The ongoing discourse on air quality and climate changes positions walkability as a pivotal point of sustainable urban planning. Urban studies examine a city’s walkability in terms of pedestrian flows, design qualities, and street network topology, leaving walkability comparative frameworks under development. Building on the space syntax theory, this research introduces a “walkability compass”, a four spatial indicator-designed tool for city walkability assessment and comparison. The tools are being tested on eight Baltic region cities: Vilnius, Kaunas (LT), Malmö (SE), Riga (LV), Tallinn (ES), Gdansk, Bialystok, Lublin (PL). The nine-step method framework integrates four indexes: Gravity (Gr), Reach (Re), Straightness (St), and Population density (Pop). The “walkability compass” results reveal significant Re and St correlations; thus, visual and cultural aspects become the main factors in pedestrian-friendly cities. The spatial pattern typology has matched similar cities (Malmö and Kaunas) to work closely on sustainable urban planning development. In all case studies, specific walkability zones were mapped, but the Gr zones turned out to be the most compact ones (the Z-score of Gr was ranged from 355.4 to 584; other indexes oscillated between 209.4 and 542.6). The walkability mapping results are publicly shared via WebMap to stimulate the participatory discussion on case studies cities further development.

The active use of modern technology has affected the relationship between people and place. The “digital environment” and the “digital community” are becoming an increasingly important factor in people’s daily life, leading to a loss of belonging to a place, an entire neighbourhood, and a community. In the long run, this poses risks to the unification of values and the loss of identity. In this context, the involvement of the local community in the identification and preservation of historical heritage and defining the specific values of each site is particularly important. Thus, both the attraction of the local community to specific places and the revealed potential of local tourism are promoted. Digital placemaking enters urban regeneration as a logical approach to mixing digital and physical environments and involving the local community. Several GIS-based platforms and other tools are used to identify heritage values, both tangible and intangible. Although digital placemaking is emerging worldwide, its manifestations are closely related to specific local circumstances. The article focuses on the key characteristics and configurations of the digital placemaking tools within particular communities. The study tests digital placemaking practice in the historical districts of three cities: Taipei (Taiwan), Riga (Latvia), and Kaunas (Lithuania).

Urban regeneration, which includes renovation of decaying urban structures as well as renovation of dilapidated buildings, is an important economic, aesthetic and cultural factor for sustainable development planning worldwide. The revitalization of urban structures is a complex challenge, influenced by various interdisciplinary aspects, like urban socio-economic development, integrated transport and mobility solutions and others. And it requires involvement of different stakeholders at different levels in identifying and finding solutions. Technological innovations offer a variety of digital tools to address modern urban governance and modelling issues, identifying problem areas with public involvement and participation that allow relevant services to respond quickly, thus improving the urban environment and the quality of life of people. With the help of digital tools, it is also possible to promote the availability of public services, model and forecast environmental risks, as well as perform other functions integral to the organization and management of modern society. However, the wide range of these tools and their mutually asynchronous use often make it difficult to choose the right tool, thus creating the risk of fragmented implementation. The aim of this paper is to propose theoretical approach for modelling of complex interactions affecting urban regeneration as well as summarize and systematize the existing digital information tools which might empower the process of regeneration. The analysis of the use and impact of digital and smart tools allows to identify urban problems, as well as to outline ways to solve them. The results of the research will form the basis for further research stages.

An analysis of the landscape spatial structure and diversity in the mountain ranges of Northeast Siberia is essential to assess how tundra and boreal landscapes may respond to climate change and anthropogenic impacts in the vast mountainous permafrost of the Arctic regions. In addition, a precise landscape map is required for knowledge-based territorial planning and management. In this article, we aimed to explore and enhanced methods to analyse and map the permafrost landscape in Orulgan Ridge. The Google Earth Engine cloud platform was used to generate vegetation cover maps based on multi-fusion classification of Sentinel 2 MSI and Landsat 8 OLI time series data. Phenological features based on the monthly median values of time series Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI), and Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) were used to recognize geobotanical units according to the hierarchical concept of permafrost landscapes by the Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. In addition, geomorphological variables of megarelief (mountains and river valleys) were identified using the GIS-based terrain analysis and landform classification of the ASTER GDEM scenes mosaic. The resulting environmental variables made it possible to categorize nine classes of mountain permafrost landscapes. The result obtained was compared with previous permafrost landscape maps, which revealed a significant difference in distribution and spatial structure of intrazonal valleys and mountain tundra landscapes. Analysis of the landscape structure revealed a significant distribution of classes of mountain Larix-sparse forests and tundra. Landscape diversity was described by six longitudinal and latitudinal landscape hypsometric profiles. River valleys allow boreal–taiga landscapes to move up to high-mountainous regions. The features of the landscape structure and diversity of the ridge are noted, which, along with the specific spatial organization of vegetation and relief, can be of key importance for environmental monitoring and the study of regional variability of climatic changes.

The paper presents the overview and comparative analysis of landscape cross-cultural and sub-cultural perception research methodologies in order to develop hypothetical methodological framework of interdisciplinary evaluation of cultural differences in landscape perception. The landscape research methods used for the analysis of impact of socio-cultural factors on landscape perception can be classified as mix of psychophysical and cognitive approach and are mostly based on the statistical analysis of the results of sociological research. Drawing the research closer to the relational concept, we propose the hypothetical methodological scheme of interdisciplinary evaluation of cultural differences in landscape perception that integrates landscape research with the knowledge of cultural studies, quantitative sociology (statistical analysis of the results of sociological research: factor analysis, component analysis, correlations, etc.), environmental psychology (cognitive mapping, Landscape Image Sketching Technique, landscape and environmental preferences, way finding, eye-tracking, etc.), and geography (geomatic) (geographic information systems, remote sensing).

Due to the increasing scale of urbanisation, the topic of natural landscape perception is receiving more and more attention. Children who live in the city experience significantly less contact with nature and, due to that, lose connection with it. Therefore, this study aims to determine how the landscape perception of children who live in urban areas differs from that of children who live in rural places. The main findings were obtained using a systematic analysis of the literature. The results of this study show that in rural areas, children often have more space, freedom, and opportunities to experience and get to know the natural landscape and understand its processes, while in cities, children lose their close connection with nature and are constantly exposed to adverse environmental factors. This deterioration of environmental conditions, pollution, and constant noise is already becoming a common phenomenon for children. There is a need to conduct deeper research to understand better how children perceive the natural environment and how it can help preserve a child’s connection with nature in the cities.