A Sustainable Funding and Financing Strategy for Urban Infrastructure Renewal in China

In a relatively short time, many of China’s cities have become major industrial, shipping, and financial hubs. To support this unprecedented growth and economic development, China has invested enormous sums to provide transportation, power, communications, sanitation, and other basic infrastructures. Although much of this investment has been in newer urban districts, old districts within existing cities still add value to the economy and are often repositories of China’s considerable cultural heritage. Maintaining compatibility between the old and the new is always challenging but the renewal of older infrastructure systems often lags behind due to a shortage of capital and difficulties in raising sufficient revenue to support replacement and upgrading of basic systems. This paper will examine the range of funding and financing options that are in use throughout the world to see what mix of public and private approaches might be most suitable for Chinese cities to adopt as part of a funding and financing strategy that will support enduring and sustainable renewal and redevelopment of older urban districts.