Redai dili (Sep 2023)
The Impact of Urban Community Renewal on Residents' Subjective Well-Being: An Empirical Study Based on Typical Communities in Nanjing
Abstract
Urban community renewal is committed to improving the material, socioeconomic, and cultural environments of the community and satisfying people's pursuit of a better life. However, there are various contradictions and problems in the process of urban renewal practice, which restrict the positive effects of community renewal, including the improvement of residents' happiness. Therefore, this study focuses on the impact of the community renewal process on residents' well-being, focusing on old communities with special social, historical, and cultural backgrounds in China. Taking a typical community in Nanjing as an example, based on data such as field research and questionnaire interviews, a structural equation model is used to construct a multidimensional framework. The influence of environmental changes brought about by community renewal on residents' subjective well-being is discussed from the two dimensions of material and social environment. The study draws three main conclusions: (1) In the dimension of material environment, community renewal significantly improves the subjective well-being of residents by effectively improving the material environment of the community. In addition, community renewal, as a proactive intervention on environmental conditions, promotes residents' community participation, and then improves their well-being through a mediating effect. (2) In the dimension of social environment, community renewal directly improves residents' subjective well-being by increasing community cohesion and trust. Adopting a community-centered, bottom-up approach to community renewal can improve community cohesion, enhance residents' resilience and well-being, as well as their willingness to give back to the community. The interactive mode of community belonging and identity, followed by the mediating effect of community cohesion and neighborhood interaction can stimulate community participation and indirectly improve subjective well-being. Good neighborhood interaction enables residents to establish behavioral attitudes that care about public affairs and interests. Neighborhood interaction also bring about information sharing, and the sharing of participation channels and effects can also drive more people to participate in community construction, thereby enhancing their sense of well-being. (3) The personal attributes of residents also have an impact on subjective well-being. Among the control variables in this study, health, age and income had a positive and significant effect on well-being. Self-rated health has the most significant positive impact on subjective well-being, followed by age and income. From the perspective of community social capital, this study explores the optimization of the social environment through the mediating role of community participation in the process of urban community renewal and community physical environment transformation. By understanding the emotional experiences and neighborhood evaluations of residents in the process of participating in community construction, the impact path of urban community renewal on their subjective well-being is revealed. This research will help to provide a basis for community renewal from different levels such as community renewal planning and management, social organization and promotion of community renewal, and so on. Such an approach will help realize the comprehensive optimization and improvement of the physical and social environment of the community, enhance the social capital of the community and the active participation of residents, reduce the negative impact of the renewal process, and improve the resident identity and sustainability of the renewal.
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