Applied Geography最新文献

{"title":"Evaluating child-friendly walkability using eye-level street view imagery and machine learning: A case study in Qingdao, China","authors":"Wenliang Jia,&nbsp;Yiming He","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103923","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103923","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Assessing the walkability of urban street environments is crucial for promoting social equity, inclusiveness, and sustainable urban development. However, existing studies often focus on adults or rely on vehicular street view imagery, failing to reflect children's unique perceptual experiences and mobility needs. This study developed a visual data-driven framework that integrates children's eye-level street view imagery, semantic segmentation, and machine learning techniques to quantify children's walkability across four dimensions: accessibility, safety, comfort, and pleasurability. Taking Shinan District in Qingdao, China, as a case study, street view images were collected from two sources: 1-m height images representing children's viewpoints and Baidu Street View images representing vehicular viewpoints. Comparative analysis reveals systematic perceptual differences: vehicular imagery often provides a more open visual field, whereas children's eye-level imagery better captures pedestrian-scale, near-ground features such as sidewalks, fences and grass. A Random Forest model was trained on features extracted from Baidu Street View images to predict child-centered walkability scores, enabling district-wide mapping and scalable application of the framework. Spatial analysis further indicates that all four dimensions of walkability exhibit varying degrees of spatial clustering. These findings provide evidence-based insights for improving child-friendly street design and promoting social equity in urban planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 103923"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189519","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of green space environments on college students’ mental health at multiple spatial scales in Chinese universities: An empirical study based on a multilevel mediation model","authors":"Zhenhua Zheng ,&nbsp;Yilin Jin ,&nbsp;Wanting Liu ,&nbsp;Ruochen Yin ,&nbsp;Baitong Song ,&nbsp;Jiajia Liu ,&nbsp;Ning Sun ,&nbsp;Hong Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103903","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103903","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although green spaces have positive effects on mental health, the health benefits of green spaces at different spatial scales within the university environment remain unclear, and the underlying mechanisms are not yet well understood. This study constructs a “Stimulus–Organism–Response” (S-O-R) analytical framework across multiple spatial scales and, by integrating multi-source data with a multilevel mediation model, examines the impacts of the green space environment on the mental health of college students across 34 universities in China. The results confirm the “scale dependence” of green space benefits: although the overall campus (OC) exhibits relatively high greenness, it shows no significant association with mental health; in contrast, the green space environments within the campus buffer zone with 500 m (CBZ500) and the campus buffer zone with 1000 m (CBZ1,000) significantly promote college students’ mental health by enhancing environmental satisfaction. This study reveals the substantial health value of green spaces within campus buffer zones and suggests that universities should strengthen the development and governance of green space environments in areas surrounding campuses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 103903"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145980471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Toward a resilience-oriented ecological network for the Loess Plateau","authors":"Yuan Wang ,&nbsp;Zhihui Lin ,&nbsp;Hui Dang ,&nbsp;Zhuangzhuang Wang ,&nbsp;Xianfeng Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103905","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103905","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Constructing resilient ecological networks (ENs) and identifying critical ecological spaces are essential for sustainable development. However, existing research on the robustness of nodes and corridors within ENs is often limited to a single perspective and lacks multidimensional analysis grounded in realistic scenarios. This limitation hinders accurate estimation of the threshold at which external shocks compromise overall network performance. In this study, we established a comprehensive EN resilience assessment framework for analyzing network resilience and identifying the key influences of specific ecological spaces from five dimensions: connectivity, integration, stability, transmissibility, and diversity. We found that the network exhibited strong structural resilience, reflected in high integration (1.00), connectivity (9.07), and stability (0.77); however, its functional resilience remained constrained by weak transmissibility (0.31) and an insufficient corridor buffer. Single and successive component failure simulations demonstrate that network resilience decreases nonlinearly and abruptly when critical elements are disrupted. We further identified the top 15 % of ecological sources and 35 % of ecological corridors as primary ecological spaces, which were concentrated in southeastern Gansu, southwestern Ordos, and the northern ecological demonstration zone of Shaanxi Province. Damaging these areas can trigger cascading effects, disrupting 158 biological migration pathways and causing a &gt;50 % decrease in ecological resilience, ultimately pushing overall ecological resilience below the critical threshold, as they play a crucial role in maintaining the structural and functional integrity of ecosystems. These findings elucidate the influence of specific ecological components on overall network resilience, yielding valuable insights for guiding targeted ecological conservation and restoration strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 103905"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145980505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatial inequities in urban resource access, neighborhood social capital, and late-life depression: Insights from Hong Kong's aging population","authors":"Min Yang ,&nbsp;Xue Bai ,&nbsp;Yuxuan Zou","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103920","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103920","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Spatial disparities in urban resources and health outcomes among older adults are well documented, with growing empirical attention to how absolute levels of accessibility affect health. However, less is known about the implications of intra-area inequality in infrastructure access, which may represent an additional form of environmental disadvantage with mental health consequences.</div><div>Using data from 5007 older adults aged 50 and above in Hong Kong, we examined how accessibility and within-district inequality of urban facilities are associated with depressive symptoms. Accessibility indicators for four types of urban facilities were calculated for 1746 Large Subunit Groups using an exponential distance-decay model and aggregated to 18 districts. District-level access inequality was measured by Gini coefficient. Principal component analysis was conducted to reduce multicollinearity, yielding two key factors: resource accessibility and resource inequality.</div><div>Results from population-weighted linear regressions with district fixed effects reveal that higher resource inequality was associated with more depressive symptoms, whereas higher resource accessibility was associated with less symptoms. Importantly, neighborhood social capital buffered the negative impact of resource inequality, yet did not modify the effect of accessibility.</div><div>Our findings highlight a dual pathway linking the urban built environment to late-life mental health: the absolute level of supportive infrastructure reduces depressive symptoms, whereas inequitable spatial allocation increases them. Strengthening neighborhood social capital can mitigate, but not fully offset the psychological burden of structural resource inequality. Creating age-friendly and mentally healthy cities therefore requires integrating distributional justice into infrastructure planning alongside initiatives that foster neighborhood trust and reciprocity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 103920"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146090315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mapping the Margins: A spatial vulnerability index of Women's Peace and security in Nigeria","authors":"Alicia Dotson,&nbsp;Carter Kelly,&nbsp;Mackenzie Irelan,&nbsp;Amy Richmond","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103915","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103915","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores women's roles in peacebuilding and resilience within conflict-affected areas, using the Niger Delta as a case study. It builds a Women's Peace and Security Vulnerability Index (WPS-VI) that adapts principles from earlier composite indices, including the Social Vulnerability Index (Cutter et al., 2003) and the African Women Vulnerability Index (Tchamyou et al., 2024), to fit the Nigerian context. Using principal component analysis, the research highlights overlooked dimensions of female vulnerability influenced by proximity to conflict. Literature underscores the limitations of male-centric post-conflict programs and advocates for gender-sensitive frameworks that address women's socio-economic contributions, vulnerabilities, and potential as peacebuilders for sustainable recovery and stability. Drawing on Demographic and Health Surveys (2018), MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (2003–2018), and ACLED conflict event data (2008–2018), this study employs principal component analysis to create index maps and quantify localized gendered insecurity through four dimensions: autonomy, environmental security, economic inclusion, and exposure to violence. This study defines autonomy as a woman's ability to make choices or decisions within her household (Anderson &amp; Eswaran, 2009) and environmental security is defined as the ability of individuals, groups, or states to adapt to, mitigate, or avoid environmental change without critical adverse effects, which significantly degrade the integrity, values, or well-being of states, communities, or individuals (Read, 2024). Findings reveal that vulnerability is highly uneven across regions, with the lowest WPS-VI scores (greatest vulnerability) concentrated in the north and Niger Delta, where environmental degradation and institutional neglect converge. Among the four dimensions, environmental security and autonomy were the strongest predictors of vulnerability, underscoring the need to look beyond violence-centered frameworks. The WPS-VI offers a replicable approach for identifying high-risk areas and tailoring gender-sensitive interventions in fragile settings, providing both a diagnostic tool and a foundation for more inclusive peacebuilding strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 103915"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantifying global-scale mechanisms of urban morphological change: A novel Structural Equation Model based on the Pressure-State-Response framework","authors":"Tuo Chen ,&nbsp;Xuecao Li ,&nbsp;Mengqing Geng ,&nbsp;Shirao Liu ,&nbsp;Guojiang Yu ,&nbsp;Heyu Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103908","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103908","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the drivers of urban morphological change is vital for sustainable urban development, yet quantitative analyses of long-term, global-scale urban morphological evolution remain limited. In this study, we examined spatiotemporal changes in urban morphology across 27 major cities in the Global North and South from 2000 to 2020, using a structural equation model (SEM) integrated with the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework. We integrated global datasets to quantify latent variables (e.g., Pressure, State, Response) and their observed indicators, including building fraction (BF), building height (BH), socioeconomic and environmental metrics. Results indicate that horizontal expansion (BF) outpaced vertical growth (BH), particularly in Global South cities, with BF increasing by 41.7 % relative to a 2.0 % net decrease in BH. The influence of economic growth on urban morphology exhibited a weakening trend in the Global South, with the mean path coefficient shifting from 0.34 to −0.60, whereas this influence remained persistently negative in Global North cities. Meanwhile, environmental constraints intensified, as evidenced by mean negative coefficients intensifying from −0.22 to −0.32 in the Global North and from −0.25 to −0.22 in the Global South. Notably, the role of vertical growth in urban adaptation underwent a significant transition from a negative to a positive influence, with path coefficients shifting from −0.25 to 0.18 to promote urban sustainability. These findings highlight the divergent evolutionary trajectories of global urban morphology, underscoring the need for tailored planning strategies that manage rapid expansion in emerging cities and optimize urban forms in developed cities to enhance global urban sustainability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 103908"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146039334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Marginal willingness to pay for Urban service diversity in 15-Minute community life circle: A case study of Xiamen","authors":"Chao Zhang,&nbsp;Xinya Bi,&nbsp;Hongli He,&nbsp;Yajie Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103912","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103912","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The 15-Minute Community Life Circle is a frontier planning concept for enhancing urban livability. However, the economic value of its core principle, diversity, and its underlying structure, remain to be thoroughly explored. Based on panel data from 3183 communities in Xiamen City from 2021 to 2024, this study constructs a multidimensional measurement system for 133 types of urban service facilities, incorporating four indices: Patrick richness index (R), Shannon-wiener index (H), Simpson's diversity index (D), and Pielou's evenness index (J′). We then systematically evaluate the Marginal Willingness to Pay (MWTP) for urban service diversity. The findings indicate that residents' willingness to pay is primarily driven by service evenness rather than mere richness. Heterogeneity analysis further reveals that the value of diversity is closely correlated with service categories. This value is positive for shopping services and educational and cultural services, whereas it presents as negative for dining services, life services, and sports and leisure services. The 15-Minute Community Life Circle remains robust in the digital age, although its value is increasingly concentrated on localized, experiential services. Concurrently, service richness exhibits attributes of a necessity for low- and middle-income groups, whereas service evenness demonstrates universal appeal across all income levels. Spatially, the Marginal Willingness to Pay for service diversity follows an \"inverted U-shaped\" distribution. In contrast, the value of evenness demonstrates spatial universality. By deconstructing the economic value of service diversity, this research provides systematic empirical evidence for urban planning practices to shift focus from pursuing quantity to emphasizing structure and equity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 103912"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146090313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can land use policy effectively encourage activity levels among older adults, even during hot seasons?","authors":"Yeryeong Cho,&nbsp;Jinhyun Hong","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103914","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103914","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 103914"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of multi-dimensional spatial characteristics on recreational walking experiences in nature-symbiotic city","authors":"Wanghuan Hao ,&nbsp;Zheng Xian ,&nbsp;Zhen Wei ,&nbsp;Hanjing Xu ,&nbsp;Kun Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103865","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103865","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recreational walking is a vital component of urban life, with its patterns and experiences profoundly shaped by spatial environment. In nature-symbiotic cities, where urban and natural elements are closely integrated, recreational walking generates distinct perceptual experiences that remain underexplored. This study investigated such experiences in Taiyuan, China, a representative nature-symbiotic city. Recreational walking experiences were assessed through the stay experience and the aesthetic experience by analyzing GPS trajectory data. Both overhead-view and eye-level spatial features were comprehensively considered. Random Forest and GeoShapley were employed to interpret nonlinear and spatial effects. The findings revealed a highly uneven spatial distribution of recreational walking experiences. Among the eye-level variables, blue view index (BLVI), walkability index (WI), and green view index (GVI) significantly influenced the two experiences, while building view index (BUVI) showed a stronger impact on the aesthetic experience. For the overhead-view variables, only the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) significantly influenced the stay experience. Geographic location also played a role. All variables exhibited nonlinear effects, with clear thresholds. Moreover, their effects were spatially heterogeneous, highlighting the need for targeted spatial management. This study revealed the intricate relationship between urban space and recreational walking experiences, offering insights for the planning of walking spaces in nature-symbiotic cities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 103865"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145980469","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of AI in promoting urban sustainable development: Evidence from China's new generation of national AI innovative development pilot zones","authors":"Hongwei Liu,&nbsp;Min Tan,&nbsp;Ruihua Cao","doi":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103906","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apgeog.2026.103906","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the context of the development of digital intelligence, there is an urgent need for further investigation of the impact mechanism of artificial intelligence (AI) on the urban sustainable development. Based on the theory of sustainable development, this research uses the panel data of 274 Chinese cities from 2014 to 2022, adopts the multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) method, takes China's New Generation of National AI Innovative Development Pilot Zones Policy as a quasi-natural experiment, and measures the performance of urban sustainable development with the data envelopment analysis model (DEA) based on non-radial distance functions (NDDF) to explore the impact and mechanism of AI on urban sustainable development. The results show that: (1) AI has a significant positive impact on urban sustainable development, in which enhancing public environmental awareness, promoting energy conservation and emission reduction, and decreasing the cost of green technological innovation are important path mechanisms; (2) heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of AI on urban sustainable development is more significant in cities with higher population density, a higher degree of marketization, and non-resource-dependent cities as well as in cities located in the eastern, central, or southern regions; and (3) there is a spatial spillover effect of the impact of AI on urban sustainable development. This research deepens understanding of the path mechanism of AI in promoting urban sustainable development, expands the application boundary of sustainable development theory, and provides theoretical support and practical inspiration for urban sustainable development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48396,"journal":{"name":"Applied Geography","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 103906"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}