Suzhou is one of China’s model cities due to its economic development in recent decades. Although the city deserves recognition for its efforts in urban heritage conservation, the current preservation strategy only targets the ancient city and neglects the separation of the entire urban landscape. This has become a huge hidden problem in the process of Suzhou’s sustainable development. This study, based on this background, explores the development process of Suzhou and the problems in the current urban planning, and then proposes suggestions for optimization. The historic urban landscape approach provides a solution to this problem by analyzing the urban form and urban landscape features of Suzhou in three important historical periods: pre-1949, 1949–1978, and post-1978. This study discusses the development process of Suzhou and the problems in the current urban planning, and makes the following contributions: (1) The dichotomy between modernity and tradition in the urban landscape of Suzhou is shown from a morphological perspective, revealing that this dichotomy is based on rapid urbanization and the one-sided pursuit of economic development, (2) Revisits the role of Suzhou traditional gardens in order to better integrate them as structural elements in urban planning, (3) Proposes the intangible value of urban heritage and combined with the historic urban landscape of looking beyond the notion of the “historic center” or “ensemble” to help all Suzhou residents form a more coherent place attachment and local identity.

Suzhou, one of the most famous historical cities in China, has undergone significant urbanization over recent decades. These changes have caused a gradual separation of Suzhou’s urban heritage from its urban development and hindered the further growth of the city. This study analyzes the distribution of tangible and intangible heritages that constitute the context of Suzhou combined with the historic urban landscape approach to obtain the following conclusions: (1) The current distribution of Suzhou’s urban heritage does not completely overlap with the built-up area of the city, and the non-overlapping areas reveal the imbalance of the current urban development and the fracture of the context of Suzhou; this imbalance is still a blind spot in the planning process. (2) The use of intangible cultural heritage will help to establish the possibility of contextual continuation in areas that lack urban heritage. (3) Multi-use community spaces that carry the intangible cultural heritage are particularly important for new urban areas, as they can help urban residents understand the traditional way of life in the region. (4) An approach to heritage management that goes beyond elitism, in conjunction with residents and communities, will help the ancient city to find a better balance between contextual continuity and economic development.

Social participation is an important tool in heritage conservation, but levels remain low in developing countries. To increase social-participation awareness of urban-heritage conservation, this study aimed to find an effective method to determine the factors that affect participation awareness, with a focus on the magnitude of each influence. Through literature analysis we developed hypotheses about the factors affecting participation awareness, and then developed a linear regression model. In order to test the reliability of the model, we selected Suzhou as the research object and obtained the following conclusions: (1) Suzhou’s social-participation awareness was positively correlated with place identity, urban memory, subjective cognition, objective knowledge, and place identity. (2) The factor that had the strongest impact on Suzhou’s place identity was public space, with residence time and community sentiment also influencing place identity. (3) The factors that influenced the urban memory of Suzhou were residence time, urban transformation, and urban events with the most influential factor being lifestyle transformation. (4) Urban-heritage conservation social-participation awareness was higher among Suzhou people living in the old city than in the new city.

In the post-pandemic era, cities are facing new demands and challenges. Both telecommuting and dense development require communities to provide more public space to meet people’s psychological and physical needs. The insufficient space currently left in the city calls for stock development. The Japanese public libraries affected by COVID-19 are part of this stock. We aimed to determine and propose strategies for using the external space of libraries to enhance the sustainability of cities. Ultimately, we expect to achieve a synergy between public libraries and cities in terms of sustainability. We found that the most dominant element in the exterior space of Japanese public libraries is parking lots, which have the potential to be flexibly utilized in the post-pandemic era. We also summarized the current patterns of external space for public libraries in Japan. Finally, we proposed six strategies to enhance the sustainability of libraries and cities. These strategies can simultaneously enhance the sustainability of cities and public libraries from multiple perspectives, especially in the post-pandemic era. Our proposal will not only help to build or renew public libraries in the future, but also fills a gap in the urban perspective of Japanese public libraries and their external spaces.