Land

21 pages, 1115 KB

Open AccessReview

Nature-Based Solutions for Climate-Resilient Cities: A Comprehensive State-of-the-Art Review of Landscape Architecture and Urban Adaptation Strategies

by Mirjana Miletić and Milena Lakićević

Land 2026, 15(9), 1736; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091736 - 17 Sep 2026

Abstract

Cities face escalating climate risks, including heat stress, pluvial and fluvial flooding, drought, and biodiversity loss, that conventional grey infrastructure alone cannot address. Landscape architecture occupies a distinctive position at the interface of ecology, urban design, and engineering, translating nature-based solutions (NBS) principles [...] Read more.

Cities face escalating climate risks, including heat stress, pluvial and fluvial flooding, drought, and biodiversity loss, that conventional grey infrastructure alone cannot address. Landscape architecture occupies a distinctive position at the interface of ecology, urban design, and engineering, translating nature-based solutions (NBS) principles into implementable urban form. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of peer-reviewed and grey literature, concentrated in the last five years, on the role of landscape architecture in operationalizing NBS for urban climate adaptation. Drawing on a broad survey of major scientific databases and a narrative, thematic synthesis of the retrieved corpus, the review identifies dominant NBS typologies (green roofs and walls, urban forests, bioretention systems, constructed wetlands, sponge city networks, and blue-green corridors), the design and governance mechanisms through which landscape architects mainstream these interventions, and the persistent barriers, financial, regulatory, technical, and social, that constrain scaled implementation. The review further maps geographic and methodological imbalances in the current evidence base and proposes a research agenda oriented toward performance quantification, cross-scale integration, and equity-centred design. The findings are intended to support researchers, practitioners, and policymakers engaged in the design of climate-resilient urban landscapes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Spaces and Urban Morphology: Building Sustainable Cities)

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22 pages, 3313 KB

Open AccessArticle

Land Use/Cover Change Reshapes Water Balance Components Across Spatial Scales in a Typical Humid Hilly Region

by Yuanshuo Lu, Jihong Xia, Mengshi Li, Zefeng Chen, Jiuyang Wang, Jiahui Zhu and Yue Fu

Land 2026, 15(9), 1735; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091735 - 17 Sep 2026

Abstract

Land use/cover change (LUCC) can alter watershed water balance, while whole-watershed averages may obscure spatial heterogeneity among sub-basins. This study evaluated LUCC-induced hydrological responses in the northern region of Longyou County, Zhejiang Province, China, a subtropical humid hilly area. Land use maps for [...] Read more.

Land use/cover change (LUCC) can alter watershed water balance, while whole-watershed averages may obscure spatial heterogeneity among sub-basins. This study evaluated LUCC-induced hydrological responses in the northern region of Longyou County, Zhejiang Province, China, a subtropical humid hilly area. Land use maps for 2008, 2013, 2018, and 2023 were used to construct four SWAT scenarios under identical meteorological forcing, and partial least squares regression (PLSR) was applied to examine associations between land-cover changes and modeled hydrological responses. The classified maps indicated decreases in cropland and barren land and increases in forest and settlement between 2008 and 2023. Scenario simulations showed lower water yield and higher evapotranspiration under LU2023 than LU2008; these responses were robust, whereas surface runoff, lateral flow, and groundwater contribution were more model-sensitive. At the sub-basin scale, greater forest expansion was associated with larger decreases in surface runoff and water yield and greater increases in evapotranspiration. PLSR further identified forest as the most influential land use predictor for these three responses, although model explanatory power was moderate. These results highlight spatial heterogeneity in modeled LUCC responses and the value of sub-basin analysis for water management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land-Use Impacts on Water Resources and Watershed Management)

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29 pages, 14421 KB

Open AccessArticle

Land-Use Change, Ecosystem Services, and Ecological Security Pattern in a Mineral Resource-Based City: A Case Study of Chenzhou, China

by Bohong Zheng, Ruoyan He, Fan Wu, Jian Zheng, Yingdan Wang and Yan Chen

Land 2026, 15(9), 1734; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091734 - 17 Sep 2026

Abstract

Mineral resource-based cities face long-term conflicts among resource exploitation, urban expansion, and ecological conservation, making it necessary to clarify how long-term land-use change affects ecosystem services and ecological security patterns. Taking Chenzhou, China, as a case study, this study analyzed land-use change from [...] Read more.

Mineral resource-based cities face long-term conflicts among resource exploitation, urban expansion, and ecological conservation, making it necessary to clarify how long-term land-use change affects ecosystem services and ecological security patterns. Taking Chenzhou, China, as a case study, this study analyzed land-use change from 1990 to 2024 and quantified four ecosystem services—water yield, carbon storage, habitat quality, and soil conservation—using the InVEST model. Ecological sources were identified based on an integrated ecosystem service index, while ecological corridors, ecological pinch points, and ecological barrier points were identified by integrating an ecological resistance surface, least-cost path analysis, and circuit theory. On this basis, an ecological restoration spatial pattern was delineated. The results showed that land-use change in Chenzhou was mainly characterized by stage-specific transitions between cropland and forest land and the continuous expansion of impervious surfaces. The integrated ecosystem service index generally declined before gradually stabilizing and recovering, with high-value areas concentrated in the mountainous forest regions of eastern, southern, and southwestern Chenzhou. Forest restoration improved ecosystem services, whereas the conversion of ecological land to impervious surfaces caused pronounced losses of ecological functions. The regional ecological network remained relatively stable overall, while ecological sources, corridors, pinch points, and barrier points of different levels exhibited clear spatial differentiation and differences in relative importance. Based on these characteristics, an ecological restoration spatial pattern was developed, comprising the Luoxiao and Nanling mountain ecological barriers, major ecological corridors, the Dongjiang Lake core ecological source, three ecological restoration zones, and priority ecological restoration nodes. The results indicate that integrating long-term land-use change, ecosystem services, and ecological network analysis can help identify key ecological security spaces and priority areas for ecological restoration, providing a spatial basis for differentiated ecological conservation and restoration in Chenzhou and a reference for mineral resource-based cities with similar development backgrounds. Full article

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21 pages, 2545 KB

Open AccessArticle

Global Afforestation Carbon Sequestration Potential Within an Integrated Environmental Protection and Sustainable Food System Framework

by Dianti Farhana Kamasela, Shinichiro Fujimori, Tomoko Hasegawa and Saritha Sudharmma Vishwanathan

Land 2026, 15(9), 1733; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091733 - 17 Sep 2026

Abstract

Afforestation is a high-potential and cost-effective climate change mitigation strategy, but its large-scale implementation raises sustainability concerns. It requires extensive areas of land, potentially conflicting with agriculture and impacting food security. Moreover, inappropriate forest expansion, such as the afforestation of naturally open habitats, [...] Read more.

Afforestation is a high-potential and cost-effective climate change mitigation strategy, but its large-scale implementation raises sustainability concerns. It requires extensive areas of land, potentially conflicting with agriculture and impacting food security. Moreover, inappropriate forest expansion, such as the afforestation of naturally open habitats, could reduce habitats for non-forest organisms and may cause biodiversity loss. Here, we assess the global mitigation potential of afforestation by integrating environmental constraints and sustainable food system transformations within an integrated assessment model framework. Using the Asia-Pacific Integrated Model (AIM), including the AIM-Hub general equilibrium model and AIM-PLUM spatial land use allocation model, we evaluated seven scenarios incorporating biodiversity protection, soil quality enhancement, dietary shifts, food waste reduction, trade, and irrigation intensification. We found that environmental considerations reduce the maximum afforestation potential to 2.13 GtCO₂ yr⁻¹, highlighting the importance of accounting for land use trade-offs. However, sustainable food system transformations substantially recover this mitigation potential, increasing afforestation-based carbon sequestration to 5.01 GtCO₂ yr⁻¹ by 2100. Approximately 90% of this potential can be achieved at a cost below 50 USD tCO₂⁻¹. Our study emphasizes the need for integrated policies to balance climate mitigation with environmental conservation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Advances in Low-Carbon, Climate-Resilient, and Sustainable Built Environment, 2nd Edition)

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25 pages, 6570 KB

Open AccessArticle

How Do Spring Birdsong Soundscapes Vary Across Landscape Microhabitats on an Urban Campus? Spatiotemporal Patterns and Implications for Landscape Planning

by Jie Zhang, Yuwen Shi and Haifang Li

Land 2026, 15(9), 1732; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091732 - 17 Sep 2026

Abstract

Urban campuses represent complex landscapes comprising buildings, roads, water bodies, and vegetation patches. Differences in spatial structures among landscape microhabitats and levels of human disturbance may influence avian acoustic activity and birdsong soundscape characteristics. However, continuous spatiotemporal dynamics of birdsong soundscapes and differences [...] Read more.

Urban campuses represent complex landscapes comprising buildings, roads, water bodies, and vegetation patches. Differences in spatial structures among landscape microhabitats and levels of human disturbance may influence avian acoustic activity and birdsong soundscape characteristics. However, continuous spatiotemporal dynamics of birdsong soundscapes and differences in acoustic community composition at the campus scale remain insufficiently explored. To address this gap, this study integrates 24 h continuous passive acoustic monitoring across replicated landscape microhabitats with field-validated deep learning-based birdsong identification, enabling diel, spatial, and acoustic-community patterns to be evaluated within a unified fine-scale campus framework. Using the Qingdao Agricultural University campus as a case study, we established 25 monitoring sites from March to May 2026 across five landscape microhabitat types: streamside, lakeshore, green space, building, and edge. Twelve days of 24 h continuous passive acoustic monitoring were conducted, and target bird species were identified using MFCC–based acoustic features combined with the EfficientNet–B0 multi-label classification model, whose field applicability was further evaluated using an independently selected and manually annotated subset of the campus recordings. The results revealed that birdsong soundscapes across different landscape microhabitats exhibited consistent diel rhythms, with the highest avian acoustic activity occurring during the early-morning period. Spatially, avian acoustic activity and the number of detected target bird species were generally higher in streamside-type, lakeshore-type, and green space-type microhabitats than in building-type and edge-type microhabitats. Significant differences in birdsong acoustic community composition were observed among different landscape microhabitats and fixed clock-time periods, showing species-specific spatiotemporal responses. These findings demonstrate the value of species-resolved birdsong soundscape monitoring as a complementary approach for fine-scale ecological assessment and provide site-specific evidence for landscape microhabitat management and bird-friendly planning on urban campuses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Campus of the University: Spatial Evolution, Societal Response, and Design Innovation)

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2 pages, 494 KB

Open AccessCorrection

Correction: Gao et al. Observational Analysis of Convective Evolution During a Cloudburst-Type Extreme Precipitation Event in Shanghai Under Weak Vertical Wind Shear. Land 2026, 15, 960

by Ruixiang Gao, Yali Luo, Xinshu Fu, Haoran Li and Jianhua Dai

Land 2026, 15(9), 1731; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091731 - 17 Sep 2026

Abstract

Error in Figure [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Land–Climate Interactions)

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20 pages, 3021 KB

Open AccessReview

Urban- and Block-Scale Road Network Quality from the Perspective of Walking Needs: Research Progress and Future Directions

by Yishuang Wu, Jun Cai, Jiaqi Xu, Huining Tian, Mengjia Wang, Mengzhen Ding, Qiyao Yang and Lemei Li

Land 2026, 15(9), 1730; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091730 - 17 Sep 2026

Abstract

Road transport is indispensable to urban functioning. As people-centered development and community-oriented planning have gained prominence, pedestrian environments and road network quality have received increasing attention. Existing reviews, however, generally examine either city-scale networks or street-level environments in isolation, leaving a gap in [...] Read more.

Road transport is indispensable to urban functioning. As people-centered development and community-oriented planning have gained prominence, pedestrian environments and road network quality have received increasing attention. Existing reviews, however, generally examine either city-scale networks or street-level environments in isolation, leaving a gap in cross-scale synthesis centered on walking needs. Using Web of Science (WOS) as the data source, this review screened 31,650 records and retained 508 publications; CiteSpace 6.4 was used to map the knowledge structure and major research themes. Drawing on the hierarchy-of-needs framework, walking needs are classified into basic needs for feasibility and safety and higher-order needs for convenience, comfort, and experience, with differences interpreted in relation to walking characteristics. City-scale research is reviewed in terms of road network layout, density, hierarchy, and utility, whereas block-scale research is examined through pedestrian routes and intersections, street frontages, and street furniture. The literature indicates that macro-scale attributes such as connectivity, density, and hierarchical structure affect the feasibility and safety of walking at the city scale. At the block scale, attention has expanded from continuity and safety to the convenience of daily travel, environmental comfort, and heterogeneity in perception. Walking, however, is an individual behavior jointly supported by macro-scale road networks and micro-scale street environments. Current research provides limited integration between these scales, often treats each travel mode or road-user group in isolation, and relies heavily on static data that cannot adequately explain temporal changes in environmental conditions or provide timely feedback on network modifications. Future research should therefore develop cross-scale, multimodal, and dynamic analytical frameworks supported by diverse data sources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic AI-Enabled Sustainable Development: Innovation, Governance and Practice)

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18 pages, 14310 KB

Open AccessArticle

How Do Human Land Use Changes and Ecological Restoration Drive Ecological–Economic–Social Coupling Coordination Across the Yellow River Basin in China?

by Jian Tao, Yiting Liu, Hong Cai, Mingcong Yan, Sheng Zhang and Guangshuai Zhao

Land 2026, 15(9), 1729; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091729 - 16 Sep 2026

Abstract

Conflicts between intense human activity and fragile ecosystem protection have and will continue to affect the ecological–economic–social complex system across the Yellow River Basin. An enhanced understanding of the effects of human land use changes and ecological restoration on the coupling coordination of [...] Read more.

Conflicts between intense human activity and fragile ecosystem protection have and will continue to affect the ecological–economic–social complex system across the Yellow River Basin. An enhanced understanding of the effects of human land use changes and ecological restoration on the coupling coordination of this system is urgently needed to promote the basin’s sustainable development. Here, we integrated remote sensing data with county-level panel data from 2001 to 2020 to assess the coupling coordination degree at a fine spatial resolution. We also investigated the spatial heterogeneity of the effects of changes in urbanization rate, cropland area, and vegetation area on changes in the coupling coordination degree. We found that the coupling coordination degree was low overall and exhibited High–High clustering in the lower reaches, which have the most hydrothermal resources and highest socio-economic development level. Since 2001, the coupling coordination degree has exhibited a significant increasing trend and shows High–High clustering in the agro-pastoral ecotone of the Loess Plateau, which is the core area of the Grain for Green Program. The urbanization rate should be regulated within a reasonable range to ensure sufficient preservation of cropland and vegetation areas to sustain coupling coordination in the upper and middle reaches. Increasing or maintaining stable cropland and vegetation areas could support urban expansion by safeguarding food security and the provision of ecosystem services, thereby strengthening coupling coordination. Ecological restoration played a dominant role in promoting coordinated development in the upper and middle reaches. The continued implementation of ecological protection and restoration projects has enhanced ecosystem services and the well-being of rural residents, promoting sustainable development. These findings will improve the governance of human land use activity and ecological project implementation to promote sustainable development in the study area. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Eco-Sensitive Areas: Ecosystem Services, Protected Lands, and Current Challenges (Third Edition))

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36 pages, 15746 KB

Open AccessArticle

H3 Isochrones in the Context of the 15-Minute City

by Anca Ene, Ana-Cornelia Badea, Gheorghe Badea, Anca-Patricia Grădinaru and Cezar Alexandru Vlăduț

Land 2026, 15(9), 1728; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091728 - 16 Sep 2026

Abstract

The 15-minute city concept has emerged as a framework for promoting more sustainable, inclusive, and accessible urban environments by enabling residents to reach essential daily services within a short distance from their homes. This study evaluates potential spatial accessibility to mapped points of [...] Read more.

The 15-minute city concept has emerged as a framework for promoting more sustainable, inclusive, and accessible urban environments by enabling residents to reach essential daily services within a short distance from their homes. This study evaluates potential spatial accessibility to mapped points of interest in the Berceni neighbourhood, a socialist-era residential district in southern Bucharest, Romania. Walking isochrones were generated through network analysis and subsequently indexed and aggregated using the H3 hierarchical spatial system at resolution 10. Accessibility was assessed for seven social functions using three weighting specifications: 1:1:1, 3:2:1, and 5:3:1. The final analysis included 520 mapped POIs and 8465 H3 resolution 10 cells. The results reveal broadly consistent spatial patterns across the three weighting specifications, although the weighting assumptions influence local scores, the extent of high-accessibility areas, and the relative ranking of individual H3 cells. Caring has the largest mapped opportunity count and broad spatial coverage, whereas working and governing are the least represented functions and display comparatively low potential accessibility in several parts of the neighbourhood. A function-targeted scenario involving the addition of a childcare centre in the south-western part of Berceni produces a local improvement in working accessibility but does not eliminate the wider functional deficit. The findings demonstrate the applicability of combining network-derived isochrones with H3-based spatial aggregation for neighbourhood-scale accessibility assessment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Planning for a Sustainable Future)

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35 pages, 10304 KB

Open AccessArticle

Composite Indicators of Housing Market Pressures: How Well Do Single and Composite Indicators Align?

by David Paul Gray

Land 2026, 15(9), 1727; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091727 - 16 Sep 2026

Abstract

A claim made in 2020 that ‘something has gone fundamentally wrong with the housing system [in England]’ is considered using a coupling coordination-generated local authority district-based housing market ‘evaluation’ index and a Principal Components-generated alternative. It is argued that there is too much [...] Read more.

A claim made in 2020 that ‘something has gone fundamentally wrong with the housing system [in England]’ is considered using a coupling coordination-generated local authority district-based housing market ‘evaluation’ index and a Principal Components-generated alternative. It is argued that there is too much latitude granted to researchers in how the coupling coordination index is generated and applied. Indeed, its very construction presents problems for the language around it. Concluding that there is a balance system can be a result of which index is examined and how elements are included. Balance in on index could be associated with imbalance in another. Despite these issues, the latter composite is found to be no more closely associated with other, later period composites of stress and contemporaneous direct measures of housing affordability than the former. Furthermore, the language around a crisis and failure is perhaps overstated. Funding bodies were permitted to increase the amount of lending at high ‘affordability’ ratios in 2025. More appropriate language around lending and affordability multiples should be developed. Issues concerned with land directly include projecting where additional housing should be targeted, and those estimates are compared with the 2024 ones. Also, data on land values are found to be relatively linked to housing stress in accord with the view that they are intertwined. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions)

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29 pages, 31304 KB

Open AccessArticle

Benchmarking Model Complexity for Short-Term Surrogate Forecasting of High-Resolution Urban WRF Outputs During an Extreme Heatwave in Chongqing

by Yanan Liu, Maoyuan Chai, Runjie Xie, Hong Li, Ruiqing Du and Bao-Jie He

Land 2026, 15(9), 1726; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091726 - 16 Sep 2026

Abstract

High-resolution urban Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) simulations resolve interactions among urban form, near-surface meteorology, atmospheric dynamics, and building-energy processes, but their computational cost limits repeated scenario analysis. This study compares eight pointwise temporal surrogates (Persistence, previous-day same-hour, Ridge, Random Forest, XGBoost, multilayer [...] Read more.

High-resolution urban Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) simulations resolve interactions among urban form, near-surface meteorology, atmospheric dynamics, and building-energy processes, but their computational cost limits repeated scenario analysis. This study compares eight pointwise temporal surrogates (Persistence, previous-day same-hour, Ridge, Random Forest, XGBoost, multilayer perceptron (MLP), gated recurrent unit (GRU), and long short-term memory (LSTM)) for recursive 24 h prediction of T₂, Q₂, W₁₀, and WRF-BEM diagnostic air-conditioning power density (AC) from a 120 h WRF-BEP/BEM-LCZ heatwave simulation over Chongqing. Model development used three expanding-window folds, fold-specific scaling, fixed monitoring cells, and five fixed seeds for stochastic families; the h97–h120 full-domain test remained untouched until all modeling choices had been finalized. Station comparisons provided a limited check on the physical plausibility of the WRF meteorological fields; AC was not validated against metered energy use. Model performance depended strongly on the target variable. Random Forest performed best for T₂ (1.081 ± 0.002 °C), LSTM for Q₂ (0.969 ± 0.063 g/kg), and MLP for AC (0.505 ± 0.187 W/m²), whereas deterministic Ridge was best for W₁₀ (1.095 m/s). W₁₀ had weaker temporal memory (median lag-1/lag-24 ACF 0.581/0.211). Ridge outperformed the Previous-day baseline for 75.0% of grid cells, although errors increased sharply in the top wind-speed decile and during rapid changes. For this single-event, single-city benchmark, recurrent models did not improve W10 accuracy over Ridge. Model choice depended on the target and the balance between accuracy, spatial fidelity, and computational cost; transfer to other events and meteorological regimes remains untested. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Advances in Low-Carbon, Climate-Resilient, and Sustainable Built Environment, 2nd Edition)

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31 pages, 4085 KB

Open AccessArticle

Coupling Mechanism and Driving Paths of the Spatial Differentiation of Tourism Attractions from the Perspective of Tourist Perception—A Case Study of Xinjiang, China

by Bahram Zikirya, Runnan Wu, Yixin Zhang, Yu He and Xiong He

Land 2026, 15(9), 1725; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091725 - 16 Sep 2026

Abstract

As the culture and tourism industry moves toward high-quality development, tourist perception has become a core dimension for measuring that quality. Most existing work on tourism spatial differentiation still looks at the supply side, and describes the pattern of tourism attractions. It pays [...] Read more.

As the culture and tourism industry moves toward high-quality development, tourist perception has become a core dimension for measuring that quality. Most existing work on tourism spatial differentiation still looks at the supply side, and describes the pattern of tourism attractions. It pays limited attention to how supply and demand couple with each other, and it offers little systematic evidence from large-scale, highly heterogeneous regions. This study combines multi-source tourism point data with review texts from Trip.com (hereafter, Trip) and Rednote (Xiaohongshu). Using RoBERTa-wwm, a pretrained Chinese language model with whole-word masking, together with a coupling-coordination model and the geographical detector, we analyze how the spatial differentiation of tourism attractions couples with tourist perception, and we trace the driving mechanism to land resources, tourism resources and socioeconomic conditions. The results show that tourist sentiment perception in Xinjiang forms a spatial pattern that is led by core cities and declines outward layer by layer, and the coupling coordination between the distribution of tourism attractions and tourist sentiment perception remains higher in the north and lower in the south. The two systems do not, however, follow a simple linear relation: infrastructure coverage emerges as the strongest correlate of coordination, whereas regional economy and population size explain it only weakly. This study therefore extends the demand-side perspective in research on tourism spatial differentiation, and it offers a scientific basis and a decision-making reference for large-scale regions that seek to optimize tourism spatial layout and to upgrade the industrial quality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Urban and Rural Planning for Tourism: Designing a Better Future for Residents)

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19 pages, 4107 KB

Open AccessArticle

Beyond the 15-Minute Circle: From Nominal Coverage to Effective and Equitable Access to Community Health Service Centers for Older Adults in Central Nanjing

by Tao Chen, Feng Wang, Tianhao Guo and Haolan Zhang

Land 2026, 15(9), 1724; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091724 - 16 Sep 2026

Abstract

Population aging has increased demand for walkable community healthcare for older adults. Using the six central districts of Nanjing as a case study, this study examines whether nominal 15 min access to community health service centers (CHSCs) translates into effective and equitable spatial [...] Read more.

Population aging has increased demand for walkable community healthcare for older adults. Using the six central districts of Nanjing as a case study, this study examines whether nominal 15 min access to community health service centers (CHSCs) translates into effective and equitable spatial access after accounting for pedestrian-network barriers, distance decay, and population competition. Based on the 2024 official CHSC roster (n = 60), a census-calibrated 100 m population grid, and an OpenStreetMap walking network, we computed walking times from 500 m hexagonal origins at 1.0 m/s. Binary coverage was compared with equal-supply Gaussian two-step floating catchment area accessibility, and population-weighted Lorenz–Gini measures were calculated overall and among covered older residents. Among 581,474 residents aged 65 years and older, only 28.1% could reach a CHSC within 15 min; 24.8% of covered residents fell below the first quartile of competition-adjusted accessibility. The weighted Gini coefficient was 0.861 overall and 0.506 among covered residents, and high-demand, low-effective areas contained 37.9% of the older population. Under the stated assumptions, the results indicate that nominal proximity overstates modeled equal-supply CHSC accessibility and that joint assessment of coverage, accessibility, conditional equity, and spatial typology can better screen areas for subsequent capacity audits, facility-siting assessment, or pedestrian-network improvement. Full article

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24 pages, 1521 KB

Open AccessArticle

AMF Propagule Status Beneath Pioneer Vegetation After Two Decades of Tropical Quarry Restoration

by Enny Widyati, Sugeng Budiharta, Hadi Suwono, Fatchur Rohman, Sadino Sadino, Ragil S. B. Irianto, Nina Mindawati, Wida Darwiati, Lincah Andadari, Marfuah Wardani, Titi Kalima, Mira Yulianti, Yunita Lisnawati, Reny Sawitri, Gunawan T. Pasaribu, Diana Prameswari, Helbert Helbert, Raden Garsetiasih, Dida Syamsuwida, Agus Ismanto, Titut Yulistyarini and Indra Fardhani Show full author list Hide full author list

Land 2026, 15(9), 1723; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091723 - 16 Sep 2026

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) support plant establishment and soil recovery in degraded lands, yet their long-term associations with vegetation in restored quarries remain poorly understood. This study quantified AMF spore density and genus-level occurrence in pioneer-plant rhizospheres at a cement quarry revegetated more [...] Read more.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) support plant establishment and soil recovery in degraded lands, yet their long-term associations with vegetation in restored quarries remain poorly understood. This study quantified AMF spore density and genus-level occurrence in pioneer-plant rhizospheres at a cement quarry revegetated more than two decades earlier. AMF infective potential was assessed using Pueraria javanica trap cultures. Relationships among AMF attributes, vegetation strata, rhizosphere flavonoids, and soil chemical properties were evaluated using mixed-effects, correlation, and multivariate analyses. Trap-culture colonization was high across tree-, shrub-, and herb-associated inocula, with no significant difference among vegetation strata. Spore density differed significantly among strata and was highest in herbaceous rhizospheres, including Imperata cylindrica, Cymbopogon citratus, and Themeda gigantea; Eupatorium odoratum also supported high density among shrubs. Available phosphorus was the only soil property that remained significantly associated with spore density after accounting for vegetation stratum and plant species. Exchangeable potassium and soil organic carbon were positively correlated with spore density but did not remain significantly associated in the adjusted models. Total flavonoids differed strongly among vegetation strata but were not significantly associated with field AMF spore density after adjustment for vegetation stratum and plant species and were not correlated with trap-culture colonization or genus richness. Glomus sensu lato was the most frequently detected taxon. Trap-culture colonization of 70–90% and the positive association between available phosphorus and field spore density suggest that AMF propagule metrics may serve as candidate indicators of belowground condition in long-term tropical quarry restoration. Full article

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26 pages, 20676 KB

Open AccessArticle

From Preservation to Transformation: Long-Term Locational Vitality Evolution and Multi-Scale Influencing Factors of Heritage Spaces in the Yangtze River Delta, China

by Zhihui Shen and Kaida Chen

Land 2026, 15(9), 1722; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091722 - 16 Sep 2026

Abstract

Heritage spaces are gradually transforming from traditional conservation objects into dynamic resources that promote urban regeneration and regional development. However, their long-term vitality changes and associated influencing factors remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates national-level heritage spaces in the Yangtze River Delta, including [...] Read more.

Heritage spaces are gradually transforming from traditional conservation objects into dynamic resources that promote urban regeneration and regional development. However, their long-term vitality changes and associated influencing factors remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates national-level heritage spaces in the Yangtze River Delta, including national-level historic and cultural blocks, historic and cultural towns, and tourism and leisure blocks. An analytical framework integrating nighttime light remote sensing data, economic development indicators, population characteristics, and spatial location conditions was established to examined long-term locational vitality changes (as reflected by nighttime light intensity), spatial differentiation, and associated influencing factors of heritage spaces. The results show that (1) from 2000 to 2022, national-level heritage spaces in the Yangtze River Delta exhibited an overall significant increase in nighttime light intensity, indicating positive locational dynamism during the study period, although substantial differences existed among individual sites; (2) different types of heritage spaces demonstrated significantly different nighttime light change patterns, with spatial distributions showing clustering characteristics mainly concentrated in core urban areas; and (3) the evolution of locational vitality of heritage spaces was jointly influenced by economic conditions and population characteristics. A stronger service-oriented economic structure was associated with greater vitality enhancement, while population-related factors exhibited scale-dependent associations. County-level population density showed a negative relationship with vitality growth, whereas local population density around heritage spaces was not statistically significant, suggesting that population concentration alone does not necessarily guarantee vitality improvement. This study reveals the locational vitality transformation of national-level heritage spaces from conservation toward adaptive development, as reflected by nighttime light changes, from a long-term dynamic perspective and establishes a multi-scale influencing factor analysis framework, providing theoretical support and empirical references for the classification, adaptive utilization, and sustainable development of heritage spaces. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Heritage Preservation as a Basis for Sustainable Development and Transformation of Historic Urban Landscapes (Second Edition))

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19 pages, 7345 KB

Open AccessArticle

Integrating Soil Compactness, Carbon Stocks, and Pieri-Index-Based Structural Vulnerability for Soil Quality Assessment Across Tropical Land-Use Systems

by Juan David Mahecha-Pulido, Juan Manuel Trujillo-González, Marco Aurelio Torres-Mora and Raimundo Jiménez-Ballesta

Land 2026, 15(9), 1721; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091721 - 16 Sep 2026

Abstract

Integrated assessments combining soil compactness, carbon storage, and structural vulnerability remain scarce in tropical soils of the Colombian Orinoquia. Soil physical condition was compared across natural forest (n = 21), secondary vegetation (n = 27), agricultural use (n = 12), [...] Read more.

Integrated assessments combining soil compactness, carbon storage, and structural vulnerability remain scarce in tropical soils of the Colombian Orinoquia. Soil physical condition was compared across natural forest (n = 21), secondary vegetation (n = 27), agricultural use (n = 12), and improved pastures (n = 67) in Arauca, Colombia, using stratified purposive sampling. The 127 samples from the 0–30 cm layer were analyzed for pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), bulk density, and particle-size distribution. Texture-adjusted packing density, fixed-depth SOC stock, and the Pieri index were calculated. Comparisons used Kruskal–Wallis and Dunn’s tests with Holm adjustment and epsilon-squared (ε²) effect sizes. Soil pH and texture did not differ among categories. SOC stock differed significantly (p = 0.001, ε² = 0.104), with a median of 56.5 Mg C ha⁻¹ in natural forest and 30.0–35.3 Mg C ha⁻¹ in the other categories. Higher SOC stock in natural forest coincided with higher SOC concentration despite lower bulk density, indicating that stock differences were associated with carbon concentration rather than texture. The Pieri index also differed (p = 0.002, ε² = 0.095), with lower inferred structural vulnerability in natural forest. Packing density showed a weaker association with land use (PD-R: p = 0.041, ε² = 0.043), with no significant pairwise differences after Holm adjustment. Because the study was cross-sectional and observational, these differences should not be interpreted as causal effects of land-use conversion. These findings indicate that management and restoration assessments should prioritize soil organic matter status while using compactness indicators to identify sites requiring further evaluation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Ecological Risk Assessment Based on LULC—Second Edition)

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31 pages, 10296 KB

Open AccessArticle

Farmers’ Livelihood Vulnerability Assessment and Formation Mechanism Considering Natural Disasters: A Case Study of Hehuang Valley

by Weiguo Fan, Jiahui Li, Nan Chen and Chengrou Li

Land 2026, 15(9), 1720; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091720 - 15 Sep 2026

Abstract

The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters attributable to climate change have placed growing pressure on farmers’ livelihoods in ecologically fragile areas. Reducing livelihood vulnerability and strengthening resilience are therefore essential for disaster risk reduction and sustainable development. Previous research has predominantly [...] Read more.

The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters attributable to climate change have placed growing pressure on farmers’ livelihoods in ecologically fragile areas. Reducing livelihood vulnerability and strengthening resilience are therefore essential for disaster risk reduction and sustainable development. Previous research has predominantly focused on assessing livelihood vulnerability and its influencing factors, leaving gaps in understanding regarding the formation mechanisms. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a framework based on exposure, sensitivity, and adaptability, drawing on survey data from 312 farmers in the Hehuang Valley. This research examined the characteristics of farmers’ livelihood vulnerability and employed structural equation modeling to explore its formation mechanism. Monte Carlo simulation was applied to assess how different scenarios affected the farmers’ livelihood vulnerability index (LVI). The LVI differed markedly across regions, age, education, and income. Pathway analysis identified a dual pattern of association from natural disasters to the LVI: they were positively associated with livelihood vulnerability through certain pathways while showing negative associations through other pathways that may reflect coping responses associated with reductions in the LVI. Within the formation mechanism, natural capital appeared more frequently in the long pathways from natural disasters to the LVI with negative action intensity, whereas housing security appeared more frequently in those with positive action intensity. Scenarios combining improvements in education and household income were associated with clear reductions in the LVI, irrespective of other variables. Accordingly, this study proposes measures to reduce livelihood vulnerability by lowering exposure and sensitivity while improving adaptability, thereby supporting resilience building and risk management in vulnerable areas. Full article

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20 pages, 3400 KB

Open AccessArticle

Short-Distance Variation of Carbon Stocks and Growing-Season Flux Components in Kola Tundra

by Denis Davydov, Vyacheslav Vasenev, Vladimir Myazin, Ekaterina Kopeina, Andrey Dolgikh, Natalia Shmakova and Maria Korneykova

Land 2026, 15(9), 1719; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091719 - 15 Sep 2026

Abstract

Carbon accounting in tundra ecosystems is constrained by spatial heterogeneity below conventional inventory scales. We quantified carbon (C) stocks and growing-season flux components across five 50 × 50 m plots within a 250 × 250 m lichen–dwarf shrub tundra site on the Kola [...] Read more.

Carbon accounting in tundra ecosystems is constrained by spatial heterogeneity below conventional inventory scales. We quantified carbon (C) stocks and growing-season flux components across five 50 × 50 m plots within a 250 × 250 m lichen–dwarf shrub tundra site on the Kola Peninsula, Russia. The study included 15 soil profiles, 15 biomass quadrats, and 30 permanent soil-respiration collars measured on seven dates. Biomass, litter, soil chemical and microbial properties, respiration, temperature, and moisture were assessed across contrasting microrelief positions and Podzol groups. Total standing C pools ranged from 10.8 to 26.0 kg C m⁻² among plots (mean ± SD: 15.8 ± 6.1 kg C m⁻²), with soil contributing 60–85%. Stagnic Podzols in local depressions had the largest organic-horizon C stocks, whereas deeper and better-drained profiles stored a larger fraction in mineral horizons. A repeated-measures linear mixed-effects model with a collar-level random intercept and continuous temporal autocorrelation showed that soil temperature improved the fit to log-transformed soil CO₂ efflux (likelihood-ratio statistic = 55.54, p < 0.0001). The evidence for an additional linear moisture effect was weak (p = 0.079), and the temperature × moisture interaction was unsupported (p = 0.932). Scenario-based growing-season heterotrophic C efflux ranged from 41 to 52, 48 to 62, and 59 to 76 g C m⁻² for Rh/Rs fractions of 0.45, 0.53, and 0.65, respectively. The results support stratification by coupled microrelief–soil–vegetation units for local inventories, while broader inference requires independent replication and year-round flux measurements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Cycling and Carbon Sequestration in Wetlands)

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20 pages, 9269 KB

Open AccessArticle

An Integrated Framework for the Effectiveness Assessment of Major Function-Oriented Zoning Based on the Dynamic Supply–Demand Relationship of Ecological Resources: A Case Study of Hunan Province, China

by Yinghang Yang, Huimin Yan, Tian He, Xiaozhi Xiang, Zhiqi Yang and Wenpeng Du

Land 2026, 15(9), 1718; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15091718 - 15 Sep 2026

Abstract

Major function-oriented zoning is a comprehensive policy designed to promote coordinated development through rational resource flows between regions in China. However, previous effectiveness assessments of major function-oriented zones have largely neglected the interrelationships and complementarity among different functional zones. To address this gap, [...] Read more.

Major function-oriented zoning is a comprehensive policy designed to promote coordinated development through rational resource flows between regions in China. However, previous effectiveness assessments of major function-oriented zones have largely neglected the interrelationships and complementarity among different functional zones. To address this gap, this study developed a framework for assessing the effectiveness of major function-oriented zoning by identifying the dynamic supply–demand characteristics of ecological resources and matching major targeted functions with these characteristics to formulate differentiated assessment standards. Empirical results from Hunan Province showed that 62 counties achieved their goals in 2020 (accounting for 50.82%), an increase of 10 counties since 2010. The number of urbanized regions achieving their goals nearly tripled during 2010–2020, indicating that urbanized regions approached their expected functional characteristics markedly faster than the other two zone types. However, the goal-achievement status of key ecological functional regions and main agricultural production regions remained relatively stable over the same period. Most importantly, statistically significant differences existed between goal-achieving and non-achieving counties in the traditional indicators reflecting their major functions; for example, the urbanization rate of goal-achieving urbanized regions was significantly higher than that of non-achieving ones, indirectly verifying the validity and practicality of the proposed framework. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human–Environment Interactions in Land Use and Regional Development)

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