China's rapid urbanization necessitates the redevelopment of existing assets, making urban village renovation crucial for high-quality urban development. However, these projects present unique challenges: complex stakeholder interests, unclear property rights, diverse transformation goals, and weak governance. Conflicts can arise from the differing demands of stakeholders like the government, developers, and residents, sometimes resulting in negative consequences such as violent demolitions and protests. Effective collaborative governance, facilitated by understanding stakeholder relationships and their roles, is therefore vital. Existing research focuses on stakeholder roles, distribution, conflict resolution, and collaborative governance models, but often overlooks the dynamic, multi-stage nature of these projects. This study addresses this gap by analyzing stakeholder networks and their evolution across different project stages to identify strategies for improving collaborative governance.

The literature review examines the challenges of urban village renovation, drawing on international experiences from the UK, Singapore, and Brazil to highlight diverse approaches to informal settlement management. Different models, from government-led slum clearance to market-oriented operations and inclusive in-situ upgrading, are discussed. The review then analyzes previous research on stakeholders and their interactions in urban village renovation, focusing on studies that examine stakeholder roles and demands, conflict resolution mechanisms, and theoretical frameworks (stakeholder theory, cooperative theory, symbiotic theory). The application of SNA methods in analyzing stakeholder relationships is also reviewed, highlighting the advantages of this approach in understanding network characteristics, group structures, and individual stakeholder roles. Finally, the review identifies the gap in existing research, which is the lack of dynamic analysis of stakeholder relationships across different project stages. This study aims to fill this gap by examining how these relationships evolve over time and how such information can inform improvements to governance processes.

This study employed a mixed-method approach, combining a single-case study of an urban village renovation project in Tianjin's Beichen District with social network analysis (SNA). The case study allowed for detailed observation of stakeholder behavior and interaction across four project stages: Preliminary Preparation (PP), Demolition and Relocation Compensation (DC), Development, Construction, and Implementation (CI), and Post-Maintenance and Operation (MO). Thirteen stakeholders were identified through literature review and focus group interviews: government, construction management unit, land consolidation unit, construction unit, constructor, consulting service unit, supplier, financial institution, legal institution, community council, property management unit, public, and media. A questionnaire survey was used to assess the strength of relationships between stakeholders, creating a relationship matrix for each stage. UCINET 6.0 and NETDRAW software were used for SNA, analyzing network density, average distance, core-periphery structure, small cliques, and centrality measures (degree, betweenness, closeness) to understand network characteristics and stakeholder roles at each stage. The four time periods for data collection (2014, 2016, 2018, 2021) corresponded to the different project stages.

The SNA revealed a U-shaped trend in network collaboration and an inverted U-shaped trend in information transmission efficiency across the four stages. The PP stage showed the highest network density and lowest average distance, reflecting strong government coordination. The DC stage had the lowest density and highest average distance due to interest conflicts and information asymmetry between the government and the public. The CI stage showed slightly improved density but continued low connectivity, indicating a core-periphery structure with the construction unit as the core. The MO stage showed high density, reflecting close connections between the property management unit and the public. Core-periphery analysis identified changing core stakeholders across stages, with the government initially central, followed by the construction unit and, finally, the property management unit and the public. Small clique analysis showed clique fragmentation in the CI stage, with low interaction between stakeholders involved in construction and those outside it (the public and media). Centrality analysis indicated the government's role shifting from 'leader' to 'coordinator', the public evolving from 'passive recipient' to 'active participant', construction units acting as 'resource controllers', and the media functioning as independent 'edge supervisors'.

The findings highlight several key weaknesses in stakeholder collaboration: weak connectivity in the DC stage due to interest conflicts, information asymmetry, and limited involvement of some stakeholders; clique fragmentation in the CI stage, hindering information flow; and under-explored public participation in the PP stage. These findings address the research questions by demonstrating the dynamic nature of stakeholder relationships and their impact on project success. The significance of the results lies in providing empirical evidence for the importance of multi-stage engagement and tailored strategies for collaboration at each stage. The study's relevance to the field extends beyond the specific case study, offering valuable insights applicable to other urban village renovation projects and potentially to other complex projects involving multiple stakeholders.

This study contributes to the understanding of stakeholder engagement in urban village renovation projects by providing a dynamic, multi-stage analysis of stakeholder networks. The main contributions are the identification of key challenges to collaboration (low public participation, weak connectivity, clique fragmentation) and the recommendation of targeted strategies to enhance collaborative governance. Future research could improve the measurement of stakeholder relationships, considering factors beyond power and interests. Comparative studies across different development models and further exploration of the public participation process are also suggested.

The study's limitations include its focus on a single case study, limiting the generalizability of findings. The use of a questionnaire survey, while providing quantitative data, may not fully capture the nuances of complex stakeholder relationships. Future research could address these limitations by conducting comparative studies across multiple projects and employing more qualitative methods to gain richer insights into stakeholder interactions.