Urban resilience (UR), which promotes the implementation of resilient cities, has received widespread attention. The purpose of this study is to visualize the knowledge background, research status, and knowledge structure of relevant literatures by using a Citespace based scientometrics survey. The results show that UR is an increasingly popular topic, with 2629 articles published during the study period. (1) The most prolific publications and journals involved in the flourishment of UR research were identified by co-citation. The United States was the most productive contributor, with numerous publications and active institutions. Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainability, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction were the three most cited journals. (2) Co-occurrence analysis was employed to determine the highly productive keywords, and subject categories in the UR domain, including “environmental science & ecology”, “environmental sciences, “science & technology”, “environmental studies”, “green & sustainable science & technology”, and “water resources”. (3) The diversity of highly cited authors in different countries and regions confirmed the evolution of UR studies. (4) Furthermore, the classification of UR knowledge was performed in the form of clusters and knowledge structure to achieve ten distinct sub-domains (e.g., Urban floods and stormwater management, Urban ecosystem services, Urban landscapes, and Trauma). This study provides an overview of UR research and research topics so that future researchers can identify their research topics and partners.

In recent years, traditional villages have vigorously developed as a phenomenon of the cultural tourism industry. In order to cope with the rapid development of the industry and changes in market demand, cultural tourism spaces urgently need to improve in quality, highlight cultural characteristics, and enhance cultural expressions. In the current tourism evaluation system, although it covers many dimensions such as environmental evaluation, sustainability evaluation, farmers’ participation, and adaptability evaluation, there is relatively little evaluation of the key element of spatial quality. Based on scene theory, this paper establishes a traditional village cultural tourism space quality evaluation system with the three main dimensions of authenticity, theatricality, and legitimacy, and fifteen sub-dimensions by drawing on the relevant theories of cultural tourism space evaluation. Then, the evaluation system is applied to three traditional villages in the suburbs of Beijing, China, for practice and verification. The study concludes that the authenticity of traditional villages is the core source of competitiveness of the cultural tourism industry; the excavation of non-heritage values should be strengthened; the spatial theatricality should be innovatively designed and planned to enhance the cultural experience; and legitimacy needs to be combined with renovation and operation to establish a mechanism for consultation and promote sustainable development. This paper hopes to enhance the scene benefit of traditional village cultural tourism spaces through the scene-theory-oriented space quality evaluation system, and deepen the understanding of rural space so as to provide relevant designers with more comprehensive design ideas to guide actual rural cultural tourism space design. At the same time, this article puts forward proposals such as strengthening the protection of intangible cultural heritage, innovating spatial experiences, and building a mechanism for consultation. The purpose is to accurately guide the optimisation of traditional village cultural tourism spaces, promote the improvement in spatial quality and the sustainable development of the cultural tourism industry, and contribute to rural revitalisation and cultural heritage.

Old community districts grapple with issues such as antiquated infrastructure and functional designs that fail to meet contemporary needs. These limitations lead to diminished disaster resistance and a reduced quality of life for inhabitants. Public spaces within these antiquated districts can function as sanctuaries during calamities, enhancing the community’s disaster response efficacy and expediting post-disaster recovery, which is vital for effective disaster management. Nevertheless, the disaster-resilience attributes of public spaces in these old districts have not been sufficiently researched. This study focused on three representative old communities in Beijing, analyzing and contrasting their disaster resilience attributes and various community types. Utilizing the Analytic Hierarchy Process, a hierarchical structural model was formulated, examining the public spatial structure, function, transportation, and ecology. A comprehensive analysis was then conducted to identify the resilience characteristics that public spaces in old communities should possess. The findings indicated that the prioritization of the four criteria—ecological space, transit space, spatial function, and spatial structure—in the development of disaster-resilient public spaces in communities increases progressively. The renovation to increase the disaster-resilience of old communities should concentrate on optimizing the spatial structure layout of the community, enhancing the integrity, openness, and coherence of public spaces; imbuing public spaces with versatile and multifaceted functions, and establishing hierarchical distribution systems; ensuring transit spaces cater to both everyday use and disaster exigencies, maintaining unimpeded traffic flow under all conditions; and creating multi-tiered ecological spaces to bolster resilience during disasters while enhancing daily aesthetics. This research enriches the strategies for the disaster-resilient renovation of public spaces in old communities, offering precise and scientific references to improve community disaster resilience and emergency response capabilities.

Female-friendly public spaces are crucial for the sustainable development of old residential communities. To advance the development of female-friendly public spaces in Beijing’s old residential communities, this study employs a method that integrates the Kano model with an importance–performance analysis. The research focuses on the public spaces of Baiwanzhuang in Beijing, specifically targeting female users. Field research, including interviews and surveys, is conducted to understand women’s needs in these spaces. Based on this, an evaluation index system is developed, and data from questionnaires distributed to women are analyzed using the Kano model and importance–performance metrics. The study classifies female users into four age groups to address their specific needs and proposes targeted strategies for enhancing female-friendly features in public spaces. This paper proposes a quantitative evaluation method for public spaces in old residential communities of Beijing, which combines the Kano model with IPA and is grounded in the perspective of female-friendliness. This research offers valuable insights for the revitalization of old residential communities and support for the diversification of public areas. The results indicate that increasing the types of public spaces, enriching public space facilities, enhancing the aesthetic appeal of public spaces, and promoting social care can improve the female-friendly level of public spaces in old residential communities.

Population ageing is revealing acute mismatches between inherited village layouts and older residents’ everyday needs in China’s peri-urban fringe. This study combines space-syntax diagnostics with an exploratory factor analysis to create a building-oriented retrofit workflow. Using Liulin Village, Beijing, as a test bed, axial-line modelling pinpoints the low-integration alleys and mono-functional retail strips, while elder-user surveys distil four latent demand factors, led by personal convenience. Overlaying these two layers highlights the “high-demand/low-fit” segments for intervention. Prefabricated 3 m × 6 m health kiosks, sunrooms and rest pergolas—constructed from light-gauge steel frames and assembled with dry joints—are then inserted along a newly permeated corridor–core walking loop. The modules follow a 600 mm dimensional grid and can be installed or removed within a single working day, cutting the on-site labour by roughly one-third relative to that required for conventional masonry kiosks and enabling their future relocation or reuse. The workflow shows how small-scale, low-carbon building interventions can simultaneously improve accessibility, social interaction and functional diversity, providing a transferable template for ageing-responsive public-space retrofits in rapidly transforming village contexts.