Abstract: This paper examines the ten-year renewal practices in H District, Shanghai, focusing on transitional pathways as a new approach to urban renewal. Drawing on the theoretical context and research framework of government tools, it describes and explains the mechanisms of typical government tools applied in practice, and provides a summarized evaluation of the practical effects and impacts of transitional pathways from three aspects: effectiveness, benefit ratio, and manageability. Furthermore, drawing on equity theory, the paper reflects on the fairness of transitional pathways at three levels, aiming to provide insights into policy enhancement and tool development for urban renewal across various regions.

The findings indicate that in the urban renewal practices of H District, the integrated application of government tools has effectively translated policies and plans into practice, achieving set goals; reduced transaction costs, incentivized market participants, and fostered a win-win situation between the public and private sectors; and demonstrated strong operability and manageability. At a macro level, the fairness of transitional pathways performs well across all stakeholders. At a more detailed level, however, there remains room for improvement in standardized management. To address the inherent tension among three dimensions of fairness that are difficult to reconcile simultaneously, the paper proposes a further institutional design approach: establishing basic equity as the baseline, procedural fairness as the foundation, and justice-based fairness as the balancing mechanism, while weighing and prioritizing different dimensions according to the commercial and public-welfare characteristics of individual projects.