Search Results (2,149)

As the region with the earliest housing stock market and the most advanced development in China, the Pearl River Delta has experienced extensive housing demolition and construction, leading to buildings having short lifespans. The environmental pollution generated during this process has brought attention to the concept of green buildings. However, whether due to previous patterns of demolition and construction or the significant impacts of social and economic changes in the current and future housing stock contexts, the comprehensive adaptability of human-centered living spaces remains a crucial issue. This focus is strongly related to the residents’ psychological responses, such as sense of belonging, safety, and atmosphere, across different scales of physical environment. However, most housing evaluation systems regarding sustainable issues are green building evaluation systems. And their concept and practice are often accompanied by a neglect of the interrelationship between people and the built environment, as well as a lack of an appropriate methodological framework to integrate these elements in the temporal dimension. This paper primarily tries to provide new answers to old questions about housing durability by reconceptualizing evaluation systems beyond ecological metrics, while simultaneously challenging accepted answers that privilege material and energy indicators over sociocultural embeddedness. Moreover, an effective housing evaluation framework must transcend purely technical or ecological indicators to systematically integrate the temporal and sociocultural factors that sustain long-term residential quality, particularly in rapidly transforming urban contexts. Therefore, theories closely related to building longevity, such as open building and the “level” strategy, were introduced. Based on this combined methodological framework, selected cases of local traditional housing and green building evaluation systems were studied, aiming to identify valuable longevity factors and improved evaluation methods. Furthermore, two rounds of expert consultation and a data analysis were conducted. The first round helped determine the local indexes and preliminary evaluation methods, while the second round helped confirm the weighting value of each index through a questionnaire study and data analysis. This systematic study ultimately established a preliminary long-term housing evaluation system for the Pearl River Delta. Full article

To address urban flooding challenges exacerbated by climate change and urbanization, this study develops an integrated assessment framework combining the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), entropy weight method, and cloud model to quantify urban flood resilience. Resilience is deconstructed into resistance, adaptability, and recovery and evaluated through 24 indicators spanning water resources, socio-economic systems, and ecological systems. Subjective (AHP) and objective (entropy) weights are optimized via minimum information entropy, with the cloud model enabling qualitative–quantitative resilience mapping. Analyzing 2014–2024 data from 27 Chinese sponge city pilots, the results show resilience improved from “poor to average” to “good to average”, with a 2.89% annual growth rate. Megacities like Beijing and Shanghai excel in resistance and recovery due to infrastructure and economic strengths, while cities like Sanya enhance resilience via ecological restoration. Key drivers include water allocation (27.38%), economic system (18.41%), and social system (17.94%), with critical indicators being population density, secondary industry GDP ratio, and sewage treatment rate. Recommendations emphasize upgrading rainwater storage, intelligent monitoring networks, and resilience-oriented planning. The model offers a scientific foundation for urban disaster risk management, supporting sustainable development. This approach enables systematic improvements in adaptive capacity and recovery potential, providing actionable insights for global flood-resilient urban planning. Full article

This study employs a systems theory approach to investigate the coupling coordination and driving mechanisms within the economic–social–environmental (ESE) system in China’s ethnic regions. It analyzes 67 ethnic counties in Sichuan Province, using an integrated framework that combines dynamic Shannon entropy, coupling coordination modeling, and GeoDetector. Based on data from 2005 to 2024, the study reveals the spatiotemporal patterns of ESE coupling coordination. The key findings are as follows: (1) The coupling coordination degree has gone through four stages: moderate imbalance → mild imbalance → primary coordination → moderate coordination. By 2024, 81.8% of counties had achieved coordinated development, and “highly coordinated” counties emerged for the first time. (2) The Western Sichuan Plateau has formed a high–high agglomeration zone by monetizing ecological assets and utilizing ethnic cultural resources. In contrast, the hilly and parallel ridge–valley regions in central and eastern Sichuan remain in low–low agglomerations due to their dependency on traditional industrialization paths. The decrease in high–low and low–high outliers indicates the recent policy polarization effects. (3) The interaction between habitat quality and per capita GDP has the strongest explanatory power. The rising marginal contributions of energy and carbon emission intensity suggest that green industrialization is crucial to breaking the “poverty–pollution” trap. Full article

As industrial and urban growth advances, the challenge of rural population shrinkage has grown more pronounced, impacting rural functions. Northeast China is an example in this study, and a rural function evaluation index system is constructed based on four dimensions: agricultural production, economic development, social security, and ecological conservation. The spatio-temporal heterogeneity of the impact of rural population shrinkage on rural functions is quantified in this study using bivariate spatial autocorrelation and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR). The results show that from 2000 to 2020, the rural population in most counties in Northeast China declined, while agricultural production, economic development, social security, and ecological conservation functions generally trended upwards. According to the GTWR model, the positive effect of rural population density on agricultural production weakened over time, slightly promoting social security and continuing to inhibit ecological conservation. In contrast, the supporting effect of average rural population size on economic development strengthened, its inhibitory effect on ecology decreased, and it slightly inhibited social security. While rural population shrinkage generally promoted agricultural development, economic growth, social security, and ecological improvements, its positive impact on agricultural development declined over time, and the promotion effects on social security and ecological conservation partially turned into inhibition after 2020. Policy recommendations are presented in this paper, providing a solid scientific foundation for the sustainable development of rural areas in Northeast China. Full article

The transition towards sustainable agri-food systems requires understanding factors influencing innovation adoption across agri-food companies. This systematic literature review, following PRISMA methodology, examines innovation types, their intended purposes, and adoption determinants among worldwide stakeholders. Data were extracted from Scopus and Web of Science databases using rigorous selection criteria, covering publications from January 2014 to January 2025. From 775 initial records, 80 publications were selected for quantitative analysis, of these 74 empirical studies included in qualitative analysis. Innovations were categorized based on ecological, economic, social, and institutional purposes, revealing ecological purpose innovations predominated. Subsequently, adoption factors were classified using the tripartite framework based on extrinsic, intrinsic, and intervening variables. Findings reveal developing regions (Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia) representing 65% of studies. Agriculture sector dominated research attention, with cereals as the most investigated value chain, reflecting their fundamental role in global food security and nutrition. Analysis demonstrates that adoption decisions result from complex interactions between external structural conditions, individual psychological factors, and support mechanisms. Results underscore the context-dependent nature of innovation adoption and the need for context-sensitive, multi-stakeholder approaches facilitating sustainable and digital food system transformations. Full article

Urban flooding presents increasingly complex challenges exacerbated by climate change, rapid urbanization, and aging infrastructure. This investigation combines planning theories and socio-hydrological modelling to create a planning-adaptable urban flood management strategy. The case study of Chiba Prefecture, Japan, demonstrates this approach in depth. By applying the Social-Ecological-Technological Systems (SETS) framework in combination with planning theories, the study has identified the relationship between the conventional engineered methods and the newly introduced environmentally friendly (nature-based) solutions. Our findings, which are based on content analysis of 23 official statutory planning documents, indicate that there is a significant focus on the conservation of ecosystems and green infrastructure balanced with issues of emergency planning and community engagement. One of the points that the results highlight is integrating the ecological, social and technological aspects in order to create flood management policies that are both robust and fair. This integrated approach offers a robust framework for mitigating flood risks while promoting sustainable urban development and long-term community resilience. Full article

This paper introduces and defines ‘Living Cultural Infrastructure’ as dynamic social-ecological systems where plant heritage and community knowledge are co-produced to reclaim degraded urban landscapes. Addressing the dual challenges of ecological degradation and cultural erosion, we demonstrate this concept through a case study on the Maekha Canal in Chiang Mai, Thailand, employing Participatory Landscape Architecture integrated with urban ethnobotany. Through co-design workshops, biocultural spatial analysis, and ethnobotanical surveys involving 20 key community members, the project engaged residents to reclaim the canal as a functional biocultural corridor. The research documented 149 culturally significant plant species and resulted in a co-created trail system that embodies the principles of a living infrastructure, fostering intergenerational knowledge exchange and strengthening community stewardship. This study demonstrates how a participatory, ethnobotany-informed process can regenerate degraded urban waterways into Living Cultural Infrastructure. The research advances a new paradigm for landscape architecture by providing replicable governance and design tools. Full article

This theoretical article explores the contrasting ontologies, axiologies, and political economies of transhumanism and posthumanism. Transhumanism envisions the human as an enhanced, autonomous agent shaped by neoliberal and Enlightenment ideals. Posthumanism challenges this by emphasizing relationality, ecological entanglement, and critiques of commodification. Both engage with technology’s role in reshaping humanity. Drawing on Braidotti’s posthumanism, Haraway’s cyborg figuration, Ahmed’s politics of emotion, Berlant’s cruel optimism, Massumi’s affective modulation, Seigworth and Gregg’s affective intensities, Zuboff’s surveillance capitalism, Fisher’s capitalist realism, Cooper’s surplus life, Sadowski’s digital capitalism, Lupton’s quantified self, Schafheitle et al.’s datafied subject, Pasquale’s black box society, Terranova’s network culture, Bratton’s platform sovereignty, Dean’s communicative capitalism, and Morozov’s technological solutionism, the article elucidates how subjectivity, data, and infrastructure are reorganized by corporate systems. Introducing technogensis as the co-creation of human and technological subjectivities, it links corporate-platform practices to future trajectories governed by Apple, Meta, and Google. These branded technologies function not only as enhancements but as infrastructures of governance that commodify subjectivity, regulate affect and behavior, and reproduce socio-economic stratification. A future is extrapolated where humans are not liberated by technology but incubated, intubated, and ventilated by techno-conglomerate governments. These attention-monopolizing, affective-capturing, behavior-modulating, and profit-extracting platforms do more than enhance; they brand subjectivity, rendering existence subscription-based under the guise of personal optimization and freedom. This reframes transhumanism as a cybernetic intensification of liberal subjectivity, offering tools to interrogate governance, equity, agency, and democratic participation, and resist techno-utopian narratives. Building on this, a posthumanist alternative emphasizes relational, multispecies subjectivities, collective agency, and ecological accountability, outlining pathways for ethical design and participatory governance to resist neoliberal commodification and foster emergent, open-ended techno-social futures. Full article

National parks play a crucial role in promoting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and have become one of the key topics of global concern and discussion. However, it is still unclear whether national park development can effectively enhance the level of sustainable development in local communities related to social and economic dimensions of SDGs. In this study, we constructed an evaluation system based on the SDG assessment indicator framework, to evaluate the sustainable development level of local communities within Hunan Nanshan National Park (NSNP), China. We assessed the development level of various SDG indicators through field visits and structured surveys of local communities inside and around HNNP. We used the entropy method to determine the weight of each indicator and calculated the integrated development index of different communities within and around NSNP. The results indicate the following: (1) The integrated development index of communities within NSNP is generally lower than that of the surrounding communities, but it scores higher in the dimensions of SDG1 and SDG10. (2) The integrated development index within NSNP shows the highest in communities within original natural park, but the lowest in communities within original nature reserve. (3) The structured questionnaire surveys reveal that the primary cause of income decline of residents within NSNP is the restriction on land-use and resource exploitation, while ecological compensation and employment opportunities related to national park management can help improve local livelihoods and thereby promote development level of local communities. This study provides a technical framework for assessing the sustainable development of local communities in Chinese national parks and supports regional planning. It also offers a scientific basis for balancing national park conservation with local community development. Full article

Urban networks are a key force in reshaping regional resilience patterns. However, existing research has not yet systematically elucidated, from a physical–virtual integration perspective, the underlying mechanisms through which composite urban networks shape multidimensional urban resilience in regions confronted with severe environmental and infrastructural challenges. Northwest China, characterized by its extreme arid climate, pronounced core–periphery structure, and heavy reliance on overland transportation, provides an important empirical context for examining the unique relationship between network centrality and the mechanisms of resilience formation. Based on the panel data of 33 prefecture-level cities in northwest China from 2011 to 2023, this article empirically examines the impact of the composite urban network constructed by traffic and information flows on urban resilience from the perspective of network node centrality using a two-way fixed-effects model. It is found that (1) the spatial evolution of urban resilience in northwest China is characterized by “core leadership—gradient agglomeration”: provincial capitals demonstrate significantly the highest resilience levels, while non-provincial cities are predominantly characterized by medium resilience and contiguous distribution, and the growth rate of low-resilience cities is faster, which pushes down the relative gap in the region, but the absolute gap persists; (2) the urban network in this region is characterized by a highly centralized topology, which improves the efficiency of resource allocation yet simultaneously introduces systemic vulnerability due to its over-reliance on a limited number of core hubs; (3) urban network centrality exerts a significant positive impact on resilience enhancement (β = 0.002, p < 0.01) and the core nodes of the city through the control of resources to strengthen the economic, ecological, social, and infrastructural resilience; (4) multi-dimensional factors synergistically drive the resilience, with the financial development level, economic density, and informationization level as a positive pillar. The population size and rough water utilization significantly inhibit the resilience of the region. Accordingly, the optimization path of “multi-center resilience network reconstruction, classified measures to break resource constraints, regional wisdom, and collaborative governance” is proposed to provide theoretical support and a practical paradigm for the construction of resilient cities in northwest China. Full article

Heritage landscapes endure not through the preservation of fixed forms but through the capacity to adapt to changing social, political, economic, and environmental conditions. Conservation policies that privilege static ideals of authenticity risk undermining the very systems they aim to protect. This paper advances a model of shared stewardship that links conservation of heritage to support for livelihoods, functional flexibility, and community authority in decision-making. Using the Ifugao Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordillera as a case study, we integrate archaeological, ethnographic, spatial, and agricultural economic evidence to examine the terraces as a dynamic socio-ecological system. Archaeological findings and oral histories show that wet-rice agriculture expanded in the 17th century, replacing earlier taro-based systems and incorporating swidden fields, managed forests, and ritual obligations. Contemporary changes such as the shift from heirloom tinawon rice to commercial crops, the impacts of labor migration, and climate variability reflect long-standing adaptive strategies rather than cultural decline. Comparative cases from other UNESCO and heritage sites demonstrate that economic viability, adaptability, and local governance are essential to sustaining long-inhabited agricultural landscapes. We thus argue that the Ifugao terraces, like their global counterparts, should be conserved as living systems whose cultural continuity depends on their ability to respond to present and future challenges. Full article

Plant-based diets are increasingly attracting attention as they play a significant role in human health and environmental sustainability and are believed to be key components of sustainable food systems. In the present study, both pros and cons of the adoption of plant-based diets are analyzed using a bibliometric method integrated with a qualitative examination of the scientific literature. For the bibliometric study, Bibliometrix software was utilized, examining 3245 scientific articles, downloaded from the Scopus database, and printed between the years 1957 and 2025. The analyses were conducted using R software, version 4.4.1, with access to the Bibliometrix package, version 4.1. The results indicate a remarkable rise, in the last two decades, in the scholarly focus on the influence of plant-based diets on the individual’s health condition as well as the environment. Keyword co-occurrence studies and international collaborations demonstrate a dominance of research focus in both the United States and Europe, with significant contributions from the Asia–Pacific region. Furthermore, the current work offers qualitative identification of the benefits of plant diets from various perspectives like nutritional, economic, ecological, and cultural. It also explores the main dissuaders from adhering to these diets, including perceived nutritional hazards, cost perceptions, low availability, and social prohibitions. Findings emphasize that, in spite of all the barriers, plant food-based diets have a wide-ranging ability to provide tangible benefits at both the individual and population levels, and documented in the scientific literature are recommendations of expert-led education programs, economic incentives, and judiciously framed public policies to overcome these barriers and to make this transition possible towards sustainable food choices. Findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the current lines of inquiry and stage the subsequent work on how to motivate sustainability among the general population. Full article

The scientific study of emotion remains fraught with conceptual ambiguity, methodological limitations, and epistemological blind spots. This theoretical paper argues that existing paradigms frequently capture synthetic rather than natural emotional states—those shaped by social expectations, cognitive scripting, and performance under observation. We propose a conceptual framework that distinguishes natural emotion—spontaneous, embodied, and interoceptively grounded—from synthetic forms that are adaptive, context-driven, and often unconsciously rehearsed. These reactions often involve emotional scripts rather than genuine, spontaneous affective experiences. Drawing on insights from affective neuroscience, psychological measurement, artificial intelligence, and neurodiversity, we examine how widely used tools such as EEG, polygraphy, and self-report instruments may capture emotional conformity rather than authenticity. We further explore how affective AI systems trained on socially filtered datasets risk replicating emotional performance rather than emotional truth. By recognizing neurodivergent expression as a potential site of emotional transparency, we challenge dominant models of emotional normalcy and propose a five-step agenda for reorienting emotion research toward authenticity, ecological validity, and inclusivity. This post-synthetic framework invites a redefinition of emotion that is conceptually rigorous, methodologically nuanced, and ethically inclusive of human affective diversity. Full article

Since the onset of gas extraction in Groningen province, the Netherlands, more than 1700 earthquakes have taken place. This has resulted in damage to properties and safety issues for almost 28,000 buildings. As a result, an extensive reinforcement and damage repair operation started, due to which, many residents were temporarily relocated. Although the need for compensation and restoration was recognized from 2012, recent years are characterized by unclear and shifting responsibilities, bureaucratic complexities, and evolving compensation standards, leading to disparity and a further escalation of social impacts. This paper examines developments in the case from 2015 onwards, when the last overview article on this case was published. We observe that even after a decade of compensation efforts, many residents experience loss of trust in the government and endure chronic stress that impacts their well-being, family dynamics, and overall quality of life. We analyze the government-led mitigation and compensation system that in essence fails to address the grievances of local people. Even after broad recognition of the flawed system, the parliament did not fundamentally change it. In nine lessons, we underscore the global imperative for robust social impact assessments, ongoing social monitoring, and well-coordinated compensation frameworks. This is not only crucial to address socio-ecological distress, but also to build more accountable and sustainable institutional responses to future extraction endeavors. Full article

The study compares the overall sustainability of two organic and two conventional rice farming systems during the 2022 drought. The research aimed to develop an experiment exploring the ability of an integrated methodological approach to identify tradeoffs and provide actionable insights for a sustainable agricultural transition under extreme climate stress. To this aim, the study employed economic analysis, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for environmental impact, and the OASIS framework for broader social and resilience indicators. The study revealed tradeoffs between the economic efficiency of conventional rice farming and the ecological resilience of organic systems, a conclusion made possible only through its integrated assessment methodology. By combining different methods, the research suggested that while conventional farms achieved clear financial superiority and greater efficiency per ton of rice, organic systems showcased superior ecological performance per hectare, greater biodiversity, and enhanced resilience. This highlights a crucial research frontier focused on designing hybrid systems or new economic models that can translate the environmental resilience of organic methods into tangible market value, effectively resolving the very tradeoffs this comprehensive assessment suggested. Full article