How the use of kinship associations can improve urban renewal?
如何通过宗亲关系更好地进行城市更新？

In the process of renewing and reconstructing urban villages, effective community planning lies in three critical issues: 1) building villagers’ trust in the government and developers, 2) promoting villagers’ participation in the planning process, and 3) communicating effectively among and across all stakeholders. This case presents an innovative model regarding the second critical issue. Against the backdrop of the importance of kinship in local affairs in South China, this case is derived from the practices in the process of reconstructing Lijiao Village within Guangzhou City, the capital of Guangdong province. Kinship association was adopted as a mediator between villagers and other stakeholders, which facilitated effective communication and collaboration.
城中村的更新改造中，如何提高居民对于政府和开发商工作的信任，推动公众参与规划工作，实现多方的有效沟通，是促进规划工作顺利实施的关键问题。在我国华南地区，宗亲关系在民间发挥着重要不可忽视的重要作用。广东省广州市沥滘村在旧村改造的规划实践中，巧妙以宗亲团体作为村民和多方进行沟通协商的中介桥梁，成功实现了双向的有效协同，成为在社区层面的规划工作中促进公众参与的创新典范。

There were three main stakeholders in this case: 1) the government (i.e., subdistrict office and reconstruction office), 2) the developer (i.e., Zhuguang Group), and 3) economic union consisted of villagers and Wei’s Kinship Association. The coordination of their interests relied mainly on the monthly four-party meetings. It deserves noting that the fourth party was the expert team. The team was expected to offer constructive suggestions for the reconstruction of Lijiao Village because it could maintain relative objectivity as a non-interested party yet with expertise in community planning. It also deserves noting that the kinship association functioned as a mediator between villagers and the developer and the government. On the one hand, the kinship association provided a platform for individual villagers to express their opinions more directly. Otherwise, they would be at a disadvantage when engaging with one-on-one negotiations with the developer and the government. On the other hand, the kinship association helped to clarify villagers’ common interests by integrating their individual opinions. In so doing, the association could present these common interests to the developer and the government in a more clear and orderly way.
沥滘村更新规划中涉及的利益相关主体包括政府（街道办和更新办）、珠光集团和经济联社（由普通村民和卫氏宗亲会构成）。以上三方的利益协调主要依托每月一次的四方会议进行。第四方为引入的专家小组，目的是从非利益主体的客观性和规划方向的专业性角度，为改造项目的顺利实施提出建设性发展意见。另一特色是将宗亲会作为村民与开发商和政府沟通的桥梁，一方面，村民们作为独立个体，拥有了更为直接的平台表达意见，改变了村民们独自面对谈判与协商时的不利地位。另一方面，宗亲会作为中介整合村民们不同的发展意见，更加明确了村民们共同的利益诉求，将民意结果更清晰有序地反馈给政府和开发商。

Two lessons can be drawn from this case. The first is that of top-down approach to establishing a stable dialogue platform for participation in decision-making. The four-party meetings played a vital role in effectively carrying out the reconstruction of Lijiao Village. These meetings were official ones of a political nature. The government organized the meetings to guarantee the orderly participation of all stakeholders in the community planning process. In these meetings, all stakeholders engaged in deliberation and decision making, thus ensuring the timeliness and trustworthiness of the flow of information, opinions, and feedbacks. With the suggestions from the expert team, the stakeholders could reach consensus more efficiently, ultimately increasing the efficiency of reconstruction process. The second lesson is that of bottom-up approach to communication and collaboration by leveraging social organizations that are trusted by villagers. The kinship associations do not have common interests with other interested parties. Thus, villagers tend to welcome and trust these associations, and developers and the government tend to obtain from the associations the information more aligned with villagers’ common interests. In this sense, kinship associations can greatly streamline the communication among and across multiple parties, which may particularly improve plan implementation based on timely feedbacks.
沥滘村在旧城改造中的经验可以总结为以下两点：第一，自上而下搭建稳定的参与决策的对话平台。四方会议在沥滘村改造项目的顺利推进中起着不可忽视的作用。四方会议属于政治性的官方会议，由政府组织，组织利益各方有秩序、有保障地参与到规划的共同协商、共同管理和共同决策中来，确保信息、意见和反馈传递的及时性和可靠性，在专家的专业指导下促进多方共识的尽快达成，有利于项目实施的顺利高效。第二，自下而上依托居民信任的民间组织进行沟通协调。宗亲力量不与其他利益主体产生共同利益的关联，并且受到居民们的广泛认同和信任。村民有了依靠的组织，其他利益组织也获得了更加有效的消息，宗亲的介入大大减少了多方沟通的交易成本，有利于规划实施的及时反馈与改进。