Research on the Transformation Path of Old Residential Communities in Xi’an from the Perspective of Complete Community

Abstract

China’s urban development has entered a stage dominated by stock renewal, and the renovation of old residential communities has become an important starting point for high-quality urban development. The concept of complete community and the 15-minute living circle planning provide key guidance for the renewal of old communities. Based on the perspective of human geography, this paper takes old communities in Xi’an as the research object, constructs a three-dimensional analysis framework of “spatial facilities – service system – governance mechanism”, and systematically analyzes the practical dilemmas and explorations in the renovation of old communities. The study finds that the renovation of old communities in Xi’an is confronted with the coexistence of aging infrastructure and spatial resource constraints, mismatched supply and demand of public services and prominent shortcomings in full-age services, immature multi-stakeholder co-governance mechanism and lack of long-term management. Although distinctive experience has been formed in Party-building leading grassroots governance, there are still multiple tensions between patchwork renovation and systematic renewal demand, administrative leadership and resident participation. On this basis, it puts forward the optimization path of complete community construction from three dimensions: spatial reshaping, service embedding and governance restructuring, emphasizing solving spatial constraints through systematic renewal, filling service shortcomings through experience orientation, and building a long-term mechanism through multi-stakeholder co-governance. The study points out that the ultimate goal of old community renovation is to realize the leap from “living container” to “complete living community”. The construction of complete community is not only a realistic path for urban renewal in Xi’an, but also a livelihood practice to improve residents’ sense of happiness. It also reveals the internal connection between spatial and social dimensions in the renovation of old communities, providing a reference for the renewal of old communities in similar cities.