What neighborhood factors are critical to resident satisfaction with old neighborhoods? An integration of ground theory and impact asymmetry analysis

As a national program, Chinese governments are making substantial investment on old neighborhood renovation to improve resident well-being. Understanding critical components of resident satisfaction with old neighborhoods is key to the success of this program. Drawing on the real experience of old neighborhood residents in Harbin, we applied the ground theory method to extract an extensive list of neighborhood attributes that potentially form neighborhood satisfaction. We then employed factor analysis and impact asymmetry analysis to identify the factor structure of neighborhood satisfaction. The results showed that most neighborhood factors have non-linear associations with old neighborhood satisfaction, challenging the linear assumption commonly hypothesized in the literature. Furthermore, housing and utility infrastructure, activity space, property management, neighborhood facilities, and the social environment are significant contributors to neighborhood satisfaction. The first three factors cause substantial dissatisfaction and should be prioritized for improvement to increase overall resident satisfaction with old neighborhoods.