Quantifying amenity impact on housing equity: Analysis of cost-benefit dynamics of urban green and grey infrastructure in residential area regeneration

In the context of the fundamental transformation of China's urbanization model and the aging population, the economic and affordable regeneration of existing urban neighborhood housing has become a necessary field to promote social sustainability and inclusiveness. Various factors, including location, green and grey infrastructures, public services, housing prices, and transaction volumes, influence the cost-benefit dynamics and outcomes of regeneration projects. This study utilized 118,181 housing transaction records and spatial distribution statistics of infrastructure from Hangzhou city from 2012 to 2023. Through rigorous spatial econometric and causal inference processes, it comprehensively assessed the specific cost-benefit characteristics and potential threats of the city's residential area regeneration. The findings indicate that the high willingness of homeowners to retain properties due to green spaces potentially increases the cost of renewal. In contrast, grey infrastructure fosters high demand and turnover, with areas surrounding administrative or medical facilities showing ideal potential for low-cost, high-benefit outcomes, making sustainable and affordable regeneration feasible. However, panel analysis reveals a prevalent short-term investment tendency among investors in the city, lacking long-term planning for housing, which could pose a threat to the government's sustainable regeneration plans. This study on cost-benefit dynamics offers new insights for the implementation of affordable neighborhood regeneration in urban areas of developing countries. • Greenland promotes willingness to own to increase the cost of regeneration. • Grey infrastructure promotes high demand and turnover to lower regeneration cost. • Areas close to hospitals or administrative offices have a high yield potential. • Investors maintain short-term decisions posing threats to sustainable regeneration. • Low-income people need convenient infrastructure more than green space.