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.

Since the 21 st century, cultural creativity has become a prominent way to revitalize cultural heritage such as historical buildings and historical landscapes. However, many current practices are dominated by the government, and the factors affecting individual willingness to participate are still unclear. In this study, 28 respondents (16 men, 12 women) were recruited in Chengdu, China, through semi-structured interviews, and the interview data were qualitatively evaluated using thematic analysis. The results show that the influencing factors mainly include six themes: "inclusion of creative environment", "economic investment risk", "potential development space", "information access channels", "uncertainty of the creative product quality", and "creation level." The findings will have important implications for the protection and development of current and future cultural heritage and strengthen the construction of creative cities in specific cultural heritage contexts.

With continuous developments in the integration of culture and tourism, adaptive reuse has highlighted the vitality of historic conservation areas while simultaneously causing great challenges to urban life, local economy, and cultural sustainability. Current studies focus on the adaptive reuse of historic buildings, with little focus on historic conservation areas. To expand this understanding further, this study investigated and analyzed the challenges faced by Chengdu historic conservation areas in the context of adapting to the tourism environment, from multiple perspectives, and proposed corresponding protection and development strategies. The results of the study obtained using field investigation and semi-structured interviews contribute to the literature on the adaptive reuse of historic conservation areas; they deepen our understanding of the identified factors and provide in-depth knowledge. These findings provide a reference for future practices and promote the sustainable development of historic conservation areas for improved conservation and economic returns.

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.

Rapid urbanization has resulted in uneven regional development in China's urban villages. As well as providing affordable housing for low-income foreign residents, it also provides income for indigenous residents. Despite this, the government has often been plagued with problems such as poor living conditions, insufficient public services, and illegal construction. Despite its potential for improving environmental quality and bringing economic benefits to urban villages while maintaining urban culture, the Historic Urban Landscape concept remains problematic for a number of reasons. Taking the Nantou Village renovation project as an example, we conducted semi-structured interviews with residents, combining literature review and field observations, with the aim of understanding the actual living conditions and spatial rights of the residents after the project's renovation. As a result of the project, visitors have been attracted, economic benefits have been generated, and the quality of the environment has been improved. Even so, it has not improved the residents' sense of belonging and has neglected to address the issue of high living costs faced by the original low-income residents. To balance excessive increases in rent, the government should either provide affordable housing for low-income foreign populations, or provide differentiated rental products.