Decision-making factors for renovation of old residential areas in Chinese cities under the concept of sustainable development

The renovation problem of old residential areas is not only a city management task, but also a major engineering of benefiting the people, which is related to the people living and working in peace and contentment and the improvement of the overall image of the city. In order to improve the appearance of old residential areas in Chinese cities and the living conditions of their residents, city planners must take a scientific and structured approach to renovation. After analyzing current status of the old residential in several major Chinese cities, consulting the literature, and undertaking field investigations, this paper summarizes the main influencing factors on renovation decision-making. We propose five hypotheses, which we test using questionnaire survey data, sample analysis of these influencing factors, and a structural equation model (SEM). The results show that the degree of influence of each factor on renovation decisions ranks as technology being the most influential, followed by the economy, policy, the environment, and society. In addition, we find that there is nonzero correlation between these various factors.