As the research on smart cities matures and thrives, research focusing on smart rural development has also emerged into the spotlight in recent years. An increasing number of scholars have called for extending the discussion of smart development in the rural context. In response, this paper aims to conduct a comprehensive scientometric review of the current academic literature in the discussion of smart development in rural areas, centering on the concept of the smart village, which is the most recognized concept in the existing literature and practices. The contributions of this study are threefold. First, an overview of the current implementation and understanding of smart village initiatives and conceptual frameworks provides practical and theoretical insights as prerequisites for comprehending the concept. Second, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first complete scientometric study in the smart village field and will establish baseline data for future analysis and comparison. It describes the status of the scientific landscape based on quantitative analysis and an intuitive visualization, identifying patterns, hotspots, trends, and gaps. Finally, we find that the current trend puts a relatively narrow focus on the technology-driven approaches, while the dimensions of society, services, and culture have been largely neglected. Therefore, a dynamic conceptual model is proposed to call for more human-driven perspectives. We believe that a knowledge-based, community-led, and human-centric rural society is the core of a smart village ecosystem.

Urban Blue Spaces (UBS) have been found to be beneficial to people’s mental health. Yet, the empirical evidence for how and why different types of urban blue spaces could promote residents’ mental health is still limited. Accordingly, 164 observation samples were collected for this experiment relating to the restorative perception of environmental exposure. The effects of two exposure behaviors (15 min of viewing and 15 min of walking) on psychological recovery in three different urban blue spaces settings (Urban River, Urban Canal, Urban Lake) were investigated in a field experiment. These are the main findings of this current study: (1) all three UBSs increased vitality, feelings of restoration, and positive emotions, and decreased negative emotions; (2) the mental restoration effects between walking and viewing among the three UBSs showed no significant differences; (3) of the three UBSs, urban rivers and urban lakes were the most restorative, while urban canals were less so; (4) the concept of “natural health dose” is proposed, where the health experiences of different UBSs in urban settings can show differences depending on the natural components and their levels of the environment (blue, blue + green, blue + blue). The results of this experiment can provide fundamental evidence that can contribute to building healthy cities through the management and design of different blue spaces.

Spatial planning has become an important measure for countries and regions to promote sustainable development. However, there remains a lack of systematic and quantitative research on spatial planning worldwide. In this study, CiteSpace was used to perform bibliometric analysis and visualization research on the Web of Science core collection and China National Knowledge Infrastructure database. It was found that: (1) The number of papers published in global spatial planning research shows an increasing trend, especially after 2018, with China showing an obvious increasing trend. (2) Globally, the United States has the largest number of relevant research results, and Italy has the most cooperation with other countries. The highest research output is from developed countries, while that of developing countries is relatively weak. (3) There is some intersection among countries, disciplines, and authors but it is not strong, indicating that cooperation should be strengthened. (4) Through keyword cluster, timeline, and time zone analysis, global development can be roughly divided into three stages: the first stage is characterized by the study of spatial planning system theory, the second stage is characterized by building green infrastructure and providing ecological services, and the third stage is characterized by an emphasis on public participation and the establishment of justice mechanisms. China’s development corresponds to three stages: the theory and experience learning stage, the spatial planning system focused on economic development stage, and the integration of multiple plans and the sustainable development exploration stage. (5) There are differences in burst words between the world and China, indicating that there are great differences in research hotspots in different countries’ periods and conditions.

Green cultural heritage is an important form of natural space in cities. Only a few studies have conducted restorative studies in a historical environment as most have focused on natural environments. Moreover, few studies on cultural ecosystem services (CESs) have addressed cultural heritage. Based on an onsite questionnaire distributed to green cultural heritage users (N = 64) in Hamarikyu Garden, this paper explores the value of CESs in a green cultural heritage site and the relationship between cultural ecosystem values and perceived attention restoration/stress reduction. A multiple linear regression analysis and simple linear regression analyses were used to examine the data. The results showed that (1) the cultural ecosystem values of the green cultural heritage site were all rated highly except for the sense of place; (2) spending time in green cultural heritage provided respondents significant perceived attention restoration and stress reduction; (3) aesthetics and cultural heritage significantly affected perceived stress reduction, while attention restoration showed a significant positive correlation with aesthetic value and sense of place; and (4) the more visitors perceived the value of CESs, the more significant the perceived stress reduction and attention recovery were. This study indicates that CESs represent a useful tool for measuring the environmental characteristics of green cultural heritage sites and can predict perceived psychological recovery in green cultural heritage sites. Our findings enhance our knowledge about restorative environmental attributes through objective descriptions of potential health-promoting qualities and can be utilized as inspiration for designing restorative environments in green cultural heritage sites.

Community gardens offer broad research opportunities and analytical resources encompassing urban planning to environmental sustainability, food systems, and social capital. However, little is known about the knowledge structure and research development related to community gardens. This study presents an in-depth bibliometric performance analysis and visual scientific mapping analysis of the literature on community gardens by examining 487 published papers selected from the Web of Science database. The results indicated a considerable rise in research papers in this subject area from 2012 onwards, with most contributions from the United States. Studies from high-income countries accounted for 93.22%, and 38 countries have cooperated 167 times in this field. “Health” is the most frequent keyword, and the terms “ecosystem services” has been gaining popularity over the last five years. A combination of co-citation clustering and keyword co-occurrence clustering analysis identified three major research themes in the field of community gardens: “ecosystem services and disservices”, “multidimensional association”, and “sustainable garden systems”. The development of ecosystem value assessment frameworks, the establishment of region-wide soil monitoring databases, accounting for the cost-effectiveness of nature-based solutions, the integration of garden systems into smart cities, and the integration of water management into regulation will be important future research directions regarding community gardens. Overall, this study provides scholars with a systematic and quantitative understanding of community gardens.

Numerous studies have indicated that proximity to nature positively affects human well-being. Landscape planning and related techniques have been widely implemented to achieve balance between natural environments and human society, thereby contributing to human well-being. This study examines peer-reviewed empirical research using scientometric analysis and systematic review to clarify how landscape planning enhances human well-being. On analysing 439 documents, we found a significant increase in publications by multidisciplinary teams in this research area from 2016 to date. There was an uneven global distribution of publications, with most institutions cooperating within the same continent. These findings suggest the potential for greater international collaboration in the future. We identified three main research topics in this field, traced their dynamic development, and highlighted intangible values requiring attention. Moreover, we proposed a loop of ‘naturalness-landscape structures-landscape services-human well-being’ which includes four intermediary steps to illustrate how landscape planning can improve human well-being. This loop clarifies the pathway between landscape planning approaches and human well-being, thus providing a foundation for future research. Overall, this research highlights the conceptual pathways of landscape planning in promoting human well-being and calls for further investigation to fully understand this complex relationship.