Factors and Pathways to Enhance Resident Satisfaction in Old Residential Neighbourhood Renovation: A Configuration Analysis of Cases in Central Nanchang, China

Abstract

The renovation of old residential neighbourhoods represents a critical livelihood initiative. In this study, a theoretical framework utilising fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is developed to investigate the complex interplay of factors influencing residential satisfaction and to identify multiple pathways for satisfaction enhancement in old residential neighbourhood renovation projects. Thirty old residential neighbourhoods within Nanchang’s urban core are selected as case studies. Through the systematic evaluation and measurement of five critical dimensions—governmental policy; community environment; community support; housing quality; and resident perception—the research applies fsQCA to analyse potential pathways for enhancing residential satisfaction from a “community” perspective. The research finds that residents’ satisfaction can be enhanced through four pathways: housing quality enhancement, quality and support improvement, community environment improvement, and environment–quality linkage. The research findings yield key policy implications: First, a multifactorial synergistic approach should be implemented to overcome reductionist tendencies toward single-factor solutions. Second, differentiated rehabilitation frameworks should be developed to prevent homogenisation in old residential neighbourhood renovation practices. Third, enhancing the accessibility and comprehensibility of government policies through effective communication strategies is crucial, and cultivating a community ethos centred on co-creation, co-governance, and shared benefits should be prioritised to foster collective responsibility and participatory decision-making.

1. Introduction

As China progresses into the mid-to-late stages of urbanisation, the demand for improved urban living standards is growing increasingly urgent. Many city centres still contain numerous older urban areas, districts, and urban villages, along with significant spaces in need of renewal. City centres represent important anchor points in every community [1], and the enhancement and regeneration of existing urban built-up areas are increasingly becoming a mainstream approach to urban development. China’s urban landscape encompasses more than 219,000 old residential neighbourhoods constructed before 2000. These neighbourhoods exhibit pronounced symptoms of “dual deterioration”, manifesting in both their physical infrastructure and social fabric, exacerbated by the accelerated pace of contemporary urbanisation [2]. This renovation presents a significant opportunity to enhance urban environments and improve social governance systems. The renewal of old urban neighbourhoods constitutes a crucial livelihood and development initiative, playing a pivotal role in advancing urban regeneration, transforming development and construction methodologies, and promoting high-quality economic growth. These strategic priorities were formally established in the State Council’s July 2020 “Guiding Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Renovation of Old Urban Residential Communities” [3]. In July 2023, the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development, in collaboration with relevant government departments, reissued the “Notice on Comprehensively Advancing the Renovation of Old Residential Neighbourhoods”. This policy directive emphasises the imperative of implementing the new development philosophy and systematically promoting old urban residential neighbourhood district renewal initiatives [4].

Following the implementation of national initiatives: provincial and municipal governments across China have actively engaged in renovating ageing residential districts. The renovation paradigm has evolved from large-scale demolition and reconstruction to a more human-centric development approach [5]. However, the modernisation of these neighbourhoods faces significant challenges due to the extensive scope of the required improvement renovation, coupled with constraints in time, funding, and human resources, resulting in inconsistent quality and effectiveness of renovation outcomes. How to enhance the effectiveness of the renovation of old neighbourhoods and promote residents’ sense of community belonging, satisfaction, and identity has become the current reality and focus of the renovation of old communities. Scholars [6,7] have conducted extensive research and practical work to address this challenge, seeking to establish a theoretical framework for improving renovation effectiveness and developing community-aligned governance models. Within these approaches, the core aim is to stimulate willingness and participatory behaviour among community residents and to enhance their satisfaction.

Within this research context, what are the factors that influence residents’ satisfaction with refurbished old neighbourhoods, and how can these factors be optimised to maximise satisfaction? This study seeks to investigate the determinants influencing satisfaction enhancement in old residential neighbourhoods, examine the heterogeneous pathways resulting from various factor configurations, and identify optimal management strategies for maximising satisfaction outcomes. These interrelated research objectives constitute the primary focus of this investigation. It is a particular gap in the literature that is filled by looking at the redevelopment of old neighbourhoods from the community perspective. One possible contribution of this paper is to expand the connotation of “community”, using the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to analyse the concurrent effect of complex interactions among various factors affecting residents’ satisfaction in the transformation of old residential areas, aiming at the typical old residential areas in the central area of the old city of Nanchang. This is a particular gap in the literature, which is filled by looking at the redevelopment of old residential neighbourhoods from the community perspective. The case analysis reveals the multiple paths and driving mechanisms required to achieve high resident satisfaction and provides suggestions for the subsequent transformation of old residential areas, thus holding important theoretical and practical significance.

2. Literature Review and Research Logic

2.1. Literature Review

As China’s urbanisation transitions from expansion to renewal, urban regeneration has become pivotal in enhancing living standards and reshaping urban environments. Studies on urban renewal, encompassing old city revitalisation, urban village redevelopment, and industrial transformation, have expanded to address emerging social issues [8]. Key concerns include social equity, the public participation of vulnerable groups, and community attachment [9,10], which are increasingly emphasised by scholars due to socioeconomic and humanistic factors. The renovation of old neighbourhoods is a critical component of China’s urban renewal initiatives.

The study of the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods encompasses multiple disciplines, including architecture, urban planning, and sociology (Table 1). Early research primarily concentrated on environmental remediation and transformation strategies, with particular emphasis on key concepts such as “green transformation” [11,12], “ecological remediation” [13], “neighbourhood liveability” [14], “micro-scale design” [15], and “regeneration pathways” [16]. These studies predominantly focused on analysing spatial configurations, social dynamics, environmental attributes, and quality-of-life indicators within urban renewal contexts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, old residential neighbourhoods encountered a series of urgent problems, including governance deficiencies, inadequate infrastructure, limited stakeholder engagement, deteriorating living environments, outdated facilities, substandard health conditions, and potential safety risks. These issues significantly impacted residents’ quality of life and urban sustainability. Consequently, contemporary research on the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods has shifted its focus to critical areas such as community governance systems [17], public space optimisation [18], age-friendly design [19], and smart community development [20]. As old residential neighbourhood renewal initiatives progress, residents’ aspirations for improved living conditions have evolved to encompass diverse and multi-tiered expectations.

Consequently, renovation strategies have increasingly prioritised user-centric approaches, with resident satisfaction emerging as a key performance indicator for evaluating comprehensive neighbourhood revitalisation outcomes [21,22,23]. Research on resident satisfaction primarily concentrates on two key dimensions: the establishment of evaluation indexes of residence satisfaction and empirical measurement [24]. The analysis of factors affecting satisfaction is the mainstream of the research [25]. Numerous studies have systematically identified and validated the key determinants influencing residential satisfaction outcomes. Feng et al. [26] identified four primary determinants of residential satisfaction: housing quality, community environment, amenity provisions, and social networks. Complementing these findings, Lee et al. [27] investigated the dual influence of objective neighbourhood characteristics and subjective resident perceptions on satisfaction levels. Subsequent research by Lv et al. [28] revealed that property management quality and transportation accessibility significantly impact satisfaction in old residential neighbourhoods. Furthermore, Hur et al. [29] demonstrated that urban design elements, particularly building density and vegetation coverage rates, substantially contribute to residential satisfaction outcomes. It has been shown that the satisfaction of residents in the transformation of old neighbourhoods is mainly affected by housing quality, environmental health, transportation accessibility, supporting facilities, public participation, and cultural factors [30,31,32,33].

In addition, with the rapid development of the Internet, intelligent applications after the transformation of old neighbourhoods have become an important factor in the satisfaction of residents [34]. Previous research employed diverse methodological approaches to analyse the influencing factors, with a predominant emphasis on empirical and quantitative methods. Commonly utilised techniques include Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) for evaluating residential satisfaction [35,36,37]. In a recent study, Zeng (2024) [38] applied factor analysis and Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) to assess elderly residents’ satisfaction levels and priority needs regarding outdoor spaces in Shouyi Community, based on comprehensive survey data. Furthermore, Gao et al. (2020) [39] and Lv et al. (2019) [28] conducted factor analysis on specific urban renewal cases, systematically examining residents’ satisfaction patterns and establishing priority rankings for renovation elements. These studies have significantly contributed to understanding the hierarchical relationships in subsequent old residential neighbourhood renovation initiatives.

Table 1. List of Previously Relevant Literature.

No	Souces	Methodology	Research Outcome
1	Nuo Chen, Dewei Fang [18]	Gradient Boosting Decision Trees and Impact Asymmetry Analysis Methods	Current social environment factors, including uncivilised behaviour, space occupation, and hygiene and cleanliness, exert a greater impact on the overall satisfaction.
2	Peng, WJ; Huang, YY; Li, CQ; Wang, YL [30]	Multiple linear regression analysis, factor analysis, and correlation analysis	It was found that resident satisfaction with building conditions, infrastructure, internal road traffic, and public environment significantly impacted their agreement with the renovation in the old neighbourhood.
3	Buchecker, M; Frick, J [31]	Standardised Cross-sectional Questionnaires, A structural equation model SEM	The degree of urbanisation of the setting had a direct negative influence on place attachment, while place attachment appeared to be a key moderator of, and a main driver for, place-satisfaction, civic participation, and proximity behaviour.
4	Zhen Feng, Qin Xiao, Jiang Yupei, Chen Hui [34]	Mixed Linear Regression Model	Zhen Feng’s study surveyed 40 neighbourhoods in Nanjing, China, and used mixed linear regression modelling to determine the relationship between community ICT use and community satisfaction.
5	Liu Ning, Han Qingyan, Liu Yachen [35]	Structural equation model	The renovation of community plumbing, building bodies, and landscaping had a significant positive impact on resident satisfaction; the renovation of community power lines and road traffic had a non-significant level of impact on resident satisfaction.
6	Wang Xiuli, Chen Li, Yuan Beifei [37]	Fuzzy Hierarchical Analysis (FAHP) and Machine Learning	The factors affecting residents’ satisfaction with the renovation of old neighbourhoods are living environment, supporting facilities, property management, construction environment, and community emotion.
7	Mizzo Kwon, Andrew C. Pickett, & Yunsoo Lee, SeungJong Lee [40]	Structural Equation Modelling	Community planners could use several practical neighbourhood improvement renovations to improve the overall health, happiness, and life satisfaction of their residents.
8	Moon,, Jae Heung; Jin, Kim Jong [41]	Multiple Regression Analysis.	Public participation and a sense of community had the greatest effect on residential satisfaction, followed by management satisfaction, facility satisfaction, and accessibility satisfaction.
9	Sun, GS; Tang, XR; Wan, SP; Feng, J [42]	An Extended Fuzzy-DEMATEL System	The paper, a fuzzy decision-making and trial evaluation laboratory (fuzzy-DEMATEL) technique, is extended, and a more suitable system is developed for the selection of social capital using the existing group decision-making theory.
10	Yang, XE; Liu, SL; Ji, WJ; etc. [43]	Questionnaires	The results showed that residents were willing to accept basic renovation measures but had low willingness to accept the quality improvement and renewable energy measures.
11	Shi, H.; Liu, X.; Chen, S. [44]	MIP DEA–DA Model	The imbalance of interests among participants is a long-standing contradiction since the renovation process of old neighbourhoods involves participants from different levels and industries, and their interests vary, creating an imbalance of interests.
12	K. Lovejoy [45]	Factor analysis and logit modelling	Neighbourhood safety and the appearance of settlements are important, while vitality and diversity are important for downtown residents.
13	Roshanak Mehdipanah etc. [46]	CM, a mixed-methods methodology,	The scholars used CM, a mixed-methods methodology, to develop a conceptual map of perceptions of residents affected by recent physical, social, and economic changes that had occurred within their neighbourhoods.

Table 1. List of Previously Relevant Literature.

No	Souces	Methodology	Research Outcome
1	Nuo Chen, Dewei Fang [18]	Gradient Boosting Decision Trees and Impact Asymmetry Analysis Methods	Current social environment factors, including uncivilised behaviour, space occupation, and hygiene and cleanliness, exert a greater impact on the overall satisfaction.
2	Peng, WJ; Huang, YY; Li, CQ; Wang, YL [30]	Multiple linear regression analysis, factor analysis, and correlation analysis	It was found that resident satisfaction with building conditions, infrastructure, internal road traffic, and public environment significantly impacted their agreement with the renovation in the old neighbourhood.
3	Buchecker, M; Frick, J [31]	Standardised Cross-sectional Questionnaires, A structural equation model SEM	The degree of urbanisation of the setting had a direct negative influence on place attachment, while place attachment appeared to be a key moderator of, and a main driver for, place-satisfaction, civic participation, and proximity behaviour.
4	Zhen Feng, Qin Xiao, Jiang Yupei, Chen Hui [34]	Mixed Linear Regression Model	Zhen Feng’s study surveyed 40 neighbourhoods in Nanjing, China, and used mixed linear regression modelling to determine the relationship between community ICT use and community satisfaction.
5	Liu Ning, Han Qingyan, Liu Yachen [35]	Structural equation model	The renovation of community plumbing, building bodies, and landscaping had a significant positive impact on resident satisfaction; the renovation of community power lines and road traffic had a non-significant level of impact on resident satisfaction.
6	Wang Xiuli, Chen Li, Yuan Beifei [37]	Fuzzy Hierarchical Analysis (FAHP) and Machine Learning	The factors affecting residents’ satisfaction with the renovation of old neighbourhoods are living environment, supporting facilities, property management, construction environment, and community emotion.
7	Mizzo Kwon, Andrew C. Pickett, & Yunsoo Lee, SeungJong Lee [40]	Structural Equation Modelling	Community planners could use several practical neighbourhood improvement renovations to improve the overall health, happiness, and life satisfaction of their residents.
8	Moon,, Jae Heung; Jin, Kim Jong [41]	Multiple Regression Analysis.	Public participation and a sense of community had the greatest effect on residential satisfaction, followed by management satisfaction, facility satisfaction, and accessibility satisfaction.
9	Sun, GS; Tang, XR; Wan, SP; Feng, J [42]	An Extended Fuzzy-DEMATEL System	The paper, a fuzzy decision-making and trial evaluation laboratory (fuzzy-DEMATEL) technique, is extended, and a more suitable system is developed for the selection of social capital using the existing group decision-making theory.
10	Yang, XE; Liu, SL; Ji, WJ; etc. [43]	Questionnaires	The results showed that residents were willing to accept basic renovation measures but had low willingness to accept the quality improvement and renewable energy measures.
11	Shi, H.; Liu, X.; Chen, S. [44]	MIP DEA–DA Model	The imbalance of interests among participants is a long-standing contradiction since the renovation process of old neighbourhoods involves participants from different levels and industries, and their interests vary, creating an imbalance of interests.
12	K. Lovejoy [45]	Factor analysis and logit modelling	Neighbourhood safety and the appearance of settlements are important, while vitality and diversity are important for downtown residents.
13	Roshanak Mehdipanah etc. [46]	CM, a mixed-methods methodology,	The scholars used CM, a mixed-methods methodology, to develop a conceptual map of perceptions of residents affected by recent physical, social, and economic changes that had occurred within their neighbourhoods.

In synthesising the existing literature, research on the factors influencing residential satisfaction during the process of the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods has predominantly focused on analysing individual elements in isolation, with limited attention paid to the complex causal relationships between multiple factors and their collective impact on satisfaction levels. Furthermore, few studies have employed group-based analytical methods or adopted “community” perspectives in their empirical investigations. The influencing system of residents’ satisfaction is a diversified and complex system, and single linear structure research is not enough to explore its inner mechanism. When a variety of factors co-exist in different combinations, what are the grouping paths of influences on resident satisfaction? This question has received relatively limited attention in prior research. In view of this, we employ a “community” perspective in this study, utilising rigorous scientific methodologies and reliable field survey data to investigate the determinants of residential satisfaction in old neighbourhood renovation. Through the application of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the aim is to advance the theoretical understanding of satisfaction dynamics in old neighbourhood renovation. By conceptualising residential satisfaction as a complex causal mechanism involving multifactorial conditional coupling, this study provides both theoretical insights and empirical evidence to inform and enhance old neighbourhood renovation strategies.

2.2. Research Logic

The German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies first explicitly introduced the term “Gemeinschaft” in 1887. He defined it as a unity rooted in a “natural state”, characterised by instinct, habit, shared thoughts, and collective memory. This concept emphasises the interaction between individuals and society, as well as the roles, values, and beliefs that emerge from these interactions [47]. The term “Gemeinschaft”, often translated as “community”, is widely used in sociology, political philosophy, and other fields. Marx further argued that a “real community” should enable comprehensive and free development for all individuals [48]. The idea of a “social governance community” was initially put forth by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the 2019 Central and Legal Work Conference. The 20th Party Congress report offers theoretical and practical recommendations for social government at the local level, proposing “to build a community of social governance in which everyone has responsibility, everyone does his or her part, and everyone enjoys it” [49]. The renovation of old residential neighbourhoods encourages resident interaction, relies on their participation, and prioritises local needs through a bottom-up approach to achieve community reengineering. The joint efforts of grass-roots government, neighbourhood committees, property, social organisations, community, and other diversified subjects of a large community aim to achieve the goal of the construction of urban community governance.

The renovation of old residential neighbourhoods has now become an essential part of contemporary urbanisation and involves a number of departments. However, in practice, there is insufficient synergy between the relevant functional departments, an imbalance in the strength of these departments, weak community thinking, and other transformation dilemmas. The renovation of old residential neighbourhoods uses human needs as a guide, emphasising human habitation [50] and following a people-centred approach throughout the entire process. This includes obtaining residents’ opinions prior to the transformation, ensuring there is as little disruption as possible, and attempting to meet residents’ expectations, all of which can be used to determine whether the residents of the old residential neighbourhood are satisfied with the process and to remove the “community dilemma” of community governance. As the core evaluation index of the effect of community transformation, “resident satisfaction” is affected by multiple factors. To encourage the creation of a community, the community space is separated into physical space, cultural space, social space, etc., and the three levels of government, community, and residents are summed up in the evaluation of resident satisfaction. As conflict can be created between residents’ interests, the physical transformation of old residential neighbourhoods begins with negotiation. According to the indicator system, the social space is defined by community infrastructure, the physical space is primarily defined by housing quality and the housing environment, and the social need for cultural space is represented by government policies and inhabitants’ perceptions. Conditions such as government policy, housing quality, community environment, community infrastructure, and residents’ perceptions do not exist in isolation but rather interact with each other to promote resident satisfaction in older community transformation. These factors may either cooperate with or replace each other, and the symbiosis, competition, and complementarity of each element can also have a nonlinear effect on the transformation of old communities. Therefore, based on the community perspective, the configuration method is used in this study to explore these factors and conditions to promote the development of old residential neighbourhood renovation (Figure 1).

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Study Area and Study Data

Known as “Guangdong Households and Min Ting, the head of Wu and Chu Tail”, Nanchang City is situated south of the Yangtze River in China and is referred to as “the area of the shape of victory”. The largest river, the Gan River, flows through Nanchang City, which has a dense water network. To help the city grow northward, the initial proposal for the “Riverside Development Plan” was put forward in the 1990s. The Honggutan New District Management Committee was established in 2002, hastening the “Riverside Development Plan” [51]. In the past 20 years, the west bank of the Ganjiang River has been the most mature in the development of Honggutan District, and the old city centre of Nanchang is distributed on the east bank of the Ganjiang River. The development of the “two sides of a river” project was hastened in 2002 with the formation of the Honggutan New District Administrative Committee. Nanchang will eventually have a spatial pattern of towns and cities with “one main and four secondary areas”, according to the Nanchang City Land Space Master Plan (2021–2035) published by the Nanchang City Natural Resources and Planning Bureau [52]. The central vitality region, which consists of the east and west cities, is centred on the old city centre and Honggutan centre, which is the “one main” area. Many businesses and factories that were constructed in the previous century are still standing today in the old city centre, including dormitories and family homes, presenting the coexistence of unit compound type, housing reform, capital housing, and commercial housing. These districts differ from each other due to the long age, complex property rights structure, population heterogeneity, poor living environment, and renewal and transformation of the residential areas. In this study, the old city centre of Nanchang is taken as the study area, where old residential neighbourhoods are clustered and distributed, including Donghu District, Xihu District, Qingyunpu District and Qingshan Lake District (Figure 2 and Figure 3).

According to the notice on the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods jointly issued in 2019 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance, old residential neighbourhoods are defined as “residential areas built in cities and counties (Chengguan Town) before 2000, with backward public facilities affecting the basic life of residents and strong willingness of residents to renovate”. Since 2016, Nanchang City has been encouraging the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods. By the end of 2021, 488 old neighbourhood renovation projects had been finished, 271 were planned for 2022, 303 were planned for 2023, and 240 were earmarked for upgrade in 2024. This initiative will improve the quality of life for nearly 100,000 households annually.

Based on Jiangxi Province’s guidelines, the old residential neighbourhoods in Nanchang City are categorised into three types: basic, improvement, and upgrading. To ensure representativeness, we selected three types of old residential neighbourhood renovation as the study community in each city district (

Table 2. Statistics on the basic conditions of the research.

Area	Community		NO	Construction	Nature of Housing	Type of Modification	Retrofitting Time
Qingshan Lake district	Castle Peak Lake Neighborhood		S1	1986	housing reform	Basic Renovation	2022
	Nankai residential area		S2	1958–2000	housing reform	Basic Renovation	2021
	Riyuemei Subdivision		S3	1996	commercial property	Upgrading Renovation	2021
	East Fork Road Neighbourhood		S4	1970s	housing reform	Basic Renovation	2020
	Commercial Court Neighbourhood- Transport Design Institute Quarters		S5	1982	housing reform	Basic Renovation	2021
	Railway Village 6		S6	1990s	housing reform	Improvement Renovation	2022
	Glass Factory Dormitory Subdivision		S7	1985–1998	housing reform	Basic Renovation	2021
	Jiangfang 7th District		S8	1958	housing reform	Upgrading Renovation	2022
Donghu district	Fire Temple Neighbourhood		S9	1992	housing reform/commercial property	Improvement Renovation	2021
	Zhuangyuanqiao Neighbourhood		S10	1991	housing reform/commercial property	Improvement Renovation	2020
	Park Neighbourhood Area		S11	1985	housing reform/commercial property	Basic Renovation	2021
	Qiujia factory Neighbourhood		S12	1990s	housing reform/commercial property	Improvement Renovation	2021
	River Slim Metropolis Subdivision		S13	1993	housing reform	Enhancements	2019
	Zhujiahu Neighbourhood		S14	2002	commercial property	Upgrading Renovation	2023
	Zigu Road Neighbourhood		S15	Prior to 2000	housing reform, commercial property	Upgrading Renovation	2022
West lake district	Railway Second Village		S16	1985	housing reform	Upgrading Renovation	2020
	Xingchai Beiyuan Neighbourhood		S17	1980	Converted public housing blocks	Basic Renovation	2017
	Fukuda Neighbourhood		S18	1998	dormitory	Improvement Renovation	2020
	Zhu Zi Xiang District		S19	1991	commercial property	Improvement Renovation	2018
	Dongshuyuan Neighbourhood		S20	1980	housing reform	Basic Renovation	2019
	Taoyuan Neighbourhood Area 2		S21	1993	commercial property	Improvement Renovation	2018
	Brewery Dormitory		S22	1985	housing reform	Basic Renovation	2022
	Jinxiancang District		S23	1998	housing reform	Upgrading Renovation	2022
Qingyunpu district	Hongdu Living Quarter	Hongyuan Neighbourhood	S24	1950s	housing reform	Basic Renovation	2019
		Hongke Neighbourhood	S25	1950s	housing reform	Basic Renovation	2020
		Hong Dong Neighbourhood	S26	Prior to 1996	housing reform	Upgrading Renovation	2021
		Hong Xiang Neighbourhood	S27	Prior to 2000	housing reform, dormitory	Upgrading Renovation	2021
	Hongcheng Road Neighbourhood		S28	1993	housing reform	Improvement Renovation	2021
	Aurora Neighbourhood		S29	1995	housing reform	Improvement Renovation	2020
	Kam Luen Neighbourhood		S30	1990s	housing reform	Improvement Renovation	2021

) up to the end of 2000, considering factors such as ancillary facilities, service facilities, and residents’ willingness to renovate. This study focuses on old residential neighbourhoods built between the 1950s and 1990s, where residents demonstrated strong support for renovation during preliminary investigations. These 30 communities are representative of China’s planned economy era unit-based communities, making them highly typical for this research.

In order to gather information on the residents’ satisfaction with the community improvement, several residents from each neighbourhood were chosen as the study’s object based on the neighbourhood’s distribution, community size, and population size. The data for this study were obtained from five field questionnaire surveys conducted in April 2022, October 2022, May 2023, September 2023, and March 2024, adopting a combination of random surveys of regional personnel and door-to-door questionnaire-based interviews, and selecting a number of samples from each neighbourhood based on the distribution. The questionnaire was split into two sections. The first section contained questions pertaining to the participants’ basic information, such as their age, gender, occupation, years of residence, and monthly income. The second section was the main portion of the questionnaire and served as the test’s primary objective. The design of the questions was based on the 19 secondary indicators in the system of influencing factors, and the question “What do you think about a certain remodelling?” was based on government policies, the community environment, community support, housing quality, residents’ perceptions, and residents’ satisfaction. Likert-type response options were provided ranging from 1 to 5, which correlate to the five degrees of “very satisfied”, “satisfied”, “average”, “dissatisfied”, and “very dissatisfied.

3.2. Research Methods, Model Construction, and Variable Selection

3.2.1. Research Methods

3.2.1.1. FsQCA Method

The fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (FsQCA) method, which uses the research object as a conditional grouping state and can investigate intricate causal issues such as multi-causal concurrency and causal asymmetry, was chosen for use in this study to analyse residents’ satisfaction with the transformation of old neighbourhoods [53,54,55]. From a community perspective, a variety of factors influence residents’ satisfaction, and there may be an interdependent relationship between the influencing factors. Based on the results of existing research, the traditional regression analysis method can only determine the influence of one factor, and hierarchical analysis cannot be used to improve the path of residents’ satisfaction [52,54]. Therefore, FsQCA can be used to explore the influence mechanism of multiple variables on residents’ satisfaction from a holistic perspective. In addition, the method combines the advantages of qualitative and quantitative analyses, qualitatively analysing the conditional variables affecting resident satisfaction and quantitatively analysing the influential paths to improve it.

3.2.1.2. Reliability Analysis

By determining the scale’s Cronbach’s Alpha, reliability analysis, also known as a reliability test, was used to assess the questionnaire’s dependability and evaluate the scale’s internal consistency. The following formula is used to determine Cronbach’s Alpha:

$$\mathit{\alpha }={\displaystyle \frac{\mathit{K}}{\mathit{K}-\mathbf{1}}}\left(\mathbf{1}-{\displaystyle \frac{\sum {\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{i}}^{\mathbf{2}}}{{\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{x}}^{\mathbf{2}}}}\right)$$

(1)

where K is the number of test questions, ${\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{i}}^{\mathbf{2}}$ representing the variance of the scores of all subjects on question i, and ${\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{x}}^{\mathbf{2}}$ is the variance of the total score obtained by all subjects.

If Cronbach’s Alpha is 0.9 or more, the internal consistency of the scale is very high; if the coefficient is between 0.7 and 0.9, the internal consistency is good; and if the coefficient is below 0.7, the degree of internal inconsistency is high and needs to be corrected.

3.2.1.3. Validity Analysis

Validity analysis is a test of validity. It is used to test whether a questionnaire design is reasonable and can effectively meet the requirements of the study. KMO is used to measure the bias correlation between the variables, and its value ranges from 0 to 1. The specific criteria are as follows: 0.9–1 is extremely appropriate; 0.7–0.8 is appropriate; 0.6–0.7 is average; and 0–0.6 is barely appropriate; that is, when the KMO > 0.6 and significance < 5%, then the validity test is passed.

The KMO value evaluates the factor analysis fit of the dataset by quantifying the relative size of the correlation coefficient matrix and partial correlation coefficient matrix between variables. Its mathematical expression is:

$$\mathit{K}\mathit{M}\mathit{O}={\displaystyle \frac{\sum _{\mathit{i}\ne \mathit{j}}{\mathit{r}}_{\mathit{i}\mathit{j}}^2}{{\sum }_{\mathit{i}\ne \mathit{j}}{\mathit{r}}_{\mathit{i}\mathit{j}}^2+{\sum }_{\mathit{i}\ne \mathit{j}}{\mathit{a}}_{\mathit{i}\mathit{j}}^2}}$$

(2)

3.2.2. Model Construction

In this study, a group analysis model framework was constructed of residents’ satisfaction with the transformation of old neighbourhoods at the government, community, and resident levels (Figure 4). The government policies, housing quality, community environment, community support, and residents’ perception were set as five antecedent variables, and residents’ satisfaction was the outcome variable. Referring to the existing literature [21], according to different dimensions, the five antecedent variables were divided into kernel dimensions and explicit dimensions. The kernel dimensions, based on the subjects, included the government, community, and residents. The explicit dimensions, based on content, covered physical space, social needs, and service management. In the kernel dimension, government policy and housing quality were the two primary antecedent variables. The government must communicate renovation policies to the public and residents promptly. The renewal and renovation of old neighbourhoods are carried out on the premise that residents are clear about the renovation policy, and the quality of the final renovation is generally monitored.

At the community level, the key variables are the community environment and supporting facilities. Improvements in basic infrastructure, public services, living conditions, and cultural environments directly impact residents’ convenience and comfort. At the resident level, perception is central, emphasising the need for a people-centred approach in renovation projects. Residents’ satisfaction with renovation is influenced by their involvement in selecting renovation content and the changes in their living conditions before and after the project. Among the exogenous dimensions, (1) physical space includes housing quality and community environment, driven by hardware facility upgrades. These improvements allow residents to directly experience enhanced living conditions; (2) social needs encompass government policies and residents’ perceptions. The clarity of government communication, resident participation, and changes in neighbourhood interactions affect satisfaction at an emotional level; and (3) service management comprises residents’ perceptions of services and community support. Improvements in public service quality and community facilities before and after renovation also impact satisfaction. Together, these three exogenous dimensions (physical space, social needs, and service management) and the three kernel dimensions (government, community, and residents) collectively shape residents’ satisfaction with renovation outcomes.

By reviewing the relevant literature and technical guidelines issued by provinces on the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods, the factors influencing residents’ satisfaction were identified and summarised into five conditional variables: government policies, community environment, community support, housing quality, and residents’ perceptions. These variables were further divided into 19 subcategories, as shown in

Table 3. Satisfaction Influencing Factor System.

Variable Type	Variable Name	Title Description	Cited Material
Conditional variable	Government Policy	A: Satisfaction with the popularity of the policy implementation approach	Li Qin et al. [56]
		B: Degree of satisfaction with the disclosure of details of government remodelling costs	Gao Hui et al. [39]
		C: Degree of satisfaction with the Government’s timely communication with residents on issues throughout the transformation process	Zhang Jiali et al. [57]
	Community Environment	D: Degree of satisfaction with neighbourhood human settlements renewal, e.g., increased greening, improved sanitation	Li Qin et al. [56]
		E: Degree of satisfaction with the community’s efforts to build a culture of self-governance, e.g., activities to honour the elderly, New Year’s Day activities, etc.	Esther Hiu Kwan Yung et al. [58]
		F: Degree of satisfaction with the increase or improvement of public activity spaces in the community, e.g., chess rooms, elderly activity centres, etc.	Jiang ling et al. [50]
	Community Support	G: Satisfaction with changes in property management, e.g., changes in property rates, smart property applications	Lv fei et al. [28]
		H: Satisfaction with changes in community amenities, e.g., increased community commerce, community healthcare, etc.	Lv fei et al. [28]
		I: Satisfaction with changes in community infrastructure, e.g., grading of roads, planning of car parks, etc.	Zhang Jiali et al. [57]
	Housing Quality	J: Degree of satisfaction with the updating of housing functions and quality, such as the updating of facades along the street and other aspects, and measures such as plumbing repairs in kitchens and bathrooms	Li Qin et al. [56]
		K: Degree of satisfaction with the suitability of adapted housing for the elderly	Cramm, J. M. et al. [59]
		L: Satisfaction with guaranteeing the quality of the construction of the remodelling part of the work and carrying out the subsequent repairs in a timely manner	Gao Hui et al. [39]
	Resident Perception	M: Satisfaction with change in cost of living after modification	Feng jian et al. [26]
		N: Satisfaction level of residents’ participation in the selection of updated content	Esther Hiu Kwan Yung et al. [58]
		O: Satisfaction with changes in neighbourhood interactions and exchanges	Bramley, Glen [60]
		P: Satisfaction with changes in freedom of living before and after remodelling	Lv fei et al. [28]
Outcome variable	Residents’ Satisfaction	Q: Overall satisfaction with the impact of the construction process on daily life	Zhang Jiali et al. [57]
		R: Whether the transformation meets residents’ expectations	Zhou tao et al. [61]
		S: Overall satisfaction with changes in sense of belonging to the community after transformation	Forrest R et al. [62]

.

(1)

Outcome l Variable

Resident satisfaction. This study focuses on residents’ satisfaction with the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods, i.e., the degree of satisfaction shown by residents during and after the renovation process. This paper draws on the practice of Zhang Jiali [57], Zhou Tao [61], and Forrest R [62]. From the perspective of two different phases of the renovation process and after the renovation process, we select the average degree of satisfaction with the impact of construction on daily life and the average degree of satisfaction with the change in the community’s sense of belonging after renovation, as well as the average degree of satisfaction with whether or not the renovation has met residents’ expectations. and “whether the remodelling meets the residents’ expectations” and “the average degree of satisfaction with the change in the sense of community belonging after remodelling” are selected to measure the residents’ satisfaction.

(2)

Conditional Variable

(a) Elements of government policies

Public interest and the encouragement of urban renewal serve as the foundation for the government, which is primarily focused on political values. How well do locals comprehend the government’s urban regeneration policy, and how popular is it? Through community bulletin boards and other channels, the government should inform locals about the costs, cycles, and implementation strategies of urban renewal.

(b) Community environment elements

The cleanliness and greening of public spaces are the most fundamental aspects of the community environment; this area should be clean and orderly, with landscaping and greening that are appropriate, allowing members of the community to live better lives. As the primary institution of community governance, the community neighbourhood committee offers residents all forms of public services and conducts community cultural activities, encouraging residents to engage in more leisure and recreational activities (Figure 5).

(c) Community Supporting Elements

In older communities, community organisations and real estate firms prioritise economic interests and begin with the goal of maximising profits. Before the transformation, most of the old neighbourhoods suffered from a lack of governance, management, and security capacity; thus, in order to better enhance the effect of the transformation, property companies were stationed in the old neighbourhoods to take over the property services. In order to improve tenants’ comfort and convenience, supporting amenities are crucial. Residents’ need for business, healthcare, and educational services is steadily growing within the neighbourhood, and within the community, housing renewal is the most important part of neighbourhood renovation, and whether the renewal content meets the needs of residents and improves their housing conditions and living environment is a particularly crucial factor. In the community, residents pay attention to infrastructure such as car parks and hydropower stations (Figure 6).

(d) Housing quality elements

Housing renewal is the most important component of community restoration, and it is critical to consider whether the renewal’s content meets people’s needs and improves their quality of life. Renovating pipelines, installing lifts, and constructing dark-to-light buildings are some ways to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants. On the one hand, the old community living groups show an ageing trend; on the other hand, the majority of the community was built before 2000, mainly for factory dormitories, and its residents are mostly retired factory workers. The renewal content should fully consider the needs of elderly people, including the implementation of a barrier-free design to improve the safety of outdoor activities for older people. The maintenance of facilities after the renovation is also a very important part of the renewal content, including the maintenance of greening and fitness facilities (Figure 7).

(e) Elements of residents’ perception

Residents focus more on their own hobbies in order to meet their own requirements. Residents’ perceptions include their feelings about a number of events that took place prior to, during, and following the neighbourhood’s development. Residents’ perceptions also include whether the transformation successfully raises their standard of living, how the transformation process impacts their life, and the content of the change, which is chosen by the residents prior to the transformation. Disruptions to the use of public space, construction noise, and other problems are unavoidable during the transformation process; therefore, efforts should be made to lessen the negative effects on residents’ lives in order to prevent resident resistance [57]. Effort should be made to increase residents’ satisfaction following the community transformation, not only to maintain the original social structure of the neighbourhood and interactions among residents but also to enhance the residents’ sense of belonging to the community and to promote the integration of community life, ultimately increasing resident satisfaction.

4. Data Analysis

4.1. Analysis of Survey Results

4.1.1. Descriptive Statistical Analysis

To ensure the representativeness of a questionnaire, it is essential to collect an adequate and valid sample. Based on previous studies, the minimum sample size for non-probability sampling can be determined using the following statistical random sampling Formula (3):

$$\mathrm{n}={\displaystyle \raisebox{1ex}{$z^2{\alpha }^2$}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$d^2$}\right.}$$

(3)

where n is the sample size; z is the confidence interval value (1.96 for a 95% confidence level); d is the margin of error (set at 5% in this survey); and σ is the standard deviation (assumed to be 0.5). Based on these parameters, the minimum random sample size calculated for our study was 384. Stratified sampling by urban area and community was employed for distribution. Additionally, a design effect of 1.5 was applied to adjust the sample size accordingly. Considering that not all residents would be willing to participate in the survey, a response rate of 60–70% was assumed. Based on this assumption, the final sample size was determined to range between 826 and 923.

To ensure the quality of the collected data and meet the sample size requirements for each urban area, a total of 875 questionnaires were distributed to the research community. A total of 827 questionnaires were recovered, resulting in a recovery rate of 94.5%. After removing 36 invalid questionnaires due to missing data, 791 valid questionnaires were retained, yielding a validity rate of 95.6%. Researchers assisted respondents in completing the questionnaires, with the help of mutual aid or primary family members. The majority of the respondents (71.4%) were aged 60 or older; 37.8% were male and 62.2% were female. In terms of education level, 41.4% had a junior high school education or less, followed by 26.3% with a senior high school or junior college education. Regarding occupation, 55.6% of the respondents were retired, followed by professional and technical personnel. The majority of the respondents (78.6%) had lived in the district for 10 years or more, and 63.5% had a monthly income of less than RMB 4000. Overall, the participants in the survey had generally lived in the district for a long time, and most were retirees with relatively stable incomes. This makes the survey on satisfaction with the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods more representative and universal.

In this study, SPSS 26.0 software was used for reliability analysis, and the Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.880, which indicates that the reliability of the questionnaire design is high. In the validity analysis of the secondary indicators under each dimension using SPSS 26.0, we obtained a KMO value of 0.796, which is in the appropriate range, and a significance value of 0.000 (less than 0.05) in Bartlett’s spherical test, which indicates that there is a strong correlation between the variables and it is suitable for the factor analysis. Therefore, the validity test was passed (

Table 4. Results of validity analyses.

KMO Sample Suitability Quantity		0.796
Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity	Approximate chi-square	852.413
	Degrees of freedom	190
	Significance	0.000

).

4.1.2. Satisfaction Analysis

Figure 8 displays the findings of an analysis of residents’ satisfaction based on the questionnaire. The residents were generally rather satisfied with the remodelling project; the community human settlement makeover received the highest degree of satisfaction, while the government renovation expenses disclosure received the lowest. With 48.9% of residents dissatisfied and 2.2% very dissatisfied, residents’ satisfaction with the government’s disclosure of renovation costs was the lowest at the level of each conditional variable in terms of government policy. This suggests that residents are more concerned with how the funds are being used than with the government’s failure to promptly notify them when renovations are being carried out.

At the level of community environment, the residents were most satisfied with the renewal of community human settlements after the renovation: 8.2% of the residents were very satisfied, and 61.2% were satisfied with this, followed by the renovation of activity space. Making changes to public spaces and infrastructure in the community will result in improved mobility and space for residents to relax and talk on a daily basis. At the level of supporting facilities, 41.1% of the residents were satisfied with the renovation of community infrastructure, and the degree of satisfaction with supporting facilities and property management was equivalent. In terms of housing quality, 41.8% of the residents were satisfied or very satisfied with the ageing renovation. The research showed that 71.4% of the residents in the old district are over 60 years old, and the community has now become a place for older people to live, and the improvement of the living environment has contributed to greater life satisfaction, contentment, and mental health among older residents [63].

As a result, residents will pay close attention to the contents of age-friendly remodelling plans; 48.5% of the residents were satisfied with the neighbourhood interaction following the restoration. It is clear that, following the community renovation, hygiene and greening have been improved, making the community cleaner and more hygienic; changes in public activity space and infrastructure in the community will improve the lives of residents when spending time outside, giving them space for daily relaxation and chatting, ultimately enhancing the residents’ sense of belonging to the community and building neighbourhood relationships. However, in the rehabilitation project, less attention has been paid to future maintenance, infrastructure damage after a long period of time without repair, and pipeline leakage issues, among other issues, all of which have a significant impact on the inhabitants’ everyday lives. Through the satisfaction analysis, we have been able to understand the residents’ degree of satisfaction with the renovation project. The following section describes the use of the fuzzy set of qualitative comparative analysis method to explore the old district renovation project to determine the paths that affect resident satisfaction.

4.2. Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Fuzzy Sets

4.2.1. Calibration and Necessity Analysis

Before conducting the group analysis, the sample data needed to be calibrated to transform the questionnaire data into fuzzy set data between 0 and 1 to reflect the degree of affiliation of the condition variables to the results. In this study, a calibration strategy was adopted that combines theory-driven and data distribution aspects. In the theory-driven aspect, based on the calibration criteria suggested by established studies, the 25%, 50%, and 75% quartiles were used as the reference values for the completely unaffiliated, intersection, and complete affiliation points to ensure that the logic of the calibration was consistent with the academic norms [63]. For the data distribution aspect, the questionnaire data were averaged by dimension through tools such as SPSS. After that, the anchor point values are adjusted by combining the actual score distribution of each variable. For example, the complete affiliation point of resident satisfaction was set to 3.000 (corresponding to the 75% quartile), which satisfied the renovation effect; the complete non-affiliation point was set to 2.165 (corresponding to the 25% quartile), which indicated lower satisfaction.

The setting of calibration anchors, as shown in

Table 5. Variable calibration anchor points.

Conditional Variable	Residents’ Satisfaction
	Consistency	Degree of Coverage
Government Policy	0.783	0.739
~Government Policy	0.302	0.327
Community Environment	0.701	0.705
~Community Environment	0.388	0.392
Community Complementary	0.715	0.649
~Community Complementary	0.370	0.418
Housing Quality	0.823	0.757
~Housing Quality	0.258	0.287
Resident Perception	0.690	0.738
~Resident Perception	0.412	0.392

Note: “~“ for missing conditions.

, reflects the following principles: The full affiliation point represents the full affiliation status of the variable to the outcome; for example, the full affiliation point of government policy is set at 3.670, which is higher than that of the other variables, indicating that it is easier to promote resident satisfaction when the policy support is strong. The crossover point is the critical value of the affiliation degree of 0.5, reflecting the “fuzzy” status of the variable to the outcome; for example, the community policy is set at 2.165 (corresponding to the 25% quartile), indicating that residents’ satisfaction is lower. The intersection point of community environment is 2.667, which is close to the medium level, indicating that the effect of environmental improvement on satisfaction needs to be combined with other conditions. Completely unaffiliated points represent variables that have no affiliation to the outcome. For example, the complete unaffiliated point for community amenities is 2.000, indicating that amenities cannot positively affect satisfaction if their score is below this threshold. Finally, the calibrate function was utilised through the fsQCA software to verify that the anchor points were consistent with the data distribution characteristics and to avoid subjective bias.

After calibration was finished, individual conditional necessity analyses were performed on the data to determine whether a conditional variable was essential to constitute resident satisfaction. According to previous research, when the consistency indicator is greater than 0.9, the condition can be considered necessary to independently explain the outcome variable [64].

Table 6. The results of univariate necessity analysis.

Variable Name	The Full Affiliation Point	The Intersection Point	The Completely Unaffiliated Points
Residents’ satisfaction	3.000	2.670	2.165
Government policy	3.670	3.000	2.330
Community Environment	3.000	2.667	2.000
community support	3.000	2.333	2.000
Housing quality	3.333	2.667	2.333
Resident perception	3.000	2.750	2.250

shows the results of this study’s necessity analysis. According to this result, the consistency level of all conditional variables is less than 0.9, indicating that a single conditional variable regarding the renovation of old neighbourhoods is not a necessary condition that affects the improvement of residents’ satisfaction. Thus, a combination of multiple conditional variables must be examined to reveal the sufficient conditions for increasing residents’ satisfaction.

4.2.2. Conditional Grouping Sufficiency Analysis

In order to further explore whether the grouping of many conditional variables is a subset of boosting resident satisfaction, conditional grouping sufficiency analysis was necessary. PRI consistency is used to measure the subset relationship when a configuration exists but does not appear in the results, that is, whether the same reason will lead to different results. In fact, compared to the original consistency threshold, the PRI consistency threshold is a more rigorous consistency measurement method. After setting the original consistency threshold, the PRI consistency threshold is used to filter the truth table more strictly, reducing the logical contradiction problem of cases belonging to both the result and its non-set (i.e., Y and ~Y). Some scholars recommend that the PRI consistency threshold should be set at 0.75 (Dwivedi et al. [65]; Park et al. [66]), while others suggest using a stricter PRI consistency threshold, with 0.75 considered the minimum standard (Du Yunzhou et al. [53]). Some studies have also used lower PRI consistency thresholds, such as 0.7 (Du&Kim [67]; Greckhamer et al. [68]), 0.65 (Greckhamer & Gur [69]; Gupta et al. [70]), or even 0.5. Greckhamer et al. [68] do not recommend using thresholds below 0.5, as configurations exhibit significant inconsistency.

Referring to comparable studies, the case frequency threshold was set to one and the consistency criterion was set to 0.8 [64], and the PRI consistency threshold was set to 0.65 [71]. The conditional group state sufficiency analysis yields three solutions in total: parsimonious, intermediate, and complex solutions. In this study, we primarily report the intermediate solution and use the parsimonious solution as an auxiliary. The conditional variables that appear in both the intermediate and parsimonious solutions are taken as the core conditional variables in the reported results, while only the variables that appear in the intermediate solution are taken as the marginal conditional variables.

Table 7. The condition configuration of residents’ high satisfaction.

Conditional Variable	High Level of Resident Satisfaction
	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
Government Policy	$●$	$●$	$●$	$\otimes$
Community Environment		$\otimes$	$●$	$●$
Community Complementary		$\otimes$	$●$	$●$
Housing Quality	$●$	$●$		$●$
Resident Perception	$●$		$●$	$\otimes$
Consistency	0.8683	0.8661	0.8279	0.841
Original Coverage	0.5203	0.1297	0.3652	0.1178
Unique Coverage	0.1048	0.0066	0.0174	0.0501
Overall Consistency	0.8357
Overall coverage	0.5953

Note: $●$ Indicates that the core condition exists; $\otimes$ Indicates that core conditions are missing; $●$ Indicates the presence of an edge condition; $\otimes$ Indicates missing edge conditions.

displays the conditional grouping’s reporting outcomes. According to the results shown in Table 7, the overall consistency of the solutions is 0.8357, which indicates that 83.57% of all cases that meet the criteria in these three grouping paths show a high level of resident satisfaction in the renovation of old neighbourhoods; the overall coverage of the solutions is 0.5953, which indicates that these three grouping paths can explain 59.53% of the cases with high levels of resident satisfaction in the renovation.

4.2.3. Grouping Analysis

Based on the above explanation, the study resulted in four condition groupings used to explain high satisfaction, as represented in Figure 7, with each vertical column representing a possible condition grouping when analysed.

Grouping 1 takes government policy, housing quality, and residents’ perception as the core conditions, while the variables of community environment and community supporting conditions are considered dispensable. The first group path indicates that to improve residents’ satisfaction with the old residential neighbourhood renovation project, it is necessary to clarify government policies, ensure all information is open and transparent, and encourage residents to actively participate in the renovation project. Additionally, the project team should listen to residents’ suggestions, ensure the quality of the renovated housing, improve housing functionality, and promote communication. Institutionalised governance is the fundamental guarantee for establishing a community, whereas emotional governance is an absolute prerequisite for increasing communal cohesion. This grouping’s path can be characterised as the “housing quality enhancement type”, which focuses on participatory community governance. In large residential neighbourhoods such as Castle Peak Lake neighbourhood, Nankai Residential Area, Park neighbourhood, and others, it can explain 52.03% of the cases of old neighbourhoods being transformed.

According to the research, these neighbourhoods have one thing in common: a bulletin board about the renovation project has been placed at the neighbourhood entrance. It includes information about the renovation’s content, construction timeline, and budget. This helps residents understand the project in practical terms and gives them a chance to voice their opinions while it is being carried out. From the community perspective, if the former district aims to build a participatory community governance model, the key lies in clarifying governance objectives, stimulating residents’ enthusiasm to participate, and integrating resources from the government, the market, and society. This can be achieved through the establishment of a multi-level governance platform, addressing residents’ concerns, and constructing a closed-loop governance system to enhance residents’ sense of efficacy and accessibility. Ultimately, this approach aims to build a social governance community where everyone is responsible, accountable, and enjoys participating.

In Grouping 2, the neighbourhood environment is a marginal condition, residents’ perceptions are optional, and government policy and housing quality are core factors. According to this group’s path, the government’s renovation policy, the renovation plan, and the standard of the refurbished living space all contribute to residents’ increased satisfaction, even when the community’s facilities and environment are not perfect. Organised governance serves as the action plan to improve the performance of the community. As a community of interest, this grouping path, which may be referred to as the “quality and support improvement type”, explains 12.97% of the cases of old residential neighbourhood renovation. The residential neighbourhoods of the Scholar’s Bridge neighbourhood, the Hongyuan neighbourhood, and the Hongke neighbourhood are typical examples of this. Before the renovation of the Hongyuan neighbourhood, there were serious violations of construction regulations, difficulties in water supply to upper floors, and disorderly pipelines.

During the renovation process, the improvement of living spaces and supporting facilities most urgently needed by residents was prioritised. First, the focus was placed on upgrading water, electricity, roads, and gas systems. Second, illegal constructions were demolished, and neighbourhood centres, leisure squares, and other activity spaces were added. A communication platform involving the government, residents, social organisations, and other stakeholders should be established to ensure that all parties can fully communicate, consult, and collaborate, thereby forming a governance system for the community of interest. This is because the quality of housing and community support is directly related to residents’ interests, making it imperative to clarify the objectives and quality requirements for the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods and optimise resource allocation.

Grouping 3 views community support as a peripheral condition, while government policies, the local environment, and residents’ opinions are considered core conditions. This grouping path suggests that in order to increase residents’ satisfaction with the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods, the government, community, and residents must work together. The government should coordinate the work programme and workflow, develop and enhance pertinent policies, and ensure that the renovation work is carried out smoothly. The community should focus on improving the human environment, recreational opportunities, and the completeness of supporting facilities, such as commercial services, medical care, property management, water, and electricity. At the same time, involving residents in the selection of community renovation content is essential for enhancing the effectiveness of renovation in old residential neighbourhoods [52]. Residents’ participation in the renovation project, improvement in living conditions, and the emotions after the renovation will ultimately affect their satisfaction. Therefore, this type of configuration path is summarised as the “community environment improvement type”.

According to Table 7, the path is mainly based on community governance and can explain 36.52% of the old community renovation cases. Typical examples include old residential neighbourhoods such as East Chadaokou Road, Xingchai Beiyuan, and East Academy renovation. Taking Xingchai Beiyuan renovation as an example, the government research team actively gathers input from residents and community workers, integrates industrial civilisation with environmental enhancement, develops renovation plans, and builds a story wall in the community cultural construction area to showcase the history of Nancai’s enterprise culture, strengthening the sense of belonging among the older generation of people in Nancai. From the perspective of community development, residents’ satisfaction with the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods depends on forming a cross-regional industry–education integration community involving residents and other stakeholders. This is based on common interests, shared culture, shared emotions, and shared goals, ultimately creating a community with shared responsibilities and a sense of collective identity.

Grouping 4 views community support as a peripheral condition, while non-governmental policies, the community environment, housing quality, and non-resident perceptions are considered core conditions. This grouping path, which can be referred to as the “environment–quality linkage type”, shows that when government policy elements are imperfect and residents’ perceptions are low, a multifaceted approach to improving the community environment, housing quality, and community facilities is required to increase residents’ satisfaction. This group focuses on community culture and accounts for 11.78 percent of old residential neighbourhood renovation cases. The Hongdong neighbourhood and the Railway Second Village neighbourhood are typical examples.

The Railway Second Village was built in the 1950s, and before the renovation, the old infrastructure in the district was outdated, and the living environment was poor. Therefore, the renovation began with hardware facilities (such as water, electricity, roads, and gas) and gradually established fully functional railway workers’ homes, a dance hall, a reading room, and a variety of software facilities. Elements of the railway were combined to enhance the village square, reflecting the unique characteristics of the community. The renovation of old residential neighbourhoods should not only focus on the improvement of the environment and community facilities but also give priority to the development of cultural communities. This is very important to meet the material and spiritual needs of residents and cultivate community cohesion.

4.2.4. Robustness Test

A robustness test of the group state analysis was performed in this research after raising the PRI consistency criterion from 0.65 to 0.7 [69], and the outcomes are displayed in

Table 8. Grouping path robustness test results.

Conditional Variable	Residents’ Satisfaction
	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3
Government Policy	$●$	$●$	$\otimes$
Community Environment		$●$	$●$
Community Complementary		$●$	$●$
Housing Quality	$●$		$●$
Resident Perception	$●$	$●$	$\otimes$
Consistency	0.8683	0.8279	0.8413
Original Coverage	0.5203	0.3652	0.1178
Unique Coverage	0.1725	0.0174	0.0511
Overall Consistency	0.8419
Overall coverage	0.5887

Note: $●$ Indicates that the core condition exists; $\otimes$ Indicates that core conditions are missing; $●$ Indicates the presence of an edge condition; $\otimes$ Indicates missing edge conditions.

. The grouping path analysis in this study currently has a certain level of robustness because the consistency and coverage of the overall solution of residents’ satisfaction in the renovation of old neighbourhoods are essentially consistent with the results in Table 7, and the three new groupings obtained are completely consistent with grouping 1, grouping 3, and grouping 4 in the original model.

5. Conclusions and Policy Recommendations

5.1. Conclusions

This research, based on a community perspective, examined the effects of community support, government policy, and the environment using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method. By collecting relevant literature and technical guidelines for the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods, five antecedent variables affecting residents’ satisfaction were proposed. A field questionnaire survey was conducted in old residential neighbourhoods that have undergone renovation in Nanchang City to gather resident satisfaction data before, during, and after the renovations. The data were then analysed, leading to the following conclusions.

(1)

Residents’ satisfaction with the renovation programme varied significantly: satisfaction with community human settlement renovation was the highest (69.4%), while satisfaction with the government’s cost disclosure was the lowest (20%).

(2)

Resident satisfaction is influenced by multiple factors, and no single factor alone can ensure high satisfaction. The analysis showed that no single condition variable (e.g., government policies, community environment, community support, housing quality, or residents’ perception) was sufficient to achieve high satisfaction, as the consistency of all variables was below 0.9. Instead, the interaction of these factors must be considered, as individual variables have limited explanatory power.

(3)

To achieve high resident satisfaction, four configurations are possible: housing quality enhancement, quality and support improvement, community environment improvement, and environment–quality linkage. Government policies and housing quality appear in three of these paths, highlighting their significant role in old neighbourhood renovation. However, policies must be combined with other factors (e.g., community environment or resident perceptions) to effectively enhance satisfaction, as they cannot achieve this alone.

5.2. Policy Recommendations

(1) Adopt a multi-factor linkage-driven strategy to avoid over-reliance on a single factor. Since resident satisfaction is influenced by multiple factors, it is essential to build a synergistic mechanism that integrates these factors. Recognise that improving satisfaction requires a holistic approach, combining group coordination and people-orientated principles. Develop tailored renovation programmes based on the actual conditions of old neighbourhoods and residents’ needs. Empower communities to encourage resident participation in governance and resource integration. The government offers policy and financial support for renovation planning and standards. Residents, as direct beneficiaries, engage in decision-making, implementation, and self-construction, providing feedback and needs. Property companies contribute technical and management support. An expert team of planners and architects provides professional advice and technical assistance. Establish a stable relationship among the government, communities, and residents; regularly assess the effectiveness of multi-factor linkages, and adjust strategies to identify the optimal path for enhancing satisfaction. Ultimately, achieve a positive alignment between renovation outcomes and residents’ satisfaction.

(2) Promote differentiated renovation models to avoid homogenisation. Research shows that high resident satisfaction is the result of multiple factors. Local governments should focus on combining neighbourhood characteristics and the actual situation to adopt practical improvement paths. There is no one-size-fits-all solution; instead, tailored approaches should be prioritised based on factors such as the old residential neighbourhood’s age and the condition of its facilities. The basic type of renovation can further deepen the “housing quality enhancement” paths, focusing on enhancing housing quality by improving living conditions, the community environment, and ancillary facilities. It also involves upgrading municipal infrastructure to ensure housing functionality, comfort, and overall quality. The improvement renovation emphasises upgrading the community environment and recreational spaces, following the “quality and supporting facilities improvement” and “community environment improvement” paths. This includes optimising infrastructure (e.g., greening, lighting, roads) and enhancing leisure venues to improve community aesthetics and comfort. The upgrading type of renovation centres on the “environment and quality linkage” paths, focusing on community culture and environmental construction. It supports the development and renovation of public service facilities, encourages social capital participation, and comprehensively enhances residents’ quality of life.

(3) Strengthen the promotion of government policies and foster a community mindset of “co-construction, co-governance, and sharing.” Regardless of the approach, government policies play a crucial role. Local governments should increase funding for the renovation of old residential neighbourhoods, allocate special funds for community environmental improvement renovation and activities, and integrate these with cultural and community development funds. This will support upgrades to the living environment, the construction of activity spaces, the organisation of recreational activities, and the preservation of cultural elements. Organisations at all levels have strengthened community governance systems by promoting the concept of “co-construction, co-governance, and sharing” and improving residents’ self-governance mechanisms. Encouraging resident participation has built trust and enhanced community cohesion. Additionally, in order to make clear the roles of all parties involved, it is necessary to establish a multifaceted governance structure. The government will be in charge of planning and overseeing the work, the community will serve as a bridge and provide property services, which will be in charge of the day-to-day management and upkeep of the facilities, and the residents will actively participate in decision-making and oversight. The community, residents and the government should take the common interests as the value basis, give full play to their respective roles, and achieve common development. These cooperation methods effectively improve the cooperative relationship between the parties and drive the enhancement of the environment in old residential neighbourhood renovation.

5.3. Shortcomings and Prospects

The following are the weaknesses of this paper: In order to build government policy, community environment, community support, housing quality, and residents’ perception of the five conditional variables, the government, community, and residents’ theoretical model is the first step. However, the renovation of old neighbourhoods involves a number of subjects, including various elements in future research that can be added to the construction companies and other levels of the elements, to further analyse the renovation of the old neighbourhoods of the residents, and to expand the path of enhancement. Second, Nanchang City has seen an increase in the implementation and completion of the old district renovation project every year since it began. This paper only included the old district of Nanchang City because the old city centre is representative of the old district; further research could broaden the study’s scope and include more old district renovation cases to increase the study’s generalizability.