Urban renewal is a prominent issue in promoting high-quality and sustainable development of Chinese cities in the context of connotative development in the New Era. As culture plays an increasingly important role in continuing urban history, creating spatial value, improving quality of life and stimulating economic vitality, it is gradually becoming a key driving force for promoting urban renewal. Based on the analysis of the evolution of the relationship between cultural elements and urban renewal since the reform and opening up in the late 1970s, this paper constructs a logical framework for cultural empowerment of urban renewal, and takes the old southern city of Nanjing as an example to explore the implementation paths, mechanism and effects of cultural empowerment of urban renewal. The study found that: (1) By leveraging the multiple roles of cultural resources such as historical culture, creative culture, and local culture in urban renewal, and through the process of cultural elements injection, spatial carriers adsorption, and renewal efficiency release, urban renewal can be empowered and its effectiveness can be enhanced. (2) From the process of urban renewal practice in the old southern city of Nanjing, the paths of cultural empowerment of urban renewal are revealed as the representation of historical symbols, the driving force of cultural and tourism consumption, the implantation of creative industries, the rooting of community spirit, and the embedness of cultural services. (3) Multiple stakeholders such as the government, market, and society are jointly promoting the urban renewal with cultural empowerment. To obtain more significant economic and social benefits, it is also necessary to further strengthen the connection between the renewal of historical and cultural spaces in old cities and the achievements of contemporary urban cultural construction, coordinate the promotion of cultural renewal at the spiritual level, and enhance the urban participation rights and sense of cultural achievement of local residents. (4) The culture-empowered urban renewal in China is different from the "cultural-led urban regeneration" in the West, which regards the protection, inheritance, and promotion of historical and cultural heritage, as well as the enhancement of residents' cultural identity, as important goals of urban renewal. Based on the concept of cultural sustainability in urban renewal, it is necessary to promote the benign two-way empowerment of cultural elements and urban renewal, and achieve a resonant development of the protection and utilization of cultural resources and moderate, orderly, tender, and organic renewal.

Historic district serves as dynamic urban heritage sites, whose conservation and regeneration are essential for preserving the historic context of cities, stimulating economic revitalization, and fostering high-quality development. Originating from the backdrop of cultural-tourism integration, this study establishes a comprehensive framework for assessing the effectiveness of historic district regeneration. This framework includes the regeneration of physical spaces, cultural preservation and display, and the revitalization of cultural tourism. Utilizing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation methods, the study evaluates the regeneration effectiveness in three emblematic historic districts in Kaifeng city based on subjective assessments from participants. Enhancement pathways are delineated through the analysis of a "satisfaction-importance" matrix. The findings indicate consistently positive regeneration effectiveness with slight variations across the districts, scoring 3.801 for Shuanglong lane, 3.794 for Madao street, and 3.759 for Shudian street. Shuanglong lane exhibits superior performance in physical space regeneration, with a higher score than Shudian and Madao streets; however, Shudian and Madao streets excel in the revitalization of cultural tourism. Differences in cultural preservation and display are minimal. At the level of specific indicators, all districts generally receive positive evaluations for streetscape and revitalization recognition. Nonetheless, Shudian street and Madao street exhibit lower scores in streetscape aesthetics, infrastructure, and street maintenance, whereas Shuanglong lane requires improvements in its cultural and tourism attributes, diversity of revitalization efforts, and infrastructure. All districts need enhanced accessibility. Specific improvements include enhancing the neighborhood environment, cultural displays, and connotations in Shudian street; boosting cultural attractiveness and immersive interactions in Madao street; and increasing cultural appeal and diversifying the business model in Shuanglong lane.

The transformation of old industrial areas is spreading from developed countries to developing countries, and sports culture as an effective means of urban regeneration has attracted widespread attention. This paper focuses on Dortmund's Westfalenstadion project in the Ruhr area of Germany, and analyzes in depth how the project has led the surrounding areas to realize the regeneration of old industrial areas with sports and culture projects through field surveys, historical retrospectives, etc. The results of the study show that: (1) Dortmund has successfully transformed from a traditional heavy industrial city into a sustainable and intelligent technology city by grasping the opportunities of globalization and implementing the Ruhr Area Transformation Plan, and the Westfalenstadion project is precisely an exploratory practice for the regeneration of the old industrial area led by sports culture in accordance with the trend. (2) In the course of the project, the capital invested by the federal government and the city government has gradually been reduced, and the participation of the soccer club has been weakened, with social capital taking a dominant role in construction and operation. (3) The development of the stadium has significantly promoted the transformation of the surrounding land use, with the pattern of land use shifting from greenfield and residential areas, which were mainly for the primary and secondary industries, to the tertiary industry-based. The development of the stadium has significantly promoted the transformation of the surrounding land use, shifting the land use pattern from primary and secondary industry-oriented green areas and residential areas to tertiary industry-oriented comprehensive functional land use, and optimizing the spatial functional structure. (4) The construction of the stadium has enhanced Dortmund's global reputation, promoted the upgrading of the industrial structure to the tertiary industry, increased the local employment rate, accelerated the construction of infrastructure, improved the quality of life of the residents, and thus promoted the structural renewal and modernization of the city. By summarizing the development experience of the project and the mechanism of the old industrial area regeneration driven by the sports and cultural projects construction, we finally put forward the experience that can be borrowed by China, with a view to providing ideas for the ongoing renewal of old industrial areas in China.