There is currently an emerging discussion about the shifting frontiers of research in the field of urban and regional planning. This special section focuses on the new spatial planning paradigm from a theoretical and methodological development perspective. The six papers published in this special section contribute to and extend the spatial planning literature, specifically in relation to land use, ecology and urban geography. The main themes addressed by the papers are as follows: 1) advancing the theoretical development of the concept of new ruralism and its application as a spatial planning principle for sustainable development in rural areas of Korea; 2) the significance of spatial adaptation and the resilience of healthcare systems in responding to the unprecedented hazards and health risks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in Abu Dhabi City, in the United Arab Emirates; 3) transit-oriented development (TOD) and its spatial associations with the land use of low-density areas in the Keihanshin conurbation in Japan; 4) estimating the land surface temperature to enhance understanding of changes in the landscape for residents of the Kolkata Metropolitan area in India, using a radiative transfer equation algorithm; 5) how the ecological knowledge of local residents in Shiheung City in Korea, accessed via a spatial text mining approach, can be used to inform policy making; 6) applying a Q methodology to investigate individuals’ subjective views and perceptions of nature/natural features when visiting urban parks in Seoul, Korea. Bringing different types of theoretical and methodological perspectives together, this editorial concludes with a summary, critical discussion and suggestions for future research with regard to the new spatial planning paradigm.

Urban sprawl and the reckless development of the peri-urban area exacerbated problems in rural areas. Korea experienced the fastest growth among the other OECD countries. As the country became highly urbanized, the number of people residing in rural regions decreased drastically. In 2018, based on the OECD’s regional definition of access to cities, only 11% of Korean people live in rural areas. The attractiveness of rural areas and multifunctional values have become more important in contemporary society. Recently, new planning principles in rural areas have emerged in conjunction with globalization, post-productivism, and demanding rural tourism. This study explores the meaning of New ruralism and traces the emergence of New ruralism for rural planning principles. In addition, the study identifies the contents of the future vision of rural areas to be achieved through New ruralism. The study review focuses on the discourse about New ruralism in academic research papers. Literature was retrieved by searching on Google Scholar using the four keywords ‘new rurality’, ‘neo-rurality’, ‘new ruralism’, and ‘neo-ruralism’. The search yielded 128 documents, which were thereafter screened for relevance to this study’s purpose. After sifting, only 44 publications were found suitable for inclusion in the final analysis. Forty-four pieces of literature were analyzed by year, research area and subject. Four features from the New ruralism concept were found through content analysis. Those are ‘Conservation’, ‘Cultivation’, ‘Community’ and ‘Creativity’. This presents the rural planning principle of a creative space with new technological innovation while allowing New ruralism to enjoy urban convenience in a rural environment. In the end, the study discussed some implications on the application of New ruralism to Korea as a new spatial planning principle.

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare systems around the world have had their limited surge capacity rapidly overwhelmed. In such a situation, pandemic risk reduction necessitates the employment of one or more alternative care sites (ACSs). This paper aims to investigate the siting of deployable field hospitals to reduce pandemic risk and support the staff involved in direct patient care. The present study used multiple case studies of space conversions and field hospitals in several countries. Informed by the existing literature, these cases shed light on their healthcare system responses to COVID-19 and allowed for a comparative analysis. Based on the case studies, the authors propose two ACSs in Abu Dhabi City: one in an urban setting and another in a suburban area. The authors identified expansive spaces and adaptable buildings according to a set of primary criteria, including the required level of structural alterations, budget, and time. The selected sites/buildings could be transformed into field hospitals to respond to the pandemic and/or disaster risk reduction whilst boosting critical care surge capacity. Devising such measures in siting field hospitals as ACSs would eventually enable Abu Dhabi’s (and the United Arab Emirates’) healthcare system and institutions to become more resilient in adequately responding to unprecedented demand and/or sudden disruptions to healthcare operations in the future.

There has been much discussion about the shift to compact cities in the last decade. Transit-oriented development (TOD) has been introduced in many countries to promote compact cities. However, low density occurs with heterogeneous and random spatial patterns. It impedes the creation of people-friendly, sustainable cities, making it challenging to attract the investments necessary to create a compact city’s core. This phenomenon is a serious issue during periods of population decline. Therefore, this paper clarifies the occurrence pattern of low-density districts around railway stations and their related spatial characteristics to understand better how to reorganize transit-oriented urban structures in a society with a declining population. We have observed the population demographic and household demographic change beside railway lines of the Keihanshin conurbation within the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan region, the second-largest urban area in Japan. Our research questions are “Do low-density populations exist in railway station areas?”, and “If yes, are they concentrated at a particular point or dispersed?” The results of our research are as follows; 1. Some railway stations are experiencing low density growth in their surrounding areas. 2. Thirteen patterns of low-density appearance in the station sphere are observed. 3. Stations with low densification disperse, but at a relatively lower ratio in the inter-urban area. 4. There are three primary routes for low density progression. These results will be helpful in future urban planning, including site optimization, and can help attract facilities and mutual support between regions.

Urban climate changes and the warming of the cities are serious issues that cannot be overlooked. One of the most common inferences for these changes is unprecedented and unplanned urbanization, which further causes a rise in local, regional, and even global temperatures. Although the rate of urbanisation defines and greatly influences the city's socioeconomic worth and GDP per capita, if the urban expansion is hap-hazardous, it can cause serious environmental harm.There has been a steep rise in global urban population over the past three decades, and the highest growth rates have been observed in Asian and African cities. These two continents have been predicted to contribute to almost 90% of the total urban growth from the present to 2050. India is one of the few highly susceptible countries to the harsh effects of climate change in terms of rise in temperatures. After 1990s’, India has observed substantial changes in the landscape due to urbanization, which has led to a significant rise in the surface and ambient air temperatures, further affecting the planet's health. Elevated temperature drastically affects the health of urban dwellers leading to a rise in stress and discomfort levels. Estimation of Land Surface Temperature (LST) can play a vital role in understanding the region-specific alterations in temperatures as it uses satellite data that captures the entire region and provides the information in the form of pixels. Traditionally, the temperature was measured at meteorological stations and extrapolated for the entire region,whichinduces inaccuracies. This ambiguity can be amended by developing a relationship between LST and ambient air temperature. This communication focuses on LST estimation using Radiative Transfer Equation algorithm corresponding to various Landuse categories. The study also attempts to create a relationship between the LST and the ambient air temperature observed at two meteorological stations. An overall assessment of the number of days under stress for the residents was also performed over several years. Kolkata Metropolitan Area was considered the study area to represent the results and understand the complete analysis. A rise of 6.77°C was observed in LST over the study period (2000 -2019) due to an increment of 200% in the urban area. Analysis of the number of days under stress showed an increasing trend for the study area due to alterations in urban temperatures. These results and the suggestions from the scientific community, urban planners, and climate experts will help develop or modify the current policy frameworks for creating a balance between development and the environment, thus creating sustainable urban development.

The ecological knowledge of local residents is attracting attention as an alternative to overcome the shortcomings of experts-led environmental spatial planning, such as overlapping benefits and gaps. There have been many studies showing the importance of ecological knowledge. Nonetheless, there is a limit to quantifying it and connecting it to spatial planning because ecological knowledge is mainly transmitted orally. Therefore, this study tried to quantify and map the ecological knowledge possessed by local residents through spatial text mining, and attempt spatial planning that reflects the micro-environmental state felt by local residents. Through analysis via spatial text mining of the ecological knowledge of local residents in the coastal area of Shiheung Hojobeol in Korea, significant ecological resources were determined: the point where reservoirs and rice paddy fields meet, halophytes in the middle river, and where the downstream beach meets the tidal flat habitat. In addition, the views of the bridge and river observation at the public gathering point were found to be the main ecology-related activities. This mapping of ecological knowledge can confirm the micro-environmental characteristics of the region, which can be used as primary data for various environmental policies, such as environmental planning, eco-tourism, and outdoor eco-education.

Though the activities in urban facilities have declined during the COVID-19, the demand for visiting open spaces and parks has increased. Visitors to city parks also increased in Seoul. People have realized that nature is an important space for safety, health, and leisure in their everyday life. This study implied that people intended to visit city parks as a natural space in the urban area. So, an assessment criterion of the quality of environments of city parks, naturalness is selected as one of the indicators. This study chose six parks as a study subject in Seoul and found differences for users in the perception of naturalness in city parks. Q methodology is a useful tool to identify differences between individual's perceptions of nature. Through the Q analysis, six groups have differences in the perception and the valuation of naturalness. The study found that differences have resulted from their past experiences, personal preferences, and psychological status. The first group can be named a dynamic type who enjoys various landscapes, and the second is the group of people who love to meditate in serene woodlands. The third group wants to observe the animals and consider the ecosystem as important, and the fourth group is those who love to feel the changing seasons with sensitivity. The fifth group recognizes nature through the contrast between the building and the natural environment in the city. The last group is those who pursue conservation for old trees or the existing nature environment itself. As a general, appraisal of perceived naturalness is subjective and individual. The perception of naturalness influences landscape preferences and attitudes to city parks. Therefore, the naturalness perceived by users should be a crucial consideration to maximize park services so that users can appreciate various tastes.

Arguably, active travel (AT) is important for active aging. Using data from the Travel Survey of Xiamen Residents 2015 and geodata, this study develops a set of multilevel regression models to scrutinize the effect of the neighborhood-level built environment on three AT outcomes (daily AT propensity, frequency, and time) of older adults aged 60 years or above in Xiamen, China. Its results show that the built environment truly shapes the AT behavior of older adults. Land use mix, intersection density, and bus route density have a positive association with AT, whereas the distance to the commercial center has a negative association. Population density has no significant association with the AT behavior of older adults. Land use mix is the most significant built-environment variable. Various robustness checks confirm the plausibility of the key findings. This study provides practical implications for China’s national strategy of “actively addressing population aging.”

With the increase in the recent pandemic conditions, the importance of closed community open spaces has gained a lot of importance in satisfying the need for public spaces within an urban fabric. Also, the real-estate trends have always publicised the presence of common public facilities within the gated communities, such as play parks, street furniture, temple, etc., an extreme luxury compared to any other residential facility available in the city. However, it is crucial to analyse its age appropriateness to understand whether these spaces can effectively engage users of varied age groups. Doing so will also result in a comprehensive conclusion to interpret activeness and safety. The study is performed within two planned mixed housing gated communities with multiple pockets of open spaces intended for recreation and leisure. This paper attempts to identify major physical and ambient features that commonly result in a more age-appropriate space. Since the findings are derived based on quantified subjectivity, the study includes a questionnaire survey, activity and behaviour mapping, and critical analysis of the physical setup. This study discusses various case-specific design decisions that can be employed to establish more inclusive open spaces within a gated community by analysing attributes such as zoning, proximity to allied activities, territoriality, and defensibility. Since the findings highlight the behavioural needs emerging due to the coexistence of demographic age ranges. This study would be beneficial for architects, landscape architects and urban designers to create age-appropriate open spaces.

With the rapid improvement of the urbanization process in Shenyang, the urban construction land expands greatly, which makes the urban morphological characteristics change rapidly. In order to guide the city to develop in a more reasonable, healthy, and orderly direction, this article analyses the evolution of urban morphology in Shenyang. By selecting three different periods of satellite remote sensing images in 2001, 2006 and 2014. With the help of Remote Sensing manual interpretation method, the construction land data of the three years in the city are extracted. According to the fractal theory, the laws of urban development morphology are analysed, and the characteristics of urban morphological evolution are summarized. Results show that: 1) the area of urban built-up areas increased by 3.7 times from 2001 to 2014, with an average annual growth rate of 21%. The expansion direction is southwest and northeast. The main reason lies in the development and construction of the southwest side of the Yuhong District and the Shenbei New District.; 2) By analysing the quantitative indexes such as expansion intensity index, compactness index, boundary dimension index and shape index, it is found that the urban expansion of Shenyang is characterized by stages, and the expansion speed in 2006-2014 is significantly lower than that in 2001-2006. This phenomenon indicates that the internal structure of the city has stabilized and it has begun to focus on intensive development; 3) Shenyang has gradually formed a "one-axis, one-belt" urban spatial pattern, focusing on the coordinated and unified development of multiple centres.

An urban centre acts as the interface of economic activities and people and represents diversity, which can grow or decline over time. Here, we review the literature to explain the factors supporting and obstructing urbanisation based on three theories on urban morphology: theory of natural movement, theory of movement economy and theory of spatial centrality. Two research questions were then formulated to explain the morphological logic of urbanisation and the influence of the global movement grid on local natural movement, which are key factors supporting the growth and decline of each local neighbourhood within the city. The selected case study was Nakhon Si Thammarat Old Town at the global and local levels and the space syntax theory was chosen for analysis. The results indicated that the spatial configuration of the global movement grid influence urbanisation and local natural movement the most. Therefore, local public spaces must be designed to support the global movement grid, which is fed by natural movement and influenced by the global morphological structure.

Efficient public participation results in the effective implementation of plans, policies, and programs since the proposals are best-reviewed, suggested and accepted by the public. However, in a heterogeneous society like India, where there are a wide array of individuals, communities, and social groups creating enabling methods for public participation is still difficult for city-level development authorities. The paper aims to ascertain the current state of public participation while formulating Urban Development Plans, focusing across three Indian cities. It argues that the current practices of involving the public are limited to stakeholder consultation primarily comprising of expert groups where no robust methods exist to capture the say of the common public during the formulation of the development plan for the city. The analysis reveals that the inclusion of citizens and the implementation of a suitable participatory method amongst the three selected case studies still pose a question since the primary approach is inviting the influential stakeholders for suggestions. The research paper also brings in arguments from literature for how public participation aids the development process. An exploration of few approaches for public participation is also discussed along with considering the challenges of implementation in the Indian context.

Geoheritage refers to areas of geodiversity that have been specifically identified as having conservation significance. Nowadays, heritage and tourism have significant impacts on the ecotourism sector. Geoparks have a clear vision to develop and manage a geological heritage site using concepts such as protection, education and sustainable development. However, geoheritage tourism will impact the ways Geopark recognition affects the surrounding environment which, in the case study area, is the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park (KKGP). The study used an in-depth interview method, with the target respondents being experts and professionals in this field. All the interview structure and questions were strategically arranged into a smaller number of aspects and elements. The results were analysed using the Atlas.ti software version 8. The qualitative data analysis was transferred into a Conceptual Model Network (CMN). Based on the Conceptual Model Network, it was recognised that positive and negative impacts were affected by several factors. Geotourism activity resulted in the most disturbances in KKGP; proper management planning could solve these problems. This study hopes to organise and produce precise and accurate data concerning the impact of Geopark recognition on the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park (KKGP), Langkawi. The findings also will inspire further Geopark-related studies directed towards potential future Geoparks in Malaysia and other countries.

Developing technology and maximum usage of underground resources have led to the rise of several urban problems. Nonetheless, smart growth (SG) is one of the practical principles for solving different issues, such as traffic problems, air and noise pollution, urban sprawling, etc. In this article, three parameters of smart growth, namely: accessibility to public transportation, walkability, and mixed land use, and the main parameters of space syntax theory including, integration and connectivity in three different urban districts (old, middle, and modern) in the city of Bojnourd, the city in north-eastern of Iran have been investigated. By analysing these parameters, the relationship between selected SG indices and space syntax indexes has been presented. The ANP approach was also applied to improve decision-making and to grade the importance of criteria; districts were finally graded using the TOPSIS model concerning walkability, and access to public transportation. The mixed-land uses index was also calculated by examining 11 land uses through the Shannon entropy formula. The results indicate that there is an internal relationship and correlation between smart growth indicators and space syntax ones. Additionally, given solutions can be taken as a significant step to tackle urban issues and advance sustainable development aims.

In this template file as introduction for the format of this journal. All content should follow the suggested AbstractEn style.Groundbreaking methods, which can combine stakeholder analysis and cost–benefit analysis (CBA) on urban development projects, are lacking. This study thus proposes an evaluation framework using CBA integrated with stakeholder interest mapping through focus group discussion and analytical hierarchy process. The proposed framework is demonstrated as the methodology for the study. The investigation takes eight residential developments in Sleman, Indonesia. Stakeholder interest mapping is found to provide empirical information regarding stakeholder concerns about urban land-use and development. In addition, multi-stakeholder CBA enables evaluation to identify and estimate cost and benefit distributions for each stakeholder. Moreover, the identification of stakeholder-focused cost–benefit and the calculation of the net present value and benefit–cost ratio simultaneously assist in the estimation of the total economic value and its proportional fairness arising from the development decision. Furthermore, this proposed urban development evaluation framework is beneficial as a preventive measure of conflicts among stakeholders caused by the externalities of urban development projects.