Comparison of critical success paths for historic district renovation and redevelopment projects in China

Abstract Urban regeneration has emerged as a response to the process of decay in historic districts. Based on a detailed literature review and the distinctive features of this mode of project practice in China, the current paper examines critical success factors (CSFs) in historic district regeneration projects. These factors are grouped into six main dimensions, namely, external environment, project characteristics, participants, project implementation, organization governance and the conservation of historic and cultural values. The internal relations among the identified CSFs are developed with the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) Method. This is followed by a case study showing the use of these results. Project K (a renovation project) and Project J (a redevelopment project) are selected to explore and compare their critical success paths (CSPs) with the optimized Critical Path Method (CPM), drawing on project management methods. The results show that Project K relies on the strength of the real estate market to achieve development of cultural industries with cultural characteristics, while Project J creates a strong cultural atmosphere to attract tourists and then increases cultural propaganda efforts, with an operating income used to achieve cultural continuity. Both cultural operation modes can achieve the cultural objectives of the project with a different CSP. The identification of CSFs, their internal relations, and the CSPs are explored in two cases, which provide useful guidance to project parties planning to participate in dynamic management of historic district regeneration.