Examining the transformation of postindustrial land in reversing the lack of urban vitality: A paradigm spanning top-down and bottom-up approaches in urban planning studies

A distinct rise of global interest in the role of cultural and creative industries in post-industrial urban development calls for the transformation of our industrial heritage into creative clusters. Despite many factories being removed in deindustrialization, some enterprises still preserve and reuse the former industrial lands. However, the inconclusive judgments on the performances of creative clusters call for an in-depth examination of the underlying mechanism of transforming dilapidated urban industrial spaces. In addition, few empirical studies have revealed the commonalities and differences of market entities employing both the top-down and bottom-up approaches during the redevelopment. In this article, a multilevel transformation, and the consequent spatial performance in three postindustrial lands in Beijing have been examined based on big data analysis, field observation and in-depth interviews. We reached three conclusions. First, in addition to the angle of participatory planning, the deep exploration of specific market entities as an intermediate joint among different parties in protecting and reusing the postindustrial lands uncovers a distinct perspective of urban revitalization. Second, the finding of the enterprises' role in mitigating the conflicts between bottom-up and top-down approaches further testifies to a less-dichotomous perspective in urban regeneration studies. Last, though the examination of the multilevel transformation mechanism reflecting the difference between state and nonstate enterprises in property-led management, a generic paradigm behind the trend of relying on enterprises in revitalizing the large-scale postindustrial lands is revealed.