Exploring Influential Factors for Decision-Making in Urban Development: Urban Heritage Protection and Displacing Living Communities

Abstract

Rapid urbanization is one of the main characteristics of the 21st century. Urban systems are critical in creating urban displacements during such rapid processes. In most cases, urban displacements are triggers and catalysts of some urban crises, generating extra obstacles and pitfalls to humanitarian and sustainable development in urban areas. One of the major impacts of the rapid urbanization process is the process of urban house displacement. In historic and heritage cities, towns, or villages, we see the trend of displacing urban homes as a result. In the name of urban heritage protection, cities and towns/villages are converted into large-scale open-air museums, where the local residents are often evicted. To understand the connections and interactions between urban house displacement and urban heritage protection, this study explores key influential factors of decision-making in the directions of urban development, using the grounded theory for cause extraction and categorization and providing political implications for urban planning and regeneration projects. The case studies for this brief study are three cities of Dali, Lijiang, and Shangri-La in western parts of Yunnan Province, China. This paper utilizes mapping studies of the heritage sites of these three cities based on the surveys conducted in July 2022. Issues of urban regeneration and displacement scenarios are observed, assessed, and discussed for us to open up further debates on what causes the displacement of local residents in such contexts.