Social capital and heritage led regeneration in historical city of Xi'an, China

According to Pendlebury and Porfiriou (2017), heritage is used as a mechanism for regeneration purpose of physical, economic development, which is particularly strong in China. Heritage-led regeneration (HLR) attempts to marry “conservation” and “development” during times of rapid urbanisation (Han and Zhong, 2015). The example from western countries such as UK regeneration planning frequently use ‘social capital’ (SC) from local networks and associations in new systems of governance. SC in China has gained increasing attention, researchers have paid increasing attention to SC, there is rapidly increasing journal publications of SC after 2004 and peaked in 2017. (Zhang, Han et al. 2019). However, SC still has not got people’s enough attention in China’ urban studies, especially in the fields of urban regeneration (Zhai and Ng, 2013). Based on China’s distinct culture and tradition, whether and how social capital works in HLR process and HLR outcomes influence social capital production. This research is expected to apply the Western-sourced social capital theory in China’ context.