Search Results (116)

Sustainable historic-town conservation requires preserving historical patterns and cultural memory while understanding how spatial environments shape everyday perception. Using Yun’an Ancient Salt Town in Chongqing, China, this study develops a three-layer framework of spatial topology, scene interfaces, and historical semantic elements. Space syntax, deep-learning image recognition, rule-based coding, image-based questionnaires, Spearman correlation, random forest regression, and SHAP were used to examine perceived historicity, safety, attractiveness, and comfort. The analysis combined axial models for 1985, 2004, and 2024 with 140 images—55 human view and 85 aerial view—each evaluated by 264 valid respondents. Yun’an’s street network shifted from a salt-production and transport structure toward modern traffic corridors; integration declined in the historic core, and intelligibility fell from 0.13 in 2004 to 0.07 in 2024. At the human-view scale, modern interference was negatively associated with historicity and attractiveness, whereas stairs, traditional components, and micro-historical objects were positively associated with historicity. At the aerial-view scale, historical visibility, character integrity, and blue-green-space indicators were associated with historicity, attractiveness, and comfort. Cross-validated random forest performance was strongest for aerial-view historicity and limited for other outcomes. The findings support a human-centered, culturally sustainable renewal pathway linking historical-street continuity, townscape integration, blue-green quality, and heritage-node activation. Full article

Traditional settlements face the dual spatial challenges of accommodating local aging needs and sustaining heritage tourism. Focusing on the historic center of Tianchang Town, this study employs a mixed-methods approach to investigate spatial vitality decline through a three-layer continuity framework. The empirical findings are as follows. (1) The space syntax analysis of topological continuity within peripheral alleys reveals a core–periphery differentiation, with peripheral alleys weakly incorporated into the main spatial structure. (2) Resident interviews and surveys demonstrate a severe deficit in physical continuity, showing that degraded micro-environments and uneven topography restrict the daily mobility and social networks of the aging population. (3) The tourist regression model indicates that visitor satisfaction is most strongly associated with an integrated environmental–experiential continuity factor. This factor was derived from the six items originally assigned to micro-environment quality and experiential continuity. Based on these findings, the study advocates for a micro-regeneration strategy: low-impact infrastructural repairs should be used to improve residents’ everyday mobility, while functional anchors and interpretive nodes should be selectively introduced along accessible secondary routes to extend tourists’ environmental–experiential continuity. Full article

Historic urban manufacturing territories are increasingly being reconsidered as strategic components of metropolitan sustainability rather than obsolete remnants of industrial economies slated for redevelopment. While these districts have long been associated with pollution, environmental degradation, and post-industrial decline, growing interest in circular economy strategies, Urban Resource Recovery (URR), and climate adaptation has renewed attention to their territorial significance. Using the North Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone and the Newtown Creek watershed as a case study, this paper argues that certain historic manufacturing territories possess an inherent capacity to evolve into Metropolitan Metabolic Infrastructure because of inherited geographic, infrastructural, and institutional characteristics, including waterfront access, freight networks, industrial zoning, large industrial parcels, and utility systems. Drawing upon research developed through the New York City Department of Design and Construction’s Town+Gown Urban Resource Recovery Working Group, the study combines historical analysis, spatial interpretation, planning policy, and case-study research to examine the evolving relationship among urban metabolism, circular economy, environmental justice, and Healthy Cities. Rather than advocating industrial preservation irrespective of environmental performance, the paper argues that these territories can support metropolitan material circulation while advancing cleaner industrial practices, environmental remediation, and more equitable urban development. The Metropolitan Metabolic Infrastructure framework offers a planning perspective for understanding how inherited manufacturing landscapes may contribute to resilient, circular, and healthier metropolitan regions while informing future comparative research on industrial territories undergoing similar transitions worldwide. Full article

Understanding residents’ and tourists’ public space perceptions and satisfaction was essential for the sustainable planning and tourism development of historic towns. However, limited attention has been paid to the different perceptions between the two groups, as well as the nonlinear relationship between public space perception and satisfaction. Taking Fenghuang Ancient Town as the study area, this study used independent sample t-tests to examine the differences between residents and tourists. The XGBoost-SHAP model was further applied to identify key influencing factors and nonlinear interaction mechanisms affecting satisfaction. The results showed that: (1) residents perceived higher public awareness, space openness, and accessibility, whereas tourists reported higher crowd density and business prosperity; (2) color harmony most strongly influenced residents’ satisfaction, while spatial comfort had the strongest influence on tourists’ satisfaction; (3) color harmony and spatial comfort positively affected satisfaction, whereas space openness (residents) and crowd density (tourists) showed U-shaped relationships; and (4) for residents, the strongest interaction was between color harmony and business prosperity (0.015), while for tourists it was between spatial comfort and color harmony (0.038). These findings provided evidence-based guidance for sustainable public space planning and cultural heritage tourism management, contributing to inclusive governance and the long-term sustainability of historic towns. Full article

As one of the key vehicles to integrating culture and tourism in urban and rural development, cultural tourism-oriented characteristic towns are increasingly facing natural and social disaster risks caused by global climate variability, large-scale expansion of town areas, and intensified human engineering activities. In particular, characteristic towns that have rapidly developed through tourism based on historical and cultural heritage face challenges such as compact layouts of ancient architectural complexes, extensive outward expansion of newly developed areas, and inadequately planned emergency evacuation systems—making them ill-equipped to cope with increasingly uncertain disaster risks. In response to these issues, this study takes Zhangguying Town in Yueyang County, Hunan Province, as a case study. Through field investigations, interviews, and GIS-based hydrological simulations, the research systematically identifies the characteristics and influencing factors of disaster risks in the town. It also reveals the core dilemmas confronting current disaster prevention planning and proposes strategies such as enhancing chain disaster prevention measures, promoting micro-scale, site-specific disaster prevention retrofitting, and establishing a multi-scale disaster prevention system through “point-line” linkages. By reducing disaster risks, preserving cultural heritage, and optimizing emergency response capacities, this research effectively supports the sustainable development of cultural tourism-oriented characteristic towns from a disaster prevention perspective, enabling these towns to withstand natural hazards while sustaining their historical, cultural, and socio-economic functions. The findings provide a theoretical basis and methodological reference for comprehensive disaster prevention planning in similar cultural tourism-oriented characteristic towns. Full article

Medium-sized cities play an important role in regional settlement systems as intermediary centres linking metropolitan areas with smaller towns and rural regions. Due to their relatively compact spatial structure, such cities are often associated with the principles of the 15-min city concept, which promotes accessibility to key services and public spaces within walking distance. Urban regeneration is an important instrument supporting sustainable development and improving quality of life in these cities. This study examines the relationship between legal regulations, spatial delimitation patterns, and the spatial distribution of degraded and revitalised areas in medium-sized cities. The research is based on a comparative analysis of qualitative and quantitative criteria, GIS-based spatial analyses, and accessibility modelling conducted for five cities in the Pomeranian Voivodeship using planning documents and statistical data, verified through field surveys. The results indicate a high degree of spatial continuity of revitalisation areas despite changes in legal frameworks and delimitation methodologies. Revitalisation areas remained concentrated mainly within historic city centres and their multifunctional surroundings, while degraded areas gradually expanded toward residential districts. The findings also demonstrate a strong spatial relationship between revitalisation areas and 15 min walking accessibility zones. The study provides useful comparative insights for countries developing formal urban regeneration systems. Full article

Understanding the spatial organisation of small towns is essential for sustainable spatial planning and regional development. This study examines the spatio-functional pattern of Brzeziny, a small town located within the Łódź Metropolitan Area in Central Poland, selected as a representative case due to its typical Central European small-town morphology shaped by historical continuity, demographic stagnation, and metropolitan influence. The analysis is based on updated cadastral land-use data verified through field surveys and supplemented with topographic datasets (BDOT10k and OpenStreetMap). A modified land-use classification comprising nine categories is applied, and spatial analysis is performed using a regular grid and GIS tools. Dominant land-use structures are identified using the K. Doi method, enabling the delineation of spatio-functional zones. The results reveal a strong dominance of undeveloped land (77% of the total area), particularly agricultural land, alongside a compact central zone characterised by residential and service functions. The study demonstrates how historical development, economic structure, and metropolitan proximity shape the spatial organisation of small towns. The proposed methodology highlights the usefulness of cadastral data combined with grid-based spatial analysis for identifying S-FPs and supporting local planning processes. Full article

Historic towns and villages face growing conservation pressures as globalization exposes tensions between universal standards and culturally specific practices. We compare Western frameworks associated with UNESCO and ICOMOS with China’s national regulations for historic settlement conservation, focusing on differing assumptions about heritage value, authenticity, and preservation–development trade-offs. Systematic text analysis of 17 foundational policy and doctrinal documents shows that the Venice Charter tradition prioritizes material authenticity and expert-led minimal intervention, whereas Chinese regulations operationalize spatial–visual integrity (traditional pattern and historic townscape) and explicit socio-economic integration. Building on this complementarity, we propose a provisional dual-track decision-support framework as a proof of concept. Track 1 safeguards material-authenticity cores for exceptional sites; Track 2 supports living-heritage cores for inhabited settlements; and hybrid designations accommodate mixed cases. Framework application unfolds in two stages: designation screening, followed by implementation-feasibility assessment, with a phased Track 2-Lite pathway for contexts in which binding participatory governance is not yet viable. Illustrated through four UNESCO World Heritage Sites using secondary data, the framework links cultural preservation with economic viability, climate adaptation, and community stewardship, while acknowledging that its thresholds and governance templates remain heuristic and require broader empirical validation. The approach supports SDG target 11.4 and SDG 13 and advances methodological and authenticity pluralism beyond simple preservation–development binaries. Full article

Historic urban landscapes (HULs) represent complex environments where contemporary daily life interacts with living heritage. This study focuses on “third places,” informal social spaces outside home and work, as critical infrastructure for urban resilience. Addressing the lack of multidimensional assessments in Southeast Asian heritage contexts, this study develops and applies a context-sensitive assessment framework that integrates the HUL approach with four sustainability pillars: physical, environmental, socio-cultural, and governance–economic. Nakhon Si Thammarat was selected as a representative case study of a multicultural living heritage town where Buddhist, Muslim, and Chinese cultural layers uniquely converge within its urban fabric. Through field surveys and spatial mapping, 17 sites were empirically identified based on Oldenburg’s characteristics and evaluated via a structured rubric. Findings reveal a significant systemic imbalance: while the socio-cultural dimension is highly sustainable (M = 2.44), driven by robust cultural diversity, the environmental (M = 1.03) and governance–economic (M = 1.38) dimensions are considerably weaker. Key deficiencies include poor low-carbon accessibility and limited community participation. Notably, religious courtyards emerged as effective “living heritage” prototypes (M = 2.04), bridging sacred and secular functions. The study suggests that historic urban management should prioritize micro-scale environmental retrofitting and co-management models, leveraging existing social capital rather than wholesale urban restructuring. This flexible framework is transferable to other multicultural historic towns in the region with comparable contextual conditions. Full article

Ancient town tourism has become an important component of cultural tourism in China. However, rapid tourism growth has intensified differences in the use of public spaces between residents and tourists, leading to increasing spatial tensions in historic urban areas. This study evaluates public building spaces in ancient towns from the perspectives of residents and tourists and identifies their differentiated needs. Three representative ancient towns in Fujian Province, China, with different tourism resource types and development characteristics, were selected as case studies. The IPA–KANO approach was used to examine differences in user perceptions and priority needs. Based on a literature review, an evaluation system was developed with three dimensions: traditional style, sensory experience, and supporting facilities. The results reveal clear resident–tourist differences in public space priorities and show that these differences vary across ancient towns with different tourism development contexts. Residents place greater emphasis on the maintenance of the environment and facilities and on everyday usability, whereas tourists are more sensitive to public toilet settings and sun and rain shelter facilities. These findings indicate that resident–tourist divergence is context dependent rather than fixed and provide a basis for differentiated spatial optimization and sustainable management. Full article

The town of Guano, located in the province of Chimborazo, Ecuador, is a canton renowned for its concentration of cultural expressions related to traditional artisanal techniques, such as the production of garments and leather goods, tanning, textile weaving, products made from cabuya or totora reeds, and knotted rugs. These artisanal practices are embedded in a long-standing historical and symbolic framework, linked to processes of cultural transmission and identity reinterpretation. Furthermore, Guano has been a pivotal site in Ecuadorian archaeological history thanks to the studies of Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño (1927), who identified six cultural phases of the Puruhá culture through ceramic and stratigraphic analysis. The province has earned recognition as the “Cradle of Ecuadorian Nationality” due to its valuable archaeological heritage. However, much of the interpretation of this legacy has been constructed from colonial-era archaeological approaches, which have limited the understanding of the Puruhá worldview and generated interpretive shifts in the cultural attribution of its iconography. This research analyzes, from a semiotic and decolonial perspective, the semiotic codes present in the iconography of the Puruhá culture, observable in archaeological ceramic pieces and their reinterpretation in the Guano rugs, understood as living cultural artifacts. The analysis of the denotative and connotative levels of the graphic motifs integrates the iconographic study, Andean fractal design, and the examination of contemporary artisanal discourses. The results demonstrate the existence of a structured symbolic system, based on principles of duality, complementarity, cyclicality, and the tripartite division of the cosmos, as well as the persistence of patterns such as spirals and zoomorphic figures in current textile production. The study identifies that, despite this symbolic continuity, those who possess this knowledge often attribute these symbols to external cultural frameworks, primarily the Inca culture, which limits their potential as a resource for identity, culture, and tourism. In this sense, the research provides a situated and non-hegemonic interpretive framework that contributes to the cultural reinterpretation of the Guano knotted carpets, offering input for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, strengthening local identity, and designing sustainable cultural interpretation strategies. Full article

This paper addresses the issue of lighting in historic urban spaces, using Tarnow (Poland) as a case study. The aim is to assess the impact of artificial light sources on visual comfort within the area, with particular consideration given to light pollution. A comprehensive inventory of active street lighting in the Old Town was conducted. Measurements taken at ground and eye level revealed strong inconsistencies: some areas were under-lit (<1 lx), while others showed façade illuminance above 100 lx, far exceeding recommended thresholds. The highest environmental impact was shown by decorative and globe-type fixtures, with Sky Glow Contribution Index (SGCI) values of up to 0.62. Only suspended street luminaires met CIE requirements (ULR ≤ 15%). The findings reveal that several lighting installations do not meet recommended standards, adversely affecting both human comfort and ecological balance. The study proposes strategies to optimise urban lighting, such as replacing inefficient fixtures with full cut-off LED luminaires and implementing intelligent lighting control systems which could reduce energy consumption by 50-67% while preserving the architectural character of the historic centre. The results provide evidence-based strategies for sustainable lighting modernisation in heritage cities across Europe. Full article

Urban soundscape management is a central challenge to the livability and sustainability of cities and requires approaches that complement level indicators with frameworks capable of integrating context, use and experience. In this framework, the present work applies a multilayer methodology to the Old Town of Bilbao, understood as a useful case study to explore the applicability of soundscape reading in historic centers with intense coexistence of commercial, hospitality and catering uses, pedestrian, logistical and cultural uses. The methodology is organized into two phases. The first focuses on the recording and documentation of control points and routes through sound fieldwork, perceptual descriptions and homogeneous systematization of information. From this corpus, a qualified sound map and a first visual characterization of the sound identity are elaborated. The second phase presented in this article, consists of the interpretative synthesis of the corpus through five analytical dimensions and the preparation of fragments and sound sequences conceived for future application through reactivated listening. The results are presented at three levels: (1) a traceable documentary corpus of records, files and synthetic representations; (2) a comparative reading by dimensions that identifies spatial contrasts between interior, exterior and perimeter, as well as relationships between urban form, uses, persistence, masking and salience; and (3) a set of operational audio materials prepared for subsequent comparison with inhabitants and users. In a transversal way, type–token reading distinguishes between the diversity of sounds and dominance by repetition. The article does not yet carry out participatory validation of these materials; its contribution consists of proposing and applying a traceable analytical protocol as a basis for future phases of social contrast and applied discussion. Full article

Historical small towns (HSTs) embody irreplaceable cultural heritage and territorial identity, facing depopulation, economic marginalization, and infrastructure decay. Improving their liveability and attractiveness is essential to reverse these trends and boost sustainable development. In this context, HSTs are potential drivers of circular and sustainable socio-technical systems, where the circular economy (CE) offers a framework for local sustainability. However, HSTs lack adequate sustainable CE implementation tools. This study, the culmination of the H-SMA-CE project, develops a Decision Support System (DSS) to assist local policymakers in planning CE transitions in Italian HSTs. The DSS integrates three building blocks: context analysis (metabolic flows, stakeholder networks), an intervention library with cost–benefit data, and a composite Municipal Circular Economy Index (MCEI). The tool enables users to assess baseline circularity, simulate scenarios, and identify optimal investment portfolios through multi-objective optimization. This approach allows for the simultaneous evaluation of the benefits of each sustainability aspect, i.e., environmental, economic and social. Tested on the municipality of Taurasi (Italy), an HST with a wine-based economy, the results show that balanced intervention strategies yield greater circularity improvements than single-objective approaches. The paper contributes to the discourse on digital tools for sustainability transitions, offering a replicable model for evidence-based CE governance in heritage-rich territorial contexts. Full article

Industrial heritage in resource-depleted mining towns faces the dual challenge of physical decay and social severance. To achieve sustainable urban revitalization, adaptive reuse strategies must align with local collective memory and emerging experiential consumption trends. Adopting a Scene Theory perspective, this study constructs a multi-level analytical framework using Meitanba Town (Hunan, China) and its power plant as a case study. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining semantic network analysis of 1582 online user comments with 61 offline questionnaires distributed to local residents to quantitatively diagnose current scene elements, functions, and features. The quantitative results reveal a significant imbalance: while “Functional Media” achieved the highest comprehensive score (10.0) due to strong historical recognition, “Diverse Groups” scored the lowest (3.4), indicating a lack of social inclusivity. Specifically, residents expressed the highest demand for sports facilities (31.2%) and cultural spaces (23.7%), identifying the main workshop (26.4%) and chimney as core carriers of industrial identity. Responding to these findings, the paper proposes three targeted strategies: (1) Activate: creating open-access recreation scenes to satisfy urgent sports demands; (2) Link: constructing immersive cultural scenes to narrate the “coal–electricity–life” history; and (3) Enhance: developing industry-powered commercial scenes to avoid homogenization. This study enriches the localized application of Scene Theory and provides a data-driven, context-adjustable analytical and strategic model that can inform the sustainable renewal of mining towns globally, with its specific implementation requiring adaptation to local social, economic, and cultural characteristics. Full article