Retrofit move revitalizing run-down communities

On a sunny afternoon, bursts of laughter erupted from a small square at Luozhuang Dongli residential community in Beijing's Haidian district where seniors were relaxing on benches and children were playing.

"Without the old residential communities' revamp campaign, we wouldn't have this small square," said Liu Yanjie, a resident of the community. Luozhuang Dongli just completed an overhaul in May, which has brought great change to the community.

"The sewers are no longer smelly, the corridors are much brighter and our community environment has also improved a lot," Liu told Beijing Daily.

As one of the earliest dwellers in the community, Liu moved in in 1992. But in recent years things began to go wrong in her apartment.

"The drains and sink in the house were frequently clogged. We had to unclog them up to six times a day," she said. Back then, she was constantly frustrated at the plumbing problems, which sometimes involved her neighbors due to the shared pipeline network, so she didn't get along with them.

Like her, in the face of the rundown amenities, other dwellers had longed for improvements in their residential environment for years.

Yet when the community was put on the renovation list in 2021, there were still opposing voices. "The most difficult part was the water and sewage system retrofit," Wang Xiaojuan, director of the Luozhuang Dongli community residents' committee, recalled.

It concerned some residents that the renovation could lead to water supply interruptions and thus affect daily life. Meanwhile, those who have just done their homes up were worried about possible damage to their apartments.

The grassroots official called on all stakeholders — representatives of residents, builders, the property management committee and the community's officials — to have meetings and address the disagreements. After rounds of discussions and explanations, the overhaul went ahead. More than 90 percent of the water and sewage pipelines as well as doors and windows in the community were upgraded.

Government data show that during the first five months of 2024, Beijing saw 197 residential community renovation projects started, involving a total area of 5.5 million square meters. During the period, 185 renovation projects were completed, covering an area of 7 million sq m. That exceeds 90 percent of the target for this year and the completed renovations of 2023.

According to the Beijing Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, by the end of 2025, the city plans to complete all renovation tasks for local communities that were built before the end of 2000.