA from the urban road axis model. (**d**) The combination of three indicators: FAR, housing conditions, and accessibility.
