Organic renewal of property plots in Chinese cities: Sustainable development of built environment via property value enhancement and digital twin construction

Abstract

As the urbanization process in China continues to advance, urban residential property plots have commenced their transition to an organic renewal model. Nevertheless, achieving the sustainable and high-quality organic renewal of urban residential property plots poses a significant challenge for planning. This study postulates that the crux of organic renewal for urban residential property plots lies in the impacts on improvement for sustainable built environment, with the main obstacle being the organization and implementation of intricate renewal activities. A potential solution is to enhance land property value, while establishing a digital twin to optimize the design of renewal strategies and implement renewal activities precisely and efficiently. This study scrutinizes the characteristics of the property value composition of urban residential property plots, investigates basic strategies of organic urban renewal and proposes a theoretical framework to elucidate dynamic property value change, property value enhancement and incremental value allocation during the renewal process. Additionally, a theoretical concept was developed to efficiently promote property value in organic renewal through digital twin construction. A comprehensive case study showcases the pronounced benefits of property plot renewal, including a 1.17-fold increase in floor area and a 50% rise in residential floor area unit prices. The research framework proposed in this study is conducive to promoting the optimization, fair allocation and efficient implementation of property value in organic renewal. Furthermore, it is conducive to practicing ‘human-centric’ decision-making.