Heritage-led development and govenrnace networks in the historical city of Xi’an, China

Since the 1990s Chinese historic cities started property-led regeneration initiatives to attract new investments and stimulate socio-economic growth. The fourth master plan (2008-2020) of Xi’an – the ancient capital of China – proposed it to become as “a world-famous historical and tourism city” . In particular, since the 2000s to date, an increasing number of large-scale conservation projects have been undertaken by Qujiang New District Management Committee, with the intention to “reconstructing” the city in its Tang Dynasty glory (618-906AD). This has come with heritage commodification and urban dysneyfication for cultural tourism. This paper examines the heritage-based development model in Xi’an (Qujiang New District), seeking to explain how pro-growth coalitions used heritage to stimulate development and historical city branding of Xi’an. Using qualitative data collected from published sources and interview with key stakeholders, the paper investigates the internal policy networks and land management mechanisms in the process of heritage-led development of Xi’an. While Xi’an has benefited from the Qujiang New District development model of land value aporeciation and capture, the development process had negative impact on both heritage preservation and local communities. This paper thus calls for more attention to similar processes in heritage-rich areas.