Exploration of Evaluation Methods for Urban Renewal Outcomes: A Dual Case Study on the Renewal of Kunming’s Cultural and Creative-oriented Industrial Heritage Based on the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) Method

Abstract

Under the background of China’s national urban regeneration action during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, cultural and creative industries (CCI) have been entrusted with the mission of revitalizing obsolete industrial heritage and enhancing cultural soft power. Kunming has successively completed several CCI-oriented industrial heritage regeneration projects, such as Chunyu 937 and C86 Camellia Plaza, yet a systematic subjective performance evaluation tool is still lacking. This study, for the first time, applies the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) model to post-evaluation of CCI-led industrial heritage regeneration in Southwest China. An index system consisting of 6 dimensions and 17 indicators (traffic, heritage authenticity, cultural experience, retail mix, supporting facilities, and estate environment) was constructed. Data were collected through questionnaire surveys, GPS-POI tracking, and policy document analysis. Empirical comparisons between Chunyu 937 and C86 Camellia Plazawere conducted to examine whether the original design objectives have been achieved and to develop a replicable subjective-objective coupled health-check template. The results show that: (1) The IPA four-quadrant effectively identified common “high importance-low satisfaction” weaknesses—public transport last-mile connection, thematic consistency of retail, and density of public toilets/third-space restrooms; (2) Both cases basically fulfilled three image objectives—“heritage preserved, IP created, crowd attracted”, but three functional indicators—traffic, retail, and public service—remained significantly below expectation and fell into the IPA “concentrate improvement” zone; (3) Fiscal subsidies should be linked to IPA weakness improvement through an “annual review-dynamic adjustment” mechanism to shift showcase regeneration towards institutional regeneration. The study contributes to: (1) methodology by pioneering IPA application in post-evaluation of CCI-led industrial heritage regeneration in Southwest China; (2) data validation by cross-verifying subjective questionnaires with objective trajectory data; (3) policy innovation by embedding the “IPA health-check table” into update acceptance and subsidy-fuse mechanisms. The findings provide quantitative evidence for governments to allocate regeneration resources precisely and for operators to pursue continuous improvement, offering a demonstration for similar industrial heritage regeneration projects nationwide.