Higher education institutions (HEIs) in both early and mature stages of sustainable development (SD) have been moving toward sustainability. Methods for assessing SD have been developed from global and regional contexts to support sustainability efforts. The purpose of this paper is to formulate guidelines as input to develop a sustainable assessment tool (SAT) for China based on the current SD stage of Chinese HEIs. Through desk research, SATs were selected and analyzed. Fifteen SATs consisting of more than 1000 indicators included in the analysis and based on components for developing SATs were identified, and then the components were selected and discussed through an online workshop engaging a 34-people Chinese research team, in order to formulate the guidelines for Chinese HEIs. The findings reveal that the emphasis of SATs mainly results from their contexts, purposes and stages, backgrounds or focus. Chinese HEIs are in the early SD stage, and the multiple purposes and components of SATs are identified to support local sustainability efforts. Having a clear understanding of the current SD stages of SATs and selecting the components accordingly would enable them to fully reach their potential in practice, especially in the case of early SD HEIs.

The Chinese government has taken actions to promote energy efficiency through the renovation of residential buildings in the Northern Heating Region. Homeowners have been encouraged to undertake government-led energy efficiency renovation; however, their decisions to undertake the renovation are affected by several barriers. The lack of participation from homeowners has brought difficulties in execution and financing. This study empirically investigated the barriers facing homeowners when undertaking the renovation, including barriers generated from the homeowner’s cognitive biases. The results show that barriers associated with capital cost, unbalanced financial plan, unclear process, comfort, and increased energy prices are the most widely considered when homeowners make decisions about undertaking renovation projects. An adverse decision is most likely to be generated when: (1) when homeowners perceive the financial plan as unfair, (2) when they have already done renovation at their own expense, or (3) when they have the feeling of losing initiative. Among all the individual factors, the homeowners’ gender, age, education level, and building type are significant in predicting their decisions. By drawing on insights from behavioral economics, we analyzed the mechanisms behind these barriers. The findings can help policymakers to design more cost-effective policy instruments to mitigate the barriers.

In China’s government-led energy efficient renovation of residential buildings, homeowners’ participation refers to their involvement and engagement throughout the process. Lacking homeowners’ participation has brought difficulties in the execution and financing of the projects. This paper explores the current situation of homeowners’ participation and provides suggestions for optimization from three perspectives: the steps and procedures of the participation process, the composition of the working group responsible for contacting the homeowners, and the contents to be discussed during the process. The semi-structured interview and questionnaire results show that homeowners’ participation is not adequate, and the current arrangement deviates from their expectations. Although most homeowners are positive towards government-led renovation and are enthusiastic about being involved, the process setup is not well-designed to let them fully participate. Moreover, their expectations and preferences are related to several factors. It can be concluded that relevant laws and regulations should be introduced to provide a basis for solving problems at the executive level, and homeowner associations should be established to serve as a channel of communication between homeowners and the working group. Designing targeted renovation and participation strategy is a necessity to minimize the communication efforts.

European, American, and Japanese debates on public housing served as models for those in modern China, and Chinese scholars and professionals, with the support of the KMT (Kuomintang), developed public housing as a sign of innovation in both societal reform and building typology. Using the under-researched case of Tianjin's public housing during the so-called Nanjing Decade (1928–1937) and then again during the Japanese Occupation (1937–1945) as case studies, the paper first explores how journals, books, and foreign-trained Chinese scholars introduced the concept of public housing to China. It then examines five public housing projects that municipal authorities developed for Tianjin, two in the Nanjing Decade and three during the Japanese Occupation. Analysing the sites, architectural designs, and management rules of these projects, the paper argues that the projects in the Nanjing Decade (both planned and realized) mostly targeted poor families, serving to simultaneously solve housing problems, reform society, and police the poor; while the projects during the Japanese Occupation benefited high-income people or the Japanese, and did not play a role in the relief of the local poor, who suffered most from the housing shortage.

In the context of urban regeneration, community renovation has been a vital approach for improving local living conditions and global sustainable development. Due to the financial burden and uneven regional development, China’s community renovation has gradually shifted from the government-led model to the market-oriented model. However, these projects are subject to various intra- and inter-stakeholder barriers, particularly hidden transaction costs. This study investigates the transaction costs experienced by key stakeholders, including residents, developers, governments, and architects, with a specific focus on the pre-design phase of market-oriented community renovation projects in China. Data on stakeholders’ experienced transaction costs and their origins were collected through semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys and were investigated using content analysis and quantitative analysis. Results show that developers bear the most categories of transaction costs. The most significant transaction costs persist in the interactions between developers and governments, including estimating benefits and costs and receiving project approval. Furthermore, negotiating costs are the primary obstructions that hinder stakeholder collaboration. By tracing the origins of these transaction costs, the study proposes measures to optimize the renovation process by reducing transaction costs.