The Association between District Vitality and Industrial Structure Based on Quantitative Analysis in a Historic District: A Case Study of Xuanen Xinglong Historic District, China

Amid urbanization, historic districts serve as key carriers of urban cultural memory, confronting dual challenges of integrating tradition with modernity and balancing cultural inheritance with spatial renewal. Enhancing residents’ satisfaction with cultural spaces is crucial for improving their quality of life and promoting the sustainable development of urban culture. However, existing research lacks systematic analysis of the intrinsic relationship between residents’ needs and spatial satisfaction, focusing on holistic conservation or spatial design. Using ERG Theory and taking Longweiguan Historic and Cultural District in Dali, China, as the case, this study explores how residents’ needs and cultural space satisfaction interact via theoretical construction and empirical analysis. It establishes a 20-index satisfaction evaluation system, adopting field surveys, in-depth interviews and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) for quantitative analysis. Findings: (1) Residents reported moderate-to-high overall satisfaction with cultural spaces, where relatedness needs demonstrated the most significant impact on satisfaction, while growth needs scored lowest. (2) Existence needs directly affect satisfaction through basic elements like spatial safety and indirectly strengthen relatedness needs. (3) Cultural industry spaces hinder satisfaction due to disconnected innovation and resident participation. Thus, a “safety–social interaction–innovation” strategy is proposed to support the living conservation and sustainable development of historic districts.

The city of Galveston is located by the coast on the Galveston Island in Texas. Despite its flat and narrow land, the island became an important port in the history for thousands of people to enter the country and a significant market for trade and supplied labor to cotton planters. The city gained its architectural characteristics in the late 19th century as it grew to become a city of expanding commercial and shipping center. However, the hurricane of September 8, 1900, which is known as the deadliest natural disaster in North America, devastated the island by killing over six thousand people and destroying about one-third of the buildings. Hurricanes and tropical storms striking the coast along the Gulf of Mexico are known to have caused severe damage. Among the all, Harvey was the last destructive hurricane that affected the Galveston area in 2017. The community is still vulnerable, and in need of resilient design based on sound structures against hurricanes and storms. After the disasters, the economy has been adversely affected as well. The community has been in serious need for the revival to support the economy. The tourism industry of Galveston is based on leisure travel, conventions, and tourism. The city has an invaluable cultural asset. The majority of the cultural heritage is located at the East End Historic District, Silk Stocking National Historic District, Lost Bayou Historic District and Strand/Mechanic Historic District. Among these districts, the Strand hosts a great many number of historic buildings that are still in use today. Most of these buildings were damaged in the 1885 fire and numerous hurricanes and tropical storms. This research presents an investigation of the historical building profile of the Strand District. Historical structures have been investigated via the Rapid Visual Inspection approach. Based on the results, a condition assessment is obtained and a behavioral pattern is defined for the historic structures of the Stand District of Galveston.KeywordsHistorical building profile in Strand-GalvestonIron facade buildingsAssessment of historic structuresRapid visual inspection

As the main carrier of the evolution and development of historic districts, streets are the important foundation of street space, architectural texture and neighborhood vitality. However, in recent years, due to the inappropriate way of protecting the historic district and the rapid development of motorization, the spatial quality of the streets in the historic district has been declining and the vitality of the district has suffered a great impact. Located in Fengxiang District of Baoji City, Fengxiang Historic District has insufficient neighborhood vitality and poor spatial quality. In order to improve the vitality of the neighborhood and optimize the spatial quality of the neighborhood, we take "Wenchangxiang-Tongwenxiang-Feltersxiang Historic District" and "Xinzhuangxiang Historic District" in Fengxiang District as examples through a combination of qualitative description and quantitative analysis, and examine the causes of the lack of vitality of the neighborhood in terms of economy, culture and environment. The reasons for the lack of vitality of the neighborhoods are explored from three aspects. Finally, we propose the strategy to improve the vitality of the neighborhoods by upgrading the commercial space and creating diversified business modes, exploring the cultural connotation and forming regional linkage, and optimizing the neighborhood environment and strengthening the neighborhood management.

Historical and cultural blocks represent an important process and cultural symbol of urban development. Shenyang, as one of the important cities in Northeast China, has rich cultural heritage and historical districts. However, these valuable cultural resources have not been fully explored and effectively integrated in the current integrated development of culture, commerce, and industry. The excavation of cultural resources is not deep enough, and many potential cultural elements and historical stories have not been fully discovered and utilized. Research suggests that the integrated development of culture, commerce, and tourism in historical and cultural districts of Shenyang is a comprehensive and complex task that requires joint efforts from the government, enterprises, and all sectors of society. By fully leveraging the advantages of cultural resources, strengthening the integration and cooperation of culture and commerce, improving the quality and experience of tourism services, and innovating development models and marketing methods, a unique and attractive tourist destination can be created for the historical and cultural districts of Shenyang.

As urbanization accelerates globally, preserving and developing historical cultural districts is increasingly critical, especially in areas with unique historical and cultural value. To understand the development of urban construction and the diachronic and spatial patterns of development, this paper focuses on Guiyang, a key transportation hub in Southwest China connected to Southeast Asia. It examines the historical districts from four representative periods: the early Ming Dynasty (1413–1420), the early Qing Dynasty (1616–1626), the Republican era (1912–1949), and the 1980s (1980–1990). Employing complex network analysis, the study investigates the changes in the connectivity characteristics of construction land and road networks. Key findings reveal: (1) Stability: The construction land networks stability decreased steadily from the early Ming period to the 1980s, whereas the road network density exhibited a wave-like decline. (2) Centrality: The construction land networks centrality decreased linearly, and the road network density exhibited a wave-like decrease. (3) Vulnerability: Both networks showed increased vulnerability, with fluctuations in the road network during the early Qing period, but generally reduced vulnerability. The analysis also indicates that changes in the connectivity of Guiyang’s historical district construction land and road networks are influenced by shifts in social structures, improvements in productivity, and the physical geography of the area. In mountainous cities with limited terrain, urban forms have transitioned from single-center aggregation to multi-center aggregation, and areas where administrative expansion is not feasible have adopted compact spatial development strategies. The application of complex network analysis has proven effective in urban spatial studies, revealing that changes in construction land and road networks reflect multifaceted internal transformations in society, politics, economy, military, and culture, significantly impacting the formation of a diverse yet unified national identity. Based on these findings, this paper offers recommendations for the planning and development of mountainous cities globally.

Historic property designations have been lauded for spurring renovation beyond the historic structures themselves through positive externalities in surrounding neighborhoods. Previous historic district research focuses on whether historic designation results in a price premium. This paper takes a more comprehensive look at the buying process, which must consider marketing duration within the historic district as well as influences on the sale of properties adjacent to the historic district. We examine how historic district designation in Baton Rogue, Louisiana is capitalized either through a price premium or marketing duration and how that mechanism differs between neighborhoods inside and outside the historic district boundaries. We employ a three stage least square, 3SLS, model to account for the effects of endogenous marketing duration on price capitalization estimates. The estimates are consistent with search-market theory in that marketing duration absorbs part of the capitalization of historic designation. We find that the more certain benefits from historic designation within the district are reflected in a price premium while the reduced regulation coupled with the cachet of being located near but not inside the district result in shorter marketing duration.

Seville, Spain’s fourth largest city and the capital of Andalusia, is one of the most visited cities in the country and increasingly in Europe. Tourism has traditionally been an important sector for the urban economy, but after the 2008 financial crash it has become the city’s main source of income. Tourist numbers have soared over the last decade and they are likely to keep growing now that the Lonely Planet has labelled Seville the best city to visit in 2018 and Airbnb has chosen Andalusia as one of the top destinations for 2019. There has also been an increase in the number of migrants from wealthy countries over the last few years. Not surprisingly, these migrants and tourists share spatial patterns: both generally concentrate on Seville’s historic district and urban centre. We argue that the rapid increase of tourism and the settlement of lifestyle migrants in this part of the city have triggered spatial processes that have resulted in social injustice. Therefore, we explore whether the growth of visitor numbers has reached the extent of overtourism, because the tourist infrastructure and its activities may clash with those of local residents. We also study whether the socio-economic profile of many of these residents has changed due to migration, which could potentially mean the beginning of a transnational gentrification process. Seville’s city centre is becoming a privileged place, where the average Sevillian cannot afford to live and increasingly feels out of place. Our argument is supported by a combination of quantitative data analysis (demographic, housing and tourism statistics) and qualitative research (interviews) analyses. Our case illustrates how tourism helps to reshape historic urban districts and becomes socially unsustainable, as it gradually excludes local communities.

Many ancient canal towns are distributed in southern China, serving as popular tourist destinations. However, these towns experience intense summer heat, with poor thermal comfort in their street spaces. Studying the thermal comfort of historical districts is therefore crucial for promoting tourism development. This research focuses on the Xiaohe Street Historical District, employing ENVI-met software v5.7 for the simulation analysis. Targeting waterfront spaces in ancient town historical districts, nine simulation scenarios were established to systematically compare the thermal environmental impacts of different widths, locations, and configurations of waterfront spaces. The key findings include the following. The waterfront space width shows a positive correlation with thermal environment improvement—wider spaces yield a more significant enhancement. However, when the width exceeds 5 m, a further expansion to 7 m shows a limited impact on the temperature, humidity, and wind speed, with diminishing returns. Distributed versus concentrated layouts of waterfront spaces show negligible differences in temperature and humidity regulation, but concentrated arrangements significantly enhance the street-level wind speed. Thus, under equivalent total width conditions, concentrated large-scale waterfront spaces are recommended. Installing shading facilities in waterfront spaces can effectively reduce the site temperature by over 2 °C. Aligning waterfront spaces with ventilation corridors substantially improves the wind speed, thereby enhancing thermal comfort. Through quantitative analysis, this study provides a scientific basis for optimizing thermal environmental design in canal-side historical districts. The findings offer practical guidance for similar renovation projects in canal historical districts.

Zhao, C.; Zhang, Y.; Xue, Y., and Niu, T., 2020. Development of coastal city port cultural and creative industries and its key technologies. In: Yang, Y.; Mi, C.; Zhao, L., and Lam, S. (eds.), Global Topics and New Trends in Coastal Research: Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 103, pp. 194–198. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.In order to enhance the economic benefits of the cultural and creative industries of coastal cities and ports, the relevant technologies are used to realize the development of the port cultural and creative industries. Based on the financial support and talent support for industrial development, the basic route for the development of port cultural and creative industries is determined. According to the composition elements of the port cultural and creative industries, the port industrial structure is divided, and the factors affecting industrial development are analyzed. Utilizing technologies such as multimedia cultural processing, cultural and creative industrial park environment development, online cultural industry promotion, and SWOT industry assessment and other technologies to develop port cultural and creative industry development strategies. After applied research and analysis, it was found that the applied design of port cultural and creative industry development strategies can effectively increase the economic benefits of coastal cities by about 27%.

This study explored the existing tourism situation at Patong Beach, Phuket Island, Thailand, analyzed factors influencing and proposed strategies for sustainable tourism development in the area as the world-class tourist destination based on community-based tourism. The important result was that tourism brought positive economic impacts to community such as generate local income, employed local people, create good local economy. In the meanwhile, positive social impacts were such as the local people’s better livelihood and enhanced infrastructure system development. Moreover, he positive environmental impacts were increased local awareness, increased enforcement of environmental regulation and generated stakeholder’s cooperation in environmental conservation. In terms of negative impacts, tourism brought negative economic impacts such as caused a loss of income to foreign entrepreneurs, negative social impacts were such as caused prostitution disease problem. Moreover, it was found that Patong beach was affected from lack of people’s participation, tourism policies directed on income which were the unsustainability, even though Patong beach has high tourism potential. Therefore, the strategies for sustainable tourism development of Patong beach as world-class tourist destination based on community-based tourism must be concerned as follows: (1) Political development strategy: Enable the participation of local people, Increase the power of the community in natural resource management. (2) Environmental development strategy: Study the carrying capacity of the area, Appropriate waste management, and Raise awareness of the need for conservation. (3) Social development strategy: Raise the quality of life, Promote community pride, Divide roles fairly between women/men, elder/youth, and Build community management organizations. (4) Cultural development strategy: Encourage respect for different cultures, Foster cultural exchange, and Embed development in local culture. (5) Economic development strategy: Raise funds for community development, Create jobs in tourism, and Raise the income of local people. These presented strategies will lead Patong beach to be the sustainable tourism beach and world-class tourist destination based on community-based tourism in the future. Moreover, it can be a prototype of sustainable tourism development to other community.

<p>This study proposes community-based tourism as a strategy for sustainable tourism development of Patong Beach. Direct observation, questionnaire and interview are research instruments. A result of analyzing 120 questionnaires of local people which displayed a negative impact including economic impact which was very high )= 4.53(, social impact )= 4.28( and environmental impact) = 4.42( which were high so the total mean score was high )= 4.41(. The Community-Based Tourism was adapted for solution all negative impacts which were mentioned earlier. The sreategies are namely 1. Political development strategy: (1.1) Enabling the participation of local people, (1.2) Giving the power of the community over the outside and (1.3) Ensuring rights in natural resource management. 2. Environmental development strategy: (2.1) Studying the carrying capacity of the area, (2.2) Managing waste disposal and (2.3) Raising awareness of the need for conservation.3. Social development strategy: (3.1) Raising the quality of life, (3.2) Promoting community pride, (3.3) Dividing roles fairly between women/men, elder/youth and (3.4) Building community management organizations. 4. Cultural development strategy: (4.1) Encouraging respect for different cultures, (4.2) Fostering cultural exchange and (4.3) Embedding development in local culture and 5. Economic development strategy: (5.1) Raising funds for community development, (5.2) Creating jobs in tourism and (5.3) Raising the income of local people.<strong></strong></p>

Understanding the spatial distribution and associated contextual factors of historic and cultural districts is essential for heritage conservation and land-based spatial planning. Previous studies have largely focused on site-level authenticity and development models, while national-scale quantitative analyses remain limited, particularly in the Chinese context. This study constructs a nationwide dataset of 1212 historic and cultural districts across 31 provincial-level regions in China and applies a GIS-based framework integrating Global Moran’s I, kernel density estimation, and standard deviation ellipse analysis. The results reveal significant spatial clustering broadly aligned with the Hu Huanyong Line, with high-density concentrations in major urban agglomerations such as the Yangtze River Delta and an overall orientation along an east–west axis at the national scale. Further analysis suggests that these spatial patterns are broadly consistent with natural geographic conditions and long-term historical–cultural contexts; river systems, dynastic capital construction, economic development, and population migration provide important interpretive backgrounds for understanding regional differentiation. By providing a national-scale quantitative characterization of designated historic and cultural districts, this study offers spatial evidence to support more differentiated, land-oriented conservation and spatial planning strategies and to facilitate comparable spatial-heritage analytics in other regions where designation lists exist.

Historical blocks are a vital component of urban cultural heritage, serving as a link for regional cultural inheritance and a carrier for showcasing urban charm. Enhancing the quality of cultural tourism experiences in these areas can activate the endogenous momentum of cultural tourism industries and foster a virtuous cycle of cultural heritage conservation and utilization. Currently, research on the relationship between historical block spaces and cultural tourism experiences remains deep, and related theoretical gaps also constrain sustainable revitalization practices. Therefore, in this study, 20 representative historic districts with distinct regional cultural characteristics and well-developed cultural tourism in the Huizhou area were selected as research objects. By integrating multi-source data such as geographic information and Dianping reviews and applying the Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) statistical method, this study measures the correlation between the spatial morphology of Huizhou historic districts and cultural tourism experience indicators, identifying spatial influencing factors affecting cultural tourism experiences. The results show a significant correlation between the spatial form characteristics of historic districts and the quality of tourists’ cultural tourism experiences. Specifically, the regression coefficients of architectural space, transportation space, landscape space, and facility space in relation to the quality of cultural tourism experiences are significant at the p < 0.01 level. This paper innovatively conducts research from the perspective of urban design, employing a combined quantitative and qualitative analytical approach. The study fills existing gaps in quantitative analysis and empirical research on the spatial forms of historic districts and cultural tourism experiences and breaks through the limitations of qualitative research on traditional cultural tourism. It provides practical references for the organic protection of historical district buildings in the context of sustainable urban renewal.

Historic districts are an integral part of urban communities, and due to the unique nature of their living heritage, they face the contradiction between preservation and development, necessitating the identification of suitable renewal models and strategies. This study focuses on Sifang Road historic district in Qingdao. It applies space syntax for quantitative analysis of the district's street and alley spaces, including measures of connectivity, control, average depth, comprehensibility, and visual integration. Taking into account the development challenges of Sifang Road historic district, this research explores micro-renewal strategies for the historic district. This study aims to enhance urban vitality, protect and renew historic districts, and demonstrate the potential of using space syntax for urban renewal, providing ideas and methods for the preservation and renewal of historic districts.

Abstract. Historic districts are a special type of cultural heritage, as living cultural heritage, the utilization and development of historical districts is an inevitable issue. How to accurately position the protection and utilization of districts and achieve its healthy and sustainable development is the key work in the protection of districts. In this paper, the Internet data including Tencent’s location big data are employed to study some Chinese historic and cultural streets, establish protection and development index system for historic and cultural streets, carry out in-depth study of ten core indicators, and sum up the positioning and development direction for the protection and use of districts. Historic district, as a special type of cultural heritage, is the birthplace and supporting zone of urban context, and also the place for the daily life of the general public. It boasts profound historic and humanistic background and the characteristics of a living form. As the living cultural heritage, its use and development are necessary, and attention shall also be paid to static protection and dynamic comprehensive management. But judging from the current practice, protection and use of historic districts face a host of challenges. Some districts are devoid of popularity and vitality and become cold galleries. Some districts suffer excessive development for tourism and commercialism, and lose its “original” cultural characteristics. In addition, throngs of tourists exert a negative impact on the life of the local people and the protection of immovable cultural relics. Disorderly business format and increasingly similar landscape go against the presentation of local characteristics. We should regard historic district as a dynamic urban heritage, and achieve dynamic development and protection in accordance with its inherent development laws and the principle of “step by step” through the “organic update” mode, with emphasis on the continuous comprehensive management of material space environment and cultural society. Therefore, how to make accurate positioning of the protection and utilization of districts and achieve its healthy and sustainable development is the key work in the protection of districts.