China's sustained housing upgrades keep urban decay at bay

For the past two months, 53-year-old Hou Fengjun has made regular trips to a construction site in downtown Harbin, watching the run-down 1930s residential building she once shared with 14 other households be reborn from its ruins.

The new four-story building, up and ready for move-in in just two months, marks the first reconstruction project funded by residents themselves in Harbin, the capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

"The old apartment was small and shabby, and I didn't hold out much hope for an on-site rebuild," said Hou. Little did she know, the neighborhood would undergo a dramatic transformation. "The new building is of such good quality that I have decided to move back with my family."

An aerial drone photo taken on June 11, 2025 shows a view of the Central Street in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. (Photo: Xinhua)

The building sits in the city center and neighbors the renowned Baroque architectural complex, the largest and best-preserved cluster of its kind in China. Despite its prime location, living conditions there used to be harsh.

Hou once shared a cramped 25-square-meter flat with three generations of her family in the now-demolished building. Local authorities rated the structure Grade D, the highest danger classification, during the city's building safety check in 2023. After that, residents in the building were ordered to evacuate over safety risks.

The project took shape after residents reached agreement in April to finance reconstruction, backed by a policy from local authorities to give green light to the old building reconstruction mode in February. The city also rolled out fee waivers and support measures to reduce construction costs and help residents reach consensus for the rebuilding.

Hou's family invested more than 100,000 yuan (about 15,000 U.S. dollars) for their new unit, which is around eight square meters larger than their old home. The building comes fitted with an elevator, central heating, piped gas, comprehensive water and sewage systems, and individual kitchens and bathrooms for each household.

Eight projects adopting this resident-funded model have now been launched across Harbin, covering 445 households as of mid-October this year, according to Shan Haibo, an official with the housing authority in Harbin.

The pilot project addresses long-standing hurdles for urban regeneration across China. Small scattered plots often deliver slim returns for commercial developers, and matching residents' compensation expectations has frequently stalled renewal plans, said Wu Songtao, professor at the School of Architecture and Design of Harbin Institute of Technology.

As an old industrial base, Harbin is an urbanization front-runner in China, grappling with a large stock of aging housing. Local statistics show that the city has approximately 71,000 old residential buildings constructed before 2000, including 387 buildings classified as Grade C and D dangerous levels affecting 11,700 households.

The innovative pilot for old building reconstruction charts an alternative path in shantytown renovation in Chinese cities, avoiding large-scale land acquisition and heavy investment from developers.

Nationwide, China is carrying out sweeping residential upgrades as urbanization advances. Official data shows the country's urbanization rate rose from 53.1 percent in 2012 to 67 percent in 2024, with a target of 71 percent set for the next five years.

China's evolving urban landscape has drawn attention from overseas visitors who have shared their impressions online. Eric Garrison, a U.S. YouTube creator with more than 33,000 followers, traveled to China expecting to find neglected, dilapidated settlements.

When he visited an urban village in south China's Guangzhou, he was surprised to find that despite aging housing and narrow lanes, security, sanitation and infrastructure were all well maintained.

His video sparked widespread online discussion, with viewers asking questions like "Why are shantytowns rarely seen in China?" and "How does China deal with low‑income housing?"

"Chinese governments at different levels have invested heavily in renovating old residential communities to meet people's aspirations for improved housing," Liu Lanping, an official with the housing authority in north China's Shanxi Province, told Xinhua.

In coal-producing Shanxi, urban renewal has improved living standards for large groups of industrial workers. Reconstruction began on 180,000 housing units in mining shantytowns across the province from 2006 to 2013 with subsidies from the central government. Local governments and enterprises also provided matching funds.

China addresses challenges of shantytown renovation through refined, orderly governance that respects residents' wishes, Liu said. Funding for shantytown renovation comes from a mix of public and social sources, including central subsidies and local fiscal support.

Between 2019 and 2024, China renovated 280,000 old residential communities, benefiting over 120 million people, according to official statistics.

Looking ahead, China's 15th five-year plan for urban renewal has pledged to roll out safety inspections for urban residential compounds aged 20 years and above and renovate a total of 115,000 old residential compounds.

The plan handles aging residential buildings on a case-by-case basis. It requires structures formally certified as dangerous be demolished and rebuilt, while promoting renovation with age-friendly and smart facilities in other suitable complexes.

The policy push for better housing was outlined at a media briefing by the State Council Information Office in September. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development laid out its "quality housing" agenda, prioritizing building new houses of better quality, renovating old houses properly, and delivering quality services.

These higher standards are also written into the newly revised national Residential Building Code, which tightens housing requirements across 14 dimensions. To respond to complaints about cramped interiors, the code raises the standard floor height from 2.8 meters to 3 meters. It also requires elevators in residential blocks of four stories or more to ease access for elderly residents.

As the concept of "good housing" gains momentum, China's real estate sector is expected to shift away from quantity toward quality, raising expectations for both developers and house buyers.

"Thanks to these government policies, we not only get new homes right here where we live, but our property values rise too," said Hou.