The scale politics in Dongguan's "Three Olds" redevelopment from the perspective of urban informality: Process, mechanisms, and governance implications

Urban informality is a common phenomenon in rapidly developing cities, and the "Three Olds" redevelopment is an important aspect of achieving high-quality urban development in the later stages of urbanization in China. Addressing the current lack of academic attention to the redevelopment of informal land use in the context of the "Three Olds" initiative, this paper, based on the theories of urban informality and scalar politics, selects a typical case of "Three Olds" redevelopment in Dongguan city. Using qualitative research methods such as document analysis and in-depth interviews, this study explores the processes and mechanisms involved. The research finds that Dongguan's "Three Olds" redevelopment policy has undergone a scalar political process consisting of three stages: policy application, policy piloting (including normalization), and policy revision. This process is accompanied by a shift in the roles of the main actors from "dominant" to "subordinate" and vice versa, as well as the interactive evolution of the land parcels from "informal-formal-informal" states. During the implementation of the "Three Olds" redevelopment, two pathways emerge: one where the interests of all actors align, leading to smooth redevelopment, and the other where, in cases of conflicting interests, local governments revise policies and redistribute benefits. These pathways cycle to achieve a new equilibrium. The study contributes to further enriching the theoretical understanding of urban informality and provides practical insights for the "Three Olds" redevelopment and urban renewal and governance.