Identifying inefficient urban land redevelopment potential for evidence-based decision making in China

Inefficient urban land redevelopment is an important policy of Chinese government to achieve sustainable urban development. Currently, the decision-making mechanism in practice is lack of scientific support, which considerably affects the policy effectiveness. Previous studies focused on the redevelopment suitability, with seldom consideration directly linked to the feasibility of inefficient land redevelopment. To fill this gap, this study develops a redevelopment potential assessment framework including four aspects (benefit, cost, supply, and expectation of redevelopment) and builds a multi-scale redevelopment classification system using GIS and landscape index analysis approaches. Taking a fast-growing city, Chengdu, China as an example, we validate our framework and methods. Simultaneously, three conspicuous aspects in the process of inefficient urban land redevelopment were identified to facilitate decision making in our showcase: (1) Determine the classification and evaluation criteria of inefficient land according to local conditions. (2) Integrate potential assessment into the process of inefficient land database development. (3) Arrange the projects implementation schedule according to redevelopment potential and classification. The case can serve as a baseline for efficient and effective urban redevelopment decision-making in future, especially for a vast number of cities coping with challenges in fast urbanization and redevelopment decision making. [Display omitted] •Inefficient urban land redevelopment is an inevitable choice to achieve sustainable urban transformation.•The decision-making framework includes four dimensions of land-use: benefit, cost, expectation, and supply.•The multi-scale feature of redevelopment strategies ought to be integrated into Chinese redevelopment system.•Major redevelopment types include Landscape re-layout, Brownfield restoration, Land use conversion, Facilities improve.•Incorporate potential assessment into the process of inefficient land database construction is essential and urgent.