Urban Chemical Industrial Cluster Area Restructuring and Determinants: A Case Study of a Typical Old Chemical Industry Area Along the Yangtze River, China

China is in a transitional period between urban renewal and industrial change. In this period, the focus has been on the suburbanization of enterprises and land transformation in old industrial areas, particularly areas with chemical industries. A life cycle theoretical framework was established to develop chemical industrial zones in the context of urban expansion and land function conversion. The long-term historical processes and mechanisms that transformed a typical old chemical industry area along the Yangtze River, Yanziji Area of Nanjing City were unveiled and comparatively analyzed. The study found that the entire life cycle of the case study area was formed through the combined action of different influencing factors. Traditional industrial location factors played important roles during the rise and continuity of the chemical industry zone, while unconventional environmental regulations and government policies drove its decline and transformation. In the transformation of the old chemical zone, the renewal and redevelopment of industrial land into higher-value residential land is a key link determining the feasibility of government fund compensation and the circulation of capital. These findings demonstrate that regional control and environmental regulation play crucial roles in determining the location of polluting industries and the renewal of urban industrial areas. This research enhances the understanding of the development history and reconstruction of chemical industry clusters and plots within megacities at a finer geographic scale.