The concept of vertical farming is nearly twenty years old, however, there are only a few experimental prototypes despite its many advantages compared to conventional agriculture. Significantly, financial uncertainty has been identified as the largest barrier to the realization of a ‘real' vertical farm. Some specialists have provided ways to calculate costs and return on investment, however, most of them are superficial with calculations based on particular contextual circumstances. To move the concept forwards a reliable and flexible estimating tool, specific to this new building typology, is clearly required. A computational system, software named VFer, has therefore been developed by the authors to provide such a solution. This paper examines this highly flexible, customised system and results from several typical vertical farm configurations in three mega-cities (Shanghai, London and Washington DC) are used to elucidate the potential economic return of vertical farms.

In many cases, the purpose of reusing old industrial buildings is to serve the public. Converting a building that had a particular function and is unfamiliar to the public to a civic building is a great challenge. Significantly, the public’s curiosity towards a special-purpose industrial building alone is not enough to give the building a long life following its conversion and regeneration. To be sustainable in public life, the design of reused old industrial buildings should also meet the needs of the public. It is important to realise, however, that everyone’s needs are different. This paper will therefore analyse whether Abraham Maslow’s (1943) famous psychological theory, the Hierarchy of Needs, which not only summarized the content of human needs, but also divided them into levels, can be applied to the reuse of former industrial buildings. The paper translates this into the field of architecture to develop an assessment framework for the reuse of old industrial buildings. This assessment framework is able to combine mathematical models for quantitative assessment of future projects, and uses Shanghai 1933 Old Millfun, China as a case study for its demonstration. This provides an evaluation of a completed project and identifies challenges for further development, as well as providing guidance for future adaptive reuse projects.

The new museum movement of the twentieth century has driven the development of the form and function of museums around the world. Museums began to be actively open to the public, and some new concepts of museums, such as eco-museums and community museums, emerged. The aim of these museums is to build a cultural bridge between people and the city and to promote the harmonious development of society, economy, and culture. The visitors, as the service targets of the museum, will directly influence the popularity of the museum among the masses by their evaluation of the museum experience; however, at present, there is a clear gap between the design of many museums and the feedback of subsequent visitors’ experiences. Only by understanding visitors’ feelings and preferences can subsequent museum design be improved; this paper will focus on demonstrating the application of the mathematical idea of the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to community museums; it establishes a community museum quality evaluation system based on human-centered design principles from the perspective of urban community museums and constructs a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model of a community museum experience. Finally, the design of a community museum in Nottingham, UK, is used as an example to make a comprehensive evaluation of its quality. According to the analysis, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method has practical value in scientifically evaluating the quality of urban community museums through data on the visitor experience.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the trends among the elderly population in China about residential preferences and policy applications, as the elderly is a rapidly expanding demographic group that has increasing and diversifying inclinations for demanding the residential facilities for the elderly (RFEs) now and in the foreseeable future. Design/methodology/approach Based on a review of the existing literature and policies, a model is conceptualised for understanding the demands of the elderly. Their needs for functional supportiveness and richness of residential resources in RFEs are then categorised into focal groups. Findings The Chinese elderly’s demand for specialised residential facilities is under a shift from seeking deficit relief to pursuing personal choices. It is suggested that there will be a continuing demand for affordable RFEs from a number of key focal groups, including: the functionally impaired; marginally housed; socially isolated; and the elderly requiring social relief. In addition, retirement housing in China is likely to be more affordable for the next elderly generation. However, the immature social welfare system and low average income level of the current elderly generation means that the Chinese Government has tough decisions to make about service priorities. Practical implications Policy and investment priorities may have to be inclusive of those who demand social relief (free-of-charge) and affordable professional long-term care in RFEs, whereas the rest of the demand could be released by growth in the development of community- and home-based service systems. Originality/value This study is one of the first to identify the diversifying demands of age-exclusive living facilities for the elderly that deserve priorities in China. The results can inform and guide future policy and project investment in China.

China’s new-type urbanisation, as a national strategy, is one of the reasons why the leap in development has been made in the last decade. Existing studies mainly focus on the status and outcomes of china’s new-type urbanisation while stressing not enough the overlooked aspects of new-type urbanisation policies that are currently in use. This paper aims at exploring the highlighted and overlooked aspects of policies of three key elements in China’s new-type urbanisation: population, land, and industry and their implementations. The complicated process and contradictions between formulation and implementation of the policies are extracted by analysing set goals and implemented situations of relative indicators from the three elements. The policies drove the population from separation to unity between household registered and actual residences, land from human land allometry to balance, and industry from traditional industrialisation to emerging service. Although these policies had significant achievements in the transitions of formulation, they still needed to be further implemented. Furthermore, this paper discusses corresponding reasons and potential directions to better the adoption of these policies for greater inclusion and systematic efficiency. The findings could not only highlight directions that improve existing policies of China’s new-type urbanisation but also provide guidance for inclusive and sustainable urbanisation practices in China as well as other cities in similar situations all over the world.