The spread of COVID-19 at a large scale and at a rapid pace indicates the lack of social distancing measures at multiple levels. The individuals are not to be blamed, nor should we assume the early measures were ineffective or not implemented. It is all down to the multiplicity of transmission factors that made the situation more complicated than initially anticipated. Therefore, in facing the COVID-19 pandemic, this overview paper discusses the importance of space in social distancing measures. The methods used to investigate this study are literature review and case study. Many scholarly works have already provided us with evidence-based models that suggest the influential role of social distancing measures in preventing COVID-19 community spread. To further elaborate on this important topic, the aim here is to look at the role of space not only at the individual level but at larger scales of communities, cities, regions, etc. The analysis helps better management of cities during the pandemics such as COVID-19. By reflecting on some of the ongoing research on social distancing, the study concludes with the role of space at multiple scales and how it is central to the practice of social distancing. We need to be more reflective and responsive to achieve earlier control and containment of the disease and the outbreak at the macro level.

The current global food system is under threat due to significant global changes such as rapid urbanization, climate change, COVID-19 outbreak, etc. The importance of food system sustainability as a key element of sustainable cities has been gradually recognized in recent years; however, the tools for estimating food system sustainability in cities (i.e., urban food system sustainability) holistically are still scarce. Thus, this study represents a comprehensive investigation into food system studies and their impacts on achieving a sustainable community or city. This study is a subset of larger studies that aim to develop an urban food system framework, which utilizes modern approaches in framework development such as sustainability food indicators and a participatory approach. However, to achieve this, trends, gaps, and challenges of the current approach to food system studies need to be reviewed and discussed. A systematic analysis utilizing the protocol of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach was conducted, and network analysis of publications was performed via VOS viewer. The results suggest applying circular principles and merging smartness and resilience thinking in developing strategies for food system sustainability. This study finds that key drivers to mitigate food crisis among countries vary. Furthermore, a context-specific framework with a more comprehensive definition of urban food systems covering the institutional processes, and food governance are also needed to achieve urban food system sustainability.

The connections between urban areas and innovations have been widely discussed and well recognized in both academia and practice. Notably, urban innovation (UI), as a type of innovation and/or innovation system, can significantly contribute to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, current research on UI and SDGs is still limited. To fill this research gap, this systematic literature review is conducted using published work in the first half of the SDG era, i.e., 2015 to 2022. It proposes the hierarchy of the urban innovation level and the SDG pizza model with a definition of UI. This systematic literature review is based on four main steps: literature selection, abstract screening, full-text review, and data extraction. In step #1, the keyword “urban innovation” is used to identify the initial publications. Next, an inclusion criterion is applied in step #2, which covers UI in the Then, an exclusion criterion is used in step #3, which covers the connection between/among UIs and any one or more SDGs. Step #4 is mainly data extraction following the full text review. This paper provides detailed results and discussions with a few critical views on this nexus analysis. This paper contributes to existing research by highlighting the importance of the innovation-sustainability nexus, particularly from the SDG perspective.

In the post-COVID-19 era, there has been an increasing interest in re-evaluating citizens’ living conditions within dense and grey urban areas. The provision of green spaces has always been identified as an important aspect of alleviating contemporary everyday life stress and preventing or limiting mental health-related issues. It is also an important strategy to mitigate urban heat islands and foster adaptation strategies to climate change. Among the numerous experiments of ‘green action’ available to urban planners, urban farming strategies have been widely used in Europe to provide green spaces and ecosystem services, exploring the topics related to self-production of food, biodiversity, and zero-km cultivation. Therefore, finding new spaces for agriculture in urban environments has driven scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs to develop new soilless technologies (such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics) to maximize yields in urban areas, creating new agricultural and architectural models such as the vertical farms (VF) and the building-integrated greenhouses (BIGH). In this regard, the objective of this paper is to recontextualize the integrated greenhouse element for high-tech food production as new iconic architectural models derived from the experience of the Victorian Winter Gardens and the first tropical greenhouses. Revisiting these perspectives, this paper offers opportunities to redefine the greenhouse as a multifunctional asset that aligns with both environmental goals and architectural standards.

This paper discusses the current increasing trend of urbanization and environmental implications of urbanizations, potential solutions for the problems caused by overpopulation & urbanization. Global challenges like rapid population growth, resource scarcity, climate change, biodiversity loss are the centres of environmental management issues as well. As cities are recognized as the key to resolve these global environmental issues and sustainability are the main focuses of this century’s development, this paper identifies the sustainability of cities or urban sustainability (US) as the fundamental principal or core idea underlying possible pathways to solve those major challenges with an emphasis on urban metabolism (UM) (Section 2~6). The literature review covers the evolution and development of UM concept, metaphors of UM perspective, definitions of UM, its applications, challenges and future directions. Six types of UM methodologies are discussed as well. This paper demonstrates that UM is a promising approach for building US and connects it to the concept of smart cities (SC). Relating contents like the differences and connections between smart cities and sustainable cities, the politics of data, opportunities & challenges of SC are presented in Section 7. The last part of this paper proposes a Nexus among UM, US and SC; which reveals both of the apparent and underlying correlations & interactions among these three concepts and their practices.

Rapid urbanization is one of the main characteristics of the 21st century. Urban systems are critical in creating urban displacements during such rapid processes. In most cases, urban displacements are triggers and catalysts of some urban crises, generating extra obstacles and pitfalls to humanitarian and sustainable development in urban areas. One of the major impacts of the rapid urbanization process is the process of urban house displacement. In historic and heritage cities, towns, or villages, we see the trend of displacing urban homes as a result. In the name of urban heritage protection, cities and towns/villages are converted into large-scale open-air museums, where the local residents are often evicted. To understand the connections and interactions between urban house displacement and urban heritage protection, this study explores key influential factors of decision-making in the directions of urban development, using the grounded theory for cause extraction and categorization and providing political implications for urban planning and regeneration projects. The case studies for this brief study are three cities of Dali, Lijiang, and Shangri-La in western parts of Yunnan Province, China. This paper utilizes mapping studies of the heritage sites of these three cities based on the surveys conducted in July 2022. Issues of urban regeneration and displacement scenarios are observed, assessed, and discussed for us to open up further debates on what causes the displacement of local residents in such contexts.