Sessions

General Sessions

1. Climate Change, Adaptation and Urban–Rural Sustainability
2. Emerging Technologies, Smart Systems and Urban Data Analytics
3. Mobility, Accessibility and Transport Behaviour
4. Planning, Governance and Territorial Integration
5. Liveability, Health, Inclusion and Social Equity in Urban and Rural Settings

Special Sessions

AI-Empowered Urban Renewal and Regeneration

Scope:

Rapid urbanisation, demographic shifts, and structural transformations have placed unprecedented pressures on existing urban districts, many of which face challenges such as ageing infrastructure, inefficient land use, declining vitality, social disparities, and environmental stress. Urban renewal and regeneration—moving beyond traditional demolition-and-redevelopment models—have increasingly emphasised sustainable spatial reorganisation, human-centred environments, and data-driven governance.

Meanwhile, advances in artificial intelligence (AI), sensing technologies, cloud computing, and spatial data infrastructures are fundamentally reshaping how cities diagnose problems, simulate interventions, and co-create future urban spaces with their communities. AI now enables multi-source data fusion, automated spatial diagnostics, predictive modelling of urban vitality, generative design for urban form, and intelligent evaluation frameworks that support more precise, inclusive, and adaptive urban renewal strategies.

This session invites interdisciplinary contributions that explore how AI technologies—ranging from machine learning and computer vision to digital twins, generative design models, and urban simulation techniques—can transform the theories, methods, and practices of urban renewal. We welcome theoretical explorations, empirical studies, technological innovations, and policy-oriented research that examine how AI enhances the sustainability, resilience, and livability of existing urban districts.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

▪ AI-driven diagnosis of urban spatial problems and decline patterns

▪ Machine learning for predicting urban vitality, mobility, and environmental performance

▪ Multi-source urban data fusion (e.g., street view imagery, IoT sensors, remote sensing, socio-economic data)

▪ Digital twins and dynamic simulation models for renewal strategies

▪ Generative AI in redesigning urban blocks, open spaces, and streetscapes

▪ Intelligent evaluation systems for neighbourhood livability, equity, and resilience

▪ Data-supported co-creation and participatory planning for community-based regeneration

▪ AI-enabled conservation and adaptive reuse of historical or industrial areas

▪ Ethical, social, and governance implications of AI-mediated urban renewal

By bringing together scholars, planners, technologists, designers, and policymakers, this session aims to advance an integrated understanding of how artificial intelligence can empower urban regeneration in ways that enhance spatial quality, promote social equity, and support sustainable and human-centred urban futures.

Session Chair:

1. Paolo Vincenzo Genovese, Professor, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, China. E-mail: Pavic@zju.edu.cn
2. Yafei Zhao, Professor, Qingdao Huanghai University, China. E-mail: zhaoyf@qdhhc.edu.cn
3. Zhixing Li, Lecturer, School of Design and Architecture, Zhejiang University of Technology, China. E-mail: zxlee910@zjut.edu.cn
4. Rong Xia, PhD Candidate, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, China. E-mail: sharon.xia@zju.edu.cn
5. Yunshan Wan, PhD Candidate, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, China. E-mail: 12412024@zju.edu.cn
6. Xiaozhen Li, PhD Candidate, Technical University of Munich, Germany. E-mail: xiaozhen.l.c@gmail.com

Building Livable, Healthy, and Happy Cities

Scope:

Optimising human settlements to enhance people’s health and well-being is crucial for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. This session aims to promote the development of healthier, more sustainable, and higher-quality cities. It invites scholars to share their research on: 1) assessing liveable, healthy, and happy urban environments, including the natural, built, dietary, and social environments; 2) the impacts of urban environments on liveability and citizens’ health and well-being; 3) case studies on designing liveable, healthy, and happy cities; and 4) other relevant topics

Session Chair:

1. Chun Yin, Associate Professor, School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University. E-mail: chun.yin1@outlook.com

Coastal, and Insular Cities and Peri-Urban Areas Landscape: Planning Theory and Practice

Scope:

Coastal and insular cities, together with their peri-urban areas, form dynamic spaces shaped by the interaction of land, sea, and intense human activity. These regions face both natural and human-induced challenges, yet they also offer significant opportunities, as population and economic activities are highly concentrated in these areas. Peri-urban zones surrounding coastal cities often blend rural and urban characteristics, creating complex transitional hybrid spaces that require thoughtful planning. Protecting natural and cultural heritage, strengthening infrastructure, and supporting local communities are essential to ensuring the resilience and sustainability of these attractive but vulnerable socio-spatial systems.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Mapping urban heat exposure across scales (building, street, neighbourhood, city)
• Assessment and representation of land uses in coastal and insular cities.
• Land use intensity as a factor contributing to landscape pressure in coastal cities.
• Unregulated urban growth, and built-up areas dispersion  as transformation factors of coastal and insular cities and peri-urban areas landscape.
• Land and marine uses interaction and driving forces of landscape changes in coastal and insular cities.
• Coastal and insular cities landscape changes: Evaluation and quantitative representation of of land uses structure and changes.
• Evaluating the land use patterns of Coastal and insular cities and peri-urban areas by applying spatial metrics.

Session Chair:

1. Tsilimigkas Georgios, Professor, University of the Aegean, gtsil@aegean.gr
2. Kizos Thanasis, Professor, University of the Aegean, akizos@aegean.gr
3. Derdemezi Evangelia – Theodora, Post Doc, University of the Aegean, e.derdemezi@aegean.gr

Coastal Cities and Regions

Scope:

Coastal cities and regions constitute critical nodes in global economic networks and international trade, yet they also represent some of the most climate-exposed and environmentally fragile territories worldwide. Intensifying sea-level rise, recurrent flooding, and the degradation of coastal and marine ecosystems pose escalating threats to their socio-economic stability, ecological integrity, cultural and historical heritage, and long-term development capacity. Addressing these intertwined challenges requires anticipatory and adaptive strategies that safeguard economic vitality while advancing social equity, cultural preservation, and environmental sustainability. Such strategies must account for complex interactions among infrastructure systems, demographic dynamics, governance arrangements, and investment decisions that shape the future of coastal urban regions.

This session seeks to foster scholarly dialogue on how climate adaptation, urban planning, and governance innovation can support the sustainable socio-economic development of coastal cities and regions. We invite theoretical, empirical, and modelling contributions that examine adaptive governance and investment, climate resilience, urban spatial planning, policy and management innovation, marine environmental protection, and cultural heritage conservation. We also value perspectives and case studies from low- and middle-income countries, where rapid urbanisation and limited adaptive capacity compound coastal vulnerability. Through these contributions, the session aims to advance understanding of how coastal cities can navigate transformative pathways toward resilience, inclusivity, and sustainability in the face of accelerating climate change.

Publication opportunity: This special session is supported by the journal Marine Development (Springer), which has a special issue on “Climate Adaptation and Urban Resilience in Coastal Cities”. Relevant papers have the opportunity to be considered for publication in this special issue.

Session Chair:

1. Longwu Liang, Research Fellow, University College London. E-mail: longwu.liang@ucl.ac.uk
2. Lei Wang, Professor, Ocean University of China. E-mail: leiwang@ouc.edu.cn

Designing Heat-Resilient Cities

Scope:

Rapid urbanisation is reshaping cities worldwide, concentrating people, infrastructure, and economic activity in dense cores. As cities expand, they intensify the urban heat island effect: hard surfaces, scarce vegetation, and waste heat from buildings and transport raise temperatures well above those of surrounding rural areas. Climate change further increases the frequency, duration, and intensity of heatwaves, making urban heat a major public health threat and one of the deadliest climate-related hazards. This heat burden is profoundly unequal. Low-income communities, informal settlements, and marginalised groups are more likely to live in neighbourhoods with fewer trees and parks, higher building densities, substandard housing, and limited access to cooling infrastructure. These groups often face greater underlying health vulnerabilities and fewer resources to adapt, shifting the focus from “heat exposure” to “heat justice.” Identifying who is most exposed, why, and where is essential for designing interventions that not only cool cities but also reduce inequalities in heat risk and access to cooling.

This session explores how environmental design and nature-based solutions can be deployed to understand, mitigate, and govern urban heat in rapidly growing cities, with a particular emphasis on heat justice, equitable access to cooling, and alignment with broader sustainable development objectives.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Mapping urban heat exposure across scales (building, street, neighbourhood, city)
• Identification and analysis of heat injustice and unequal access to cooling and green infrastructure
• Nature-based solutions for urban cooling (urban forests, street trees, parks, green roofs/walls, blue–green corridors)
• Urban form and public space design for passive cooling
• Multi-source data approaches to assess heat risk and cooling benefits
• Policy and governance for equitable implementation of cooling infrastructure
• Indicators and evaluation frameworks for monitoring heat resilience, thermal comfort, and alignment with SDGs

Session Chair:

1. Siqi Jia, Research Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR. Email: siqijia@hku.hk
2. Yifu Ou, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoc Fellow, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University, UK. Email: oyf915@connect.hku.hk 
3. Qunshan Zhao, Professor, Urban Big Data Centre, School of Social & Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK. Email: Qunshan.Zhao@glasgow.ac.uk
4. Di Wei, Postdoc Fellow, Landscape Architecture, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR. Email: diwei@hku.hk
5. Xudong Zhang, Research Fellow, Department of Architecture, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Email: xudong.zhang@u.nus.edu

From Ruins to Routes: Intelligent & Immersive Design in Historical Contexts

Cities rich in heritage embody not only the physical remnants of the past but also evolving ways of thinking and making. This session explores how artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) can jointly transform our engagement with historical urban environments: turning ruins, the material traces of memory, into routes, the spatial paths through which people move and sense the city, and the methodological paths through which designers and researchers reimagine and reshape it.

We invite papers that examine how data-driven intelligence and immersive visualization can help reimagine the relationship between heritage, mobility, and human experience.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• AI-driven analysis of walkability, accessibility, and mobility in heritage contexts
• Generative and participatory design of historical urban spaces using AI or AR
• AR/VR-supported storytelling and experiential mapping of cultural heritage
• Digital twins and human-centered simulations for living heritage environments
• Sensor-based comfort, emotion, and vitality mapping in pedestrian routes
• Ethical, social, and cultural implications of intelligent systems in heritage mediation

The session aims to bring together designers, urbanists, technologists, and heritage scholars to envision how intelligent and immersive methods can revitalize historical cities, making them more walkable, livable, and experientially engaging.

Session Chair:

1. Yang Liang, Lecturer, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, China. E-mail: liangyang@guet.edu.cn
2. Dr. Nan Bai, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), the Netherlands. Email: n.bai@tudelft.nl

Geographic Information System: The Operating System of Smart Cities

Scope:

Smart cities signify an advanced stage of urban informatisation, manifesting as an integrated and systematic ecosystem of information. A multitude of urban challenges share common infrastructure and data resources, and entail numerous common operational processes, so the development of smart cities necessitates an Operating System (OS). Given that cities are geographical entities, they must be digitally represented, and all urban entities and occurrences are geospatially located. Hence, urban challenges are inherently spatial in nature and incorporate spatial information—the operating system for smart cities can only be a Geographic Information System (GIS). By analogy with the OS of a computer, GIS can enable simulation, interaction, and decision-making, opening an unprecedented “new space” for the planning, comprehension, and management of cities.

This session endeavours to assemble scholars from related disciplines who are dedicated to urban issue research, with the aim of jointly delving into the technical essence, governance rationale, and social ramifications of GIS as the OS of smart cities, and uncovering how GIS reconfigures the relationships among ternary space (physical space, social space and information space).

Session Chair:

1. Fu Ren, Professor, Wuhan University, China. E-mail: renfu@whu.edu.cn
2. Rui Zhu, Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol, The UK. E-mail: rui.zhu@bristol.ac.uk
3. Lina Huang, Associate Professor, Wuhan University, China. E-mail: linahuang@whu.edu.cn
4. Chen Zhang, Postdoctoral Researcher, Shenzhen University, China. E-mail: czhang@szu.edu.cn

Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Cities

Scope:

Cities play a pivotal role in the global combat against climate change. Concentrating population, economic activities, and energy consumption, cities account for a substantial share of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At the same time, as the centre of knowledge, innovation, culture, and prosperity, cities also hold immense potential to drive transformative climate action. Understanding, monitoring, and mitigating GHG emissions of cities are therefore critical steps toward achieving global climate goals and carbon neutrality.

This session focuses on the patterns, drivers, and mitigation pathways of GHG emissions across cities worldwide. It welcomes studies investigating energy systems, industrial structures, land use, consumption patterns in cities, as well as the city’s contributions to global GHG emissions. The session also highlights innovative data-driven approaches—such as satellite monitoring, emission inventories, and modelling frameworks—that enhance the accuracy, transparency, and comparability of city emission assessments.

In addition to quantifying emissions, the session aims to explore policies and strategies that enable cities to decarbonise efficiently, including renewable energy transitions, industrial upgrades, and behavioural shifts toward sustainable consumption. By bringing together researchers and practitioners, this session seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration, and promote evidence-based strategies for reducing the GHG emissions of cities, ultimately supporting the global transition toward just, climate-resilient, and sustainable futures.

This special session is supported by the journal Advances in Climate Change Research (Impact Factor: 6.4), which has a special issue on “Cities and Climate Change.” Relevant papers have the opportunity to be considered for publication in this special issue. For more information, please visit: https://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/advances-in-climate-change-research/call-for-papers/special-issue-on-cities-and-climate-change/.

Session Chair:

1. Xinlu Sun, Postdoctoral Researcher, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, China. E-mail: xinlu.sun@pku.edu.cn
2. Andrew Sudmant, Programme Manager and IPCC SR Cities Lead Author, Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, University of Edinburgh, The UK. E-mail: andrew.sudmant@ed.ac.uk
3. Zhifu Mi, Professor, The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, United Kingdom. E-mail: z.mi@ucl.ac.uk

Post-Industrial Realities: Digital Twins, Heritage Interpretation, and the Visitor’s Imagination

Scope:

As cities around the world transform their industrial legacies into sites of cultural meaning and urban regeneration, the digital turn is reshaping how these spaces are documented, interpreted, and experienced. This session explores the convergence of industrial heritage studies, immersive technologies, and visitor experience research under the rubric of “post-industrial realities.” We invite papers that critically examine how digital twins, 3D reconstructions, virtual and augmented reality, and other interactive media mediate between material remains and imagined pasts. How do these technologies reframe authenticity, memory, and affect in heritage interpretation? What new forms of engagement and storytelling emerge when the visitor becomes both observer and co-creator? By integrating perspectives from digital geography, heritage conservation, urban anthropology, and design, this session seeks to advance theoretical and methodological discussions on how digital mediation transforms the ways industrial heritage is perceived, narrated, and lived in the 21st century. 

Abstracts submitted to this session will be given priority for expedited review of manuscripts in Culture, where Sunny Han Han serves as Associate Editor, and in the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, where he is a member of the editorial board and the lead editor of the special issue “From Industrial Heritage to Cultural and Creative Industries: Scenario Reshaping in Contemporary and Future Chinese Cities.” Note that, City+2026@Mytilene only accepts the abstract submission, and the authors need to submit their manuscripts to the journals separately.

Session Chair:

1. Sunny Han Han, Tenured Associate Professor, Deputy Director and Principal Research Fellow at the Landscape Planning and Design Research Institute, Wuhan University. E-mail: hanhan41@whu.edu.cn
2. Dr. Florentina-Cristina Merciu, Researcher at the Faculty of Geography, Interdisciplinary Centre of Advanced Research on Territorial Dynamics, University of Bucharest, Romania. E-mail: cristina.merciu@geo.unibuc.ro

Resilient Built Heritage and Built Environment: Research Perspectives and Governance Responses

Scope:

Built heritage forms an integral part of the broader built environment, shaping not only cultural identity but also environmental performance, governance strategies, and community resilience. This session invites interdisciplinary research that bridges building science, heritage conservation and urban studies. We welcome contributions addressing topics such as environmental simulation and monitoring of historic buildings, digital documentation and modelling, heritage risk and climate adaptation, governance frameworks and data-driven or qualitative approaches that enhance the sustainability of built heritage within the built environment. By connecting technical methods with policy and cultural insights, this session aims to foster dialogue between engineers, architects, heritage professionals and social scientists on how built heritage can inform the future of a sustainable built environment.

Session Chair:

1. Dr. Xinyuan Dang, Building Physics and Sustainable Design Section, KU Leuven, Belgium. E-mail: dangxinyuan1994@gmail.com

Dr. Xinyuan Dang specialises in heat, air and moisture (HAM) modelling of building envelopes, and serves on international scientific/technical committees such as CIB W40 and UKCMN TWG1. He co-coordinated the largest international collaboration on HAM model assessment and is a regular speaker on hygrothermal studies at major building physics conferences, including IBPC, NSB, and CESBP. His research also encompasses heritage documentation, environmental monitoring and heritage governance. As an ICOMOS Emerging Professional and a member of IABP, Europa Nostra, ESACH, and YOCOCU, he actively fosters interdisciplinary collaboration between building scientists and conservation professionals.

Sustainable Nighttime Urban Landscapes and Public Wellbeing

Scope:

Urban environments are increasingly recognised as complex socio-ecological systems that operate across a full 24-hour cycle, with nighttime dynamics often overlooked in sustainability research and urban development practices. This special feature seeks to address this gap by exploring the critical role of Nighttime Urban Landscapes in enhancing public wellbeing and environmental health. As cities grow, nighttime spaces such as parks, streets, waterfronts, and cultural districts play key roles not only in nighttime economies but also in shaping social cohesion, cultural expression, environmental quality, and public wellbeing.

While nighttime environments exhibit unique socio-ecological dynamics, existing studies often treat them as mere extensions of daytime activity, overlooking their distinct ecological functions and cultural significance. This special feature invites interdisciplinary research that integrates social, cultural, ecological, technological, and governance perspectives to explore how lighting, design, and governance strategies can mitigate ecological disruptions while promoting inclusion and equity. By synthesising insights from sustainability science, landscape ecology, urban planning, sociology, and data science, this collection aims to offer actionable pathways for embedding nighttime considerations into broader sustainability frameworks.

Ultimately, this feature seeks to contribute to the creation of more inclusive, resilient, and environmentally responsible nighttime cities, aligned with global sustainability goals, including those outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This work will highlight the importance of incorporating nighttime dimensions into urban sustainability practices and governance, helping to advance urban resilience and wellbeing worldwide.

Publication opportunity: This special session is supported by the journal Sustainability Science. Relevant papers have the opportunity to be considered for publication. For more information, please visit: https://link.springer.com/collections/cbffafiehh

Session Chair:

1. Haiyun Xu, Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. E-mail: xuhaiyun@bucea.edu.cn.
2. Thanasis Kizos, Professor, Department of Geography, University of Aegean. E-mail: akizos@aegean.gr.
3. Qiu Waishan, Assistant Professor, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Hong Kong, E-mail: waishanq@hku.hk
4. Zhifeng Liu, Associate Professor, Beijing Normal University, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing. E-mail: zhifeng.liu@bnu.edu.cn
5. Chongxian Chen, Associate Professor, College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou. E-mail: 597947853@qq.com

The Development Nexus between Transportation and Urban Space

Scope:

The interactive relationship between transportation and urban space has long been a central and complex challenge in the fields of transportation engineering and urban planning. Extensive research has demonstrated that the coordinated development of transportation systems and urban spatial structures is crucial for addressing the root causes of “urban maladies” in China and advancing sustainable urban development. With the rapid pace of urbanisation, transportation-related issues have emerged as a critical constraint on the healthy expansion of urban areas. As a fundamental framework shaping urban spatial configuration, transportation facilitates the dynamic movement and distribution of key urban elements, including passenger flows and logistics. Given the rapid emergence of new technologies and methodologies, there is an urgent need to undertake more comprehensive theoretical and empirical research to strengthen the conceptual and methodological frameworks in the fields of transport engineering and urban development.

Session chair

1. Sanwei He, Professor, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, China. E-mail: hesanwei@zuel.edu.cn
2. Lei Wang, Professor, Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. E-mail: wanglei@niglas.ac.cn
3. Wenting Zhang, Associate Professor, Huazhong Agricultural University, China. E-mail: wentingzhang@mail.hzau.edu.cn

Transformation of planning education, research, and practice

Scope:

Urban and regional planning has always been a discipline shaped by cycles of optimism and crisis. From the historical highs of post-war reconstruction and the rise of modernist visions, to the current lows marked by slow urbanization, urban regeneration, and shrinking cities, planning education and practice stand at a critical crossroads. This session explores how the field must transform to remain relevant and impactful.

We will examine how planning education can move beyond traditional technical training to embrace interdisciplinary approaches, equipping future planners with skills in systems thinking, community engagement, and digital innovation. Research must evolve to address pressing global challenges—climate resilience, migration, and economic restructuring—while remaining grounded in local realities. Practice, in turn, must shift from rigid physical plans to adaptive, participatory processes that empower diverse voices and foster inclusive urban futures.

The session invites scholars, practitioners, and students to reflect on the lessons of past successes and failures, and to chart pathways for renewal. Main topics include transformation of graduate education models in planning; new issues in planning research; new paradigms and methods in planning research; AI-supported planning practice. By integrating theory with practice, and global perspectives with local action, planning can reclaim its transformative role. The goal is not simply to respond to crisis, but to reimagine planning as a catalyst for sustainable, equitable, and resilient cities.

Session Chair:

1. Han Haoying：Professor & Executive Associate Dean, Institute of Urban and Sustainable Development, City University of Macau; President, Macao Urban Science Institute; Chief advisor, Sino-Canada Culture and Arts Foundation of Canada. E-mail: hanhaoying@gmail.com
2. Shen Guoqiang： Professor & Department Chair, Department of Regional and Urban Planning, Zhejiang University. E-mail: gshen214@zju.edu.cn
3. Zhang Chun：Professor & Vice Department Chair, School of Architecture and Design, Beijing Jiaotong University. E-mail: zhangc@bjtu.edu.cn
4. Yuan Yuan: Professor, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University; Deputy Director of the Institute of Urbanization, Sun Yat-sen University. E-mail: yyuanah@163.com
5. Chen Na：Associate Professor, Vice Dean, Department Chair, School of Government, Sun Yat-sen University. E-mail: chenn85@mail.sysu.edu.cn

Urban Blue and Green Spaces for Health and Well-being

Scope:

Amid rapid urbanisation, demographic shifts, and lifestyle changes, urban blue and green spaces have become essential infrastructure shaping population health and well-being. Beyond providing environmental benefits, blue and green spaces influence mental restoration, stress reduction, physical activity, social cohesion, cultural ecosystem services, and health equity. Meanwhile, the rise of digital society and new urban behavioural patterns reshapes how people experience, perceive, and value nature in cities.

This session seeks to bring together cutting-edge research from urban planning, landscape architecture, public health, environmental psychology, geography, and urban informatics to explore pathways through which urban blue and green spaces contribute to healthier and more socially cohesive cities. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary approaches such as social media analytics, immersive sensing, GPS-based behavioural tracking, health monitoring, causal inference, spatial modelling, and machine learning.

We invite papers including, but not limited to:
▪ Health benefits of blue and green spaces: mental health, physical activity, cognitive restoration, loneliness reduction
▪ Park quality, accessibility, and environmental health equity
▪ Nighttime park use, perceived safety, gender differences, and inclusivity
▪ Cultural ecosystem services and spatiotemporal well-being assessment
▪ Big-data–based analyses of blue and green space use (social media, sensor data)
▪ Blue and green infrastructure design, microclimate improvement, and heat mitigation
▪ Nature-based solutions (NbS) and public health frameworks
▪ Health-oriented landscape planning and community-scale interventions
▪ Nature exposure and well-being among vulnerable populations (older adults, children, low-income groups)

By integrating evidence, theory, and planning practice, this session aims to advance actionable knowledge for building sustainable, inclusive, and health-promoting urban futures.

Session Chair:

1. Ziwen Sun, Associate Professor, Beijing Institute of Technology / University of Edinburgh Joint Laboratory of Healthy Space; School of Design and Arts, Beijing Institute of Technology. E-mail: ziwen.sun@bit.edu.cn
2. Haiyun Xu, Associate Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, College of Architecture and Urban Planning. E-mail: xuhaiyun@bucea.edu.cn
3. Longfeng Wu, Assistant Professor, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University. E-mail: longfengwu@pku.edu.cn

Urban Spatial Planning, Environmental Design, and Population Health

Scope:

Amid rapid urbanisation and global environmental change, the urban environment has emerged as a critical determinant of population health. Spatial configuration, green infrastructure, mobility systems, and building design collectively shape health outcomes—affecting chronic disease risks, mental well-being, infectious disease control, and health equity. Integrating health-oriented principles into spatial planning and environmental design is therefore essential for advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, and SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities).

This session aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue across urban planning, public health, environmental science, and policy studies. It welcomes empirical studies, spatial modelling, and policy analyses that examine how urban environments influence health outcomes and resilience. By linking environmental design with public health strategies, this session seeks to generate actionable knowledge for creating inclusive, sustainable, and health-promoting urban futures.

Session Chair:

1. Puyue Gong, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University. E-mail: puyuegong@gmail.com