Muxia Yao

The urban–rural fringe is at the forefront of the confrontation between the agricultural and industrial civilisations. How to handle the relationship between the two civilisations in this region and ensure its sustainable development is an eternal topic in the science of the human-living environment. Thanks to the special historical background of the Third Line construction, China’s industrial heritage connects with the urban–rural fringe that surpasses other countries. For the first time, this study connects China’s Third Line construction, industrial heritage, and urban–rural integration within the same context, combining big data bibliometric methods to obtain the development characteristics and context of China’s industrial heritage research starting from 2004. It has strong policy characteristics, is influenced by administrative orders, and is aligned with urbanisation efforts. Theoretical exploration is the first step in research, followed by value connotations and cultural qualities. It addresses various topics, including industrial heritage conservation, regeneration approaches, and cultural heritage tourism. The research focuses primarily on the value appraisal of industrial heritage, exploring revitalisation tactics and routes, as well as regional development models in urban–rural periphery areas. This study also examines how scholars generally consider the impact of industrial heritage on the economic, social, and cultural development of urban–rural fringe areas in order to integrate and propose various protection and utilisation strategies, such as industrial heritage preservation, cultural and creative industry development, and tourism resource development.

Urban decline refers to the sustained deterioration of cities in terms of their economy, population, and social aspects. The outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in 2019 objectively affected the trajectory of this phenomenon. A comprehensive analysis of scientific research on urban decline and its practical implications was conducted using bibliometric methods, data acquired from 2019 to 2023 and the Web of Science. Since COVID-19, research on urban decline has been predominantly led by traditional developed countries such as the United States and England, with a high degree of regional collaboration. Keyword clusters have focused on urban regeneration, growth, decay, family planning, resource dependency theory, public art, etc. Keyword co-occurrence has focused on shrinking cities, gentrification policy, land use, etc. Based on previous analyses and the contemporary context, the intrinsic logic behind the urban decline in recent years can be summarized as inadequate economic development, lagging infrastructure construction, the siphoning effect of core regional cities, and unique institutional factors leading to specific urban decline patterns. Comprehensive urban recovery plans have been proposed, including reshaping urban spatial layouts and planning and strengthening strategies for social and economic revival, with correspondence-specific samples. Studying the impact of COVID-19 on urban decline from the perspectives of city development and strategies can help us better understand the repercussions of global health crises on cities, providing a more scientific basis for urban planning and management to build resilient, sustainable, and equitable cities.

High-density cities are growing in number and importance due to globalisation, significantly contributing to local, regional, and worldwide economies. It is progressively becoming clear that the high-density features of cities are associated with the frequency of disasters. As more than half of the world’s population currently resides in cities, the study of high-density cities is evolving into an academic topic. In this study, the WoSCC (Web of Science Core Collection) and CiteSpace software were used to visualise and analyse the development history, current status, hotspots, and trends in high-density city research. We analysed a total of 377 valid articles spanning 2001 to 2022. This research aimed to illustrate the trajectory of high-density city development and to summarise the field’s research hotspots and development history after entering the 21st century. It is hoped that this study will provide a theoretical reference and development direction for the future development of the field of high-density city research. Our results indicate that more publications have used the relevant keywords over time and that the research has overall trended from general to specific, noticeably changing in response to urban modernisation. Academic study in this area is still in its early stage. Instead of an inherent urge to spontaneously advance due to academic output, the research field has primarily grown in response to urban problems. COVID-19 has also hastened urban infill, further impacting existing high-density communities’ urban environments, transportation infrastructure, and economies. The global epidemic has added urgency to research on high-density cities, and new content and directions are being developed. Assessing the hazards of high urban density while maximising its economic role is a significant part of academic research on high-density cities at this stage and will remain so in the future.