Multi-party co-governance mechanism of micro-renewal in China's old communities from the perspective of polycentric governance: A case study of Qinhuai district in Nanjing

In the context of China's urban stock renewal, the implementation of micro-renewal in old communities is of strategic importance for the high-quality development of cities and the modernisation of the country's governance capacity. In the context of China's urban stock renewal, the implementation of micro-regeneration in old communities is of strategic importance for the high-quality development of cities and the modernisation of national governance capacity. By exploring the localisation of polycentric governance theory, this paper analyses polycentric governance in the Chinese context, and selects a key micro-renewal project in Qinhuai district, Nanjing as the research object, to explore the multi-party governance mechanism of micro-regeneration in China's aging communities. The study finds that the multi-party governance mechanism is a collaborative renewal mechanism in which multiple actors, including the district government, district state-owned enterprises, planning teams, community grassroots organisations, and residents, participate in a clear division of roles and networked interactions in order to respect residents' property rights and wishes. Among them, the transformation of the government's decentralised role and the effective integration of social forces are the key factors contributing to the construction of the mechanism of multi-party co-regulation; the interactive relationship of the multiple subjects changes continuously with the advancement of the renewal stage; and the establishment of a platform for effective communication and rational interaction among the various subjects is the key to promoting the sustainable development of micro-renewal of the old community, which is currently still in the mode of an external impetus. At present, community micro-renewal in Qinhuai district is still in a mode of external driving force; micro-renewal can create sustainable production benefits for the physical space, social space, economic development, and historical resources of the old community.