From Space Renewal to Relationship Renewal: Facilitation of Co-Design

As community renewal increasingly emphasizes the roles of various participants in decision-making and operations, relationship renewal is gaining greater attention as an outcome of community renewal. Achieving relationship renewal requires consideration of long-term processes and participation mechanisms. Co-design, with its open organizational structure and mechanism, has the potential to promote relationship renewal. This study broadens the analytical focus of community renewal from space renewal to relationship renewal. Through a synthesis of the literature, this paper classifies relationship renewal into three types, comprising governance relationship, symbiotic relationship, and collaborative relationship. Subsequently, co-design is categorized into three models: the government-led co-design model, the multi-participants-led co-design model, and the resident-led co-design model. This paper suggests that in facilitating relationship renewal, co-design is conditioned by agenda setting, decision-making, resource sources, professional roles, implementation responsibilities, and feedback mechanisms. Based on qualitative case studies of three community renewal projects (data from official documents), this paper explores how different co-design models illustrate the process of relationship renewal and differential outcomes of the models in facilitating relationship renewal. The study further suggests that the three co-design models shift as project stages, issue attributes, and institutional conditions change. The paper’s contribution lies in its typological analysis of relationship renewal, revealing the mechanisms and boundaries of co-design as a condition for relationship renewal.