Search Results (363)

Urban landscapes are increasingly understood as dynamic systems in which natural, cultural, and socio-spatial layers continuously overlap and evolve. Within this perspective, heritage and memory are often treated as stable qualities of place, to be preserved or restored amid ongoing urban transformation. This paper challenges that static understanding by advancing memory-in-transformation, a theoretical framework positioned within the broader concept of Temporal Urbanism. Drawing on an integrative synthesis of landscape theory, critical heritage studies, memory studies, and urban theory, the paper argues that urban landscape transformation does not simply affect heritage and memory but actively produces, reconfigures, and redefines them over time. The framework rests on three interrelated dimensions: temporal layering, mediated interpretation, and dialectical production, through which transformation operates as a mediating process linking spatial change, collective memory, and the continuous formation of heritage landscapes. Illustrative cases (Superkilen, Copenhagen; the Slussen redevelopment, Stockholm) show how transformation can destabilize existing heritage while generating new heritage systems. The paper further introduces the notion of temporal justice, foregrounding whose memories are sustained or marginalized in processes of change, and outlines new directions for research and practice in heritage urbanism, land-use planning, landscape architecture, and sustainable urban development. Full article

Recent years have seen renewed, at times seemingly contradictory, trends in socio-anthropological studies of Chinese urban families, in which the places of the individual, filial piety, and patriarchy have remained theoretically unsettled. These transformations have renewed the conversation around the early anthropological studies that made Chinese society a cornerstone of kinship and social theories. Taking the form of a critical essay, this text engages in depth with the recent literature on the transformation of families—read alongside brief fieldwork revisits carried out in Chengdu and Guangzhou in 2024—and questions the tendency to set a prototypical Chinese family against a so-called Western model. Three trends are examined: the first is the flexibilization of family models; the second is the renewal, reinvention, or reversion of earlier “patriarchy”; and the third is an affective transformation of earlier “filial piety” with the appearance of a puzzling “intergenerational integration of personhood” associated with a return of “familism,” paradoxically happening in parallel with a rise of “individualization.” Situating these trends within the political conditions that allow increased individual autonomy to coexist with the renewed family influence over their members’ fates, the article advances three arguments: that “Chineseness” here designates a political and economic situation rather than a cultural given; that what has been called “altruistic individualism” is better understood as a pragmatic familism, familism and individualism serving as alternative solutions to the same practical problems; and that, extending Foucault’s account of the individual as a political technology, the family itself can be read as a form shaped by state objectives. Kinship here appears to be as much politically bonded as culturally defined. Full article

This study addresses the critical need for accurate and efficient large-scale urban fire spread path prediction in dense urban areas by proposing a new gravitational framework-based theory. Its core innovation is the “characteristic attractive force” model, which mechanistically quantifies fire spread as a dynamic interaction between buildings, integrating factors like spacing, height, area and density effects to predict trajectories from the initially ignited building. This study adopts a GIS-based rapid prediction framework that circumvents the dependence on complex physical parameters. It utilizes high-precision spatial data and optimized algorithms to streamline prediction processes while retaining favorable prediction accuracy. Validated on two real-world clusters, the proposed approach enables effective visualization of dynamic propagation trajectories and pathway spectra that characterize the detailed propagation routes and ignition sequences. Notably, the framework achieves exceptional efficiency, completing predictions for large clusters in tens of seconds per scenario, making it suitable for real-time risk assessment. Overall, this work advances urban fire modeling with an innovative, efficient, and practical tool to support fire safety engineering and emergency management decision-making. Full article

Industrial heritage-based cultural and creative parks (IHCCPs) have become an important approach to adaptive reuse and sustainable urban regeneration in post-industrial cities. As the primary interface between the city and the park, entrance spaces play a critical role in shaping visitors’ first impressions, place identity, and cultural perception. Drawing on Cultural Perception Theory, this study investigates the entrance spaces of four representative IHCCPs in China using field surveys, questionnaire surveys, and a modified Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) framework, in which the conventional importance–performance dimensions are reconceptualized as perception and satisfaction. The results indicate that the case study parks perform well in barrier-free accessibility, entrance image, and material application. Based on the perception–satisfaction analysis, the entrance-space attributes were systematically classified according to their relative strengths and improvement priorities, providing the basis for identifying key optimization directions. Accordingly, a perceptual experience-oriented optimization framework is proposed, comprising four complementary strategies: functional coordination, environmental layering, landmark organization, and cultural translation. By integrating Cultural Perception Theory into an adapted IPA framework for entrance-space evaluation, this study extends existing research and provides a practical framework for the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage and the regeneration of public spaces in comparable post-industrial contexts. Its broader applicability to different geographical and cultural settings warrants further validation through future research. Full article

Improving the flood adaptability of urban waterfront spaces is an essential entry point for enhancing regional stormwater regulation capacity, scientifically preventing flood disasters, and stabilizing urban water security. Existing flood adaptability assessments mostly rely on single weighting methods and individual evaluation models, inevitably causing systematic bias and low result robustness. Against this limitation, this study integrates remote sensing intelligent interpretation, spatiotemporal landscape pattern analysis, and multi-criteria decision theory to construct a comprehensive flood adaptability evaluation system under the pressure–state–response (PSR) framework. Innovatively, a game-theoretic combined weighting scheme integrating the entropy weight method, CRITIC method, and standard deviation method is proposed, and three complementary models including TOPSIS, VIKOR, and EDAS are coupled for cross-verification evaluation, which effectively improves the objectivity and robustness of spatial flood adaptability quantification. Taking Anqing City as a typical case, this study adopts Sentinel-2 time-series remote sensing images from 2016 to 2023 and applies an optimized random forest algorithm to automatically classify land cover. Five underlying surface types, including water bodies, vegetation, farmland, built-up areas, and bare land, are accurately extracted with an overall classification accuracy of around 90% for most years. Core landscape metrics such as Shannon’s diversity index and patch density are selected to systematically analyze the spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics of waterfront landscape patterns during the study period. The results indicate the obvious spatial heterogeneity of flood adaptability in Anqing City. Yingjiang District and Yuexi County present high comprehensive flood adaptability, while Wangjiang County and Huaining County show relatively low performance. Urban areas gain strong flood resistance from complete disaster prevention infrastructures and economic resilience; mountainous areas possess natural advantages in flood retention and drainage due to high vegetation coverage and topographic relief; by contrast, plain districts are severely restricted by low-lying terrain and insufficient drainage systems, resulting in prominent flood vulnerability. The proposed method is helpful for providing reliable scientific support for waterfront landscape optimization, zoned flood disaster management, and resilient water space planning in riverine cities. Full article

Clean cooking transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa remain limited despite increasing access to modern energy, highlighting the need to extend traditional demand-side approaches by incorporating risk and uncertainty into household decision-making. This study examines household energy choices under uncertainty in urban and peri-urban Malawi and reconceptualizes fuel diversification, or energy stacking, as a rational risk management strategy. Using cross-sectional data from 3015 households collected in 2026, the study uses binary logistic regression models to estimate the determinants of fuel diversification. The results show that exposure to uncertainty significantly increases the likelihood of energy stacking. Electricity unreliability (p < 0.01), charcoal price variability (p < 0.05), income volatility, and past fuel shortages are all positively associated with diversification behavior. In contrast, stable and higher incomes reduce reliance on multiple fuels. Household size significantly increases the number of fuels used (p < 0.01), reflecting higher energy demand and risk exposure. The findings demonstrate that energy stacking is a deliberate risk mitigation strategy consistent with risk diversification theory and highlight that improving reliability, stabilizing prices, and reducing market uncertainty are critical for accelerating clean cooking transitions. Full article

Urban pluvial flood resilience relies not only on engineering defenses but also on effective behavioral coordination among local governments, property management companies (PMCs), and residents. Yet even when risks are recognized, preparedness often fails because costs are immediate and certain, whereas benefits are delayed and probabilistic. This study addresses this dilemma by integrating prospect theory into a tripartite evolutionary game model. We position PMCs as pivotal intermediaries whose maintenance decisions critically influence whether physical infrastructure can be translated into operational resilience. Simulation results show that actors initially remain inactive under uncertainty. Stable collaboration emerges only when government regulation, PMC maintenance, and resident participation reinforce one another. Equal-magnitude policy comparisons reveal an asymmetric policy effect: sufficiently strong penalties induce tripartite cooperation, whereas equivalent subsidies primarily improve PMC maintenance without sustaining resident engagement. Excessive post-disaster relief further weakens ex ante incentives by creating moral hazard. These findings advance community flood governance toward psychologically informed, actor-specific policy mixes, emphasizing clear responsibility allocation, targeted incentives, and conditional relief, to strengthen community-level climate adaptation and adaptive resilience under uncertainty. Full article

As cities worldwide pursue sustainable and inclusive mobility, understanding the travel behavior of vulnerable populations in peri-urban resettlement areas is essential for designing equitable built environments. In Shanghai, as in many rapidly urbanizing megacities, government-led redevelopment in central Shanghai displaces residents to the urban periphery, creating accessibility deficits and raising transport inclusivity concerns. Using travel diary data from five peri-urban affordable housing communities collected in 2012 (N = 8390)—a critical baseline before major infrastructure improvements—this study documents limited mobility (residents make significantly fewer trips than the city average) and examines its correlates via logistic regression. A core finding is a type-based threshold effect: awareness of a nearby large shopping mall is associated with higher shopping trip frequency (coefficient −0.332, p = 0.024), whereas awareness of small-to-medium supermarkets shows no significant association. This pattern is consistent with elastic demand theory and challenges the assumption that any retail facility improves accessibility equally. Our models explain very little variance (Nagelkerke R² = 0.078 for overall trip frequency; 0.048 for shopping frequency). This low explanatory power is itself a diagnostic signal—and a core motivation for our hypothesis-generating approach—indicating that unmeasured psychological (attitudes, perceived behavioral control), social (networks, norms), and technological (e-commerce) factors likely dominate travel decisions—directing future research priorities. Methodologically, the 2012 data provide an uncommon early-stage baseline for policy-induced resettlement, enabling future longitudinal comparisons and mechanism identification (e.g., before/after metro or mall openings). For contemporary policy, the findings suggest a testable hypothesis that anchor-type facilities (e.g., mid-sized community hubs with mixed use, rather than merely small supermarkets) may activate suppressed demand, requiring re-evaluation with recent data and causal designs. Readers should not extrapolate numeric trip rates to today’s Shanghai. The primary contributions are theoretical (type-based threshold effects, the anchor-vs.-routine facility distinction, the role of basic spatial awareness) and methodological (historical baseline). The 2012 data predate widespread e-commerce; digital substitution may substantially attenuate these relationships in contemporary contexts. Full article

Marriage remains a central social institution among the Vatsonga, functioning not merely as a union between individuals but as a cultural institution through which gender identities, kinship relations, ritual obligations, and communal belonging are constructed and transmitted across generations. While scholarship has extensively explored marriage and gender in African societies, limited attention has been paid to the genealogical processes through which Vatsonga marriage rituals have historically shaped gender identities within changing social, political, and religious contexts. This article examines marriage as a site of gender construction by analysing the relationship between ritual practices, identity formation, and social belonging among the Vatsonga of Southern Africa. Using the genealogical approach of Michel Foucault and the theories of African feminists and decolonials, this study employs interpretive qualitative methodology, which entails the analysis of interdisciplinary literature in African philosophy, anthropology, gender studies, theology, and ritual studies. As a result of this analysis, it becomes evident that marriage rituals continue to play a great role in constructing masculinity and femininity, as well as kinship and community. At the same time, however, these rituals are dynamic and have undergone changes in light of colonialism, Christianity, urbanization, migrations, constitutional democracy, and modern concerns regarding gender equality. This article does not present marriage rituals of Vatsonga as static and monolithic practices, but rather shows their historical contingency, cultural dynamism, and continuous negotiation amid social change. Therefore, this study calls for critical engagement with marriage rituals in order to protect culture as well as to ensure gender equality and the dignity of all parties involved. With regard to the application of genealogy to marriage practices of Vatsonga, this article brings new perspectives to current debates on ritual, gender construction, African epistemologies and the decolonisation of marriage studies. Full article

This study investigates a secondary science teacher’s beliefs and attitudes toward marginalized minority students and examines how these beliefs and attitudes influenced students’ science identity development. The study focused on an experienced Black female biology teacher with an MEd in STEM education and her students at an urban high school in a U.S. state where anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion influences on curriculum were particularly strong. All students in the class (N = 21) identified as marginalized minority students. Data sources included teacher interviews, classroom observations, field notes, and student surveys. These data were analyzed and interpreted through the frameworks of Critical Race Theory and culturally responsive teaching. Findings showed that students expressed a strong sense of belonging when their diverse voices, backgrounds, and experiences were acknowledged in the classroom. However, many students also described feeling disconnected from the traditional image of a scientist, which contributed to self-doubt about their potential participation in scientific careers. This study highlights the importance of educators actively engaging with students’ identities, promoting diverse representations within science, and creating supportive and inclusive classroom environments. At the same time, the findings reveal the limits of classroom-based support for science identity development when broader structural barriers and dominant stereotypes about science remain strong influences. Full article

Climate change and rapid urbanization are reshaping the spatial relationship between flood risk and socioeconomic development, yet basin-scale evidence on where risk pressure and development capacity diverge remains limited. Taking 54 cities in China’s Pearl River Basin as the study area, this study adopts a dual-system evaluation framework integrating game-theory weighting, coupling coordination analysis, and spatial autocorrelation. Flood risk is characterized through hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and Resilience, while socioeconomic development is represented by economic scale, urban construction, and population agglomeration. This design extends previous Pearl River Delta-centered analyses to the entire basin and enables city-scale identification of risk–development imbalance. The results reveal a pronounced downstream–upstream gradient. The Pearl River Delta has the highest flood exposure (mean exposure index = 0.2603, 117% higher than the basin average of 0.1208), but strong Resilience and socioeconomic capacity prevent high exposure from translating into the highest overall risk. By contrast, east-central Guangxi emerges as a critical hotspot where moderate to high hazard overlaps with high vulnerability and weak Resilience. Coupling coordination remains generally low, shifting from basic coordination in parts of the Pearl River Delta to severe imbalance in upstream Guizhou, Guangxi, and Yunnan. The global Moran’s I is 0.4261 and significant at the 1% level, indicating marked spatial clustering, with high-high clusters concentrated in core Pearl River Delta cities and low–low clusters in eastern Yunnan and southwestern Guizhou. By distinguishing high exposure cities from high priority intervention areas, this study provides a potentially transferable framework for differentiated flood governance, infrastructure investment, and Resilience enhancement across large river basins. Full article

To address ecological security challenges in karst urban agglomerations, this study proposes a green infrastructure network (GIN) optimization framework that integrates geological characteristics with complex network theory. A fracture-modified minimum cumulative resistance (FM-MCR) model, coupled with an ant colony algorithm, was developed to enhance GIN extraction accuracy. Using a cascade failure model, the structural response of the GIN under simulated attack scenarios was systematically evaluated across four edge enhancement strategies, enabling spatial layout optimization. Network clustering and node centrality assessments were further applied to identify critical corridors and strategic nodes. Results identified 108 ecological sources, with Qiannan contributing the largest area (3141.97 km², 23.96% of the total), and 162 corridors in the original GIN. Among the four edge enhancement strategies, the low-degree-first (LDF) strategy significantly improved network robustness, decreasing percolation thresholds by 20.9%, 22.98%, and 16.99% under random, degree, and betweenness attacks, respectively. Network cluster analysis further delineated 45 GIN clusters, 19 critical corridors, and 11 strategic nodes, revealing cross-scale ecological hubs linking the Wumengshan–Daloushan corridor with Guiyang’s urban green wedge. This framework, characterized by geological correction, dynamic edge enhancement, and cluster-based management, offers a scientific basis for improving GIN resilience in karst regions. Full article

In smart cities, crowding in transportation hubs, large event venues, and commercial/tourist districts can rapidly escalate from service congestion to public-safety incidents. Real-world operations are constrained by heterogeneous sensing coverage, delayed statistics, privacy requirements, and the need for accountable multi-agency decisions. Following a rigorous PRISMA protocol, we synthesized 107 primary empirical studies (2020–2026) to systematically review context-aware crowd technologies. Moving beyond isolated algorithmic benchmarks, we organized these advances into a mathematically formalized closed-loop framework (Sensing–Prediction–Intervention–Feedback). Crowd sensing has evolved toward edge-based computer vision, passive mobile signaling, and multimodal fusion to balance operational trade-offs among density applicability, environmental robustness, privacy burdens, and end-to-end latency. Prediction architectures—converging on Spatiotemporal Graph Neural Networks (ST-GNNs) and simulation-augmented digital twins—are critically evaluated against constraints in predictive horizon, computational overhead, and explainability. To bridge theory and practical deployment, we deduce a multidimensional evaluation taxonomy and a hierarchical trigger-and-escalation matrix, tailoring control philosophies (e.g., spatiotemporal capacity synchronization and dynamic demand reshaping) to the three heterogeneous scenarios. Finally, we propose four strategic directions to chart a deployment-oriented roadmap for the integrated Urban Brain: edge-based privacy-preserving fusion, cross-scenario generalization, accountable Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) with human-in-the-loop synergy, and end-to-end outcome-oriented empirical validation. Full article

As essential components of urban green spaces, pocket parks play a critical role in enhancing residents’ mental restoration in high-density cities. Taking six representative pocket parks in Guangzhou as a case study, this study developed a 16-indicator evaluation framework based on Perceived Sensory Dimension (PSD) theory. The supply–demand balance of restorative environments in pocket parks was investigated via questionnaire surveys (n = 276, primarily aged 18–45 of the urban working population), expert assessments, and Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA). Results showed that respondents strongly prioritized “vegetation coverage,” “spatial openness,” and “safe stayability.” Furthermore, the high–stress group exhibited higher preferences for specific restorative attributes (e.g., “spatial openness,” “undisturbed environment,” and “cultural expression”). The IPA results revealed a structural supply–demand mismatch: High-restorative-benefit attributes such as “spatial openness” and “visual permeability” fell into the low-performance quadrant, requiring urgent improvement, whereas lower-benefit features such as “public activities” showed relatively high performance. Based on these findings, this study proposes targeted optimization strategies to guide the health-oriented renewal and sustainable management of pocket parks and to provide empirical evidence for evidence-based design of urban green space systems in high-density cities. Full article

Rapid urbanization has intensified ecosystem service supply–demand mismatches, severely constraining regional sustainable development. Ecological security patterns represent a critical strategy to address these challenges, yet existing studies predominantly focus on natural supply while neglecting human ecological demands. This study develops an integrated framework combining XGBoost machine learning and ecological network theory to assess and optimize ecological security patterns from a supply–demand perspective, using the Chengdu–Chongqing Urban Agglomeration in the upper Yangtze River Basin as a case study. Results reveal a distinct spatial pattern of “high supply in peripheries and high demand in urban cores”. Ecological demand sources and corridors have experienced explosive growth, expanding significantly faster than supply components. While the ecological supply–demand network has become more structurally complex with improved structural connectivity overall, the supply–demand balance has progressively deteriorated. Targeted optimization through supplementing key ecological sources and refining network structure enhanced connectivity by 136.46% and improved supply–demand balance by 35.4%. A “three zones, four corridors, six nodes” optimization scheme is proposed. This research provides valuable insights for mitigating ecological conflicts in rapidly urbanizing regions and informs evidence-based decision-making for territorial ecological restoration and public policy design to balance conservation and socioeconomic development. Full article