Search Results (56)

Urban parks, as ubiquitous spaces, are vital in enhancing people’s quality of life owing to their significant ecological benefits. However, urban parks have not achieved full age inclusivity, failing in particular to prioritize the youth demographic. Against this background, this study focused on college students as a representative youth group. Grounded in Symbolic Interactionism theory and employing structural equation modeling (SEM) for data analysis, it evaluated how young people’s perceptions of urban parks correlate with recommendation intentions through place attachment. The results showed the following: (1) beyond the natural perceptions of a park, perceptions about activities and facilities are significantly positively associated with recommendation intentions; (2) perceptions of nature, activities, and facilities correlate markedly and positively with place dependence, and perceptions of nature, activities, and facilities correlate markedly and positively with place identification; and (3) place attachment and place identification exerted chained mediating effects between perceptions of urban parks and recommendation intentions. These results provide implications for planners and designers to upgrade the internal symbols of public facilities, such as urban parks, and offer practical value for deepening interactions with the youth group. Full article

Post-industrial waterfront regeneration can improve environmental quality and public space, but it may also produce green gentrification and unequal access to regeneration benefits. To support socially responsive planning evaluation, this study examines how green gentrification is spatially manifested and how residents perceive and support waterfront green space development in Shanghai’s Yangpu Riverside. A sequential mixed-methods design combines census, housing price, and green space data from 2000 to 2020 with 317 resident questionnaires. The study identifies socio-spatial changes associated with green gentrification, cross-culturally adapts and validates the Gentrification Worldview Instrument (GWI), and examines the associations among gentrification worldviews, place attachment, and support for green space development. Results show no statistically significant relative acceleration in housing price growth in near-waterfront neighborhoods during the regeneration period, but reveal an expanding housing price premium, educational upgrading, and population decline. These patterns are consistent with a spatially differentiated tendency toward green gentrification embedded in the broader state-led waterfront regeneration process, rather than demonstrating an independent effect of greenbelt construction. The Chinese-adapted GWI retains the three dimensions of neighborhood preservation, development support, and social integration. Among surveyed residents, development support and place identity are positively associated with support for waterfront green space development, whereas neighborhood preservation is negatively associated with support. The results further indicate a statistical mediation pattern in which place identity forms a significant indirect association between development support and support for green space development. The findings provide an evidence-based framework for evaluating inclusive waterfront regeneration and suggest that planning and design should integrate green space accessibility, local memory, residents’ perceptions, and social equity. Full article

Urban green spaces (UGSs) are considered crucial for enhancing older adults’ subjective well-being. However, limited studies have explored the synergistic effects of UGS quality and quantity on satisfaction across green spaces, residential environments, and life domains, making it challenging to uncover the multifaceted sustainable benefits of UGSs on older adults’ subjective well-being. This study drew on multi-source data and place attachment theory to depict neighborhood-accessible UGS quantity (provision, accessibility, and visibility) and quality (cognition, behavior, and affect). Through the geographical visualization of bivariate SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) interaction values extracted from the trained eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model, and the comparison of bivariate SHAP maps with univariate SHAP maps, the study revealed the nonlinear geographic associations between UGS quantity and quality and three types of satisfaction. The results showed that when UGS quantity and quality coexisted, variations in the impact of quantity on older adults’ satisfaction were associated with quality differences. The gain effect of quality on quantity was more significant in areas with limited green space within a 500 m buffer zone. UGSs made a direct contribution to green space satisfaction, while their indirect association with life satisfaction surpassed that of residential satisfaction due to their provision of emotional qualities. This study calls for neighborhood green planning aimed at improving older adults’ subjective well-being, which should shift focus from quantity to quality and balance the relationship between quantity and quality based on regional characteristics. Full article

Background/Objectives: Although urban greening interventions are increasingly implemented to improve livability, environmental quality, and adaptation capacity in cities, their evaluation still predominantly relies on physical outputs rather than validated, resident-centered outcomes. This study examined whether the five-item attachment dimension of the Urban Green Attachment Scale (UGAS) can reliably indicate the social integration of newly introduced greenery in an SDG 11-oriented evaluation context. The present adaptation of the UGAS captures the perceived importance of the planting, its contribution to well-being, anticipated loss, willingness to protect it, and aesthetic appreciation. Methods: Data were collected through two independent face-to-face surveys conducted among residents of the same housing estate shortly after a greening intervention in May 2025 (n = 150) and September 2025 (n = 191). The first sample was used for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the second for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω; inter-item associations were estimated using Kendall’s tau-b; and construct validity was examined through known-groups comparisons with theoretically relevant appraisals and stewardship-related indicators. Results: The adapted UGAS demonstrated high internal consistency, low floor and ceiling effects, and moderate to strong inter-item associations. Exploratory factor analysis supported a unidimensional solution with high loadings and 65.7% explained variance, and confirmatory factor analysis corroborated this structure after minor, theory-guided localized refinements. Higher UGAS scores were consistently observed among residents who reported stronger calming and home-related effects, perceived healthier local conditions, expressed willingness to help care for the plants, and demonstrated a readiness to cooperate in improving the area. Conclusions: The results support the five-item UGAS attachment score as a compact, psychometrically adequate measure of residents’ attachment to newly planted urban greenery. Rather than replacing official SDG indicators, the UGAS can complement them at the project level by determining if urban greening becomes socially meaningful and accepted and if it supports stewardship. In this sense, UGAS offers municipalities a practical tool for linking physical greening outputs with resident-centered outcomes relevant to inclusive public spaces, participatory urban development, and the long-term social durability of urban greening interventions. Full article

This study developed a comprehensive framework integrating ecosystem services (ESs), ecological adaptability, and ornamental value to guide tree species selection in historic cities constrained by soil salinization and subsurface heritage conservation. Taking Kaifeng, Henan Province, as a case study, we employed field surveys, i-Tree Eco, the Analytic Hierarchy Process, and K-means clustering to evaluate trees across protective, park, attached, and square green spaces. Results showed that carbon-related services dominated Kaifeng’s urban ES profile, with carbon storage (CS) and sequestration (CSE) value densities of 9.09 ¥·m⁻² and 0.84 ¥·m⁻²·y⁻¹, respectively. Air pollutant removal (AR) (0.21 ¥·m⁻²·y⁻¹) and P (0.009 ¥·m⁻²·y⁻¹) values remained comparatively low. Camphora officinarum Nees ex Wall delivered the highest annual ES value per tree (33.24 ¥·y⁻¹). Plaza greenery outperformed other space types in overall service provision, and deciduous broadleaf species generated greater ES value than evergreen conifers. Cluster analysis identified four functional groups: stress-tolerant pioneers, balanced adapters, high-efficiency carbon sinks, and ornamental specialists—each suited to specific green space contexts. This integrated framework offers a transferable approach for evidence-based tree selection in saline historic cities, supporting nature-based solutions in urban green space (UGS) planning. Full article

Land transition in China has led to the emergence of highly heterogeneous neighborhoods. This process challenges the social sustainability of public green spaces. This research investigates the driving mechanisms of place attachment within green space across diverse community typologies in Beijing. This study constructed a structural equation model (SEM) based on 626 valid questionnaires, using the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework. The overall SEM results indicate that place identity significantly contributes to civic behavior (β = 0.439, p < 0.001). However, a persistent ‘value-action’ gap remains, with 65.81% of residents demonstrating high identity yet low participation. Furthermore, the multi-group analysis (MGA) reveals that place attachment logic diverges significantly across groups. Regarding user identity, public events promote visitors’ place identity, but this effect remains insignificant among residents (β = −0.064, p > 0.05). Regarding generational differences, the macro-spatial environment is significantly associated with place dependence for young people (β = 0.330, p < 0.001) but is insignificant for the elderly. Community heterogeneity reveals distinct failure modes. In commodity housing communities, a disconnect exists where daily usage fails to foster dependence (β = 0.026, p > 0.05). Conversely, urban–rural resettlement communities display an identity deficit where public events fail to translate into place identity (β = 0.131, p > 0.05). The study proposes differentiated renewal pathways tailored to three community types. For commercial housing communities, it advocates precise interventions that prioritize social engagement. Meanwhile, for urban–rural resettlement communities, the focus shifts to accessibility and culturally rooted activities to help reconnect displaced populations. Full article

Cultural heritage can strengthen urban resilience when mobilized as educational infrastructure that builds stewardship, place attachment, and civic agency. This study examines whether the Art Nouveau Path, an outdoor mobile augmented reality heritage game in Aveiro, Portugal, can function as a curriculum-aligned pathway for sustainability competences and resilience-relevant meaning-making in formal education. A curriculum translation matrix mapped eight points of interest and 36 tasks to Portuguese curriculum anchors, Education for Sustainability themes, GreenComp sustainability competences, and the Sustainable Development Goals, framing the matrix as an adoption-oriented design artefact. Empirical evidence comprised accompanying teachers’ in-field observations (T2-OBS; N = 24 across 18 sessions) and students’ post-activity survey data (S2-POST; N = 439), with open-ended reflections coded through a directed resilience-mechanism codebook (Krippendorff’s alpha = 0.91). Teachers reported high perceived value and feasibility and frequently noted enacted stewardship and placed responsibility during sessions. Students’ reflections most often linked resilience to sustainable conservation under pressure and to nature-city interconnections, whereas hazard-memory mechanisms appeared less often. Adoption-related evidence is limited to teacher feasibility reports and institutional legibility from curriculum translation, rather than confirmed institutional uptake indicators. Scaling is likely to require explicit supports for differentiation, assessment scaffolds, and routine delivery in public spaces. Full article

The photovoltaic industry generates a substantial amount of high-purity waste silicon powder during the diamond-wire saw cutting process, which can serve as an environmentally friendly and cost-effective resource for lithium-ion battery recycling. However, its commercial application is hindered by the surface attachment of silicon dioxide, organic substances, metal impurities, as well as its intrinsic drawbacks such as significant volume expansion (>300%) during lithium (de)intercalation and low electronic conductivity. To address these issues, this study first purifies the waste silicon powder and then designs the structure of the composites. Using a simple ball-milling combined with sol-gel method, a core-shell composite material with a carbon-coated two-dimensional conductive network (FVW-Si/G₅₀₀@C) was synthesized. The two-dimensional conductive network provides sufficient space to accommodate the volume expansion of silicon, while the mesoporous structure on the carbon shell offers a fast transport pathway for Li⁺, thereby enhancing the electrode kinetics. The prepared FVW-Si/G₅₀₀@C electrode maintained a high reversible capacity of 951.8 mAh g⁻¹ after 100 cycles at a current density of 0.2 A g⁻¹. Even at a high current density of 1 A g⁻¹, it retained a reversible capacity of 230.4 mAh g⁻¹. The results indicated that the synergistic effect between graphite sheets and the mesoporous carbon shell significantly improved the rate performance and cycling stability of the FVW-Si/G₅₀₀@C electrode. This study provided a theoretical foundation for the scalable, green, and high-value utilization of waste silicon powder in the photovoltaic industry and offered technical support for sustainable energy development. Full article

Urban sky gardens—elevated green spaces on buildings, encompassing rooftop gardens and podium gardens—are critical to the improvement of urban ecosystem services and functions. Understanding the spatial patterns and the influencing factors of sky gardens is essential for the precise allocation of elevated spaces in urban development. Taking the four central urban districts of Lanzhou in China as the study region, a GIS database of 508 sky gardens was established by identifying high-definition image maps and on-site investigations. The spatial patterns and influencing factors, such as building height, ground-level green area, and population density, were analyzed. The development of sky gardens was also compared in Lanzhou and Guangzhou, China. The distribution of sky gardens in Lanzhou exhibited spatial heterogeneity. Most sky gardens were distributed along the Yellow River. Chengguan District had more sky gardens than Xigu District. In terms of structural characteristics, 82% of sky gardens were rooftop gardens, 73% were located in residential buildings, and 63% were attached to mid- and low-rise buildings. Most sky gardens were one floor, characterized by no public accessibility, a location in high-density plots, and low vegetation coverage. Sky garden area was negatively correlated with building height, ground-level green area, and green plot ratio in sky gardens. There were positive associations between sky garden area and higher plot ratio, building density, and population density based on Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression. Due to the proper climate conditions and economy, Guangzhou had more sky gardens than Lanzhou. Our study suggests that the utilization of rooftops and podiums is relatively low, and the development of sky gardens exhibits spatial clustering. A suite of optimizing strategies should be implemented to enhance the accessibility and usability of sky gardens. Full article

Understanding how green spaces foster sense of place is critical for sustainable urban planning and human well-being, yet no comprehensive synthesis has integrated findings across the fragmented literature spanning multiple disciplines. This systematic review analyzed 497 empirical studies examining green space-place attachment relationships, following PRISMA guidelines across three major databases through June 2025. Beyond documenting the field’s rapid growth—from 10 annual publications pre-2010 to over 50 by 2021—this review reveals critical patterns and gaps with implications for theory and practice. While the term ‘place attachment’ was most frequently used (45% of studies), the field employs diverse terminology often without clear definitional boundaries. Only 18% comprehensively addressed the Person-Process-Place tripartite model, with process dimensions particularly neglected. This theoretical incompleteness limits the understanding of how attachments form and evolve. Geographic analysis exposed severe disparities: 78% of studies originated from high-income countries, with Africa (2.4%) and South America (3.6%) critically underrepresented, raising questions about the applicability of current theories beyond Western contexts. Urban settings dominated (49.5%), potentially overlooking rural and indigenous perspectives essential for comprehensive understanding. Methodologically, studies demonstrated sophistication through strategic deployment of quantitative (60%), qualitative (15%), and mixed methods (25%). Key thematic areas, residence duration, restorative benefits, and pro-environmental behaviors, showed promise, yet environmental justice remained underexplored despite its critical importance. This synthesis advances the field by identifying specific pathways for progress: expanding geographic representation to develop culturally inclusive theories, employing longitudinal designs to capture attachment formation processes, developing validated cross-cultural measures, and centering environmental justice in green space planning. These findings provide essential guidance for creating equitable green spaces that foster meaningful human-nature connections across diverse global contexts. Full article

Although previous studies have extensively explored the relationship between urban green spaces and residents’ well-being, research on how nature-based sports venues enhance urban well-being through multiple emotional mechanisms remains relatively limited. Drawing on environmental psychology, place attachment theory, and the principles of biophilic design, this study constructs a dual-mediation model incorporating Connectedness to Nature (CN) and Place Attachment (PA) to examine the pathways through which natural design features—including Natural Visibility (NV), Spatial Integration (SI), and Human–Nature Interactivity (HNI)—influence individuals’ urban well-being. Using ten representative nature-integrated sports venues in China as research sites, a total of 856 valid questionnaires were collected, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied for empirical analysis. The results show that (1) NV, SI, and HNI all exert significant positive effects on CN and PA; (2) CN significantly promotes both PA and Urban Well-being (UWB); (3) PA has a significant positive effect on UWB; and (4) both CN and PA serve as significant mediators between natural design features and UWB, with an evident serial mediation effect from CN to PA. These findings reveal the multilayered psychological mechanisms through which nature-based sports venues enhance residents’ well-being, enrich the theoretical framework of nature-oriented design and urban sustainability, and provide empirical evidence for the health-oriented and emotion-responsive design of urban sports facilities. Full article

Historic districts, as important spatial units that carry urban cultural memory and everyday social life, play a crucial role in shaping residents’ spatial identity, emotional attachment, and perceptual experience. Although quantitative research on built environments and perception has advanced considerably in recent years, the mechanisms through which perception is formed in historic districts, particularly the nonlinear threshold effects and perceptual trade-off patterns that arise under conditions of high-density and mixed land use, remain insufficiently examined. To address this gap, this study develops an analytical framework that integrates spatial attributes with multidimensional subjective perceptions. Focusing on six historic districts in central Shanghai, the study combines micro-scale environmental indicators extracted from street-view imagery, POI data, and public perceptual evaluations and employs an XGBoost model to identify the nonlinear response patterns, threshold effects, and perceptual trade-offs across seven perceptual dimensions. The results show that natural elements such as visual greenery and sky openness generate significant threshold-based enhancement effects, and once reaching a certain level of visibility, they substantially increase positive perceptions including beauty, safety, and cleanliness. By contrast, commercial and traffic-related facilities exhibit dual and competing perceptual influences. Moderate densities enhance liveliness, whereas high concentrations tend to induce perceptual fatigue and intensify negative emotional responses. Overall, perceptual quality in historic districts does not arise from linear accumulation but is shaped by dynamic perceptual trade-offs among natural features, functional elements, and cultural symbolism. Overall, the study reveals the coupling mechanism between spatial renewal and perceptual experience amid the pressures of urban modernization. It also demonstrates that increasing visible greenery (e.g., planting street trees, incorporating micro-green spaces, improving façade greening), enhancing street openness (e.g., optimizing view corridors, reducing visual obstruction, implementing moderate setback adjustments), guiding a moderate mix and spatial distribution of commercial and service functions, and strengthening the perceptibility of cultural landscape elements (e.g., façade restoration, streetscape coordination, and improved signage systems) are concrete and effective planning and design actions for improving landscape quality and enhancing the experiential quality of historic districts. Full article

Place attachment, or the emotional bond between people and physical settings, is a central concept in urban design and environmental psychology. Although biophilic and restorative environmental frameworks have stressed the value of natural environments, empirical research investigating nature and place attachment often reduces naturalness to simple greenness metrics, leaving the role of aesthetic and visual structural qualities underexplored. This study addresses this gap by drawing on empirical aesthetics and Christopher Alexander’s theory of living structures, which frames aesthetics as an underlying order that gives rise to the experience of visual coherence and beauty. We conducted a multi-method quantitative case study on ten campus open spaces, combining a student survey (n = 447), timed-interval behavioural observations, independent aesthetic ratings, and computational image analysis. The data analysis relied on correlation and regression, as well as data triangulation from multiple sources that encompassed both subjective and objective measurements. Regression and mediation models showed that perceived restorativeness was the strongest predictor of place attachment, complemented by sense of community, perceived wholeness, and naturalness. Indirect pathways revealed that passive interaction enhanced attachment through restorativeness, while active interaction did so through a sense of community. Image-based metrics, particularly fractal dimension and entropy, were closely aligned with perceptions of naturalness and restoration, while behavioural observations confirmed the distinct roles of social hubs, solitary natural retreats, and transitional spaces. The findings demonstrate that both naturalistic structure and social affordances are essential to attachment, and that living structure qualities offer a valuable framework for linking aesthetic order to restorative and emotional bonds. These insights provide both theoretical enrichment and practical guidance for designing restorative and life-enhancing public environments. Full article

Rapid urbanization reduces green space and increases urban stressors, yet the mechanisms linking urban forests to residents’ subjective well-being remain incompletely understood. This study examines how perceived access, perceived quality, visitation frequency, and satisfaction with urban forests relate to citizens’ subjective well-being in Tehran. Using an online survey of 672 residents and structural equation modeling, this study estimates direct and indirect pathways among the constructs. The results show perceived access is the strongest predictor, raising visitation, satisfaction, and well-being, while perceived satisfaction is the most powerful direct driver of subjective well-being. Perceived quality positively affects well-being but with a smaller effect, and visitation frequency alone does not significantly improve well-being, underscoring that positive experiential factors such as satisfaction matter more than visit counts. The model explains 69.8% of variance in subjective well-being. This study refines the current theoretical foundation by integrating access, quality, frequency, and satisfaction within a single conceptual framework in a megacity context and directly comparing the relative strengths of accessibility versus quality as pathways to well-being. In the context of current knowledge it is among the first to test these comparative pathways using a large Tehran sample. Practically, these findings suggest that urban policy should prioritize equitable access and design that fosters satisfying experiences, not just increasing visit counts. Future research should use longitudinal or experimental designs, incorporate objective measures, compare multiple cities and types of green spaces, and explore moderators such as perceived safety, motivations for visiting, and place attachment to refine causal understanding and policy guidance. Full article

Public building-attached green spaces are increasingly important urban carbon sinks, yet their carbon sequestration potential remains poorly understood and underutilized. This study quantified vegetation carbon storage across three attached green space typologies (green square, roof garden, and sunken courtyard) at a representative public building in Wuhan, China, using field surveys and species-specific allometric equations. Total carbon storage reached 19,873.43 kg C, dominated by the green square (84.98%), followed by a roof garden (12.29%) and sunken courtyard (2.72%). Regression analysis revealed strong correlations between carbon storage and morphological traits, with diameter at breast height (DBH) showing the highest predictive power for trees (r = 0.976 for evergreen, 0.821 for deciduous), while crown diameter (CD) best predicted shrub carbon storage (r = 0.833). Plant configuration optimization strategies were developed through correlation analysis and ecological principles, including replacing low carbon sequestering species with high carbon native species, enhancing vertical stratification, and implementing multi-layered planting. These strategies increased total carbon storage by 131.5% to 45,964.00 kg C, with carbon density rising from 2.00 kg C∙m⁻² to 4.63 kg C∙m⁻². The findings provide a quantitative framework and practical strategies for integrating carbon management into the design of building-attached green spaces, supporting climate-responsive urban planning and advancing sustainable development goals. Full article