As global climate continues to change, humans rely on technologies to deal with various challenges and dilemmas. But problems arose as the growing practices of wind, photovoltaic, and hydropower energy have proved that the only focus on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals could increase tech dystopia risk. When existing technological approaches fail, the Chinese model of nature-based solutions can be an antidote to tech dystopia. It allows nature to do its work and contributes to green and low-carbon development in a holistic and systematic way. China’s time-honored traditional ecological wisdom provides abundant experiences. In practice, the Chinese planning model aims to harmonize the spatial relationship and pattern between human and nature, and the Chinese design and engineering model could boost the efficiency of natural restoration. The Chinese model of nature-based solutions now has gained global recognition. Performance evaluation of such practice cases should be conducted, so as to identify the factors that affect the ecological performance and related regulation mechanisms, thus providing important references for future practices.

Creation of healing environment on university campus can enhance college students’ physical and mental well-being. In recent years, the emotional factors of place attachment have attracted more attention among healing environment research. However, the relationship between the spatial characteristics of different healing spaces and the aroused positive emotions remains unclear. This study investigated the places on the Siping Road Campus of Tongji University that college students most wanted to visit during campus closure and the expected activities and imagined feelings via questionnaires and interviews. Through data analysis with IBM SPSS, this study identified five clusters of positive emotions on university campus—joy, serenity, hope, pride, and interest, mapping them as well as corresponding activities with spatial types and facilities on the campus, and the healing environment spaces were divided into five types: landscape space, sports space, third space, learning space, and living space. Furtherly the interview texts were coded via MAXQNA software, from which representative themes were selected to investigate the differences of positive emotion clusters in each space type. Finally, the study proposes that promoting positive emotions through place-making is an important way to create a healing environment. The findings of this study provide a reference for planning, design, and intervention measures of healing environment on university campus.

In order to investigate the impact of public health emergencies on the “general recreational behaviors” of urban residents, this research takes the COVID-19 outbreak event in Nanjing of China in July 2021 as an example, based on cell phone signaling data, analyzes the spatial distribution and temporal changes of urban residents’ recreational travel behaviors before and after the outbreak, and then explores the impact of the hierarchical control policies on recreational travel behaviors via Difference-in-Differences (DID) method. It has found that after the outbreak, residents’ recreational travel frequency decreased significantly and their average travel distance increased; the frequencies of travel to all four types of recreational destinations decreased after the outbreak; in average travel distance, those to natural attractions and sports/fitness destinations tended to increase, while those to cultural leisure as well as commercial entertainment destinations tended to decrease after the outbreak. Further results indicate that the hierarchical control policies had varying degrees of impact on different types of recreational travel. This research provides an interpretation on the spatio-temporal pattern and mechanism of urban residents’ general recreational behaviors under public health emergencies, which can provide a reference for planning of urban recreational space.

Palm Springs Downtown Park is an inviting 1.5-acre urban oasis for residents and visitors to Palm Springs, a design-forward desert destination nestled along the base of the San Jacinto Mountains along the southwestern boundary of the Coachella Valley in California’s Sonoran Desert of the USA. The site lies in the ancestral homeland of the Agua Caliente band of the Cahuilla people who seasonally migrated between the shady palm groves and meltwater creeks of mountain canyons in summer and the hot springs and temperate climate of the valley floor in winter. The park is also located on the historic site of the Desert Inn, Palm Springs’ first wellness resort. Nellie Coffman, the Desert Inn’s founder, famously promoted the “space, stillness, solitude, and simplicity” of Palm Springs, and the park is imbued with her spirit.

Drawing inspiration from local natural features such as the oases of endemic California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera) in Palm Canyon and the striated geology of nearby Tahquitz Canyon, the park design creates hospitable, comfortable spaces for the community in the extreme heat of the desert. The park features dense palm grove planting with ample shaded areas for seating, two picnicking and event lawns, rock outcrop-like amphitheater seating for community events, shade structures inspired by palm fronds, and a grotto-like interactive water feature for play and cooling. Locally sourced stone, native desert plantings, and creature comforts create a common ground rooted in a hyperlocal use of materials to create a sense of place for the diverse, growing community of Palm Springs and its visitors.

The implementation of green infrastructure in retrofit projects to reduce flooding and pollution is a significant challenge in space-constrained and overly developed communities which also have complex underground utility systems. To overcome this challenge, the authors have developed an adaptive green infrastructure toolkit that can be tailored by both on-ground spatial size and underground depth of obstruction. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of this toolkit in mitigating flooding and non-point source pollutants by demonstrating the case of the city of Galena Park, Texas, USA, which has suffered from severe flooding as well as on-ground and underground space constraint issues. We first applied the toolkit to create a master plan for Galena Park and evaluated the effect of the plan by using the Delft3D-FM (Flexible Mesh) flood model alongside the Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L-THIA) model. The results demonstrate progressive reductions in stormwater runoff and NPS pollutants across different phases. These findings highlight the toolkit’s effectiveness in improving water management and pollution control, providing valuable empirical evidences for similar communities facing similar challenges.

Due to the harsh conditions in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China, indigenous people have deep compassion on lives. Therefore, animal release has become a traditional activity praying for blessings. However, irrational release behaviors have become increasingly common—they blindly pursue the number and species of animals to be released while ignoring their adaptability to the release habitats, creating a vicious cycle of “release–capture–sell” and raising people’s and human-nature conflicts. This study focuses on the lower Lhasa River valley in south-central Tibet in China and proposed a collaborative life protection plan with respect of local culture. Through in-depth analysis of the needs of different stakeholders, this study established a new cooperative relationship, where the Tibetan Farmers’ and Herdsmen’s Economic Cooperatives would function as the core to standardize the trading process and promote scientific animal release. Based on the habitat suitability evaluation, this study developed release process optimization, habitat planning for released species, and ecological restoration planning to build the landscape structure of “vegetation–sacred place–life release spots” for environmental sustainability. This collaborative life protection plan contributes to establishing a healthier, harmonious, equal, and loving values on life and interpersonal relationships, thereby bringing about more profound social, economic, and environmental benefits.