Barriers to the Renewal of Old Residential Communities in High-Density Urban Areas: Evidence from China

As cities grow denser, renewing old communities has become vital to improving urban functions and achieving high-quality development. However, institutional, economic, social, and technical factors intertwine, constraining the renewal process and limiting its effectiveness. Therefore, this study aims to identify and analyze the barriers to the Renewal of Old Residential Communities (RORCs). Twenty-eight barriers were identified through a literature review, questionnaires, and face-to-face interviews with community residents and professionals involved in RORCs. Based on the statistical results of 183 valid survey responses, this study identified the top five barriers to RORCs as follows: insufficient renewal funding, divergent resident demands and opinions, conflicts of interest among stakeholders, high renewal costs, and complex property rights. The 28 barriers to RORCs were further extracted into seven latent factors based on exploratory factor analysis (EFA): (1) Policy and Planning Deficiencies, (2) Infrastructure and Historical Legacy Issues, (3) Resident Participation and Community, (4) Spatial and Physical Limitations, (5) Consensus Execution and Management Inadequacies, (6) Economic and Financial Constraints, and (7) Property Rights Complexity and Social Structure. Through an in-depth interpretation of these groups, this study enhances the understanding of the systemic barriers to RORCs and provides practical insights for policymakers and practitioners to prioritize interventions and formulate integrated, sustainable renewal strategies suited to high-density urban contexts.