Dihua Li

Urban mental health challenges are increasingly prominent, and developing blue spaces that promote physical activities (PA) has become an important approach in urban health planning. However, existing studies are limited by simplified indicators and insufficient understanding of mechanisms, with particularly insufficient attention to the role of PA. From a cultural ecosystem services (CES) perspective, this study proposes an integrated framework linking blue spaces, PA, and mental health, examines the differential roles of PA across distinct research pathways, and introduces a “human-water interaction” (HWI) indicator operationalizing both PA intensity and degree of water contact. Synthesizing current evidence on blue space–mental health research, we identify three priority directions: (1) elucidating the intrinsic mechanisms underlying blue space health benefits; (2) developing HWI-based blue prescriptions; and (3) advancing evidence-based blue space design guided by health outcomes. This review delineates theoretical linkages and frontier advances connecting blue spaces, physical activity, and mental health, offering actionable insights to inform healthy urban planning and design.

Oasis regions, with high population and wealth density, are vital for human habitation and ecological balance in arid areas, where their stability and sustainability are crucial for human habitation and ecological balance. Current research on oasis stability often focuses on the impact of natural and human factors on oasis systems, overlooking the interactive and dynamic role of human and natural facts as both enhancing and demanding entities from these ecosystems. This study introduces the PPSD (Promotion-Pressure-Support-Destruction) model to comprehensively assess human and natural influences on oasis stability. It quantifies human actions' promotion(such as water infrastructure and traffic development) and pressures (resource consumption and development intensity) on oases, as well as natural support (water, land, biodiversity) and destructive forces (disasters, climate). The study takes Wensu County in Xinjiang as the research subject, and reveals that the stability scores of the existing oasis regions in Wensu County are relatively high, with notable performance in the northwest of the western oasis and the south, east, and north of the eastern oasis. By analyzing the spatial distribution of 16 different combinations of the four forces, the county is divided into eight ecological zones: nature reserves, ecological improvement areas, maintenance zones, restoration areas, natural retention belts, natural development potential areas, and potential developing areas. Planning and conservation suggestions are proposed for each zone. Finally, integrating stability analysis with planning, a strategy for Wensu's oasis development is suggested, advocating for "optimize the western area along the Kumal River, control northern development towards the Hamantala Mountains, extend the eastern area of Qingnian Town, and connect the southern with the Aksu region." along with a phased land use planning and development sequence based on the suitable scale of the oasis.

As global climate continues to change, it is pressing to integrate the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals into territorial spatial planning. While little existing ecological restoration research focuses on counties in western China, particularly arid areas of northwest China, this research took Wensu County of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China as the study case, evaluated the carbon sequestration capacity and carbon storage of the current carbon sinks, identified the spatial pattern of carbon sinks, and proposed the territorial ecological restoration approaches to increasing carbon sinks. The evaluation results show that the importance level of carbon sinks varies significantly across geographical environments of the county, where one primary carbon sink, two secondary carbon sinks, and potential carbon sinks with a total area of 2259.81 km² were identified. This research extracted eight typical land use patterns based on current land use and proposed ecological restoration strategies accordingly. This research shows a way to integrate carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals in territorial spatial planning, which is instrumental for carbon sink management in the arid areas of northwest China and provides a referable paradigm for regions with similar geographical conditions. ● Focuses on ecological restoration in a county in the arid areas of northwest China, aiming for carbon sink increase ● Evaluates the carbon sequestration and storage patterns of current carbon sinks in the study area and identifies the spatial pattern of carbon sink importance level ● Extracts typical land use patterns based on current land use and proposes ecological restoration strategies accordingly

Contemporary Landscape Architecture has not become an applied discipline with mature market and well-defined social responsibility since its establishment in China. To address the issues that have long hindered the development, education, and public perception of Landscape Architecture, this article points out the required professional core means of landscape architects, and proposes five suggestions for their professional qualifications, including having knowledge about relevant laws, being familiar with relevant standards and norms, having empathy for users and professional common sense, having professional competency, and complying with professional ethics and accepting industry self-regulation. For the future of this profession, the promulgation of The Barrier-Free Environment Creation Law of the People’s Republic of China offers an opportunity for landscape architects to establish their irreplaceable role for the society.

This article first introduces the development of China’s urban water s...

The practice of enhancing existing rivers and creating entirely new waterscapes has exploded in China over the past two decades. In our study of 104 randomly selected cities across China, we identified 14 types of river projects based on grey literature reports and their appearance on sequential aerial imagery, falling into three categories: ‘engineering’, ‘waterfront spaces’ and ‘ecological’ projects. ‘Waterfront spaces’ is the most common (60.5%), followed by ‘engineering’ (28.7%) and ‘ecological’ (10.8%). Using multiple stepwise regression, we found that the types of projects undertaken were strongly influenced by factors such as climate, social-economic setting, and ‘Landscape Garden City’ designation. Designation as a ‘Landscape Garden City’ was correlated with ‘waterfront spaces’, but not ‘engineering’ and ‘ecological’ projects. We found that cities in drier climates (as measured by ‘precipitation minus evaporation’) constructed more projects and they included many projects that impounded seasonal rivers to create year-round water bodies. Based on our results, we conclude that Chinese cities are still in the process of ‘decorating’ rivers, and that the ‘Landscape Garden City’ designation promoted such ‘decorating’ projects, especially ‘linear greening’ projects and ‘public spaces along rivers’. The results also demonstrate that the new river projects in China are often at odds with the local climate.