Urbanization has adverse environmental effects, such as rising surface temperatures. This study analyzes the relationship between the urban heat island (UHI) intensity and Tianjin city’s land cover characteristics. The land use cover change (LUCC) effects on the green areas and the land surface temperature (LST) were also studied. The land cover characteristics were divided into five categories: a built-up area, an agricultural area, a bare area, a forest, and water. The LST was calculated using the thermal bands of spatial images taken from 2005 to 2020. The increase in the built-up area was mainly caused by the agricultural area decreasing by 11.90%. The average land surface temperature of the study area increased from 23.50 to 36.51 °C, and the region moved to a high temperature that the built-up area’s temperature increased by 1.5%. Still, the increase in vegetation cover was negative. From 2020 to 2050, the land surface temperature is expected to increase by 9.5 °C. The high-temperature areas moved into an aerial distribution, and the direction of urbanization determined their path. Urban heat island mitigation is best achieved through forests and water, and managers of urban areas should avoid developing bare land since they may suffer from degradation. The increase in the land surface temperature caused by the land cover change proves that the site is becoming more urbanized. The findings of this study provide valuable information on the various aspects of urbanization in Tianjin and other regions. In addition, future research should look into the public health issues associated with rapid urbanization.

The rapid infrastructure development in densely populated areas has had several negative impacts. Increases in urbanization have led to increased LST, and urban ecological systems have been negatively affected. Urban heat islands (UHIs) can be mitigated by understanding how current and future LST phenomena are linked to changes in landscape composition and land use cover (LUC). This study investigated the multi-scale spatial analysis of LUC and LST in Tianjin using remote sensing and GIS data. We used Landsat data from 2005 to 2020 to examine the effects of LUC on LST in urban agglomeration. According to the Urban Thermal Field Variance Index (UTFVI), the city’s ecological evaluation was carried out. Results show that changes in LUC and other anthropogenic activities affect the spatial distribution of LST. For the study years (2004–2009), the estimated mean LST in Tianjin was 25.32 °C, 26.73 °C, 27.62 °C, and 27.93 °C. Between LST and urban areas with other infrastructures, and NDBI, significant positive correlation values were found about 0.53, 0.48, and 0.76 (p < 0.05), respectively. Temperatures would almost certainly increase by 3.87 °C to 7.26 °C as a result of decreased plant cover and increased settlements. These findings strongly imply a correlation between LST and the vegetation index. Between 2005 and 2020, the anticipated increase in LST of 3.39 °C is expected to harm urban environmental health. This study demonstrates how Tianjin and other cities can achieve ecological sustainability.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in e-commerce, which has prompted residents to shift their purchasing habits from offline to online. As a result, Smart Parcel Lockers (SPLs) have emerged as an accessible end-to-end delivery service that fits into the pandemic strategy of maintaining social distance and no-contact protocols. Although numerous studies have examined SPLs from various perspectives, few have analyzed their spatial distribution from an urban planning perspective, which could enhance the development of other disciplines in this field. To address this gap, we investigate the distribution of SPLs in Tianjin’s central urban area before and after the pandemic (i.e., 2019 and 2022) using kernel density estimation, average nearest neighbor analysis, standard deviation elliptic, and geographical detector. Our results show that, in three years, the number of SPLs has increased from 51 to 479, and a majority were installed in residential communities (i.e., 92.2% in 2019, and 97.7% in 2022). We find that SPLs were distributed randomly before the pandemic, but after the pandemic, SPLs agglomerated and followed Tianjin’s development pattern. We identify eight influential factors on the spatial distribution of SPLs and discuss their individual and compound effects. Our discussion highlights potential spatial distribution analysis, such as dynamic layout planning, to improve the allocation of SPLs in city planning and city logistics.

Territorial spatial planning requires thoughtful consideration of the scientific layout and synergistic control of production, living, and ecological spaces (PLESs). However, research in this field often neglects the human perspective and fails to account for people’s demands and behavioral characteristics. This study evaluates the level and spatial characteristics of residents’ production, living, and ecological behavioral (PLEB) flow, as well as the spatial pattern of the PLES functions, within the framework of the human–land coupling system. Therefore, to analyze the behavior–space coupling coordination relationship, the coupling coordination model is applied. The results indicate that the overall level of residents’ PLEB flow in rural–urban fringe areas is at a lower middle level and the functionality of the PLES is at a medium level, with a spatial distribution pattern of high in the northern and low in the southern areas. Most of the behavior–space matching types are in a state of mismatch between supply and demand. Meanwhile, the PLEB–PLES coupling coordination relationship is generally unbalanced, which is particularly noticeable in the production space. Regardless of whether the behavior–space matching type is a supply deficit or a supply surplus, the mismatch between supply and demand leads to uncoordinated and unreasonable spatial utilization. Overall, the findings of the study provide guidance for future research endeavors about PLESs and suggest embracing a human-centered scientific paradigm. Such a paradigm can promote high-quality, sustainable development of territorial spatial planning while strengthening the capacity and effectiveness of spatial governance and control.

This Research to Practice Full Paper, implementing the outcome-based education (OBE) approach, introduces a new pedagogical framework in the "Design Workshop" course for undergraduate students, strengthening and improving student learning outcomes, and theoretical and practical abilities. "Emerging Engineering Education" (3E) requires a project-based learning method, transforming traditional knowledge-based education into an innovation-based education mode. However, lots of factors, such as project resources, sites, funds, cooperatives, and so on, limit the project-based learning of engineering majors (Architecture, Urban and Rural Planning, Landscape Architecture). Therefore, the establishment and improvement of the corresponding course system are essential. The "Design Workshop" course, offered by the School of Architecture at Tianjin University (TJU) takes specific projects as the carrier to integrate diverse knowledge, improve students' overall abilities, and offer a solution to the concerns mentioned above. The purpose of the article is to provide a framework for the "Design Workshop" courses, based on OBE. The course addresses the design and practice learning teaching method. The skills needed for graduation are determined based on industry demands. The task list and course teaching methods are adapted to the skills needed for graduation. The "Design Workshop" course is offered in the third year because the main prerequisite courses have already been completed, and the core competency refers to the most intensive knowledge and tasks, besides the students will have the flexibility to be engaged in the industry. The teaching experience emphasizes the importance of a multi-level course support mechanism and the systematic nature of each support component. It was found, that the educational system focuses on competency rather than the outcome, according to the abilities it can be. Students freely meet the actual project requirements and the specific design tasks as the standards, based on the design process and the final design outputs to derive the knowledge to be learned. The ability requirements and specific tasks determine the course system, giving rise to normative thinking. Taking everything into account, students can improve their abilities through "construction and building", "full life cycle support and management", "stakeholder coordination", and "activities and public occasions' preparation". Consequently, students will be more likely to adapt to the changing industry demands. Based on this, the establishment of the "Design Workshop" course framework provides an effective and new way to nurture emerging engineering undergraduate talents.

Automated external defibrillator resources (AEDRs) are the crux of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) responses, enhancing safe and sustainable urban environments. However, existing studies failed to consider the nexus between built environment (BE) features and AEDRs. Can explainable machine-learning (ML) methods reveal the BE-AEDR nexus? This study applied an Optuna-based extreme gradient boosting (OP_XGBoost) decision tree model with SHapely Additive exPlanations (SHAP) and partial dependence plots (PDPs) aiming to scrutinize the spatial effects, relative importance, and non-linear impact of BE features on AEDR intensity across grid and block urban patterns in Tianjin Downtown, China. The results indicated, that (1) marginally, the AEDR intensity was most influenced by the service coverage (SC) at grid scale and nearby public service facility density (NPSF_D) at block scale, while synergistically, it was shaped by comprehensive accessibility and land-use interactions with the prioritized block pattern; (2) block-level granularity and (3) non-linear interdependencies between BE features and AEDR intensity existed as game-changers. The findings suggested an effective and generalizable approach to capture the complex interplay of the BE-AEDR and boost the AED deployment by setting health at the heart of the urban development framework.