Search Results (430)

Historic urban landscapes are at continuous risk of loss due to urban modernization and the demolition of built heritage. Scan-based documentation methods such as laser scanning and photogrammetry become inapplicable, leaving demolished sites undocumented and unrecoverable through existing digital heritage workflows. This study develops a documentary-based Urban Digital Twin (UDT) framework for reconstructing demolished historic urban landscapes through the integration of historical documentation, geospatial analysis, and parametric modeling within the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach. As a feasibility study, the framework reconstructs Chahar-Bagh Bala Street in Isfahan, Iran, a four-century-old promenade among the oldest urban streets in the Middle East, whose royal garden entrances, towers, water features, and promenade have been almost entirely replaced by industrial and modern structures. The methodology applies a nine-step workflow, integrating georeferencing, viewpoint reconstruction, cross-source validation, and HBIM parametric modeling, using historical maps, travel account engravings, archival photographs, and measured plans. The reconstruction confirms the historical existence and spatial locations, established through convergent visual evidence, of two lost royal garden entrances. The study further quantifies long-term historic green infrastructure loss, finding that approximately 70% of the original garden cover has been replaced. This replicable framework supports evidence-based heritage governance and sustainable urban regeneration, including the reintegration of historic green infrastructure into contemporary urban planning, particularly for rapidly transforming cities of the Global South. Full article

Historic gardens are among the cultural heritage assets most vulnerable to climate change because their significance depends on the continuous interaction between living ecological systems, designed landscapes and cultural values. Although international policies increasingly advocate the integration of climate adaptation into heritage management, operational methodologies capable of systematically incorporating climate risk into the conservation planning of historic gardens remain limited. This paper develops the Historic Garden Climate Risk Management Framework (HG-CRMF), a multi-scale, heritage-centered methodological framework designed to integrate climate risk management within existing Conservation Management Plans (CMPs). The framework was developed through the synthesis of international heritage conservation principles, climate adaptation policies, environmental risk assessment methodologies and adaptive governance approaches. Its principal innovation lies in combining strategic conservation planning at the scale of the historic garden with operational implementation through Garden Conservation Units (GCUs), spatially coherent heritage entities that enable site-specific assessment of heritage values, climate hazards, exposure, vulnerability, adaptation measures and monitoring indicators. The HG-CRMF provides a structured workflow linking heritage significance, climate risk assessment, adaptation planning, monitoring and adaptive governance within a single decision-support methodology. Rather than constituting a stand-alone adaptation strategy, the framework strengthens existing conservation planning by embedding climate-informed decision-making into routine management processes. Full article

Flower-focused destinations are visually intensive and temporally concentrated, yet the tourism literature treats them through dispersed discussions of gardens, festivals, rural landscapes, destination imagery, and agricultural diversification. This review develops a comparative explanation of how flowering landscapes become tourism resources rather than assuming that scenic quality alone produces durable destination value. An integrative comparative review was undertaken across four analytically contrasting destination–landscape configurations: Japanese cherry blossoms, Provence lavender, Dutch tulips, and Tuscan sunflowers. Literature was identified through targeted searches in Scopus and Google Scholar, citation tracing, and concept-specific follow-up searches, and was organized through a theoretically informed case-level template. Four provisional, overlapping development archetypes are proposed: temporal–ritual festival, sensory–product integration, designed horticultural showcase, and rural-embedded agritourism. A resource–mechanism–outcome (RMO) framework separates floral resources from process-oriented value-creation mechanisms, positive and negative outcomes, enabling capacities, and moderating conditions. It clarifies why similar landscape visibility may support attraction and local value in one setting but crowding, field damage, commodification, or economic leakage in another. The framework provides a transparent basis for destination planning and future empirical testing. Full article

Red-flowered strawberries possess both floral and foliage ornamental characteristics, making them highly promising as landscape groundcovers and potted ornamental plants. To establish a standardized ornamental evaluation system and screen for superior germplasm, this study used 18 strawberry accessions from China and abroad as experimental materials. Twelve core ornamental indicators were selected across three dimensions: flowering period, morphological traits, and disease resistance. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to construct a multi-level ornamental value evaluation model. The results indicate the following weight rankings across the constraint layers: morphological traits (60.66%) > flowering period (27.71%) > disease resistance (11.63%). Among these, flower color (21.96%), plant flowering period (16.41%), corolla diameter (15.69%), and single-flower flowering duration (11.30%) were the core indicators determining ornamental value. The comprehensive score rankings showed that the accessions ‘140’, ‘Pink Panda’, ‘Summer Breeze-Cherry’, and ‘Summer Breeze-Rose’ exhibited the best overall ornamental performance. These accessions feature vibrant flower colors, a prolonged flowering period, abundant blooms, and good disease resistance. ‘Frisan’ and ‘246’ had the lowest composite scores, exhibiting significant shortcomings in ornamental traits. The AHP-based evaluation system established in this study provides a quantitative tool for ornamental trait assessment in red-flowered strawberries. The four elite accessions identifed using this system—‘140’, ‘Pink Panda’, ‘Summer Breeze-Cherry’, and ‘Summer Breeze-Rose’—can serve as priority candidates for protected landscape applications and container gardening in subtropical southern China. Full article

This study has examined how Silla Korea and Heian Japan diverged from the pond-garden tradition of Tang China and developed their own localized forms in terms of landscape and religious studies. In Tang China, the Grand Fluid Pond occupied a prominent position within the highly symmetrical palace compound, yet it was excluded from the imperial sacrificial rituals. The pond primarily functioned as a space for courtly recreation, while Daoism survived largely as a symbolic vocabulary and formal embellishment. By contrast, the Wŏlji pond in Kyŏngju more actively incorporated celestial elements of garden Daoism and indigenous beliefs. They included the three immortal islands, the Twelve Peaks of Mount Wu, wild animals for hunting, and the worship of the Dragon King. More importantly, the pond was deliberately situated adjacent to a royal Buddhist temple, and, over time, a large number of Buddhist artifacts were placed in the pond area. Taken together, the Silla pond functioned not merely as an idealized landscape but also as an ideological space that reinforced the royal authority and glorified the dynasty through a syncretic religious landscape. Although the imagery of Amitābha’s Western Paradise was only partially expressed in the Silla garden, it was fully realized in garden form under the patronage of the Fujiwara clan in eleventh-century Heian Japan. By this time, Pure Land Buddhism had permeated all levels of society, while widespread anxieties over the “Latter Days of the Law” encouraged devotion to Amitābha as the primary means of salvation. Against this religious background, the Fujiwara sponsored temple complexes with expansive pond gardens. Two of the most prominent examples, Hōjōji and Byōdōin, were deliberately designed to represent Amitābha’s Western Paradise and to serve as ritual settings for Pure Land devotion. This religiosity therefore represented a fundamental departure from both the Daoist garden of Tang China and the syncretic gardens of Silla Korea. Full article

Terracing is widely used for soil conservation in hilly tea plantations, yet its influence on tea quality formation across landscape positions remains insufficiently understood. This study compared terraced and sloping tea gardens at summit, midslope, and footslope positions in a subtropical tea-growing region of Hunan Province, China. Soil nutrients, leaf nitrogen (LeafN) status, nitrogen-assimilation enzyme activities, chlorophyll characteristics, and amino acid profiles were evaluated to explore the ecological links between terrace management and tea quality formation. Terracing significantly increased soil organic matter (SOM) and total nitrogen (TN), exhibiting peak increases of 18.1% and 32.8%, respectively, at the midslope position. These soil nutrient improvements significantly altered leaf carbon-nitrogen balance, resulting in lower leaf C/N ratios, a 49.3% increase in chlorophyll content, and a marked enrichment of total free amino acids (particularly glutamic acid and arginine) at the midslope position. While sloping gardens showed a conventional decline in fertility and quality from footslope to summit, terraced gardens exhibited a distinct midslope optimum. Redundancy analysis indicated that TN accounted for a substantial proportion of variation in tea quality indicators. These patterns are primarily driven by terrace-mediated nutrient redistribution and improved hillslope drainage conditions at the midslope position. Overall, the findings suggest that terracing may modify hillslope nutrient redistribution patterns and contribute to optimized nitrogen utilization and tea quality stability in mountainous tea-growing systems. Full article

This manuscript presents the results of a health assessment of a tree stand at the historic manor park in Rzeczyca (Łódź Voivodeship, Poland), carried out as part of its revitalization process. The study aimed to preserve the relics of the historic landed estate garden and adapt the park to contemporary public functions through the development of a tree management plan based on specialized arboricultural diagnostics. A dendrological inventory covered 370 trees within an area of approximately 3 ha, documenting their spatial distribution, species composition, morphology, and health condition. The dominant species were Tilia cordata (21.9%), Fraxinus excelsior (19.7%), and Prunus spinosa (9.4%). Advanced technical examinations were performed on 87 selected trees using sonic tomography with the ArborSonic 3D device and biomechanical assessment. These methods enabled the evaluation of internal wood degradation and the structural stability of mature trees, supporting decisions regarding their preservation. The findings emphasize the importance of cooperation between landscape architects and qualified arborists in the revitalization of historic parks with mature tree stands. The study also highlights the need for standardized diagnostic procedures and regular monitoring to improve public safety, support conservation efforts, and reduce unnecessary tree removal in response to increasing climate-related risks. Full article

Therapeutic gardens are increasingly integrated into healthcare planning and design, supported by evidence showing that exposure to nature promotes health and well-being. As urbanisation and densification intensify, rooftop gardens offer a sustainable means of providing health-promoting green spaces in urban settings. This study aimed to deepen understanding of the EBD process behind a purpose-built rooftop garden at an urban Memory Clinic. It examined how the garden was experienced in terms of perceived successes and shortcomings and which design decisions or contextual factors were most influential. A POE was conducted through focus group interviews with healthcare professionals and an interview with the responsible landscape architect. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, producing five themes organised around three questions: How the garden turned out, why it turned out that way, and IF changes were desirable. Findings show that while the garden exceeded expectations regarding aesthetics, restorative qualities, and staff use, it was not used for patient-oriented therapeutic activities as intended. This divergence was linked less to physical design quality than to organisational change, the loss of key actors, insufficient documentation of design intentions, procurement disruptions, shifting clinical priorities, and maintenance arrangements. The study highlights “implementation drift” as a critical risk in EBD processes. Full article

Peri-urban regions around Southeast Asian megacities connect agriculture, markets, food-service facilities, households, and municipal waste systems, yet comparable data for individual waste streams are often unavailable. This study presents a screening framework for selecting the first organic waste streams and node types to measure in Tangerang Raya, Indonesia, before treatment performance data are available. The framework complements, rather than replaces, city scale circularity monitoring, life cycle assessment, and technology selection tools. Public and institutional data were screened by evidence class and temporal and spatial compatibility. The core Peri-Urban Organic Waste Circularity Readiness Index (PU-OCRI) evaluates five intrinsic criteria: feedstock concentration, source separation readiness, treatment pre-screening compatibility, institutional readiness, and the safety/quality gate. Scores represent collective author judgments linked to a criterion level evidence trail; they have not been independently rated by local stakeholders or empirically calibrated. Korea linked support is assessed separately and cannot affect the index. Available evidence included 3248.1 t of large chili production in Kabupaten Tangerang in 2024, 798,406 t yr⁻¹ of reported potential municipal-waste generation in Kota Tangerang in 2024, and a planning-based estimate that 52.89% of non-residential waste in Kota Tangerang Selatan was biogenic organic material. Under equal weights, market-linked organics scored 76/100 and garden and landscape organics 72; production-side residues and household food waste each scored 56, and mixed residual waste scored 32. In 100,000 weight only simulations, market linked organics ranked first in 65.9% of runs and garden and landscape organics in 31.2%. When each score was allowed to vary by one point and sampled together with the weights, the corresponding first-rank frequencies were 50.7% and 40.7%. These results define a provisional paired audit hypothesis, not evidence of superior circular-economy performance. A required 8–12-week comparison of market/food-service and garden/landscape nodes will apply predefined criteria for mass stability, contamination, safety, treatment feasibility, cost, and operator and stakeholder participation before scores are updated or any treatment or scale-up decision is made. Korea-linked cooperation is limited to digital logging, training, QA/QC, and pilot-operation protocols. Data provenance is explicit: the 798,406 t yr⁻¹ value is the issuing agency’s population × per-capita estimate, whereas 52.89% is an author calculated category sum (kitchen + garden + wood) used only as a screening proxy, not as a direct stream level measurement or the plan’s official aggregate organic fraction. Full article

Impatiens walleriana is a widely cultivated ornamental species extensively used in landscaping and garden design, with its vibrant floral colors constituting one of the primary determinants of its ornamental value. We found in preliminary observations that treatment of I. walleriana seeds with colchicine at 60 mg L⁻¹ induced significant flower color variation, with petals changing from purple to pink. Based on this, the present study used the wild-type (purple) and induced mutant plants (pink) of I. walleriana as materials, and systematically elucidated the molecular regulatory mechanism underlying its flower color variation via integrated analysis of targeted metabolomics and transcriptomics. Metabolomic analysis identified 84 anthocyanin-related metabolites. Metabolite composition and accumulation levels differed significantly between Iw-MU and Iw-WT. Pelargonidin, peonidin, and petunidin were markedly elevated in Iw-MU, while procyanidins accumulated to higher levels in Iw-WT. These metabolic differences may serve as the key metabolic basis for the petal color transition to pink. Transcriptomic analysis identified a total of 689 differentially expressed genes, of which 386 were upregulated and 303 were downregulated. Subsequent functional annotation and enrichment analysis revealed that the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway played a key regulatory role in flower color variation. Among these, the significant downregulation of key anthocyanin biosynthetic genes, DFR and ANS, likely suppressed the production of colored anthocyanins. In contrast, the expression levels of ANR and LAR genes were significantly upregulated, which may drive the metabolic flux to shift toward proanthocyanidin biosynthesis. This study elucidated the metabolomic composition characteristics and key regulatory genes associated with the floral color transition from pinkish-purple to light pink in I. walleriana, as well as clarified the core metabolic pathways and molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying this variation. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for the genetic improvement of flower color and the breeding of new cultivars in I. walleriana. Full article

The rapid advancement of AI-driven generative design brings new opportunities, but its application in landscape garden design remains limited by two gaps: (1) semantic misalignment between generated images and the designer’s intent, and (2) low-resolution outputs with insufficient details. To address these gaps, we developed GardenDiff, a domain-adapted diffusion model trained via parameter optimization and a specialized landscape garden dataset. Central to this approach is Structured Design Captioning (SDC), a hierarchical annotation system specifically designed for garden design that encodes design elements, style features, and auxiliary scene information. To develop this model, we designed a three-stage experimental framework. In Stage 1, we examined the effects of training caption systems and training resolution on generated landscape garden imagery by controlled experiments. In Stage 2, we conducted joint training across five garden styles (Chinese, Japanese, Mediterranean, Nordic, and English) based on the optimized parameter settings from Stage 1 to construct the GardenDiff model. In Stage 3, we validated the model performance through expert evaluation (N = 36) and public evaluation (N = 136) and analyzed style-specific variations in the generated outcomes. Research results showed that Structured Design Captioning (SDC) improved Spatial Rationale by 19.67–39.46% compared with generic captions, and training at 1536 × 1536 pixels improved image quality by 23.2% compared with 768 × 768-pixel training. GardenDiff trained with these optimized parameters showed notable advantages. Its overall scores (5.06) exceeded those of Stable Diffusion XL base 1.0 (SDXL 1.0) by 16.4% and DreamShaper XL by 22.4%. The model improved across four dimensions, including Design Rationale, Design Professionalism, Design Accuracy, and Design Satisfaction. Our study offers a new model to improve the perspective visualization of generative garden design and provides insights into AI-informed landscape and urban design. Full article

Emperor Qianlong’s poem San-qing Cha, translated into French in the 18th century by the Jesuit missionary Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, represents a key case study in early Sino-Western literary exchanges. Existing scholarship has mapped the poem’s transmission trajectory, yet critical gaps remain concerning the religious foundations of Amiot’s translation strategies, the socio-political context of its British reception, and the specific mechanisms driving its literary metamorphosis. Adopting the systemic descriptive translation studies framework proposed by José Lambert and Hendrik van Gorp, this article follows the poem’s journey from France to Britain and delineates three successive phases of cross-cultural reshaping: religious reframing, symbolic appropriation in British garden-design debates, and reconfiguration as a vehicle for political satire. The study argues that transcultural meaning is always constructed by the receiving context, and that Jesuit translation practices and European literary appropriations together shaped the complex, reciprocal landscape of early Sino-Western civilizational dialog. Full article

Hospital gardens are increasingly recognized as therapeutic environments; however, many Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) studies remain limited to perception-based assessments without explicitly linking spatial characteristics to user experience. This study develops an evidence-based evaluation framework integrating spatial analysis with user-centered data. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining systematic observations, spatial mapping, and a structured short-form questionnaire administered to 350 users. The study area was classified into three micro-climatic zones—hot, moderate, and cool/shaded—based on solar exposure, vegetation density, and surface characteristics. User experience was evaluated through composite indices of comfort, satisfaction, and perceived restorativeness (Cronbach’s α = 0.83). The results indicate a clear spatial gradient: mean comfort scores increased from 2.8 in hot zones to 3.5 in moderate zones and 4.2 in cool/shaded areas. These differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05) and supported by meaningful effect sizes (Cohen’s d). Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that natural components—specifically mature vegetation and clean air—are strongly associated with psychological recovery (β = 0.54, p < 0.001). Spatial analysis also revealed a mismatch between design configuration and environmental performance. The findings provide a transferable, spatially grounded framework for optimizing therapeutic landscapes in healthcare settings. Full article

This manuscript addresses the challenge of designing low-carbon and climate-neutral landscapes. While gardens and green spaces are commonly perceived as environmentally beneficial, they may generate significant greenhouse gas emissions throughout their life cycle. Despite the widespread application of carbon footprint assessment in building design, its integration into landscape architecture remains limited. The aim of this study is to systematize the concept of the garden carbon footprint and to develop a coherent framework for its evaluation. The research adopts a conceptual synthesis approach based on an interdisciplinary literature review, supported by a simplified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. A component-based model is proposed, integrating embodied carbon, operational emissions, and carbon sequestration. The results demonstrate that the carbon performance of designed landscapes varies significantly depending on design strategies and management approaches. Importantly, the findings confirm that climate neutrality may be possible under specific conditions, particularly at larger spatial scales. The proposed framework contributes to the integration of carbon footprint assessment into landscape design processes and supports the development of low-emission, climate-resilient solutions. Full article

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by cranberries from three locations were studied using a proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer (PTR-MS). Cranberries were collected from natural wetlands in a protected landscape (Łętowskie Lake and the Kępice area, northern Poland), from an allotment garden near Słupsk (northern Poland), and from a cranberry plantation (Poland). The collected samples showed statistically significant differences between the three studied cranberry sources, with samples from the garden differing significantly from those from plantations and wetlands. The results of multivariate analyses, such as cluster analysis, also indicated differences in the composition of VOCs responsible for cranberry aroma from different sources. Multivariate PCA revealed similarities between the volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions of cranberries from natural wetlands and plantations. Additionally, machine learning was used to classify cranberries collected from different sites. The classification accuracy of the MLP model for a limited number of variables was approximately 97% at the testing and validation level. This paper presents the potential application of PTR-MS to VOC emission studies, along with statistical analysis and machine learning, as an example of a potential tool for sustainable development in the study of edible fruit aromas. Full article