As urbanization continues to accelerate worldwide, the consequential rise in CO₂ emissions has caused substantial environmental challenges. Urban regeneration has emerged as a promising approach to reducing carbon emissions and developing low-carbon cities. Even though both urban regeneration and carbon emissions reduction have been researched from various perspectives, a thorough review is still required to completely reveal their multifaceted relationship. Based on 231 papers published between 2001 and 2023, a bibliometric analysis was conducted to understand the overall trajectory and main focus of the existing research. Then, we qualitatively analyzed the main findings from bibliometric results in terms of key regeneration elements, specific regeneration strategies, research methodologies, as well as research trends and agendas. The results indicated that research in this field is gradually becoming more specialized and comprehensive. Buildings and energy have always been two key urban regeneration elements and research hotspots. Additionally, as a systematic project, reducing carbon emissions requires further exploration of other regeneration elements’ contributions and their interactions in the urban system, which needs the corresponding support of more specific regeneration strategies and research methodologies. These findings can advance the development of innovative and impactful pathways for low-carbon oriented urban regeneration, leading ultimately to sustainable cities.

Collusive bidding is a severe unethical and illegal practice in urban construction projects. This practice has been identified as the primary inhibitor of sustainable urban development. Collusive bidding is formed and can be profoundly impacted by the urban environment. Identifying the transmission routes of the impacts of the urban environment on collusive bidding is conducive to urban governors formulating collusive governance countermeasures to create a healthy pace of urbanization. Therefore, this study adopts the bootstrap method to empirically analyze the influence paths from the urban environment to bidders’ collusive willingness. The data come from 675 collusion cases in China’s urban construction projects and city environmental data. The research concludes that the urban environment affects collusive willingness mainly through indirect pathways. The number of collusive companies is the most critical mediating variable in the indirect path. Besides, when the collusive project and leading colluder are in the same province, little indirect utility can also be transmitted through the project profitability. These findings extend the body of knowledge on collusion-related studies in urban research. The study also offers practical implications, suggesting that urban governors and owners should take countermeasures to increase the difficulty of bidders to form a collusion team, thereby inhibiting collusive bidding.

The room for reducing carbon emissions and improving low-carbon practices in the building industry is significant. In this study, a bibliometric analysis shows that technology is the primary mechanism adopted for driving carbon reduction in the existing practices building industry, which is conducted by using the CiteSpace 6.2.R4 tool. It is considered that there is a limitation in promoting further low-carbon practices by technological dominance without a proper management paradigm. This paper, therefore, aims to search for a new management paradigm in order to help further reduce emissions in the building industry. This study adopts an innovative synergy theory to explain the mechanism by which the efforts of all management dimensions can be synergized to promote low-carbon practices in the building sector. Consequently, the outcome of this paper is the introduction of a total low-carbon management (TLCM) paradigm. Synergy theory supports our assertion that a joint force can be formed within the building industry system to drive TLCM practice, as all building-related elements (government departments, building organizations, building personnel, building activities, and building processes) in the system will have to follow the government’s actions towards low-carbon practices. The TLCM paradigm is integrated by five components: whole regulation, whole industry, whole enterprise, whole staff, and whole process. The new paradigm should be promoted to replace the existing technology-dominated paradigm in order to achieve low-carbon practices in the building industry. The TLCM paradigm will guide low-carbon management decisions and practices across all phases of the building project’s lifecycle, together with integrating quality and risk management.

Super-supportive CSR behaviors (SSCBs) are integrative actions devised to enhance the effectiveness of CSR initiatives by harmonizing social, environmental, and economic efforts. Despite their strategic role in business operations, SSCBs remain insufficiently addressed, especially within the construction sector. This study utilizes text mining and association rule mining to analyze 211 CSR reports from Chinese construction firms spanning 2010 to 2021. The key findings highlight the pivotal role of 17 SSCBs in strengthening CSR initiatives, revealing three major characteristics: foundational, synergistic, and triggering. Within the construction industry, SSCBs primarily focus on corporate governance, community development, employee welfare, and environmental sustainability, evolving from isolated practices to integrated systems over time. Notably, construction firms tend to adopt SSCB portfolios instead of standalone initiatives. Furthermore, exceeding a certain threshold of SSCBs may increase challenges in coordination and resource allocation. These insights highlight SSCBs as a dynamic, multidimensional construct and provide construction firms with a practical framework to integrate complementary CSR actions, improving coordination, optimizing resources, and strengthening sustainability outcomes in practice.

Improving urban land use efficiency is a critical pathway toward sustainable urban development, particularly in large countries undergoing rapid urbanization such as China. However, significant disparities in land use efficiency exist across cities, largely due to differences in economic development, resource endowments, and governance practices. These disparities highlight the necessity of conducting a systematic spatiotemporal assessment of land use mismatch at the city level to identify regional weaknesses and inform differentiated policy mechanisms. This study extends the land use mismatch (LUM) model, which introduces a supply–demand framework for analyzing the mismatch phenomenon of urban land use. Building on the LUM model, this study innovatively develops a classification system of five mismatch zones across eight construction land types, which provides a more systematic and comprehensive approach to identifying land use mismatch patterns. The empirical analysis is conducted using data from 283 prefecture-level cities in China. The results reveal substantial spatial heterogeneity in land use mismatch across Chinese cities. Most of the cities in East China generally fall within acceptable mismatch zones, where market mechanisms play a more effective role in land allocation. Cities in Western China exhibit more serious mismatch levels, where policy intervention seems more significant in land use planning. Cities in Central China demonstrate mixed patterns, ranging from acceptable to severe mismatch. The findings further indicate that these disparities are associated not only with economic and geographical differences but also with variations in governance practices, particularly the interaction between policy intervention and market mechanisms. This study introduces a new approach to examining the patterns of land use mismatch and provides evidence-based policy recommendations for cities in different regions to reduce land mismatch and promote more efficient use of urban land.