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Heat stress brought on by the intensification of urban heat island (UHI) has caused many negative effects on human beings, which were found to be more severe in highly urbanized old towns. With the inconsistent findings on how urban spatial morphological characteristics influence land surface temperature (LST) and gaps between design practices being found, we chose Beijing Old Town (BOT) as the study area and took the basic planning implementation module "block" as a study to reveal the spatial heterogeneity of LST and its relationship to multiple urban morphological characteristics with higher spatial resolution calculated via WorldView3. Our results have shown that (1) UHI effect was significant and spatially heterogeneous in BOT, and significant hot areas with high LST value and small LST differences were found, as cold areas were the exact opposite. (2) The proportion of vegetated area, water, impervious surface, and urban spatial structure indicators i.e., building coverage ratio, mean height, highest building index, height fluctuation degree, space crowd degree and sky view factor were identified as significantly affecting the LST of blocks in BOT. (3) The effects of GBI components and configuration on LST varied within different block types; generally, blocks with GBI with larger patches that were more complex in shape, more aggregated, and less fragmented were associated with lower LST. Finally, in the context of integrating our study results with relevant planning and design guidelines, a strategy sample of adaptive GBI planning and vegetation design for blocks with different morphological features was provided for urban planners and managers to make a decision on UHI mitigation in the renewal process of BOT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Green infrastructure (GI) has become an integral part of the process leading toward urban sustainability because it provides multiple ecosystem services that contribute to urban ecosystems and human health. Planners and managers have therefore attempted to understand and improve GI multifunctionality. Objectives: This study has characterized and mapped GI multifunctionality in the Fengtai District of Beijing based on the ecosystem services (ES) perspective and has developed an adaptive model to improve its multifunctionality. The study has aimed to: (1) assess and map GI multifunctional degree, (2) characterize GI multifunctional types, and (3) propose adaptive solutions based on characterization of GI multifunctional types. Methods: Biophysical models and social questionnaires were used to quantify and map ES, ES hotspots, and ES bundles to identify the degree of multifunctionality and characterize GI multifunctional types. An adaptive model was designed to improve GI multifunctionality for local planning and design practice. Results: Three GI multifunctional degrees were mapped, and areas with high multifunctional degree were found to account for only 5.55% of the study area. Seven GI multifunctional types were identified by the distinct heterogeneity of their compositions and function sets. These types of GI also implied different improvement strategies for GI planning and design practice. The adaptive model offers integrated solutions for preserving, restoring, and embedding levels that correspond to the characterization of GI multifunctional types. Conclusions: The ES-based framework proposed in this paper integrates multifunctionality analyses and can be helpful to urban planners and designers in adaptive GI planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban parks have become a priority intervention for urban sustainability, but evidence of conducting urban park planning for public health and environmental justice is far from understood. Based on a case study in the central city of Beijing, this study estimated the area proportion of various green space types and the distribution characteristics within subdistricts, and conducted a series of multiple regression models to examine the role of urban parks in affecting health outcomes and the differences between vulnerable groups. The results indicated that urban parks had more significant health impacts than other green space types in terms of quantity, and were particularly important for older and low-income groups. For urban park distribution characteristics, accessibility was more important than availability and attractiveness in affecting health outcomes, especially for the older group. Specifically, urban park density and distance to urban parks were important for the older group, while the vegetation quality of urban parks only affected the health outcomes of the low-income group. The findings of this study suggest that urban parks should be given priority in green space planning practices, and that more accessible and free urban parks should be provided for public health and environmental justice. • Exposure metrics of urban parks and other green space types were spatially estimated. • Urban park is more important than other green space types in affecting human health. • Accessibility is more important than availability and attractiveness of urban parks. • Urban park density and distance to urban parks are important for the older group. • Vegetation quality of urban parks only affects the low-income group's health status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban greenspace can provide important health benefits for urban residents, but knowledge about the potential mechanisms remains unclear, and it is challenging in promoting health behaviors through design and management practices. This study proposed a hypothetical model that assumed ecosystem services as mediating factors between urban greenspace and health behaviors. An urban park in Beijing was selected as a case area to test the hypothesis and identify the ecosystem services-mediated pathways. Results based on spatial explicit mapping and multivariate statistical analysis confirmed the hypothesis and showed that urban greenspaces contribute to health behaviors in varying degrees through the delivery of health behaviors-related ecosystem services. The promotion effect was mainly mediated by cultural services, which is much more obvious than regulating services. We identified the importance of different properties of inner urban greenspace in promoting health behaviors through ecosystem services-mediated pathways. Green elements, especially tree canopy shaded ground, were found to contribute the most to health behaviors in the pathways, and slightly higher than facilities and grey elements. To promote health benefits, the design and arrangement of facilities and grey elements in urban greenspace is suggested to be cooperated with green elements for enhancing multiple ecosystem services. The findings will enhance the understanding of potential theoretical pathways from urban greenspace to health benefits, and support health promotion-oriented design and management practices. [Display omitted] • An ecosystem services-mediated health benefits model was proposed in this study. • Urban parks promote health behaviors through the delivery of multiple ecosystem services,especially cultural services. • Green elements are basis for the delivery of health-related ecosystem services. • Facilities and grey elements in urban greenspace should be designed to be cooperated with green elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban greenspace has been highlighted as a means of offsetting carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions and mitigating climate change in cities. However, it is still challenging to design for sustainable carbon sequestration. This study developed a transdisciplinary framework to link carbon sequestration research with planting design practices. Taking 28 urban parks in Beijing as a case, we integrated field investigation and remote sensing images to analyze the relationship between planting design indicators and carbon sequestration efficiency, and the change of carbon sequestration efficiency with the growth of plant biomass. The results showed that carbon sequestration efficiency varied over the urban parks with a mean value of 8.72 gC m−2d-1, and varied with plant growth. The difference was associated with individual plant properties and biotope structure. Medium-sized plants and biotopes with partly open structure are proved cost-effective for sustainable carbon sequestration of urban greenspace. We summarized adaptive planting design strategies for different biotope types and emphasized the benefits of nurturing growing and partly open biotopes structured with different sizes of plants. The results will be possible to produce information for landscape architects for improving sustainable carbon sequestration not only in the study area but also in other cities with similar climatic characteristic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Lexicon to effectively utilise social media data to assess ecosystem services. • All ecosystem services were perceivable to urban park users but frequencies vary. • Ecosystem services of urban parks bundle in four distinctive types. • Ecosystem service bundles across scale deserve further attention. • Educational programs to be enhanced for urban parks in Beijing. Urban green spaces provide a range of services to urban residents; however, how these distinct spaces provide different services, if any, to human wellbeing has been seldom addressed. Using large volumes of social media data considering broad user groups and publicly available content, we developed a method to transform unstructured online comments into a structured assessment of nine categories of ecosystem services. An 'ecosystem services lexicon' was created based on 6853 words under twenty-eight subcategories of parks' services to human wellbeing using the word2vec model. The application of the ecosystem service lexicon to urban parks in Beijing revealed that all ecosystem services were perceivable to urban park users; however, the perception frequency of the ecosystem services varied across different parks. Additionally, the perceived ecosystem services were bundled together; four types of bundles were identified with varied dominant services. Technically, this study offered a novel technical procedure that can transfer unstructured free comments into a structured assessment of urban parks' perceived services to human wellbeing. Theoretically, the study revealed small-scale ecosystem service bundles from users' opinions and called for a further cross-scale understanding of ecosystem service bundles. Practically, the study findings can help inform evidence-based park policies, planning, and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation restoration in abandoned mines is very difficult and time consuming because of the harshness of the ecosystem, i.e., the extremely high and steep slopes. To accelerate the process of vegetation recovery in abandoned mines, understanding the rules of vegetation succession and the variation in soil characteristics during this process is very important. In the Zhoukoudian vegetation restoration experiment demonstration area (a 12 ha area located in Fangshan District, Beijing, China), engineering measures, such as biological greening bags, eco-stick slope protection, container seedling planting and vegetative-carpet greening technologies, were applied to accelerate the process of vegetation recovery. In this study, 149 human-restored and spontaneously recovering slopes under three substrates were sampled to investigate the dynamic changes in soil and vegetation in different stages of succession by means of space-for-time substitution. WinTWINS was used to classify the samples, which experienced different recovery periods, into 6 plant community types. According to the results, the species richness index, Simpson’s predominance index, the Shannon–Wiener index and the soil fertility of the communities dominated by young trees (V, VI) were higher than those of the communities dominated by grasses (I, II) or shrubs (III, IV); thus, plant communities V and VI are considered optimal representations of severely damaged surface-mine ecosystems. Our results suggest that native species should be planted to accelerate the succession process by implementing the best engineering measures for different substrate types during the initial restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]