Suzhou, one of the most famous historical cities in China, has undergone significant urbanization over recent decades. These changes have caused a gradual separation of Suzhou’s urban heritage from its urban development and hindered the further growth of the city. This study analyzes the distribution of tangible and intangible heritages that constitute the context of Suzhou combined with the historic urban landscape approach to obtain the following conclusions: (1) The current distribution of Suzhou’s urban heritage does not completely overlap with the built-up area of the city, and the non-overlapping areas reveal the imbalance of the current urban development and the fracture of the context of Suzhou; this imbalance is still a blind spot in the planning process. (2) The use of intangible cultural heritage will help to establish the possibility of contextual continuation in areas that lack urban heritage. (3) Multi-use community spaces that carry the intangible cultural heritage are particularly important for new urban areas, as they can help urban residents understand the traditional way of life in the region. (4) An approach to heritage management that goes beyond elitism, in conjunction with residents and communities, will help the ancient city to find a better balance between contextual continuity and economic development.

With continuous developments in the integration of culture and tourism, adaptive reuse has highlighted the vitality of historic conservation areas while simultaneously causing great challenges to urban life, local economy, and cultural sustainability. Current studies focus on the adaptive reuse of historic buildings, with little focus on historic conservation areas. To expand this understanding further, this study investigated and analyzed the challenges faced by Chengdu historic conservation areas in the context of adapting to the tourism environment, from multiple perspectives, and proposed corresponding protection and development strategies. The results of the study obtained using field investigation and semi-structured interviews contribute to the literature on the adaptive reuse of historic conservation areas; they deepen our understanding of the identified factors and provide in-depth knowledge. These findings provide a reference for future practices and promote the sustainable development of historic conservation areas for improved conservation and economic returns.

Much current discussion about the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health focuses on urban green space and rarely on historic conservation areas (HCAs). With the pandemic’s lasting influence and advances in medical technology, people’s mental health needs and attitudes toward epidemic prevention changed, and the importance of HCAs has received great attention. This study aims to explore the positive impact of heritage tourism on mental recovery under the influence of the pandemic. The Kuanzhai Alley HCA was selected as the location for the field survey and in-depth interviews. A total of 48 respondents were recruited for the semi-structured interviews, and qualitative data were analyzed through MAXQDA 2020, and the motives and mental feedback of tourists visiting Kuanzhai Alley were summarized. The results showed that there is great landscape integrity and continuity in the area. During the pandemic, the inclusive cultural atmosphere, human-based spatial scale, and cultural activities in the form of intangible heritage, such as Sichuan opera and live-action role-playing (LARP), had significant effects on eliminating loneliness, relieving anxiety, and improving happiness. The study results are expected to provide reference and guidance for current and future management of heritage tourism, social well-being, and a sustainable cultural economy.

Social participation is an important tool in heritage conservation, but levels remain low in developing countries. To increase social-participation awareness of urban-heritage conservation, this study aimed to find an effective method to determine the factors that affect participation awareness, with a focus on the magnitude of each influence. Through literature analysis we developed hypotheses about the factors affecting participation awareness, and then developed a linear regression model. In order to test the reliability of the model, we selected Suzhou as the research object and obtained the following conclusions: (1) Suzhou’s social-participation awareness was positively correlated with place identity, urban memory, subjective cognition, objective knowledge, and place identity. (2) The factor that had the strongest impact on Suzhou’s place identity was public space, with residence time and community sentiment also influencing place identity. (3) The factors that influenced the urban memory of Suzhou were residence time, urban transformation, and urban events with the most influential factor being lifestyle transformation. (4) Urban-heritage conservation social-participation awareness was higher among Suzhou people living in the old city than in the new city.