Extensive development leads to the decline of ecological well-being, and it is necessary to improve the urban ecological well-being performance (EWP). This paper adopted the Super-slack-based measure (Super-SBM) model to evaluate the EWP of 285 Chinese prefecture level cities from 2011 to 2017. The exploratory spatial data analysis method (ESDA) was used to explore the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of the EWP, and then the spatial Durbin model (SDM) was adopted to analyze the driving factors of the EWP. The results show that the trend of the overall average EWP has experienced a stage evolution process of “upward → downward → upward”. The urban EWPs have significant spatial agglomeration and path dependence. The economic development level and technological progress had the positive impacts on the EWP, and the urbanization level, economic extroversion and industrial structure had the negative impacts on the EWP. The result reveals that there was a “U-shaped” relationship existing between urbanization level and the EWP. The negative spatial spillover effect of urbanization level on the EWP was significant. The corresponding policy implications were put forward. This study will provide strategic guidance for policy makers to optimize and enhance the urban EWP.

In the process of China’s rapid urbanization, the health level of residents has been improved to a great extent. However, with the expansion of urban scale and spatial restructuring, a series of urban environmental problems have posed new challenges to public health. However, the impact of the built environment on residents’ health is controversial, and the applicability of the conclusions based on western urban sprawl in China is not clear enough. In addition, the exploration of the impact path of the built environment on health is still not comprehensive and in-depth. Based on the China Labor Dynamics Survey (CLDS) in 2016 and relevant statistical yearbook data, this study explored the impact of the built environment at community and urban scale on residents’ health and its age heterogeneity and further explored the mediating role of physical exercise, neighborhood support, and community safety. According to the research, the urban and community-built environment has significant impacts on residents’ health, and the impact is significantly different at different scales. In addition, there is a significant difference in the impact of built environment factors on residents’ health among populations with different life cycles. From the perspective of the impact path, greening coverage can improve residents’ self-rated health by enhancing the perceived safety of living in the community. In contrast, the high community population density will not only weaken the degree of neighborhood support but also reduce the perception level of community residential safety, thus damaging residents’ health. In short, from the perspective of environmental intervention, the previously mentioned results put forward possible suggestions on strengthening the construction of a healthy living environment so as to maximize the health effectiveness of cities and communities.

Urban regeneration is an important means for building sustainable cities and implementing China’s high-quality development strategy. In this paper, a sustainable regeneration PSR (Pressure-State-Response) model was established, and a state-layer evaluation model was constructed based on the perspective of resettled residents’ multidimensional welfare. Through questionnaire surveys with 210 centralized resettled households in Xi’an, China, the changes in the living conditions of resettled residents before and after the centralized resettlement were measured, the differentiation in individual changes were explored, and the sustainability of urban regeneration was evaluated, so as to optimize the sustainability of urban regeneration. The results show that, before and after urban regeneration, the changes at the state layer are not obvious on the whole. The sharp decline of social dimension welfare indicates that urban regeneration generates some new pressures while alleviating the imbalance of social development, and at the response layer, there is not sufficient attention to the residents’ emotions at the social level. Changes in the state layer are different due to individual characteristics, but there is no matching differentiated response to maintain the stability of the state. The research results are of great significance for optimizing residents’ welfare and solving the problems of sustainable regeneration from the perspective of humanistic welfare.

Under the influence of urban renewal, the original sociospatial structure of residents has been disrupted and reconfigured, forming heterogeneous communities composed of diverse groups. While these groups live in close physical proximity, systemic differences in their social networks and access to spatial resources often result in a complex phenomenon where physical proximity coexists with social alienation. This study aims to break away from the static paradigm of traditional research on sociospatial differentiation. Based on a progressive perspective of "spatial co-occurrence-behavioral coordination-relational embedding", it constructs a three-tiered measurement model of "Exposure-Interaction-Association" to understand the dynamic developmental process of social differentiation—from spatial sharing to behavioral coordination and ultimately to the establishment of social relationships. To rigorously study the micro-level features of sociospatial segregation, data on the daily activities and social trajectories of three groups (commercial homeowners, tenants, and resettled residents) were gathered using five urban renewal areas in Xi'an as empirical instances. The results show that: (1) At the exposure level, intergroup sharing of activity spaces is generally low, with strong functional preference-driven segregation. (2) At the interaction level, heterogeneous groups show temporal-spatial misalignment in activity trajectories, resulting in physical proximity but behavioral estrangement. (3) At the association level, strong internal connections coexist with weak external exchanges, forming typical nested social islands. Regarding differentiation characteristics, this study advocates shifting community governance from resource provision to group intervention, proposing a three-tiered governance pathway: (1) Break the pattern of preferential occupation of functional spaces by different groups through spatial preference guidance and optimization strategies. (2) Resolve the dilemma of parallel activity trajectories among groups through spatiotemporal behavioral coordination and triggering strategies. (3) Activate social interactions among diverse groups through social network cultivation strategies to break the solidification of social circles. The goal of this study is to advance residential integration toward social integration by offering theoretical underpinnings and practical advice.