Against the backdrop of accelerating global urbanization, creating livable cities is critical for enhancing quality of urban life. Spatial perception can serve as a reference for livability evaluation while exploring how spaces are experienced. Recent breakthroughs in spatial perception technologies (SPTs) offer new pathways to quantify perception objectively but there is a lack of systematic reviews on how spatial perception research contributes to enhancing urban livability, thus hindering their scientific translation into practice. This research conducts a bibliometric review of 402 articles from Web of Science and Scopus, employing PRISMA guidelines for literature screening and CiteSpace for co-citation networks and keyword clustering. Key findings include: 1) Theoretically, Cognitive Psychology and environmental behavior theories underpin the perception–emotion–behavior continuum, with emotion as a core mediator linking environmental features with behavioral outcomes. 2) Technologically, the proliferation of SPTs has enabled quantification of subjective experiences, bridging gaps between traditional qualitative assessments and urban design. 3) Practically, the results of applying technologies to establish a human-centered design framework—derived through empirical studies—are valuable in both simulated and real-world scenarios. This research constructs a triadic "human–technology–environment" model that transcends traditional linear paradigms to guide livable urban design and planning. The model bridges Cognitive Psychology, environmental behavior theories, and SPTs to deepen understanding of dimensions of subjective livability, proposes innovative pathways for guiding practice, and offers evidence-based insights for human-centered urban research and design framework.

Social interaction plays a vital role in fostering interpersonal relationships and building social cohesion. As primary venues for residents' daily recreation and interactions, unlocking its potential for promoting social activities is essential for enhancing place attachment and advancing social well-being. This research selects typical community parks in Harbin as sample sites. Combining behavioral annotation and environmental observation, it visualizes group activities through digital behavior maps and evaluates social interaction levels through three indicators: social activeness, interpersonal distance, and social density. Kernel density estimation, correlation analysis, and variance analysis are employed to identify the environmental features that promote social interaction within community parks. The results indicate that the level of social interaction is significantly influenced by spaces and facilities: the addition of recreational facilities increases social activeness; adding paved surfaces and lighting tend to extend interpersonal distance, while a higher number of enclosure interfaces shortens it; and the increasing of convenience facilities contributes to higher social density. Moreover, discrete leisure spaces and linear boundary spaces are identified as primary hotspots of group activity. Based on these findings, this research proposes spatial optimization strategies that promote social interaction in community parks, to revitalize community parks through micro-scale spatial improvements, thereby encouraging broader social participation and enhancing residents' physical and mental well-being.

Urban mountain parks (UMPs) are vital green spaces for public leisure and recreation, but their recreational value is often underdeveloped, with few studies examining the influencing mechanisms of UMP recreational attractiveness. To address this issue, this study conducted an empirical investigation in Fuzhou, China. Guided by China's Standard of Rating for Quality of Tourist Attractions, a structural equation model (SEM) of UMP recreational attractiveness was established and tested based on an expert group and a questionnaire survey of 609 tourists. The findings reveal that seven factors—tourism transport, excursion services, tourism safety, integrated management, natural resource conservation, landscape resource value, and market impact—contribute positively to enhancing UMP recreational attractiveness. Among them, natural resource conservation has the highest influence, followed by landscape resource value, indicating that they both play the greatest role in affecting UMP recreational attractiveness. These seven factors are interrelated, with natural resource conservation strongly positively influencing market impact and landscape resource value. This study explored the influencing mechanism of these seven factors on UMP recreational attractiveness, which can provide practical recommendations for enhancing UMP recreational value worldwide.

With the acceleration of urbanization, urban wind environment problems are becoming increasingly prominent, directly affecting air quality and residents' quality of life. The complex layout of old urban areas restricts wind circulation and is prone to forming unfavorable wind environment zones. This study takes the old urban area within Hefei City Ring Park as the study area by selecting three representative blocks, establishes three-dimensional models, and employs Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation to analyze wind velocity distribution in the study area and the key influencing factors. Simulation results show that, influenced by a combination of multiple factors, the wind environment of the old urban area varies significantly. This study then proposes corresponding optimization strategies for the wind environment conditions of each block, such as adjusting the layout and form of target buildings, optimizing the layout of building clusters, increasing green spaces in the city, and improving the design of individual buildings. Comparing existing and optimized simulations validates the effectiveness of these strategies. Finally, the research compares the existing and optimized wind environment conditions, providing empirical support and scientific guidance for optimizing wind environments of old urban areas and promoting high-quality urban renewal practices.

Bus stops are a critical component of urban infrastructure in modern cities. However, there is a notable research gap regarding the accessibility of bus stop facilities for visually impaired passengers. Using the L Area in Shanghai as a case study, research findings reveal significant deficiencies in both the long-distance recognition and accessible facilities of bus stops within the "15-minute community-life circle." Using the Kano model, this study classifies and prioritizes the needs for visually impaired passengers: large-font bus stop sign is a must-be need; audio announcements for bus arrivals are a one-dimensional need; audio announcements for the bus stop location, eliminating the vertical gap between the bus floor and the platform, and establishing an accessible boarding area are attractive needs. The study proposes design strategies for bus stop facilities, including a phased improvement approach for different bus stop types, and the embodied technology-supported assistive device—Smart Canes. This research not only responds to the global academic discourse on inclusive cities, but also contributes to promoting inclusive urban development in practice.

The 2024 Climate Design Summit, held on October 29, 2024, emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in tackling climate change challenges. Experts from architecture, engineering, and environmental science gathered to discuss sustainable solutions for mitigating climate disasters like floods, wildfires, and droughts. The summit advocated for cross-disciplinary solutions that integrate Nature-based Solutions as catalysts for climate resilience and are essential for long-term sustainability, and stressed that no single technical solution can address the complexity of climate issues. Successful case studies were highlighted as examples of how design can address both climate resilience and socio-economic challenges. The gathered insights and discussions on this summit reinforced that achieving climate resilience requires a holistic approach that blends scientific innovation, sustainable design, and community empowerment, and underlined the need for collaboration across disciplines and sectors to build resilient cities and infrastructures.