Residents’ willingness to pay for public spaces and shared facilities in neighbourhood renewal: a case study in Nanchang city

Neighborhood renewal is an essential approach to meeting evolving residential needs. However, its financial constraints may hinder its effective implementation, particularly as renewal increasingly involves shared facilities and services in the context of the rise of sharing economy. Existing studies have rarely investigated residents’ intentions to provide financial support during the renewal process. This study aims to investigate the factors influencing residents’ willingness to pay and the amount they are willing to contribute under different renewal plans framed within a sharing economic context. Using survey data from Nanchang, China, a binary logit model identifies the determinants of WTP, while a Tobit model estimates the contribution amounts. Results show that residents perceive green space renewal as the most valuable neighbourhood investment, followed by activity space, public EV charging stations and teleworking spaces. Interestingly, residents prefer large-scale improvements over smaller enhancements. Younger and high-income residents are more likely to pay, and male, full-time workers, and households with children tend to contribute higher amounts. In addition, people who routinely spend annual home maintenance are more willing to pay for neighbourhood renewal. These findings suggest that neighbourhood renewal should prioritize large-scale green space expansion while incorporating emerging neighbourhood facilities, such as public EV charging stations and teleworking spaces, to better meet residents’ evolving needs and preferences.社区更新是满足居民日益变化的居住需求的重要途径。然而，资金限制可能阻碍社区更新的有效实施，尤其在共享经济兴起这一背景下，社区更新涉及更多共享设施的建设。既有研究较少关注居民在社区更新过程中提供资金支持的意愿。本研究在共享经济背景下，探讨不同社区更新方案中影响居民支付意愿及支付金额的因素。基于中国南昌市的居民调查数据，采用二元Logit模型识别居民支付意愿的影响因素，并利用Tobit模型分析不同居民特征和更新方案对应的支付金额差异。研究结果表明，居民认为绿地更新是最具价值的社区投资项目，其次依次为活动空间、公共电动汽车充电设施和远程办公空间。值得注意的是，相较于小规模改善，居民更倾向于大规模更新。年轻居民和高收入居民具有更高的支付意愿，而男性、全职就业者以及有子女的家庭倾向于支付更高的金额。此外，日常有年度住房维护支出的居民更愿意为社区更新付费。研究结果表明，社区更新应优先考虑大规模绿地扩建，并增加公共电动汽车充电设施、远程办公空间等新兴社区设施，以更好地满足居民不断变化的需求与偏好。​