Pathways to building modern people-centric city through urban regeneration

As China's urbanization enters a stage focused on enhancing the quality of existing urban stock, urban regeneration has emerged as a pivotal strategy for fostering high-quality development and the construction of a modern people-centric city. This paper aims to systematically explore the theoretical and practical pathways for advancing the modern people-centric city through urban regeneration. It begins by examining the development concepts and practical experiences of leading international cities to provide a reference for localized implementation. The study then traces the historical evolution of China's urban development priority from "production-centered" to "people-centered", underscoring the historical inevitability of this paradigm shift. Building on this analysis, the core connotations of the "modern people-centered city" are elaborated. The core section of the paper systematically outlines the pathways through which urban regeneration promotes the multidimensional goals of innovation, livability, beauty, resilience, civility, and smartness. These pathways include: comprehensive improvement guided by livability and civility; functional revitalization driven by innovation and smartness; resilience rebuilding based on security and beauty; and area-wide coordination through systematic and integrated approaches. Finally, the study proposes a systematic set of policy recommendations, offering a theoretically grounded and practically relevant framework for high-quality development of a modern people-centric city through urban regeneration.