Virtual Reality in Historic Urban District Renovation for Enhancing Social and Environmental Sustainability: A Case of Tangzixiang in Anhui

One of the aims of the renovation projects is to enhance community welfare. This goal encompasses the provision of urban infrastructure and public services [11]. Urban renovation can provide an opportunity to prepare an infrastructure for community use, including open spaces [11], pedestrian walkways [12], housing, schools [13], care centers [14], and other amenities. Researchers carried out several studies on how infrastructure influences the social sustainability in the renovation projects. Lin et al. [15] shows that public amenities play a pivotal role in mitigating social inequality. Accessibility, denoting the availability of diverse facilities and services, represents fundamental support for residents. Enhancing the accessibility of essential life facilities relies on the presence of convenient, efficient, and secure sidewalks and transportation networks. Crucial services should be reachable within walking or cycling distance. Chan and Lee [11] listed urbanity, an appealing public realm, adequate housing, local environmental quality and amenities, accessibility, and walkable neighborhoods as physical factors. Additionally, health, quality of life, well-being, social inclusion, safety, mixed tenure, social cohesion, community, and belonging were identified as social factors. Wang et al. [13] showed that social facilities and commercial establishments, such as entertainment centers, cafes, and restaurants slated to open in the urban renewal area, will foster social cohesion, community spirit, and job opportunities. The provision of diverse social infrastructure and public facilities contributes significantly to social well-being, as it enhances public health and quality of life for various demographic groups, accommodates different modes of living, diminishes social inequality, and fosters civic pride [15].

Public engagement is one important aspect in district renovation for preserving social networks, enhancing citizens’ sense of belonging, bolstering security against crime, and facilitating community participation in policy making [16]. Lin [15] proposed a decision-making framework based on the sustainability and urgency of urban renewal, presenting four dynamic implementation strategies tailored to various scenarios; however, a lack of evaluation of actual cases was noted. Certain studies have devised decision-making frameworks grounded in a limited-dimensional sustainability assessment framework [17]. Self-initiated and self-organized renovation is an important path for public-involved renovations in the future, which should able to preserve the local cultural identity and maintain a sense of place [18,19]. Yung et al. [18] conducted a survey of 312 people living in two urban renewal districts in Hong Kong using questionnaires. The results of the survey showed that self-organized renovation is significant for a community’s sense of place, identity and development in the sustainable transformation of society. Zhang et al. [20] showed that most of communities received little support from national policy and local governance. Self-organized renovation is a key step to engaging neighborhood residents and fostering a bottoms-up approach into the planning and decision-making process.

Heritage protection is also a crucial factor i historic district renovation. Old buildings often become unsuitable for their original purpose due to deteriorating physical conditions and changing (as well as obsolete, economic, social, and environmental) attributes [2]. Langston et al. [21] made a project which cited Hong Kong as a case study of intensive city development. The study showed that it is important to be able to make quick judgements about existing built assets to identify and prioritize them for potential restoration activities. The building heritage protection is able to enhance the local social sustainability.

It can be also found that, as a bottom-up system, political sustainability requires community participation, which involves people living within the built environment, in making decisions regarding innovation. Furthermore, the degree of political sustainability depends on the effectiveness and transparency of policies, and so citizen awareness of policy formulation and implementation plays a crucial role. Therefore, the attributes for socially sustainable renovation include facilities/social infrastructure, built environment, justice and equity, heritage protecting, cultural identity/sense of place, and public engagement/public participation (Table S1).

The development of VR technology has facilitated architectural design, review, and other related activities. Kodmany [22] is one of the first to incorporate urban simulations of the built environment into planning processes to engage the public more effectively. In recent years, some literature has focused on applying VR technology to urban district renovation.

Virtual environments offer several advantages for urban district renovation. Firstly, they provide a framework for integrating, modeling, and visualizing diverse layers of data, ranging from the simulation of human behavior to building energy demand, within the built environment [23]. Secondly, they enable stakeholders involved in planning processes to be situated within a common geographical frame of reference, facilitating access to information and familiar scenarios [24]. This accessibility benefits both participating experts and the wider public, allowing for the incorporation of social factors into decision-making processes [25,26]. Improving collaboration through VR technology can mitigate some of the common deficits associated with public participation in urban district renovation by promoting mutual communication [27]. Researchers have carried out several studies on how to apply VR in renovation projects. Meenar et al. [28] asserted that multi-sensory VR technology presents urban planners and policymakers with an opportunity to expand or complement traditional public engagement methods, while Adeel et al. [29] discerned the distinct attributes of the streetscape environment in the renovation project through VR. Findings revealed that, not only did road-related factors significantly influence people’s preferences, but building heights were a major point of consideration as well. When strategizing and crafting urban design projects alongside mass transit initiatives, these noteworthy attributes merit consideration. Also, the movement mode in the virtual environment needs to be considered in the VR design [30,31,32,33,34].

The VR technology can be applied to different scales, including building scale, district scale, and city scale. It can help to improve environment management [23], human behavior [24,35], acoustic environment [27], visual environment [27,36,37,38,39,40], training and learning [41,42,43,44] in the design phase. The pathways for citizen participation include self-initiated participation, lead by the owner management committee, and questionnaires (Table S2).