THE living space of a local retiree NiLongkouhas been enlarged 13 times within a year thanks to a massive relocation campaign in downtown Huangpu District.

Despite the city’s soaring housing prices, 70-year-old Ni and her husband have moved to a 115-square-meter duplex inBaoshan’sMeilanLake from an 8.8-square-meter garret inHuangpu’sBaoxinglineighborhood with compensation from the government.

“Without the relocation campaign, I would never have been able to live in such a large apartment with my limited pension,” Ni said.

In the 1980s, most Shanghai residents lived in cramped quarters provided by their employers. Life was described as “rites within a snail’s shell” because the average per-capitaliving space was just 4.5 square meters, among the lowest in China.

Most people have moved into modern highrises amid rapid urban development but some still live in old neighborhoods built about 50 years ago and have to use chamber pots.

The city’s ongoing Jiugaicampaign, or renovation of old residential communities, has become the main solution to improve living conditions, remove shantytowns and redevelop the region to cap the city’s economic growth.

The campaign has been deemed the “most challenging” community task, because government compensation must satisfy every resident and encourage them to sign up for relocation.

Huangpu has the largest remaining area of decrepit lane-style neighborhoods covering some 2 million square meters. They feature cramped living space and shared bathrooms and kitchens. Most of the neighborhoods are within the downtown historical conservation zone, featuring the city’s uniqueshikumen, or stone-gate, houses as well as traditional lane-style houses under protective status. The district government has worked out the most effective methods to satisfy inhabitants and make the relocation process go smoothly. After the residents move out, their former houses will be preserved and renovated.

“TheJiugaicampaign is related to the vital interests of the people and the most importantwellbeingin Huangpu,” saidShenShanzhou, the district’s director.

“The campaign is also decisive toHuangpu’sfuture development, so we must gather all the power of the district to complete the mission.”

Huangpu aims to relocate another more than 20,000 households this year while protecting the historical downtown area.

The district government plans to finish renovating all level-2 lane-style houses, or those in the worst condition without private toilets or kitchens, by the end of 2022.

The focus will be on the major regions around Beijing, Nanjing and Nansuzhouroads, where most of the houses in poor condition are, saidHongJiliang, Huangpu’s deputy director.

Most of the vacated houses will be preserved, especially those in theBund,Xintiandi, north Huangpu and theSuzhouCreek riverside.

Two historical buildings, for instance, have been moved to new sites and will open to the public with exhibitions inside. They were once the Party school of the Communist Party of China’s Shanghai Committee and the publishing house for the first Chinese version of The Communist Manifesto.

“Our principle is to relocate bravely, protect the building attentively and make the planning carefully,”Shensaid.

TheBaoxinglineighborhood, built in 1916, has recently become a demonstration area for the city’s relocation and urban renewal campaigns.

It is about 10 minutes’ walk to both theBundand the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall.

Shanghai’s first neighborhood committee was established in the neighborhood in December 1949.

Last year, all the around 2,000 households of residents and companies signed relocation agreements.

They had a choice of moving to designated housing on the outskirts of the city such as Songjiang and Qingpudistricts or remote towns in the Pudong New Area, or to purchase properties of their own with subsidies from the government. Ni’s family, for example, received over 3 million yuan (US$458,716).

TheWaitan, orBundSubdistrict, established a team of lawyers to serve residents and guarantee their legal rights, which proved an effective measure and popular service, according to DingQining, Party secretary of the subdistrict.

The lawyers explain the law and government policies to residents as well as investigating and figuring out ownership of some houses claimed by multiple family members.

Retired Party members, community workers and volunteers also help solve family disputes and any other problems.

Some residents were reluctant to leave the central downtown neighborhood at first.

LiLixia, 65, who was born in the downtown area, said she would rather stay than to move to the remote outskirts.

“It is my habit to take a walk along Nanjing Road E. after dinner,” Li said. “Where else can I enjoy such convenience?”

Li’s 30-square-meter home is on three floors. The first floor has a shower room and toilet. The upper floors are living and bed rooms. A table sits in the corridor.

“I will definitely miss my life here after moving elsewhere, no matter how luxurious the new apartment turns out to be,” Li said.

However, she still signed up after hearing from the lawyers and volunteers, many of whom were her former neighbors.

TheBaoxinglicommunity has concluded 10 measures that helped to progress the relocation campaign, including visiting residents more frequently, communicating with them and asking Party members to take the lead. These measures have been promoted across Huangpu and Shanghai.

The district government has also been cooperating with state-owned enterprises to accelerate urban renovation projects.

For example, Huangpu has worked with the Shanghai Land (Group) Co to relocate some 12,000 residents from dilapidated apartments in the Qiaojia Road neighborhood.

QiaojiaRoad is a small street in the city’s old town, once the center of Shanghai, which covers 2 square kilometers. The road stretches for less than one kilometer. It was whereXuGuangqi(1562-1633), a scholar-bureaucrat of the Ming Dynasty, was born. His former residence is still in existence.

Painter WangYiting’sformer residence is also onQiaojiaRoad. In 1922, Wang welcomed Albert Einstein and his wife to the house.

“I’m happy to replace a chamber pot with a flushing toilet, but I’ll miss the convenient central location,” saidQiuXianjun, 40. Huangpu aims to have chamber pots eliminated from downtown by 2025.

Shensaid the cooperation will be extended to district-levelSOEsin 2021, such as theYongyeGroup,BundInvestment Group and GoldBundGroup. “Such cooperation can not only drive the renovation campaign, but also benefit the companies’ future development,”Shensaid.

Apart from the relocation campaign, the lane-style neighborhoods with their traditional lifestyles are being preserved and renovated.

A trial inChengxingli, ashikumencommunity on Beijing Road W., has seen some residents move out while the living spaces of those who chose to remain are renovated.

The relocation of theBaoxingliresidents will be followed by a major project to bring back the popularity of the once busy commercial street. The unique buildings on both sides of the road will be preserved and become offices, shops and quality homes.

The neighborhood alongJinlingRoad E. features the city’s last remaining qilou, or arcade houses.

Qilouis a fusion of traditional Asian architecture and the 18th-century Western veranda style, with some Indian and Arabic influences thrown in. These houses are found chiefly in south and southwest China.

JinlingRoad E. has Shanghai’s most famousqiloucluster. The road, formerly known as RueduConsulat, was built by the French in the 1850s and was home to the French consulate, saidXueLiyong, a historian and researcher with Shanghai History Museum.

Developers introduced the arcade, similar to those in Paris, after the road was widened to accommodate modern traffic.

As recently as the 1980s, the arcade, which is about a kilometer long, was a thriving shopping street, one of the city’s four most prosperous commercial streets on a par with Nanjing Road E., Huaihai Road M. andSichuanRoad N.

During the Lantern Festival in February, Ni returned toBaoxingliwith many neighbors to recall their former bittersweet life over the years.

She visited her former home in a typicalshikumenhouse onNinghaiRoad E. Nine households of people once squeezed together in the unit initially designed to accommodate a single family.

“It is hard to imagine that my daughter had spent nearly three decades here with us until her marriage,” Ni recalled. “She used to bathe with a plastic bottle and shower curtain in the middle of the room, when my husband had to leave to take a walk.

“I used to always bend down in the cramped quarters, but now I feel happy every day in my new home,” she said.