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Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development—2nd Edition

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A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Architectural Design, Urban Science, and Real Estate".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 9821

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Xia Zhang

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Guest Editor

School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430070, China
Interests: environment phycology; environment behavior; public space; urban design; space–time behavior analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Hui He

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Archtecture and Urban Planning, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074,China
Interests: environment behavior; public space; urban planning; urban design; healing environment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a follow-up of the first Special Issue, entitled “Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/buildings/special_issues/517PHPFOLF), published in Buildings.

The built environment is closely related to human health. Currently, people requirements for high-quality urban environments and architectural spaces are increasing . The relationship between the built environment and human health has become urgently necessary to elucidate.

In existing research, numerous achievements have been made regarding the impact of environmental pollution and physical quality on health physiological indicators. The impact of the environment on users' living habits and behavioral patterns also clearly determines people's physical and mental health.

This Special Issue focuses on the concept of all-health, focusing on new theories, new technologies, new methods and innovative applications of various built environment and health indicator measurements and analyses, and focusing on the comprehensive promotion of the built environment in user health issues. Topics include but are not limited to the following:

Healthy buildings;
Healthy community;
Healing space;
Urban active space;
Healthy environments for particular populations (e.g., the elderly, children, and people with social anxiety);
Health-promoting behavior.

Prof. Dr. Xia Zhang
Prof. Dr. Hui He
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

built environment
environment behavior
healthy building
healthy city
healing environment
environment phycology
health-promoting behavior
health-supporting environment

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Related Special Issue

Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development in Buildings (18 articles)

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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33 pages, 4151 KB

Open AccessArticle

From Behavioral Characteristics to Spatiotemporal Structures: Identifying Urban Active-Healthy Walking Support Types and Their Environmental Determinants

by Yuan Li, Qing-Hao Zhang, Liang Guo, Wen-Ping Liu and Hui He

Buildings 2026, 16(6), 1182; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16061182 - 17 Mar 2026

Viewed by 395

Abstract

From an active-health perspective, regular walking is a key pathway for mitigating chronic disease risks and promoting sustained health benefits. Existing studies have primarily assessed urban walkability using static or aggregated measures of walking intensity, which insufficiently capture the capacity of urban spaces to continuously support walking behavior over time. This study aims to identify urban walking support types by incorporating the temporal structure of walking behavior beyond intensity alone. Crowdsourced walking trajectory data are used to construct a multidimensional behavioral indicator system integrating walking intensity, temporal stability, and rhythmic characteristics over an annual period. An unsupervised clustering framework combining nonlinear dimensionality reduction and density-based clustering is applied to identify distinct walking support types, while interpretable machine-learning models are employed to examine the relative roles of built-environment factors in differentiating these types. The results indicate that urban walking support does not vary continuously along a single intensity dimension but instead forms discrete spatial types shaped by multiple behavioral temporal characteristics. These types exhibit clear differences in temporal walking structures and associated environmental constraints. By emphasizing behavioral temporal stability and rhythm, this study provides a process-oriented understanding of urban walking support and supports typology-based spatial identification beyond intensity-based assessments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development—2nd Edition)

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25 pages, 6030 KB

Open AccessArticle

Co-Creating Restorative Urban Public Parks: Integrating Attention Restoration Theory and Urban Public Space Design Criteria: A Case Study in Erbil City

by Sweyda Abdullah Azeez and Zenab Kassim Majid

Buildings 2026, 16(4), 769; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16040769 - 13 Feb 2026

Viewed by 518

Abstract

Urban parks play a crucial role in shaping the well-being of the community. This study integrated environmental psychology and co-creation to develop psychologically informed park design. It examined users’ psychological reactions to urban parks to establish a theoretically grounded framework for participatory design. Hence, this study integrated Attention Restorative Theory (ART) with co-creation approaches to provide conceptual clarity on translating psychological constructs into design criteria. The primary objective was to identify and rank design criteria within this integrated framework to meet user psychological demands. Also, it is hypothesized that ART could be applied through a co-creation approach. Specifically, this study administered ART scale questionnaires to 202 community members in Erbil City, and the data were analyzed using statistical analysis to provide empirical evidence for incorporating these psychological dimensions into the co-creation process. The findings reveal that validated measurement of community needs enhances participatory design effectiveness. Furthermore, the high inter-factor correlations (r = 0.79–0.88) suggest that holistic design approaches address multiple restorative dimensions simultaneously. Overall, this research demonstrates how environmental psychology can be systematically integrated into co-creation processes, thereby bridging theory and practice in urban park design. The validated framework provides practitioners with evidence-based tools for psychologically informed participatory design environments that can activate users mentally and improve cognitive function. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development—2nd Edition)

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25 pages, 4141 KB

Open AccessArticle

Investigating the Influence Patterns of the Built Environment on Residents’ Self-Rated Health: An Interpretable Machine Learning Approach

by Ying Ding, Hui He, Yuan Li, Xin-Yue Zhao, Han Zhang and Tong Zhang

Buildings 2026, 16(1), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16010066 - 23 Dec 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 652

Abstract

With the acceleration of urbanization, the impact of built community environments on residents’ health has emerged as a research focus in urban geography and public health. This study examines 25 representative communities in Wuhan, China, employing a combination of questionnaire surveys and multi-source geospatial data. It systematically analyzes the influence patterns of built environment characteristics on residents’ self-rated health from dual perspectives: subjective perception and objective measurement. The XGBoost model was employed to achieve nonlinear fitting and prediction of residents’ self-rated health, while the SHAP method was introduced to interpret model outputs, identifying key environmental factors and their complex effect patterns. The results show that the built environment and health exhibit significant nonlinear relationships, with XGBoost outperforming other models. Residents’ health perception is jointly influenced by subjective and objective factors, with satisfaction with commercial services contributing most. Key environmental elements display threshold effects, indicating that excessive mixing may not further improve health. Furthermore, complex local interactions exist, where good transport accessibility enhances the health benefits of medical facilities and green spaces. This study demonstrates the applicability of interpretable machine learning in health geography, thus providing scientific guidance for health-oriented community planning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development—2nd Edition)

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20 pages, 1362 KB

Open AccessArticle

Study on Factors Influencing Residents’ Participation in Public Space Improvement Projects for Sustainable Built Environment

by Qi Luo, Dan Li, Yongqi Guo and Huihua Chen

Buildings 2025, 15(23), 4317; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15234317 - 27 Nov 2025

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1319

Abstract

With the rapid pace of urbanization, the public-interest renovation of community spaces has emerged as a critical focus in urban planning and community development. These public spaces not only support residents’ daily activities, social interactions, and cultural endeavors but also play a vital role in shaping their quality of life and fostering community cohesion. The willingness of residents to participate in such renovation projects significantly impacts the effectiveness and success of these initiatives. This study offers a comprehensive review of both domestic and international literature, synthesizing insights from behavioral science and social psychology. It identifies four key categories of factors that influence residents’ willingness to engage in public-interest renovation efforts: external environment, project attributes, residents’ subjective perceptions, and demographic characteristics. Based on this framework, sixteen secondary indicators were selected to construct a model explaining these factors. Drawing on established measurement scales and expert interviews, a survey instrument was developed for data collection. The data, gathered through questionnaire surveys, were analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the study hypotheses. The results revealed several significant findings: Among demographic factors, age, household size, and family structure were the primary differentiators of participation willingness. In terms of project attributes, comfort, openness, and sensory appeal were found to positively influence participation. External environmental factors, including policies, social atmosphere, and available information, indirectly impacted participation through residents’ perceptions. Furthermore, residents’ subjective perceptions, such as perceived usefulness and overall attitude, had direct positive effects on their willingness to participate. These findings contribute valuable insights to the field of urban sustainable development and the long-term viability of community spaces. They also provide actionable recommendations for community managers to develop targeted renovation and governance strategies that effectively engage residents. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development—2nd Edition)

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22 pages, 2236 KB

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of the Built Environment on Urban Residents’ Physical Activity in Tropical Coastal Regions

by Liwei Zhu, Lin Jiang and Yilin Jiang

Buildings 2025, 15(23), 4289; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15234289 - 26 Nov 2025

Viewed by 981

Abstract

This study aims to analyze how the built environment influences urban residents’ physical activity in tropical coastal regions, and to identify the relative weights of key environmental factors. Through semi-structured interviews with 31 residents in Hainan, China, and qualitative analysis using NVivo 14, five core categories influencing physical activity were identified. A conceptual model with the built environment as its central node was then developed to elucidate the interrelationships among these categories. To further weight the sub-categories, a follow-up Analytic Hierarchy Process survey was conducted with 12 experts. Integrating the two stages, it was found that the safety and site conditions are prerequisite conditions to ensure residents’ physical activity. On this basis, residents have the strongest perception of the incentive effect of site conditions and landscape. The findings provide a theoretical basis and practical reference for systematically evaluating the impact of the built environment on residents’ health and well-being, and offer guidance for planning and designing health-promoting places in tropical regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development—2nd Edition)

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24 pages, 4714 KB

Open AccessArticle

Shaping Built Environments for Health-Oriented Physical Activity: Evidence from Outdoor Exercise in Dongguan, China

by Chao Ge, Fan Yang, Hui Wang and Linxi Xu

Buildings 2025, 15(16), 2812; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15162812 - 8 Aug 2025

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1671

Abstract

Physical activity plays a vital role in promoting public health. Among its various forms, outdoor exercise offers combined physical and mental health benefits. However, the spatial patterns and underlying drivers of outdoor exercise remain underexplored in rapidly urbanizing areas. Based on 15,880 app-tracked trajectories from 723 individuals, this study investigates running, walking, and cycling patterns across 130 communities in Southern Dongguan. Results reveal three key findings. First, different types of outdoor exercise show distinct spatial patterns: running is common in urban centers, walking is concentrated around natural landscapes, and cycling follows cross-regional networks. Second, natural and built environmental features shape outdoor exercise behavior. Waterfront continuity promotes participation, while residential areas support walking. In contrast, manufacturing zones inhibit participation due to environmental degradation. Socioeconomic factors also influence participation by enhancing the grassroots governance capacity. Third, spatial spillover effects significantly shape cycling patterns, and traditional models that ignore spatial dependence underestimate environmental impacts. These findings provide new insights into how the combined influence of artificial and natural environments shapes outdoor exercise in rapidly urbanizing cities. They also reveal the distinctive role of grassroots governance with state support in China, offering valuable lessons for other fast-growing urban regions worldwide. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development—2nd Edition)

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27 pages, 3772 KB

Open AccessArticle

Synergistic Drive Between Local Knowledge and Landscape Design: Construction and Empirical Evidence of Landscape Design In-Situ Evaluation System for Forest Health Bases

by Ya Chen, Yangtian Ye and Yun Ye

Buildings 2025, 15(11), 1917; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15111917 - 2 Jun 2025

Viewed by 885

Abstract

This study explores the intersection of landscape design and ecosystem services, emphasising context-sensitive design and the integration of indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) in forest health bases. Current challenges include disconnects between design practices and local cultural identity, as well as insufficient ecological integration, necessitating systematic approaches that harmonise ecological functions with sociocultural values. While existing research prioritises health benefit assessments, the role of ILK in long-term sustainability remains underexplored. To address this gap, we developed a multidimensional evaluation system integrating ecological, cultural, community, and human health indicators. Using a hybrid Delphi–Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), we identified 33 core indicators through literature word-frequency analysis. These indicators were refined via two rounds of expert surveys involving 48 interdisciplinary scholars and empirically validated at the Yuping Mountain Forest Health Base in Sichuan, China. The case study achieved an overall score of 4.371 (Grade I), with “Site location” (weight 0.064) and “Maintenance of the human landscape” (weight 0.056) as pivotal factors. ILK integration enhanced ecological resilience and community cultural engagement. Quantitative data revealed strong performance in five senses of experience (weight 0.056), though cultural resource utilisation requires refinement. The innovation of this study is that it is the first to construct an ILK-driven assessment framework to achieve the deep integration of scientific quantification and local wisdom. The study provides a decision-making tool that is both humanistic and scientific, in order to promote the synergistic development of human health, ecological protection, and cultural heritage and to help sustainable landscape design practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development—2nd Edition)

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20 pages, 2468 KB

Open AccessArticle

Development of a Built Environment–Self-Efficacy–Activity Engagement–Self-Rated Health Model for Older Adults in Urban Residential Areas

by Chendi Wang, Fangyi Chen, Yujie Lin, Shaohua Qiang and Jingsong Sun

Buildings 2025, 15(10), 1660; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15101660 - 15 May 2025

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1910

Abstract

The aging population has posed significant challenges to the built environment (BE) in urban residential areas, particularly in addressing older adults’ activity and health needs. Understanding how the BE influences older adults’ activity and health is crucial for promoting active and healthy aging. This study explored the interactions among the BE, self-efficacy (SE), activity engagement (AE), and self-rated health (SH) for older adults in urban residential areas. A random sampling technique selected 372 older adults residing in urban residential areas to participate in the questionnaire survey. Spearman correlation and hierarchical regression analysis were used to develop the BE-SE-AE-SH model for older people based on social cognitive theory. Accessibility, land use mix, and street connectivity affect activity engagement by influencing older persons’ walking and self-care abilities. Land use mix discourages walking ability and activity engagement, while esthetics encourages activity engagement. Land use mix, street connectivity, transportation, walking ability, self-care ability, and activity engagement enhance older adults’ self-rated health. Practical recommendations for age-friendly urban residential areas include the following: (1) optimize elevators and footpaths; (2) decentralize small businesses and create multi-use parking; (3) shorten crossings and enhance pavements; (4) add natural and humanistic elements; (5) limit car speed and install traffic signals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development—2nd Edition)

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33 pages, 8815 KB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Towards a Synergistic Design Framework for Health-Promoting Schools in Hot and Humid Climates: A Systematic Review

by Qinghua Lei, Shanjing Huang, Jiucheng Di and Jun Wu

Buildings 2026, 16(3), 508; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16030508 - 26 Jan 2026

Viewed by 674

Abstract

Children and adolescents in hot and humid climates face increasing health risks due to climate change. Although the concept of Health-Promoting Schools (HPSs) is widely recognized, a systematic framework that integrates climate adaptability, child-specific needs, and multidimensional environmental design is still lacking. To address this gap, this study conducted a systematic literature review of 89 publications with three objectives: (1) synthesize research from the past decade on the impact of school physical environments on the health and academic performance of children and adolescents; (2) develop an evidence-based synergistic design framework with a categorized indicator system; and (3) integrate qualitative and quantitative evidence on how these indicators influence different health dimensions. The resulting framework emphasizes multidimensional, synergistic optimization and provides climate-responsive design strategies tailored to educational settings in hot and humid regions. By offering a theory-to-practice pathway, the framework complements existing healthy building guidelines for K–12 schools and supports designers and policymakers in creating environments that enhance thermal resilience, cognitive performance, and holistic child development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Healthy Environment Design in Urban Development—2nd Edition)

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