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Land

Land is an international, cross-disciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access journal on land system science, landscape, soil and water, urban study, land–climate interactions, water–energy–land–food (WELF) nexus, biodiversity research and health nexus, land modelling and data processing, ecosystem services, multifunctionality and sustainability, and is published monthly online by MDPI.
The International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE), European Land-use Institute (ELI), Landscape Institute (LI) and Urban Land Institute (ULI) are affiliated with Land, and their members receive discounts on the article processing charges.
Quartile Ranking JCR - Q2 (Environmental Studies)

All Articles (11,852)

Urban health, well-being, and equity—core objectives of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 3, 10, and 11)—have become key themes in contemporary urban planning research and landscape research. While existing studies focus predominantly on quantitative assessment, environmental exposure, and human mobility, the historical origins of health-oriented urban green space planning remain insufficiently explored. Focusing on Lingnan area as a representative case, this research investigates the emergence of public green space in late Qing cities and its early contributions to urban health and spatial governance. Through a systematic examination of American and British Gardens at the Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou, the planned public green space system of the Shameen concession, and the municipal greening practices of neighboring Hong Kong and Macao, the study further analyzes Zhang Zhidong’s tree-lined boulevard project along Changdi avenue as a key instance of localized institutional adaptation. Drawing on late-Qing and Republican newspapers, nineteenth-century Western travelogs and reports, historical and contemporary studies and photo albums, the study finds the following: (1) the American and British Gardens marked the earliest emergence of health-oriented urban green space in Lingnan area; (2) the systematically planned green space network of the Shameen concession constituted a prototypical form of health-oriented urban green space planning; (3) the botanical gardens, street-tree systems, public parks, and institutionalized management practices in Hong Kong and Macao exerted a strong regional demonstrative influence on Guangzhou; (4) the street-tree planting along Changdi Avenue represented a localized absorption of foreign planning paradigms and marked the institutionalization of municipal greening in Guangzhou. Although these early practices did not yet form a modern healthy city planning framework at that time, they played a crucial role in improving urban sanitation, enhancing public space quality, and shaping urban order. By tracing the historical trajectory from transnational demonstration to local adaptation and institutional consolihdation, this study provides new insights into the historical foundations of health-oriented urban planning in China and contributes a long-term perspective to contemporary debates on healthy cities and nature-based urban interventions.

24 December 2025

Historical Photographs. (a) Thirteen Factories Commercial House Plan (Source: The transformation of the five ports’ trade relations, 2006); (b) Thirteen Factories’ American garden, 1844–1845 (Source: Pearl River landscape: Macao, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, 2002); (c) Thirteen Factories’ American and British gardens east view (Source: Pearl River landscape: Macau, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, 2002); (d) Map of the Shameen Concession (Source: Idaho-national-engineering-laborator); (e) Shameen Concession’ waterfront green walkway (Source: Harvard University Yenching Library, photographic album compiled by Anna D. Drew, Canton, 1893); (f) Public green space in front of the Shameen Concession (Source: Harvard University Yenching Library, photographic album compiled by Anna D. Drew, Canton, 1893); (g) The central green avenue in Shameen Concession (Source: Harvard University Yenching Library, photographic album compiled by Anna D. Drew, Canton, 1893); (h) Public Garden in Shameen Concession (Source: Harvard University Yenching Library, photographic album compiled by Anna D. Drew, Canton, 1893); (i) Athletes and spectators at the Shameen Grass Field (Source: Harvard University Yenching Library, photographic album compiled by Anna D. Drew, Canton, 1893); (j) The trees in Shameen Concession (Source: Mouillesaux de Bernières, 36 photo de Kiou-kiang et de Canton); (k) The Public Garden in the British Concession of Shameen (Source: Victoria State Library, Australia); (l) Anglican Church in Shameen Concession (Source: Harvard University Yenching Library, photographic album compiled by Anna D. Drew, Canton, 1893); (m) Architectural Plan of Dashatou in 1914 (Source: The Urban Fabric of Wuyang City—Guangzhou’s Urban Development, 1911–1949); (n) Hong Kong Public Garden, 1870 (Source: The Getty Research Institute); (o) Hong Kong Public Gardens, 1870s (Source: The Getty Research Institute); (p) A bird’s-eye view of Hong Kong and its surrounding landscape (Source: The Getty Research Institute); (q) The Scene of Macao South Bay in the Early 18th Century (Source: A Sailor in Macau: 1903 Travel Album); (r) Schematic diagram of the cross-sectional design of Zhang Zhidong’s long tunnel (Source: Drawing by Peng Changxin); (s) The Changdi avenue in the 1920s (Source: Yale Divinity School Library); (t) Baiyun Road in the 1920s (Source: Searching for Old Guangzhou).

China’s coastal wetlands play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and providing essential ecosystem services. However, the absence of high-resolution wetland type maps poses substantial challenges for effective conservation and management. This study proposes a two-step classification framework that integrates pixel-based Random Forest algorithms with object-based hierarchical decision trees, utilizing Landsat-8 time-series imagery to generate a detailed wetland map comprising 10 wetland types and 5 non-wetland categories. The results reveal distinct spatial patterns along China’s coastline: freshwater wetlands and riverine systems dominate the northern regions, whereas southern coastal zones feature extensive tidal flats, aquaculture ponds, and mangrove ecosystems. The proposed method achieved an overall accuracy of 89.76% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.891, demonstrating its effectiveness for large-scale wetland mapping. This study provides robust technical support for the sustainable conservation and ecological management of coastal wetlands.

24 December 2025

Current passive microwave satellites like SMAP still face limitations in observational frequency and responsiveness in regions with frequent cloud cover, dense vegetation, or complex terrain, making it difficult to achieve continuous global monitoring with high spatio-temporal resolution. To enhance global high-frequency monitoring capabilities, this study utilizes global reflectivity data provided by the Tianmu-1 (TM-1) constellation since 2023, combined with multiple auxiliary variables, including NDVI, VWC, precipitation, and elevation, to develop a 9 km resolution soil moisture retrieval model. Several spatial clustering and temporal partitioning strategies are incorporated for systematic evaluation. Additionally, since the publicly available TM-1 L1 reflectivity data does not provide separable polarization channels, this study uses DDM/specular point reflectivity as the primary observable quantity for modeling and mitigates non-soil factor interference by introducing multi-source priors such as NDVI, VWC, precipitation, terrain, and roughness. Unlike SMAP’s “single orbit daily fixed local time” observation mode, TM-1, leveraging multi-constellation and multi-orbit reflection geometry, offers more balanced temporal sampling and availability in cloudy, rainy, and mid-to-high latitude regions. This enables temporal gap filling and rapid event response (such as moisture transitions within hours after precipitation events) during periods of SMAP’s quality masking or intermittent data loss. Results indicate that the model combining LC-cluster with seasonal partitioning delivers the best performance at the cluster level, achieving a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.8155 and an unbiased RMSE (ubRMSE) of 0.0689 cm3/cm3, with a particularly strong performance in barren and shrub ecosystems. Comparisons with SMAP and ISMN datasets show that TM-1 is consistent with mainstream products in trend tracking and systematic error control, providing valuable support for global and high-latitude studies of dynamic hydrothermal processes due to its more balanced mid- and high-latitude orbital coverage.

24 December 2025

Current urban green volume quantity and equity evaluations primarily rely on two-dimensional (2D) indicators that capture the planar distribution characteristics but overlook vertical structure variations. This study constructed a three-dimensional (3D) evaluation system for green volume quantity and equity by introducing Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients. Using multi-source data, including a 10 m global vegetation canopy height dataset, land cover, and population distribution data, an automated calculation workflow was established in ArcGIS Model Builder. Focusing on regional and neighborhood scales, this study calculates and analyzes two-dimensional green volume (2DGV) and three-dimensional green volume (3DGV) indicators, along with the spatial equity for 413 Chinese cities and residential and commercial areas of Wuhan, Suzhou, and Bazhong. Meanwhile, a green volume quantity and equity type classification method was established. The results indicated that 3DGV exhibits regional variations, while Low 2DGV–Low 3DGV cities have the highest proportion. Green volume in built-up areas showed a balanced distribution, while park green spaces exhibited 2DGV Equitable Only. At the neighborhood scale, residential areas demonstrated higher green volume equity than commercial areas, but most neighborhood areas’ indicators showed low and imbalanced distribution. The proposed 2DGV and 3DGV evaluation method could provide a reference framework for optimizing urban space.

23 December 2025

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Ecological and Cultural Ecosystem Services in Coastal Areas
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Ecological and Cultural Ecosystem Services in Coastal Areas

Editors: Mita Drius, Maria Laura Carranza, Robert Philipp Wagensommer

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Land - ISSN 2073-445X