China’s massive wave of urbanization may be threatened by land subsidence. Using a spaceborne synthetic aperture radar interferometry technique, we provided a systematic assessment of land subsidence in all of China’s major cities from 2015 to 2022. Of the examined urban lands, 45% are subsiding faster than 3 millimeters per year, and 16% are subsiding faster than 10 millimeters per year, affecting 29 and 7% of the urban population, respectively. The subsidence appears to be associated with a range of factors such as groundwater withdrawal and the weight of buildings. By 2120, 22 to 26% of China’s coastal lands will have a relative elevation lower than sea level, hosting 9 to 11% of the coastal population, because of the combined effect of city subsidence and sea-level rise. Our results underscore the necessity of enhancing protective measures to mitigate potential damages from subsidence.

In recent years, with rapid urbanization and development of tourism, historic and cultural areas have become characterized by strong vitality. However, a dilemma has arisen concerning their over-commercialization. In this study, 17 Chinese historic and cultural areas, and their surroundings within a radius of 1.5 km, were selected for research. Then, the spatial structure and population agglomeration associated with points of interest (POIs), including commercial service POIs and tourist attraction POIs, were analyzed, resulting in five principal findings. (1) In China, commercial services in historic and cultural areas have become an integral part of tourist attractions. (2) The relationships between the spatial structures of commercial service POIs and tourist attraction POIs can be classified into five types: fully encircled clustering, semi-surrounding clustering, overlapping clustering, contiguous clustering, and separate clustering. (3) Based on a POI kernel density analysis, historic and cultural areas can generally be classified into three categories: commercial service oriented areas, tourist attraction oriented areas, and commerce–tourism complexes. (4) The results illustrated that population agglomeration and spatial patterns of the POIs were tightly coupled; and this correlation was very consistent. The authors found that while living, shopping, and catering services were attractive in isolation, tourist attractions, accommodation, and leisure services often combined to form a shared space to attract business. The research results also provided insights into maintaining the balance between community life and commercial development of historic and cultural areas.

The research shift from central place theory to central flow theory has demonstrated the influence of information technology on cities. The study explores this shift at the city scale of urban catering industry in Nanjing, China. A comprehensive set of indicators of E-WoM for the catering industry has been established. Based on this, the spatial distribution patterns of catering industry in Nanjing, China have been discussed to examine the relationship of restaurants distribution and the central place theory or the central flow theory using a data analytical approach. The results revealed that the spatial distribution of restaurants’ density in Nanjing follows a traditional central place theory, but the spatial distribution of restaurants’ E-WoM in Nanjing rather follows the central flow theory. In addition, different characteristics could be found in different types of restaurants’ E-WoM distribution. Mainstream cuisine follows central place theory but is inconsistent in urban business districts, which demonstrate some characteristics of central flow theory. The distribution of E-WoM of non-mainstream cuisine is similar to the E-WoM distribution of overall restaurants, showing a central flow pattern. Finally, the implications of the study are drawn.

With increasing globalization and consumerism, heritage tourism has contributed to local economic development, while over-tourism may have impeded experienced locality by residents and facilitated cultural alienation. To compensate for the dearth of cross-case comparisons and spatial quantifications using big data of existing research, this study constructed an enriched framework of space production theory integrating historic-sociological analysis and spatial analysis to connect the process and outcomes of consumer space reproduction in historic districts in Old Beijing City. Following a historical analysis of social interrelationships in the consumer space reproduction process, binary consumer spaces, namely tourist- and resident-oriented, were distinguished based on points of interest. Case studies were adopted to reveal the heterogeneity of consumer space reproduction in touristification with the aim of addressing the current lack of case individuality in spatial and social analysis. The results reveal that (1) since the 1990s, multiple social forces with varying and interdependently influential perspectives on historic districts have combined to reshape consumer spaces in historic districts. (2) Capital and authority have dominated the touristification process, but residents’ spatial power has been declining. (3) Although the old city is in danger of over-consumerism and cultural alienation, individual differences in spatial reproduction suggest multiple possibilities in terms of development models and reveal policy implications for sustainable heritage tourism.