Exploring the stages of urban renewal in Japan and its inspiration for China

China has currently entered a stock era of comprehensive renewal, while urban renewal has become the primary task and form of urban development. Japan, a developed adjacent country, has similar geographical and cultural backgrounds to China. As such, understanding its urban renewal can help to formulate and develop sustainable strategies for urban renewal in contemporary China. In doing so, this study aims to compare and discuss the differences in the characteristics of stages of urban renewal between China and Japan by analyzing the case of the process of urban renewal at Shibuya, Tokyo. It is found that urban renewal in Japan has gone through five stages since the Meiji Restoration, and there are significant differences in terms of time dimension, driving factors, location, and scale compared to urban renewal in China. However, from the dynamic development process, urban renewal in China gradually converged with the development characteristics of Japan in the later stages. Therefore, based on the inspiration from Japan's experience, this study summarizes the path and countermeasures for the future development of urban renewal in China: first, building a more refined and perfect urban renewal policy system; second, exploring the autonomous creation model under government led coordination; and third, using Japan's pioneering experience for reference and considering in advance the response to social issues.