Virtual Only | Track 4 | Session 1. Cities of Care: Urban Health and Inclusive Communities

This paper systematically analyzes the differences in the positioning of the concept of “health” in several major theoretical schools of urban planning - rational planning, advocacy planning, spatial justice theory, and resilient cities theory - and the power mechanisms behind them. The literature review reveals that rational planning treats health as a technical accessory that serves the goal of efficiency, relying on expert knowledge to quantify environmental parameters but often concealing systemic deprivation; advocacy planning treats health as a tactical vehicle for fighting for social justice, emphasizing community empowerment to expose structural injustices such as spatial segregation; and spatial justice theory establishes health as a core value and a spatial right, critiquing the inequalities in health as being rooted in power-driven resource allocation. The spatial justice theory establishes health as a core value goal and spatial right, criticizing health inequality as rooted in power-driven imbalances in resource allocation; and the resilient city theory views health as a symptom of maintaining systemic resilience to disasters, with a technological orientation that may neglect social justice. In addition, this study further uncovers that the divergence in the conceptualization of health across different theoretical schools is essentially a manifestation of power relations - from technocratic control, to infiltration of the logic of capital, to the resistance of marginalized groups. Based on this, this paper critically examines the status quo of health perception in China's current planning practice, which is still confined to technical indicators and the positioning of resilience subsystems, pointing out that there are problems such as the lack of fairness, the erosion of public space by the market, and the avoidance of structural root causes, etc., and advocating that future planning needs to uplift health into a spatial justice meta-value, and that health impact assessment, community empowerment, and financial transfers should be guaranteed by legislation to promote health from a technological appendage to a core right. Through legislation, health impact assessment, community empowerment and financial transfers, we will promote the fundamental transformation of health from a technological accessory to a core right.

In an aging society, the elderly are more vulnerable to environmental changes due to the adverse effects of disease burden. Studies have shown that urban green spaces could bring various benefits including reducing air pollution and providing venues for physical activities, therefore could effectively enhance the physiological and mental health of the elderly. Despite such consensus, the pathways and mechanisms through which different types of green spaces promote the elderly’s mental health remain unclear and need to be systematically discussed. To address this gap, this study focuses on the heterogeneous pathways through which various types of green spaces impact the mental health of the elderly, aiming to provide new insights for inclusive green space planning in urban renewal. This study was conducted in summer 2024 and adopted the Tuinstraten urban renewal project in Antwerp, Belgium as a case study. The project was chosen because it involved five types of green space, namely wall garden, vegetable gardens, trees, planted areas, and lawns across greening renewal projects in eight streets, therefore support our exploration of the diverse ways in which various types of green spaces influence the mental health of the elderly. The study employed a mixed-methods research design, combining field survey and semi-structured interviews, with three distinct stages of method implementation. In the first stage, field survey was conducted on the eight greening renewal nodes. This involved systematic on-site observations and comprehensive documentation of green space characteristics, including their spatial layout, vegetation configuration, inclusive facilities and venue accessibility. The second stage involved data collection through semi-structured interviews with 80 local elderly residents. The interview guide was developed based on the case study findings, with questions addressing three core dimensions: 1) investigation of elderly’s usage of each green space type before and after the renewal; 2) evaluation of psychological feelings triggered by interactions with each green space using a Likert scale; 3) subjective perceptions of how the green renovations had altered their daily lives. To determine the sample, a three-step sampling strategy was employed: first, generic purposive sampling was used to select initial participants, targeting residents aged over 60 who had lived in the project area for at least 1 year and were regular users (≥1/week) of at least one local green space. Second, snowball sampling was used to expand the sample and enrich diverse perspectives, through referrals provided by initial elderly participants. Third, theoretical sampling was applied, guiding further selection until theoretical saturation was attained across core analytical categories. Interviews were conducted face-to-face, lasting 45 minutes each, and audio-recorded with participant consent for later transcription. The third stage involved grounded theory analysis, with a three-phase coding process. Open coding was first applied to the interview transcripts, breaking down the data into initial concepts. Axial coding followed, grouping these concepts into 8 categories based on their relationships. Finally, selective coding identified the core category that interconnected 7 subcategories, constructing a theoretical framework to explain the underlying mechanisms. The results revealed mixed effects of different urban green spaces on elderly mental health. The dominant impact was positive: most respondents reported that lawns, wall gardens and trees directly enhanced life satisfaction, as visibility of greenery evoked relaxation and alleviated psychological stress. Additionally, lawns served as venues for physical activities and neighborhood social interaction, therefore promoting the elderly’s mental health. However, a minority of respondents reported negative effects: insect proliferation in vegetable gardens, planting beds, and wall gardens diminished comfort while noise from landscape renovation projects disrupted rest, thus reducing their well-being. Besides, from a decolonising perspective, respondents noted that some planted areas failed to accommodate individuals with limited mobility, creating feelings of exclusion.

Urbanization has profoundly reshaped human living spaces and daily behaviors, impacting all age groups, especially school-age children, who are vulnerable to environmental changes. In recent years, children’s commuting-to-school environments and travel modes have undergone significant transformation. The proportion of motorized journeys has risen, while independent travel has declined, exposing children to higher levels of traffic, noise, and safety risks. These shifts, closely linked to urbanization, have introduced new sources of psychological stress on children. As a result, concerns regarding children’s mental health have grown worldwide,, with rising rates of anxiety, depression and stress-related symptoms becoming increasingly evident. The commuting-to-school environment functions as a vital link between home and school, represting the urban space where children spend the most time and encounter the greatest variety of experiences. This setting has a direct effect on their emotional state, social interactions, and perception of well-being. However, current educational and urban planning practices tend to emphasize physical health, often overlooking the crucial role of mental health. Furthermore, children's perceptions of their environments, as well as their needs, vary considerably across different stages of development. In response to this gap, the study explores how the urban commuting-to-school environment affects the mental health of children at different age levels and investigates the pathways and mechanisms through which these effects occur. This study takes Harbin City as a case study, and employs a combination of literature review, child-friendly questionnaires, and cognitive mapping to build a a comprehensive model describing the relationship between commuting environment and children’s mental health. The study identifies four key dimensions of the commuting environment (safety, comfort, convenience, and variety). Three categories of mediator are considered: stress perception, experience of autonomy, and sense of social connectedness. Children’s mental health is measured using self-reported scores from the MHS-CA Children's Mental Health Scale self-scores. A total of 900 students, equally divided among primary (ages 6-11), middle (ages 12-15), and high (ages 16-18) school group in Harbin City, were randomly selected, and 886 valid questionnaires were returned. After preprocessing the data, structural equation modeling was applied to analyze multiple mediation effects, while group comparisons assessed differences across age groups. The results demonstrate that all four dimensions are positively correlated with children's mental health. Among these, perceived stress and sense of social connectedness act as mediators, especially in the safety and variety, whereas autonomy experiences mediatethe influence ofsecurity, comfort, and convenience on psychological well-being. Age group analysis reveals distinct patterns: for primary school children, the pathway from safety throughstress perception to mental health is most pronounced, indicating that lack of safety leads to heightened stress and poorer mental health; Middle school students show the strongest mediating role of autonomy, likely due to increased psychological sensitivity period,; While for high school students, the link between convenience, stress perception, and mental health is most significant, indicating that ease of school access at this stage greatly influences their psychological state. This study systematically uncovers how different features of the urban commuting-to-school environment affect children’s mental health at various developmental stages. It highlights the need to pay attention to children who are in a disadvantageous position in urban planning decision-making, and helps to make up for the neglect of mental health in the current research related to child-friendly cities, improve urban inclusiveness, and promote the development of urban design refinement.

Situated at the heart of the city, The Khobar Old Town stands as an invaluable piece of urban heritage, once a thriving center of commerce and a vibrant district of robust social bonds. Within its gridded plan, markets, public squares, and narrow streetscapes fostered a strong sense of community. Today, the old town bears the marks of time and evolution; this dynamic urban district has encountered the wear and tear of obsolescence, leading to visual decline, and seeking urban renewal. The Redevelopment of the Khobar Old Town is a transformative urban regeneration project that redefines the relationship between people, architecture, and public space. Rooted in deep community engagement, the project was shaped by the people, ensuring an inclusive and socially responsive urban environment that enhances the quality of life for all. Through an experiential urban trail, the project reactivates public space, connecting key districts with a network of public plazas, pocket parks, and shared streets. Passive climate control strategies, including shaded walkways and green spaces create year-round, multifunctional environments that support local businesses and strengthen social ties. The project emphasizes adaptive reuse, minimizing demolition waste while preserving the city’s historic character. Additionally, green routes encourage eco-friendly mobility, prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists over vehicles to improve accessibility, safety, and well-being. Through its formal language, the project promotes local identity by borrowing traditional motifs in a contemporary context, weaving them into building facades, street furniture, and public space, ensuring a design that respects the spirit of the place and pays homage to the region and its history. Through participatory design, the project revitalizes not just the built environment, but the community itself - restoring the city’s spirit, fostering inclusivity, and setting a global benchmark for people-centered urban regeneration.

China's 1950s socialist worker communities represent unique urban heritage where state ideology, labor culture, and collective living practices co-constructed distinctive spatial identities. Shanghai's Caoyang New Village, as the nation's first worker community, exemplifies this co-construction through spatial forms that simultaneously shaped physical environments, social networks, and cultural meanings. After seven decades of evolution, these heritage communities face tensions between preserving distinctive socialist cultural character and fostering inclusive spaces that support multicultural expression, diverse lifestyle needs, and equitable community access across age and cultural groups. Caoyang New Village's seven-decade evolution exemplifies how heritage communities navigate the fundamental tension between cultural identity preservation and inclusive urban transformation. The community's spatial development reveals three critical phases where material-social-cultural co-construction shaped place identity: the 1950s established collective worker identity through ring-water systems and Soviet architecture that fostered communal social practices and labor cultural celebrations; the 1970s-1990s transition saw infrastructure modernization accommodate diverse housing needs while community bonds shifted from work-unit solidarity to neighborhood networks, creating space for varied lifestyle expressions; the 2010s cultural regeneration phase introduces smart systems and welcomes diverse newcomers while working to preserve worker heritage authenticity alongside contemporary multicultural community needs. The development trajectory resonates with similar tensions faced by China's numerous other socialist worker communities, where heritage preservation must be balanced with contemporary inclusivity needs. These experiences reflect broader patterns observable in heritage neighborhoods across post-socialist contexts, where communities must accommodate contemporary diversity while preserving collective memory, ensuring equitable access across different cultural and age groups, and harmonizing established community rhythms with evolving urban development pressures. However, current planning approaches typically address these challenges through fragmented interventions—focusing separately on physical infrastructure upgrading, social service provision, or cultural heritage preservation—without understanding how these dimensions dynamically interact to shape place identity and community inclusion. To address this gap, our research applies placemaking theory's material-social-cultural analytical framework, integrating AI-powered street view analysis, sDNA spatial syntax, social media sentiment processing, and systematic facility mapping across 26 residential clusters. Building on this evidence base, we propose a 'Build-Upgrade-Strengthen' 15-minute city implementation pathway that follows the community's historical development trajectory. Three integrated strategies emerge: "structural reconstruction + functional optimization" addresses spatial inequities while preserving heritage character; "spatial innovation + economic activation + digital empowerment" restores social vitality through intergenerational interaction spaces; "spatial narrative + participatory construction + digital heritage transmission" ensures cultural continuity while enabling multicultural expression.This framework provides systematic guidance for transforming socialist heritage residential communities shaped by distinctive historical-political contexts, offering policy innovations including differentiated renewal strategies, participatory planning platforms, and integrated governance mechanisms that balance preservation with inclusion objectives. The methodology's emphasis on material-social-cultural co-construction holds broader relevance for heritage community transformations in post-socialist urban heritage communities worldwide.

The contemporary city is increasingly defined by the interplay of physical and digital proximity, a dynamic that reshapes urban street life in profound yet under-explored ways. This theoretical paper examines how this dual geography—where physical spaces overlap with digital networks—alters the social, spatial, and temporal fabric of streets, traditionally seen as theatres of human interaction. Drawing on diverse scholarship, including Madanipur's socio-spatial segregation, Barbosa’s analysis of children’s diminishing urban autonomy, Crang’s colliding temporalities, and Barad’s agential realism, we argue that streets are shifting from spaces of contact to conduits of circulation, exacerbated by digital technologies. While historical conceptions of streets as vibrant, communal arenas clash with modernist efficiency, the rise of e-communication introduces new layers of exclusion and opportunity. Synthesising these perspectives, we propose a conceptual framework that views streets as phenomena—entangled performances of human, material, and digital agencies—rather than static entities. This lens reveals how digital proximity fragments physical togetherness, reducing spontaneous encounters, yet also offers tools (e.g., co-creation, augmented spaces) to reanimate urban life. We address two sub-questions: What new urban design requirements emerge to support this condition, and what are the implications for liveability? The paper contends that reimagining streets demands a balance between connectivity and contact, drawing lessons from resilient urban forms like Venice. This theoretical exploration contributes to urban studies by reframing street life as a contested, evolving assemblage, urging designers and policymakers to prioritise human-scale interaction in an increasingly digital urban future.

Safety perception in urban public spaces exhibits significant gender differences, with women's safety anxiety during nighttime travel becoming a critical issue in urban governance. Traditional urban safety research predominantly relies on crime statistics and surveys, failing to precisely capture women's authentic emotional experiences in specific spatio-temporal contexts. This study constructs a three-dimensional "emotion-space-time" analytical framework, employing multi-source urban data to deeply explore women's safety perception patterns across different environments in central London. This research aims to reveal the day-night differential patterns of women's safety perception in urban public spaces and explore the intrinsic correlational mechanisms between spatial types, temporal nodes, and women's emotional experiences. Specifically, the study focuses on the following core questions: First, do significant differences exist in women's safety perception across different spatial types (green spaces versus street spaces)? Second, how do temporal factors (day versus night) modulate women's safety evaluations of the same space? Third, what quantitative relationships exist between spatial physical environmental elements (lighting conditions, openness levels, vegetation coverage) and women's emotional responses? Fourth, do community background differences influence the spatial expression patterns of women's safety perception? Fifth, can emotion maps based on multi-source data provide effective technical pathways for identifying urban "geographies of fear"? By addressing these questions, this study attempts to construct a more precise and dynamic assessment system for women's urban safety perception, providing empirical support for promoting gender-equitable urban spatial design. The research focuses on typical areas within London's Zones 1-2, including Regent's Park, Hyde Park, Burgess Park, and Victoria Park, systematically analyzing the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics of women's safety emotions through multiple technical approaches including geotagged social media data mining, street view image semantic analysis, and point-of-interest data integration. The study employs Gemini-2.5-flash multimodal large language models to extract spatial environmental elements and conducts sentiment polarity classification and topic modeling, constructing a refined measurement system for women's safety perception. The research reveals that women's safety perception exhibits distinct spatio-temporal heterogeneity characteristics: negative emotions significantly cluster in nighttime street environments, particularly in areas with insufficient lighting and spatial enclosure; green spaces serve as positive emotional carriers during daytime but may transform into sources of fear at night. The discrepancy between perceived and objective safety indicators highlights how spatial morphology profoundly shapes emotional experiences in urban environments. Meanwhile, differential expressions across communities reflect the complex interactive effects of racial, cultural, and other factors with gender and space. The multi-source data fusion analytical framework proposed in this study demonstrates good reproducibility and transferability, providing new methodological pathways for emotion-cognition-based urban safety assessment. The research findings can provide scientific evidence and practical guidance for urban planners and policymakers in designing gender-friendly public spaces and constructing emotionally supportive urban environments.

With the continuous development of the global social economy and the advancement of urban construction, residents' demands for urban living environments tend to be more diversified. At the same time, many issues such as cultural identity, historical and cultural protection, improvement of the living environment, and urban renewal and transformation have emerged. Among them, the protection of the historical and cultural context of a city in urban development plays a dual role of residents' identity recognition and cultural innovation, while urban renewal provides the necessary means and approaches for the improvement of the living environment and the development of the city. Therefore, urban renewal based on the premise of historical and cultural protection has become a key part of the future development of cities. Based on the above background, in order to promote the continuation of urban historical culture, advance the cultural identity and sustainability of urban development, create urban spaces that adapt to diverse needs, and enhance the cultural resilience and living environment quality of cities, we have based on relevant theories such as historical town landscapes, cultural ecology, contextualism and urban morphology. By using methods such as historical document research, GIS analysis, quantitative statistics, and field investigation, a framework for the protection and renewal utilization system of urban space under multi-dimensional value constraints was constructed. Throughout the entire process of identification, unit division, value evaluation, renewal and utilization guidance of cultural spaces in cities, this study, based on the multi-value bottom line of cultural protection, effectively proposes corresponding guidelines for hierarchical and classified renewal and utilization to improve the quality of life of urban residents. It also profoundly expounded the themes of Culture, Identity, and Inclusive Urban Transformation of this conference. Finally, taking the small towns in China - Dajing and Zhangye as cases, practical verification was carried out, and the corresponding databases, planning texts and drawings were formed, providing management and control basis for the construction of future cities. The framework of the urban space protection and renewal utilization system under multi-dimensional value constraints constructed by this research institute specifically includes three parts: cultural space identification and unit demarcation, multi-dimensional value assessment of spatial units, and hierarchical and classified guidance for overall protection and utilization. Firstly, a cultural space identification method based on the sorting out of the urban evolution process and a unit demarcation method based on the analysis of morphological characteristics were proposed. Secondly, a multi-dimensional value assessment system based on three dimensions and 25 factors, namely ontological value, associated value and translational value, has been constructed. Thirdly, a hierarchical and classified management guidance method based on the results of value assessment was proposed. The contributions of this study mainly include two aspects. The first is that the proposed theoretical framework integrates the two major themes of cultural protection and urban renewal that adapts to diverse needs, providing new ideas for the related research and practice of future urban renewal and the continuation of cultural context. The second is that through technical processes such as the demarcation, evaluation, renewal and utilization guidance of cultural spaces, it provides a more reliable database and methodological system for the future construction, management and control of cities.