In China’s new era with a territorial spatial governance framework, the delineation of the “Three Zones and Three Lines” is a crucial step in establishing a comprehensive and vertically integrated spatial control system. The changes in the “Three Zone Space,” including ecological space, production space and living space, derived from land use abstractions, reflect the extent and manner of the impact of human activities. It serves as an important link between the macroscale (main functional zones) and the microscale (land use planning). The Three-River-Source Region is an important ecological security barrier and a demonstration area for ecological civilization in China. It is also considered one of the least suitable areas for human habitation in China. This region encompasses extensive protected natural areas, and human settlement space is scarce and valuable. The urban space, as an important spatial component of human habitation, often gives rise to significant conflicts between human activities and the environment during the implementation of development and conservation policies for remote areas in China. However, there is currently insufficient attention given to the human settlement space in this area. Therefore, it is necessary to study the evolution and driving mechanisms of urban spatial development from the perspective of the holistic and systematic nature of the “Three Zone Space”. To achieve this, the article first analyzes the characteristics of urban spatial changes from 1992 to 2020. Then, it utilizes the optimized parameter Geodetector to analyze the driving mechanisms behind these changes. The results show that: (1) urban spatial expansion has continued to grow over the past 30 years, with an increase of 774.56%; (2) agricultural space is the main source of conversion for urban spatial expansion; (3) natural factors have limited influence on urban spatial expansion, while human factors play a significant role with evident spatiotemporal heterogeneity. This study is significant for the governance and protection of river sources, the conservation of ecosystems in ecologically fragile areas, and the sustainable development of cities. It can also provide scientific references for decision-making in ecological environmental protection and the formulation of land use and spatial planning at various levels in pastoral areas.

Understanding the spatial distribution pattern and evolution characteristics of the elderly population in urban areas is of great significance for the development of urban planning and the implementation of public management policies in the context of rapid aging. Accurately identifying the spatial distribution and evolution characteristics of the elderly population in a city requires a comprehensive analysis of multiple indicators and large-scale data. Taking Wuhan City as an example, this article measures the spatial distribution characteristics and evolution trend of the elderly population from 2000 to 2020 at the street/township level based on data from the fifth, sixth, and seventh censuses, using methods such as kernel density hotspot detection, spatial clustering analysis, and standard deviation ellipse analysis. The results show that (1) there are significant differences in the aging spatial pattern between the central area and the suburban areas of Wuhan; (2) overall, Wuhan’s aging rate shows a typical “core–periphery” growth mode in space, while the density of the elderly population has significant spatial aggregation characteristics and shows an evolution trend of “centralized concentration, peripheral outliers, axial development, and near-field growth”; (3) the center of gravity of the elderly population remains relatively stable over time.

With the development of residential communities, commercial facilities serving the residents first emerged spontaneously inside of the communities and later were planned as a supporting component on the fringe but outside of the communities. Thus, two patterns in the distribution of commercial facilities can be found in their spatial relations to the communities they serve, namely, internal distribution and external fringe distribution. Previous debates on these two distribution patterns tend to focus more on the differences in community vitality, environmental quality, community security, etc., but less on the impact of spatial distribution of commercial facilities on residents’ walking-based consumption behavior which affects the quality of life of residents, their physical health, and their social interaction and communication. Therefore, the study conducts a quantitative, empirical, comparative study of the walking-based consumption behavior of residents in two communities, which are located across the street from one another, share similar conditions, but have totally different patterns in the distribution of commercial facilities. The results of analysis show that compared with residents living in a residential community with an external fringe distribution of commercial facilities, those who can access commercial facilities within their community have a shorter walking distance, stronger local consumption willingness, higher frequency, and shorter travel chain to use these facilities, resulting in distinctly different features in their respective walking-based consumption behavior in the communities. A further binary logistic regression analysis shows that the shorter travel distance by foot in a community with internal facilities is the root cause of the above differences, and travel distance significantly affects walking-based consumption behavior. This conclusion strongly supports the internal distribution of commercial facilities in residential communities, which bears practical significance for promoting the vitality and the robust development of communities.

Understanding the spatial distribution pattern and evolution characteristics of the elderly population in urban areas is of great significance for the development of urban planning and the implementation of public management policies in the context of rapid aging. Accurately identifying the spatial distribution and evolution characteristics of the elderly population in the city requires a comprehensive analysis of multiple indicators and large-scale data. Taking Wuhan city as an example, this article measures the spatial distribution characteristics and evolution trend of the elderly population from 2000 to 2020 at the street/township level, based on the fifth, sixth, and seventh census data, using methods such as kernel density hotspot detection, spatial clustering analysis, and standard deviation ellipse analysis. The results show that: ① there are significant differences in the aging spatial pattern between the central area and the suburban areas of Wuhan; ② overall, Wuhan's aging rate shows a typical "core-periphery" growth mode in space, while the density of the elderly population has significant spatial aggregation characteristics and shows an evolution trend of "centralized concentration, peripheral outliers, axial development, and near-field growth"; ③the center of gravity of the elderly population remains relatively stable over time.

The demolition of the NO. 1 teaching building in Wuhan University was related to multiple complex contradictions of various people, matters, time and spaces. The Homo Urbanicus theory offers a new way to figure the essence of this planning event out. Science of Human Settlement provides theoretical contexts of multi-level and multiple points of view. The considering method of Homo Urbanicus theory is to extract typical templates and to seek their consensus in values. Based on the above, this paper analyses the problems of a planning event about why the NO.1 teaching building in Wuhan University was “constructed unreasonably”, why it was “demolished in dispute” and how to be “reconstructed in hope” and puts forward a new way to solve it.