Factors Driving Social Capital Participation in Urban Green Development: A Case Study on Green Renovation of Old Residential Communities Under Urban Renewal in China

Urban green development is crucial for citizen well-being and serves as a key pillar of sustainable development strategies. Collaborative governance mechanisms help address management, technical, and financial challenges in urban green development. The renovation of old residential communities within the context of urban renewal is becoming a focal point in the development of Chinese cities. To promote green development in the renovation of old residential communities in China, this study introduces the collaborative governance mechanism of government–social capital cooperation and identifies the factors influencing social capital participation in green development. A hybrid approach is proposed, combining grounded theory, IGAHP subjective weighting, CRITIC objective weighting, game theory, and ISM. This approach is applied to identify, evaluate, and analyze the factors driving social capital participation in the green renovation of old residential communities. The results indicate that government incentives and constraints, policy support, the costs and benefits of implementing green renovation, the development of green renovation technologies, and construction technical abilities significantly influence the decision-making of social capital. The findings provide theoretical support for decision-making by governments and social capital in participating in the green renovation of old residential communities and offer a methodological reference for analyzing social capital participation in other urban green development projects and for further policy formulation. Future research should focus on examining social capital involvement in other types of urban green development projects.