古谷 勝則

As countries develop, the challenge of providing access to the outdoors and nature increases. Consequently, recent environmental justice research has focused on measuring children’s access to parks. The results of these analyses better reflect differences in accessibility, but there are discrepancies between different accessibility models. This study aims to explore child-friendly accessibility measures and proposes a supply–demand-improved two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method for estimating urban park accessibility based on children’s needs. The application of this improved 2SFCA method in Changsha City successfully identified areas with unequal park accessibility, offering valuable insights for urban planners, that can be used to promote equitable access to green spaces for all residents, especially children. The results demonstrate that park accessibility in Changsha City exhibits significant differences across various areas, with the lowest accessibility in the western part of Furong District, the northwestern part of Yuhua District, and the southern part of Tianxin District; while the highest accessibility is found in Yuelu District. The limited green space in the central business district of Changsha City, coupled with high population density, indicates a tension between green space planning and population density in the city’s central area. The study proposes that the primary challenge in current green space planning in Changsha is the rational allocation of green spaces to meet the needs of high-density populations within limited urban space. It provides a comprehensive and realistic perspective for understanding the accessibility and availability of green spaces for children, which can help urban planners develop effective policies to support children’s outdoor mobility, while considering equity.

Abstract Cultural heritage is an important contributor to sustainable urban development, and its conservation is considered a global task. Previous research has primarily focused on the conservation of heritage buildings within architectural contexts and world heritage sites within geographical contexts. However, there is a notable gap in conservation of green cultural heritage (GCH) within a landscape-based framework. This study used the extended theory of planned behavior to explore the factors and pathways that influence the public's behavioral intentions toward GCH conservation. Based on 1075 questionnaires collected in Tokyo, Japan, the hypotheses of the newly constructed theoretical model were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results show that perceived behavioral control has the greatest positive influence on citizens' GCH conservation intentions and behaviors, while social norms do not influence people's behavioral intention to conserve. In the extended factors, the environmental awareness which including heritage awareness and cultural attachment, significantly influences public attitudes towards conservation. Additionally, environmental perception, including perceived usefulness and perceived quality, significantly affects the public's conservation intentions and behaviors, respectively. Our findings have implications for local governments and policymakers to enhance public participation in GCH, as well as some several new theoretical interests for further studies.

Memorial facilities are one of the crucial places where citizens conduct activities facilitating disaster risk reduction (DRR). However, previous studies have primarily focused on the post-construction phase of official memorial facilities, neglecting the citizen activities collaborating with the official memorial construction process before and during the construction process. This research gap is important considering the urgency of disaster-affected regions to recover from spatial, social, and psychological voids while working towards the goal of DRR, including the efforts of citizens in the official efforts. This study addresses this gap by examining the case of the official memorial park in Ishinomaki, Tohoku region, following the Great East Japan Earthquake. Here, local citizens actively participated in activities before, during, and after park construction, engaging with official efforts. Data were gathered from various online sources to capture activity, space, and management information. Employing a mixed methods research approach, we conducted both quantitative analysis, counting labels of structural coding, and qualitative description of original texts. Our findings reveal that fostering mutual respect built on communication and collaborative tree-planting activities were crucial for maintaining the pre-existing citizen activities and collaborative construction during the official construction period. Additionally, the implementation of a collaborative regulation system was vital for integrating and managing spontaneous citizen activities to achieve the park’s intended objectives post-opening. In conclusion, we highlighted a framework elucidating the mechanisms through which these processes contribute to DRR across key phases of disaster risk management: preparedness, prevention, response, and recovery (PPRR). These insights are important in guiding efforts to engage citizens in DRR initiatives through recovery and reconstruction facilitated by memorial facilities.

As a highly urbanized country, Japan is facing the phenomenon of a continuous migration of young people from rural areas to cities, leading to an aging and decreasing population in rural communities. Influenced by the pandemic, people began to reconsider the issue of population concentration in large cities, causing urban residents to become interested in returning to rural areas. The focus of this study is on the perceptions and relocation intentions of Japanese youth towards rural areas, particularly in Hanyu-shi, Saitama Prefecture. Through semi-structured interviews with 26 urban university students who live in urban areas, this study explores the factors that attract or hinder them from having rural lives. The survey results show that childhood experiences and current lifestyle preferences have influenced their views on rural areas. The main hindering factors include backwards infrastructure, communication difficulties, and limited job prospects. This study reveals a significant cognitive gap in urban youth’s attitudes towards rural life in Japan. The study emphasizes the need to eliminate these hindrances and enhance the attractiveness of rural areas to promote reverse urban migration. This study provides important insights for policymakers and urban planners, highlighting the necessity of formulating development strategies that meet the needs of urban youth residents, which is crucial for the sustainable revitalization of rural Japan.

Ecotourism, a dynamic force in global tourism, holds promise for conserving the environment while ensuring benefits for local economies. In this study, we developed an ecotourism distribution map of Indonesia. We utilized location-based social networks (LSBNs) data derived from Google Maps API to map 172 ecotourism sites in Indonesia. Furthermore, we investigated the distribution patterns of ecotourism within Indonesia’s protected landscapes and ecoregions. The factors that influenced ecotourism distribution in the region were analyzed using the MaxEnt model (because of its application for presence-only data). The key findings revealed that ecotourism sites are predominantly distributed across national parks and protected forest areas, and generally consist of mountainous and hilly terrain according to the ecoregion types. The MaxEnt model results indicated that population density was the most influential factor in ecotourism distribution. The significance of our study lies in its methodologies and results, which offered novel approaches to nationwide mapping and addressed the lack of an ecotourism site map of Indonesia. Notably, the proposed model can be customized for other regions with limited ecotourism data; thus, our study can serve as a foundation for future interdisciplinary studies on ecotourism, sustainability, and landscape planning.

In China, scenic and historic areas are protected areas which are highly integrated with natural and cultural resources. The study analyzed policies based on the theory of policy instruments using quantitative and content analyses. The results demonstrated that China’s scenic and historic areas have experienced four phases of development: primary development (1980–1994), exploration and growth (1995–2006), deepening and maturity (2007–2018), and integration and optimization (2019–2023). Policy intensity is trending upwards, and contemporary policy authority and restraints are insufficient. The policy instruments showed an imbalance, and are mainly environmentally based, with only a few supplies and demand based. Policy topics mainly include management and planning protection. The Chinese government has played a leading role, taking many restraining measures to quickly protect scenic resources. Stronger and more effective policies with more specific content will favor the protection of scenic areas. In the future, financial input, international exchanges, and outsourcing services should be increased to promote the vital development of scenic areas. Legislation, establishment, social participation, operation, and ticket systems must be comprehensive. Overall, the study provides theoretical support for further reforms of China’s scenic areas and lessons for improving the conservation quality of the world’s protected areas.

This study systematically reviews 55 landscape studies that use computer vision methods to interpret social media images and summarizes their spatiotemporal distribution, research themes, method trends, platform and data selection, and limitations. The results reveal that in the past six years, social media–based landscape studies, which were in an exploratory period, entered a refined and diversified phase of automatic visual analysis of images due to the rapid development of machine learning. The efficient processing of large samples of crowdsourced images while accurately interpreting image content with the help of text content and metadata will be the main topic in the next stage of research. Finally, this study proposes a development framework based on existing gaps in four aspects, namely image data, social media platforms, computer vision methods, and ethics, to provide a reference for future research.

Rice terraces are a time-honored agricultural feature that overcomes rough terrain and hostile growing conditions. In addition to playing an essential role in agricultural production and land conservation, rice terraces have been recognized as living cultural landscapes, important agricultural heritage, and popular agritourism destinations for their aesthetic, sociocultural, and environmental values. However, there is a lack of understanding of this emerging niche market, especially from outsider perspectives. To fill the gap, this study analyzes Google Maps reviews of seventy representative rice terraces in Japan based on a mixed-method content analysis, aiming to identify visitors’ overall experiences, seasonal perceptions, and the causes of negative experiences. The results indicate that the overall experience of rice terraces in Japan includes seven themes: agricultural landscapes, times and seasons, visual perception, accessibility and infrastructure, sense of place, Genfukei of Japan, and food. Visitors’ perceptions toward the four seasons of the rice terraces have distinctive characteristics and result in different satisfaction levels. The main reasons for negative experiences are farmland abandonment, lack of character, poor accessibility, and bad timing. Leveraging the power of netnography, the study sheds light on the sustainable development of agricultural heritage tourism through the introduction of rice terrace conservation initiatives in Japan and the exploration of rice terrace experience.

Green cultural heritage is an important form of natural space in cities. Only a few studies have conducted restorative studies in a historical environment as most have focused on natural environments. Moreover, few studies on cultural ecosystem services (CESs) have addressed cultural heritage. Based on an onsite questionnaire distributed to green cultural heritage users (N = 64) in Hamarikyu Garden, this paper explores the value of CESs in a green cultural heritage site and the relationship between cultural ecosystem values and perceived attention restoration/stress reduction. A multiple linear regression analysis and simple linear regression analyses were used to examine the data. The results showed that (1) the cultural ecosystem values of the green cultural heritage site were all rated highly except for the sense of place; (2) spending time in green cultural heritage provided respondents significant perceived attention restoration and stress reduction; (3) aesthetics and cultural heritage significantly affected perceived stress reduction, while attention restoration showed a significant positive correlation with aesthetic value and sense of place; and (4) the more visitors perceived the value of CESs, the more significant the perceived stress reduction and attention recovery were. This study indicates that CESs represent a useful tool for measuring the environmental characteristics of green cultural heritage sites and can predict perceived psychological recovery in green cultural heritage sites. Our findings enhance our knowledge about restorative environmental attributes through objective descriptions of potential health-promoting qualities and can be utilized as inspiration for designing restorative environments in green cultural heritage sites.

The Japanese City Planning Act aims to control urban sprawl and promote compact urban development. Despite Japan’s aging population, urban sprawl remains a concern in shrinking sprawl situations. This impacts ecosystem services owing to the loss of natural areas. Ecological quality is regarded as a basic parameter for preventing urban sprawl. This study examined urban sprawl, ecological quality, and their relationship in Chiba Prefecture within the spatial context of the metropolitan region. Utilizing Shannon entropy and landscape metrics for urban sprawling studies, the analysis revealed a gradual shift towards compact development at the center, while the urban periphery was unevenly distributed. The remote sensing ecological index (RSEI), supported by remote sensing, assesses ecological quality. Despite some limitations, the average RSEI indicated moderate quality, offering a suitable human environment. Pearson’s calculations were used to determine the inverse correlation between urban sprawl and ecological quality. Chiba’s slight increase in sprawl was attributed to the transition from non-compact to eco-city development. The proposed plans were formulated based on similar urban sprawl and RSEI patterns in other cities for further sustainable compact development.

This study performs a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of research on child-friendly cities (CFC) conducted from 2000 to 2022. It investigates the global and domestic research trends using two prominent databases, Web of Science (WOS) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The study reveals increasing global and domestic research publications on CFC, demonstrating an expanding interest in the area. The contributions of this study are threefold. First, it describes the status of the CFC in two databases based on quantitative analysis and an intuitive visualization, identifying patterns, hotspots, trends, and gaps. Second, by comparing the two databases, we have the following four findings: (1) the advancement of CFC construction and research focus is linked to economic development; (2) collaborative efforts involving multiple parties are crucial for policy implementation and engaging children in decision making; (3) the two databases demonstrate differing research emphases on the environment; (4) it is essential to broaden the channels for child participation. Finally, we propose the PAF dynamic conceptual model call for the sustainable development of CFCs.

Urban Blue Spaces (UBS) have been found to be beneficial to people’s mental health. Yet, the empirical evidence for how and why different types of urban blue spaces could promote residents’ mental health is still limited. Accordingly, 164 observation samples were collected for this experiment relating to the restorative perception of environmental exposure. The effects of two exposure behaviors (15 min of viewing and 15 min of walking) on psychological recovery in three different urban blue spaces settings (Urban River, Urban Canal, Urban Lake) were investigated in a field experiment. These are the main findings of this current study: (1) all three UBSs increased vitality, feelings of restoration, and positive emotions, and decreased negative emotions; (2) the mental restoration effects between walking and viewing among the three UBSs showed no significant differences; (3) of the three UBSs, urban rivers and urban lakes were the most restorative, while urban canals were less so; (4) the concept of “natural health dose” is proposed, where the health experiences of different UBSs in urban settings can show differences depending on the natural components and their levels of the environment (blue, blue + green, blue + blue). The results of this experiment can provide fundamental evidence that can contribute to building healthy cities through the management and design of different blue spaces.

The integration of multisensory-based public subjective perception into planning, management, and policymaking is of great significance for the sustainable development and protection of UGBS. Online reviews are a suitable data source for this issue, which includes information about public sentiment, perception of the physical environment, and sensory description. This study adopts the deep learning method to obtain effective information from online reviews and found that in 105 major sites of Tokyo (23 districts), the public overall perception level is not balanced. Rich multi-sense will promote the perception level, especially hearing and somatosensory senses that have a higher positive prediction effect than vision, and overall perception can start improving by optimizing these two senses. Even if only one adverse sense exists, it will seriously affect the perception level, such as bad smell and noise. Optimizing the physical environment by adding natural elements for different senses is conducive to overall perception. Sensory maps can help to quickly find areas that require improvement. This study provides a new method for rapid multisensory analysis and complementary public participation for specific situations, which helps to increase the well-being of UGBS and give play to its multi-functionality.

Numerous studies have indicated that proximity to nature positively affects human well-being. Landscape planning and related techniques have been widely implemented to achieve balance between natural environments and human society, thereby contributing to human well-being. This study examines peer-reviewed empirical research using scientometric analysis and systematic review to clarify how landscape planning enhances human well-being. On analysing 439 documents, we found a significant increase in publications by multidisciplinary teams in this research area from 2016 to date. There was an uneven global distribution of publications, with most institutions cooperating within the same continent. These findings suggest the potential for greater international collaboration in the future. We identified three main research topics in this field, traced their dynamic development, and highlighted intangible values requiring attention. Moreover, we proposed a loop of ‘naturalness-landscape structures-landscape services-human well-being’ which includes four intermediary steps to illustrate how landscape planning can improve human well-being. This loop clarifies the pathway between landscape planning approaches and human well-being, thus providing a foundation for future research. Overall, this research highlights the conceptual pathways of landscape planning in promoting human well-being and calls for further investigation to fully understand this complex relationship.

Rural areas are facing increasing challenges including declining populations, advanced aging, and a lack of successors. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of rural areas among Chinese and Japanese university students living in urban areas and analyze the determinants influencing their rural attachment and willingness to reside there. A total of 259 students (126 Japanese students in Chiba and 133 Chinese students in Zhengzhou) were surveyed using the place attachment scale, and asked to describe their past experiences in rural areas. Semantic analysis was employed to further explore issues related to their previous rural visit experiences. The results revealed that students’ place of birth, visiting experience, satisfaction with rural areas, interaction with local people, and convenience of accessing rural areas all influenced their attachment and willingness to move to rural areas. Chinese students expressed greater concerns regarding hygiene issues, while Japanese students were more concerned about safety. This study offers some recommendations: promoting educational resources in rural areas and addressing hygiene issues, such as unclean restrooms, in China. In Japan, the focus should be on continued promotion of rural tourism, providing more education on safe driving and environmental safety for university students, and enhancing more access to rural areas through student transportation discounts.

Ecological wisdom has become an emerging field in the context of landscape planning and design practices for achieving sustainability and resilience. Several scholars have published empirical research papers in this field, and some have also conducted reviews to explore its concept and framework. However, since the empirical research varies, no study has made a systematic literature review and thus encountered difficulties in determining the research topic and problem. Moreover, the research approach and data analysis method could differ based on study site characteristics. Therefore, this study aims to identify and analyze the research topic and problem discussed, site characteristics, and methodology of ecological wisdom studies from 2012 to 2021 by conducting systematic literature reviews involving descriptive analysis, and thematic analysis. The analysis of selected primary studies revealed that recent ecological wisdom studies focus on four topics: exploration, in-depth concept, method introduction, and evidence-based study. Most of the problems discussed in primary studies have focused on acquiring and applying ecological wisdom in practice for contemporary planning and design related to landscape sustainability and resiliency. The characteristics of the study sites were grouped into four categories: sites with unique landscape features, historical or preserved sites, sites with environmental problems or limitations, and sites with high biodiversity. The research methodology developed in ecological wisdom studies uses one or a combination of qualitative, quantitative, and/or spatial approaches involving field measurements and spatial modelling. Finally, the contribution, limitation, and opportunities for future improvements.

Improving the inclusiveness of urban green spaces and enabling various groups to equally enjoy their benefits is the basis of sustainable urban development. Urban park design generally starts from a gender-neutral perspective, ignoring differences in needs related to gender, particularly women’s sensitivity to the environment. This study focused on visual perception and explored gender differences and proposed causes of visual-behavior differences while viewing landscapes. We used photo data from Mizumoto Park in Tokyo and recruited 16 master’s students living nearby to participate in an eye-tracking experiment. The results indicate that men and women have different eye-movement patterns and that elemental ratios affect eye movement behavior more among women than men. Moreover, this study found that men gaze longer at trees and more briefly at shrubs, flowers, and artificial elements than women. Attention-grabbing paths/grounds had a negative effect on the aesthetic evaluation of the scene among women but not men. Based on these findings, suggestions for optimizing women’s experiences at the visual level are proposed for aspects of vegetation density, visual focus, and road design. This study informs park design and improvement with the premise that gender alters the perception of these environments.

This study takes one step further to complement the application of a method for mapping informal green spaces (IGSs) using an efficient combination of open-source data with simple tools and algorithms. IGSs are unofficially recognized by the government as vegetation spaces designed for recreation, gardening, and forestry in urban areas. Due to the economic crisis, many formal green spaces such as urban parks and garden projects have been postponed, while IGSs have significant potential as green space retrofits. However, because they are small and spatially continuous and cannot be fully detected via airborne surveys, they are surveyed in small areas and neglected by government and city planners. Therefore, in this research, we combined the use of Google Street View (GSV) data with machine learning to develop a survey method that can be used to survey a wide area at once. Deeplab V3+ was used to segment the semantics based on the model created using 1000 labelled photos, with an accuracy rate of nearly 65%. Applying this method gave high accuracy in Ichikawa, Japan, with 3029 photos, and matched the results of a field survey in a previous study. In contrast, low accuracy was seen in Ho Chi Minh City, with 204 photos, where the quality of the GSV data was considerably lower.

Abstract Japan is facing increasingly severe challenges in rural areas, such as an aging and declining population and a lack of successors and young people. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan has emphasized that it is important to explain to younger generations the region's appeal for rural development. The purpose of this study was to understand how young Japanese university students' perceptions of rural areas, as well as what factors, influence their attachment to rural areas and willingness to reside there. 71 students from Chiba University in Japan were selected for the survey. Students were asked to tell their experiences in rural areas, and the traditional Place Attachment Scale was used to analyze. In addition, semantic analysis was used to analyze the results of the free description. As a result, we found that students' birthplace, visiting experience, degree of interaction with residents, willingness to migrate, and level of satisfaction with their visit affected their place attachment. Students are generally more satisfied with rural areas, but less willing to move. This research provides the following suggestions for improving young people's sense of responsibility and inheritance in rural areas,1) University can set up relevant courses on rural history, culture, and environment to improve students' knowledge and awareness of rural areas, and learn more about the environment and culture of rural areas. 2) In the Information Age, students should actively be encouraged to go to rural areas to engage in more nature.

Abstract The water environment is considered an important element of the urban landscape. In this study, panoramas of the Google Street Map were used to evaluate the aesthetics quality of three blue spaces environment in the Tokyo, and discussed factors affecting these aesthetic qualities. The founding of the paper: 1) the environmental characteristics of the three selected UBSs are different; 2) three UBS with different environmental visual factors (SVF, BVF, and TVF); 3) the Google Street View panoramas used in the study enable viewers to perceive the differences in the aesthetic quality of different environments; 4) the most significant preference predictor for three UBS is Mystery, and “Multisensority & Nature” and “Sublimity” are two significant preference predictor for urban canal. The results of the study have practical and managerial implications for improving the environmental aesthetic quality of urban blue spaces.

Abstract One of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted at the UN Summit in September 2015 includes the greening movement, in which ordinary citizens can actively participate. Goals 3, 11, 13, and 15 of SDGs contribute to health and well-being, sustainable cities and communities, measures against climate change, and protection of life on land, respectively. In this context, studies of urban green spaces have been conducted on greening movements. Most studies have focused on formally recognized green spaces such as parks, gardens, and forests. “Informal green spaces” refer to small plots of land covered with greenery such as grassy areas on roadsides, vacant lots, and vegetation beside railroad tracks and waterways; however, they are considered separate from formal green spaces. A previous survey of informal green space usage in Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, showed that residents were aware of informal green spaces in their neighborhoods and viewed them as potential auxiliary green spaces. However, the study mainly focused on the elderly, and no studies have focused on youth from junior high or high school as the primary research target. Therefore, this study aimed to clarify whether the results from previous studies were relevant to younger generations and a broader range of cities. This study focuses on the cities near Ichikawa, located in the metropolitan area of Japan, urbanized with residential condominiums and other buildings. There are several formal green spaces, and interest in greenery is relatively high. We first surveyed the actual conditions of various informal green spaces in Chiba and recorded their location information and types. Based on the data obtained, a questionnaire on the use and evaluation of informal green spaces was designed, and the responses were collected using “Classi,” an ICT platform for students and teachers, from Ichikawa Gakuen’s students (junior high school to senior high school) and teachers. Green spaces can help to build a sustainable society by improving physical and mental health through exposure to nature, developing cities where people can continue to live, and reducing heat islands. The importance of formal and informal green spaces in cities has been highlighted in this study, which indicated that informal green spaces not only enrich people’s lives but also have the potential for new usage. This study emphasizes that in urban areas with many restrictions, informal green spaces play a complementary role to formal green spaces.

Abstract The impact of COVID-19 on university students’ utilization of campus’ green spaces and its need in the post-epidemic era was studied in this research. Data were collected from Chinese and Japanese university students using an online questionnaire. The findings show that COVID-19 induced campus lockdown affected students’ motivation to go to school, reduced the time spent on campus, and reduced school frequency. The lockdown encouraged students to explore the green spaces despite their inability to enter the campus. Arguably, COVID-19 has significantly influenced usage pattern of campus’ green spaces. In the post-pandemic era, students generally prefer integrated campus green spaces with wider areas. According to the one-way ANOVA, larger green spaces that can accommodate a lot of people are considered controversial by students coming from various countries and grades. This is because these may attract crowds, increasing the risk of infection. These findings have practical implications for administrators and designers of campus green spaces. Furthermore, the findings of this study could be used to improve campus green spaces in the post-pandemic era, resulting in a more appropriate campus environment for students.

Abstract In areas affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, many museums and stone monuments were established to communicate the insights obtained from the disaster. As of April 2021, more than 200 facilities have been registered as “earthquake memorial facilities” by the government. However, most of these facilities are operated without guidance from the public. A comprehensive visitor plan is required to link each facility, and to effectively share disaster lessons. Accordingly, this study analyzed visitor access to earthquake memorial facilities, and clarified the geographical network connecting these establishments. It evaluated the accessibility of transportation for visitors, and considered ways of enhancing this network. To these ends, we created a list of earthquake memorial facilities that were constructed in the affected Tohoku region; we mapped these facilities using a geographic information system. A facility’s ease of access, as measured by the time taken to gain access, was analyzed on the basis of the distance between facilities, with transportation considered. The results were used to propose a network for an earthquake memorial facility. We also discussed the possibility of providing tours on the facility’s network, and discussed their relationships with transportation bases and other networks. For future use, we proposed a method for improving accessibility to each facility in the network.

Land surface temperature (LST) is heavily influenced by urban morphology. Building height is an important parameter of urban morphology that affects LST. Existing studies show contradicting results where building height can have a positive or negative relationship with LST. More studies are necessary to examine the impact of building height. However, high accuracy building height data are difficult to obtain on a global scale and are not available in many places in the world. Using the Digital Building Height Model (DBHM) calculated by subtracting the SRTM from AW3D30, this study analyzes the relationship between building height and Landsat LST in two cities: Tokyo and Jakarta. The relationship is observed during both cities’ warm seasons (April to October) and Tokyo’s cool seasons (November to February). The results show that building height and LST are negatively correlated. In the morning, areas with high-rise buildings tend to have lower LST than areas with low-rise buildings. This phenomenon is revealed to be stronger during the warm season. The LST difference between low-rise and mixed-height building areas is more significant than between mixed-height and high-rise building areas.

Many scholars have focused on Satoyama, which is characterized by mountains or villages away from the urban spaces. Our objective is to verify its psychophysiological effects on people performing usual Satoyama activities in ignored, small urban green spaces to help people find ways to stay healthy in post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) society. In this study, 12 older adult volunteers from the "Forest around the Mountains" Nonprofit Organization and 12 young people from the university were invited as study subjects. They were asked to observe nature for 10 min and work for 30 min in the small green space "Forest around the Mountains". The Profile of Mood States 2nd Edition (POMS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventor (STAI) were used as psychological scales to detect their psychological restoration and blood pressure before and after the Satoyama activity. Their heart rate during the activity was used as the physiological indicator. The study showed that, as Satoyama volunteers, the older adults group had significant restorative psychophysiological effects during this experiment compared to the younger group; their systolic and diastolic blood pressure dropped significantly after Satoyama activities, On the other hand, the young group have been in the normotensive range before or after Satoyama activities The psychological indicators such as Anger-hostility, Confusion-bewilderment, and Tension-anxiety were significantly lower in the younger group but were still significantly higher than the indicators of the older adults. In general, this study found that Satoyama activities benefited young and older participants, especially older adults with high blood pressure. Satoyama activities in small urban green spaces are thus necessary and worth promoting in the post-COVID-19 era.

As the research on smart cities matures and thrives, research focusing on smart rural development has also emerged into the spotlight in recent years. An increasing number of scholars have called for extending the discussion of smart development in the rural context. In response, this paper aims to conduct a comprehensive scientometric review of the current academic literature in the discussion of smart development in rural areas, centering on the concept of the smart village, which is the most recognized concept in the existing literature and practices. The contributions of this study are threefold. First, an overview of the current implementation and understanding of smart village initiatives and conceptual frameworks provides practical and theoretical insights as prerequisites for comprehending the concept. Second, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first complete scientometric study in the smart village field and will establish baseline data for future analysis and comparison. It describes the status of the scientific landscape based on quantitative analysis and an intuitive visualization, identifying patterns, hotspots, trends, and gaps. Finally, we find that the current trend puts a relatively narrow focus on the technology-driven approaches, while the dimensions of society, services, and culture have been largely neglected. Therefore, a dynamic conceptual model is proposed to call for more human-driven perspectives. We believe that a knowledge-based, community-led, and human-centric rural society is the core of a smart village ecosystem.

Research into traditional ecological knowledge has become a reference in environmental management. This is followed by ecological wisdom that has emerged and has become a new discourse in landscape planning and design. However, traditional ecological knowledge and wisdom are similar in research and confounding when determining the research scope. Therefore, this study aims to define the distinction between traditional ecological knowledge and ecological wisdom in research through a systematic review of research articles, book chapters, and reviews published from 2017 to 2021. The selected primary studies were analyzed using bibliometric analysis run by VOS Viewer, followed by comparative analysis towards thematic codes. The coding process for the comparative analysis was conducted using NVivo. This study found that research on traditional ecological knowledge and ecological wisdom converges, especially on the topic of indigenous cultural capital, ecosystem services, and sustainability. The distinction between TEK and EW lies in their definition, agent, source, and scope. We propose a conceptual framework to understand the relationship between TEK and EW in the cultural landscape and clarify the scope of the analysis in this research. This study would help scholars develop research on both topics precisely and avoid bias in the theoretical discussion.

The impact that classical gardens have on the well-being and quality of life of visitors, especially city dwellers, is an important topic. Scholars have previously focused on landscape aspects, such as water bodies, plants, rocks, chairs, pavilions, and public squares, in various green spaces but have overlooked the road settings that visitors walk on. This study used the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum as the subject region and employed a convenience sampling method (n = 730) to analyze the preference and mental restoration of different road settings of Chinese classical gardens. According to the findings, the majority of visitors felt that the road settings in these classical gardens provided psychological recovery, and half of the roads received a preference score of five or above. The regression results indicated that nature, culture, space, refuge, and serene were found to be important predictive dimensions for both mental restoration and preference. Furthermore, this study divides landscape elements in road settings into two major categories (natural and artificial elements) and eight subcategories (trees, shrubs, lawns, roads, fences, walls, decorations, and buildings) to investigate the relationship between various types of specific road setting elements and visitors' perceived preferences as well as restorability. The correlation results showed that in terms of preference, tree > lawn > path > fence > shrub > wall; in terms of restoration, tree > lawn > shrub > fence > path > decoration > building > wall. Overall, the findings of this research can improve visitor preferences and restoration in a given environmental setting, resulting in a more enjoyable experience.

Natural experiences in urban parks have a positive impact on the well-being and quality of life of people living in urban settings. Thus far, studies focused on urban parks have primarily surveyed general urban park spaces. There is a lack of research on specific rest environment settings, especially for leisure facilities such as pavilions. This study used virtual reality (VR) to create a simulation of people sitting in a pavilion, to evaluate the preferences and mental restoration of nine pavilions in Tokyo (N=61). The results showed that VR viewing effectively promoted mental restoration. The enclosure of the pavilion did not significantly affect people's preferences and perceived mental restoration in the environment setting. Moreover, the regression analysis revealed that the prospect and serene dimensions significantly influenced preferences; for restoration, the dimensions of "richness in species" and "serene" were significant predictors. Results indicate that providing visitors with spaces to sit, relax, socialize, read, and view the scenery could be beneficial. Urban park managers could consider adding people's preferred elements in these resting environments to create a generalized restorative environment setting. The results also suggest that VR can be used to simulate different resting environments for relaxation and restoration, as an alternative approach to experience nature.

Spatial planning has become an important measure for countries and regions to promote sustainable development. However, there remains a lack of systematic and quantitative research on spatial planning worldwide. In this study, CiteSpace was used to perform bibliometric analysis and visualization research on the Web of Science core collection and China National Knowledge Infrastructure database. It was found that: (1) The number of papers published in global spatial planning research shows an increasing trend, especially after 2018, with China showing an obvious increasing trend. (2) Globally, the United States has the largest number of relevant research results, and Italy has the most cooperation with other countries. The highest research output is from developed countries, while that of developing countries is relatively weak. (3) There is some intersection among countries, disciplines, and authors but it is not strong, indicating that cooperation should be strengthened. (4) Through keyword cluster, timeline, and time zone analysis, global development can be roughly divided into three stages: the first stage is characterized by the study of spatial planning system theory, the second stage is characterized by building green infrastructure and providing ecological services, and the third stage is characterized by an emphasis on public participation and the establishment of justice mechanisms. China's development corresponds to three stages: the theory and experience learning stage, the spatial planning system focused on economic development stage, and the integration of multiple plans and the sustainable development exploration stage. (5) There are differences in burst words between the world and China, indicating that there are great differences in research hotspots in different countries' periods and conditions.

Urban parks are essential parts of a city’s natural environment, and blue spaces of urban parks bring aesthetic and health benefits to people. However, the current blue spaces mainly focus on the marine environment or a giant water body scale at the urban or regional level. The urban park blue spaces (e.g., rivers, creeks, ponds) are relatively neglected. An experiment involving 10 different urban park blue spaces in Huanhuaxi park was conducted to assess urban park blue spaces’ aesthetic preference and restorative potential. The results indicated that (1) a water body with good water quality and natural visual form may be more attractive and have restorative potential; (2) blue spaces with high vegetation diversity are preferred, and artificial elements should be evaluated more carefully when added to the scene to avoid disharmony and conflict with the surrounding environment; (3) in practical design, the proportions of plants, buildings, topographical changes, and water should be coordinated to maintain the blue space’s landscape heterogeneity; (4) more leisure activities and interactions should be considered for better recovery; and (5) designers need to emphasize the balance of natural and man-made elements to enhance the visual quality of the water feature. This investigation is important for the management and development of leisure and natural resources in urban parks.

Due to the acceleration of urbanization, many green spaces are facing the fate of abandonment, especially the urban and suburban green space. In Japan, these suburban green spaces can also be used as a Satoyama. Satoyama is a multi-purpose ecosystem, including some secondary forests, farmlands, lakes, marshes, and so on. They are affected by human beings and benefited each other. It is proof of harmonious coexistence that human beings have been groping for in nature since ancient times. This study collected the records of the Satoyama activity group in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan from 2008 to 2019, and used KHCoder3 to mine the characters. The purpose of this study was to identify that it is found that people use suburban green space in variety nowadays through the activities of volunteers in Satoyama. From the records, the green space has a series of changing stages after becoming Satoyama, in which 2008-2011 is the first stage, and 2016-2019 is the other stage, but 2012, 2014, and 2015 were grouped separately. In addition to the daily maintenance of the forest, there were also some special words that can be seen that people attach great importance to the publicity of Satoyama as a place for Children's environmental education. For the future, Satoyama activities can afford good references to urban green space multi-function, maintain ecological balance, and keeping sustainable development.

Effective classification of landscape photographs is a vital step in data processing and environment analysis. With the popularity of crowdsourcing geo-information, an increasing number of studies have used geotagged photographs to visualize how people perceive and interact with destinations and explore the aesthetic, cultural, and recreational value of the areas. In recent years, machine-learning algorithms for image recognition have dramatically improved the efficiency of the assignment of keywords and provide possibilities for the automatic classification of numerous photographs. However, the applicability of such methods for the practical landscape classification is still not clear, especially for the photographs presenting a homogeneous landscape that has similar characteristics. This study developed a semi-automatic classifier for homogeneous landscape photographs by using Google Cloud Vision API and multi-level hierarchical clustering. The classifier was applied to the classification of urban riverscape photographs, which is a typical example of homogeneous landscapes in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan. The riverscapes can be classified into 9 characteristic groups by the classifier and the visual impression of these groups matches well with our intuitive feeling. A confusion matrix showed that the overall accuracy was 82.61%, indicating a strong agreement between the classifier and manual classification. Therefore, the classifier is practical for classifying homogeneous riverscape photographs. Such methodology also provides the possibility of public participation in the assessing process, which, in turn, contributes to urban tourism management.

Since the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia in 2019, several cities have been blocked to prevent the expansion of the infection. This qualitative study aimed to determine the motives of urban residents for visiting urban green spaces during the epidemic (especially within the context of the city blockade), and what might weaken these motives. In total, 47 residents (17 men and 30 women) were recruited from Chengdu, in China, to participate in interviews. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data. According to the results, the motives of the respondents were divided into strong motives and weak motives. These strong motives for visiting UGS can be divided into four themes: "A place for health", "Escape", "Social support", and "A safe and important place for outdoor activities". Residents classified as the weak motive primarily considered the reasons of "Keep distance with others", "Potential infection risk" and "Seek compensation". The results of this study are significant for current and future urban management, green space planning, and social well-being.

Sustainability in transportation development has been a fixture in recent discourse. TODness is a principle that evaluates the extent to which sites meet Traffic-Oriented Development (TOD). To an extent, it reflects some criteria for sustainable transportation development. Based on the TODness, this paper develops a comprehensive index called "Sustainable TODness" around the four dimensions of sustainable development-environmental, economic, social, and transportation efficiency-combined with the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process. Using this index, an evaluation of 13 TOD stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area was carried out, and the impedance pedestrian catchment area of each station was spatially analyzed in conjunction with the geographic information system to generate a heat map of indicators' distribution. According to the spatial characteristics reflected by the heat map, the stations are divided into three categories. We found that some popular TOD stations have high scores on the economic level, but have more or fewer deficiencies in the other three dimensions. We believe that the research method in this article is applicable to the sustainability evaluation of any TOD site in the world and provides new ideas for the renewal of developed urban areas and new land use in the future.

The Great East Japan Earthquake struck in March 2011, causing a huge tsunami on the northeastern coast of Japan. In the disaster area, there has been a movement to preserve the damaged structures as earthquake ruins. In this study, the characteristics of establishing consensus were investigated by clarifying how the earthquake ruins have been preserved and removed, and how the opinions of citizens were accounted for in the process of maintaining these sites. The study focused on 21 earthquake ruins in Miyagi Prefecture, which were the closest to the epicenter. We extracted 30 elements from the earthquake ruins maintenance process and created labels for them. From these, we prepared time-series charts and flowcharts and discussed the relation between entities and citizens' opinions regarding the maintenance process. We clarified four stages pertaining to the preserved ruins and found four types of relationships between the major opinions and treatment decisions. Furthermore, the periods following the earthquake were divided into three phases: pioneering, deliberation, and implementation. Consequently, we suggested that citizens' opinions, coupled with expert advice, could be used to help establish consensus in an incremental manner when making administrative decisions.

Tourism is a common social behaviour, and is classified differently according to its purpose or destination. Plant-viewing tourism (PVT) and its impact on destinations has been studied; however, research on flower-viewing tourism (FVT) is still deficient. This study investigates the impact of FVT on the perceptions and attitudes of residents in Chengdu city. A questionnaire survey was conducted involving 305 residents. A total of 17 items representing three main dimensions (environmental, economic, and socio-cultural) of explanatory factors were considered after exploratory factor analysis. Structural equation modelling was used to examine the relationship between these dimensions and the attitudes of residents. Results show that residents' positive attitudes towards FVT were associated with the positive response of economic and environmental impacts, but no significant correlation was found between socio-cultural impacts and attitudes. Results are discussed and analyzed in-depth, and three conclusions and policy recommendations of this study are proposed. These results can provide suggestions for future development in cities, formulation of tourism policies, and promotion of sustainable tourism development in the region.

© 2020 by the authors. In many parts of the world, concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic and city quarantine policy have led to a general decline in the physical and mental health of residents due to insufficient social interaction. These adverse effects can cause potential public health risks. Ways to alleviate the adverse impact of the pandemic and meet social interaction needs must be widely addressed. This survey was conducted from 1-5 April 2020; it collected 386 responses from residents of Chengdu, China, during the pandemic based on an online survey questionnaire. The results indicate that most of the residents believe their health status is poor, and that they do not experience adequate social contact with others. Most of the respondents indicated no difference in mental health, while a few reported differences in their physical health and social interaction levels. Visiting urban parks can significantly improve overall health and assist in meeting individuals' social interaction needs. Although residents have reduced the frequency of visits during the pandemic, even once a week can be beneficial. This paper emphasizes the critical role of urban parks during the pandemic period from the perspective of the urban building environment. The conclusion affirms that urban parks and large outdoor, open spaces can provide residents with a place for safe outdoor activities and social interaction in a green environment during a pandemic, as well as serve as a buffer area to maintain favorable health and quality of life.

© 2020 by the authors. For the cultural heritage gardens in the urban environment, modern high-rise buildings inevitably change their original landscape and form a new landscape experience with visual impact. Whether cultural heritage gardens and modern cities can coexist harmoniously is one of the critical issues to achieve their sustainable development. This research aimed to find an indicator of landscape morphology, which can predict the visitor's cognition for such cultural landscape forms. This study surveyed tourists' preferences in six selected cultural heritage gardens in Tokyo. We used hemispheric panoramas to calculate the view factors of certain elements of the landscape at the observation points. The results showed that Sky View Factor was a positive predictor of tourists' preference, and this predictability did not change significantly with the attributes of tourists. We also found that tourists' attitudes towards the high-rise buildings outside the gardens have become more tolerant and diverse. These findings could be applied to predict visitors' perception preference of cultural heritage landscape in the context of urban renewal, contributing to the sustainable development of cultural heritage landscape and urbanization.

© 2020 Uniciencia. Numerous definitions and concepts regarding ecotourism lead to different implementations in ecotourism policies and systems. Identifying trends between countries provide valuable information for the development of inadequate ecotourism sites. This study aimed to understand the trends in ecotourism policies in Japan, Indonesia, and Australia by examining the bibliographic records of existing ecotourism policy research. These records were retrieved from the Scopus database and processed by using the scientometrics analysis. The results show the significant research trends of ecotourism policy in each country based on the co-occurrence of keywords were "conservation" for Indonesia, "biodiversity" for Japan, and "management" for Australia. Whereas, based on the research field, it revealed a similar priority within ecotourism policy between Australia and Japan in Social Science, while Indonesia in Environmental Science. The pattern of the keyword network analysis results in an anomaly in Indonesia compared to Japan and Australia, which clarifies the overlapping problem in ecotourism policy in Indonesia. It also visualized the shifting trends of research in some timeline intervals and notifies their relation to the emerging of ecotourism policy. This research also included the usefulness of the research results for future study and the recommendation for the ecotourism policy, especially for Indonesia.

© Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. Urbanization has had an impact on various aspects of urban living, including rapid population growth and a decrease in green spaces. These changes can affect the health and well-being of the community. Creating a home garden in an urban dwelling can promote a healthier lifestyle and support the sustainable development of the landscape. The United Nations has agreed upon the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and there are three goals that correlate with urbanization and home gardens: Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities), Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), and Goal 3 (Good Health). Recently, the number of young people who are concerned about maintaining a healthy lifestyle has increased, and it is important to understand their perception of and preference for home gardens. The purposes of this paper are to publish the result of identify the landscape images that appeal to the young people, know the attributes influencing their perception, and formulate the differences between home gardens. In this study, questionnaires were distributed to 122 young people, 62 from Japan and 60 from Indonesia. They were asked to fill in their personal attributes, provide keywords, describe the garden, and draw a sketch of how they imagined their home garden should be. The Landscape Image Sketch Technique were used to analyze the results. The results show that there are two important points of focus: the plant and the garden. Indonesian data indicated that a majority of them are interested in big plants like trees, for shade and aesthetics. The sketches mostly show preferences for outdoor gardens such as back and front yards. The Japanese data indicates an interest in the usage of small plants for healing and sketches of small indoor gardens. The data also indicates that young people in both the countries have little interest in gardening. Therefore, to support sustainable landscape development and the three SDGs, it is important to promote the information about the benefits of home gardens to increase community's awareness and interest.

© Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. While Indonesia is facing many natural disasters, for example earthquake, flood and heavy rain, the people living in traditional villages (locally called Kampung), have kept a sustainable life for a long time. This study focuses on Kampung Urug which is located in Sukajaya District, Bogor, West Java. The traditional community has some unique characteristics such as green open spaces, architectural buildings, ritual and customs, events based on local wisdom. However those in some traditional villages and nearby areas are on the verge of being lost due to rapid expansion and development. The name of Kampung Urug is related to the geographical conditions which is located on a hillside, with high rainfall. Because of the potential for landslides, this village is called Urug, which means landslides in Sundanese. There are some studies from the viewpoints of architecture or history about Kampung Urug, but there are few studies investigating from disaster. The purpose of this study is to find stakeholder perceptions of the green open space in the context of disaster, to analyze a spatial approach to minimize the disaster impact, and to find traditional social approaches and physical or technical approaches of local wisdom. Based on field surveys, agriculture is generally conducted in green open spaces, and land use is flexibly adapted to landslides and erosion. One reason for this is that many farmers are willing to maintain the farmland as much as possible. There is no change in the region where agriculture has been thriving since ancient times. It is necessary to create evacuation maps based on traditional land use and past disaster histories.

© Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. Indonesia's capital city, Jakarta, is surrounded by several satellite cities and has grown spatially into a larger region called Jabodetabek. The development in Jabodetabek has resulted in changes in the landscape. The increase of impervious surface and decrease of green space has led to the formation of an urban heat island (UHI). UHI could be detected through land surface temperature (LST) monitoring. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to analyze the land cover changes in Jakarta and its satellite cities and to analyze the impact of these changes on LST using GIS-based analysis. We analyzed Jakarta and its three satellite cities, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi, through a satellite image time-series analysis in 1989/1990 and 2015/2018. It is found that, among the four cities we analyzed, Tangerang has the highest built-up area expansion proportion, followed by Bekasi with a slight difference, then Depok and Jakarta. As for the LST, the city that has the most significant difference between mean LST in the initial and recent year is Bekasi with 12.66°C, then followed by Tangerang (11.05°C), Jakarta (8.34°C), and Depok (6.43°C). These orders' inconsistency might be caused by higher proportion of built-up area combined with higher loss of vegetated area. This shows that the land cover change played a big role in the temperature increase.