In order to draw and analyze the current status of the research on the relationship between international urban street space (public space, public open space) and residents’ health, we explore the hotspots and frontiers of this research field and the overall evolution path from 1999 to 2019. This study uses 4552 related research articles included in the core database of Web of Science as the basis for data analysis, and uses the advantages of VOSviewer and CiteSpace’s bibliometric visualization software to study countries, institutions, literature keywords, and literature co-citation networks, combined with the Alluvial Generator analysis of landmark literature. In this research area, the research content is constantly enriching, including urban street networks, health systems, green spaces, road traffic, thermal comfort, and vulnerable people. The research methods are also constantly enriching. By analyzing and sorting out the current research status, research hotspots and possible future trends in this field of research, the paper hopes to provide more reference for research implementation.

The urban space environment has been proven to be related to the health of the elderly. However, as a high-density city, Macau’s limited urban space must cope with the growing population and the arrival of an aging society. In the existing studies, less attention has been paid to Macau, especially the relationship between Macanese elderly and urban space. This study uses Baidu Street View (BSV) on the Macau Peninsula and conducts field surveys to obtain street view data to evaluate the openness, greenness, interface coverage, and road area ratio of street space and its association with the physical and mental health of the elderly and social health. The results show that the data truly reflect the overall street space conditions on the Macau Peninsula. The street openness, greenery rate, and interface enclosure are all related to the elderly in various evaluations in areas with a higher population dependency index and aging index. Human space perception is related to health gain, and road area ratio is weaker than other indicators. The research results have certain policy implications and have practical significance for city managers and designers.

In the context of the research on local architectural culture of Macao, this paper explores how architecture’s cultural elements can be integrated into cultural and creative product design at the pre-development stage. Therefore, local culture can be effectively disseminated through the medium of cultural and creative products. However, in the process of product design, seemingly, designers often rely on their experience as the main way to develop ideas and designs. This approach can fall short in generating sufficient cognition and interpretation between culture and product design, and the product may fail to truly reflect cultural and creative values. This paper focuses on the cultural elements and the designer’s cognition in design development of cultural and creative products. It applies theoretical concepts of Kansei engineering theory as the basis, and, combined with the Semantic Differential Method, tries to extract the most powerful product image elements that influence designers for better understanding of the cultural elements in design development. This paper aims to employ scientific methods to enable designers to better develop designs with cultural and creative connotations, thereby improving the success rate of cultural and creative products. It further proposes a model process of image perception to be employed by designers in early design research and the development stage. By enhancing the resonance of cultural elements for cultural and creative products, the model may shorten the perceptual distance between the designer and the local culture, improve the designer’s product development efficiency, and increase consumer satisfaction with the design outcome through added cultural and creative value. As such, the model can optimize the design development for cultural and creative products to achieve the public’s aesthetic and cultural expectations, as well as for a sustainable design approach.

Background: Although algorithmic companionship is becoming an increasingly integral part of daily life, evidence remains fragmented regarding whether AI virtual companions can become stable attachment figures, and how such attachments influence users' psychological states and offline social behaviors. Understanding these dynamics is particularly crucial in rapidly digitizing environments such as China, where mobile AI virtual companion applications are widely adopted. Methods: This study takes a mixed-methods approach based on attachment theory. An initial systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to clarify the research variables and their theoretical foundations. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 users who had at least 6 months' experience of continuous usage to refine variable definitions and measurement items. Finally, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in mainland China ( N = 612). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the associations between usage frequency, emotional attachment, loneliness, subjective wellbeing, self-concept clarity, and real-world social engagement. After assessing the psychometric properties via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and reliability indices, the mediating pathways of these associations were examined. Results: The frequency of use positively correlates with emotional attachment to AI virtual companions (β = 0.44). Attachment negatively correlates with loneliness (β = −0.32) and positively with subjective wellbeing (β = 0.41) and self-concept clarity (β = 0.51). Of the three psychological pathways, those associated with loneliness, wellbeing, and self-concept clarity were found to be linked to higher levels of real-world social engagement. The indirect association via self-concept clarity was found to be the most significant. The model demonstrated an overall good fit [comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.97; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.04]. Conclusion: This study applies attachment theory to the domain of human–AI relationships, using Chinese users as a case study. It constructs a model that links ‘usage frequency, emotional attachment, psychological state, and real-world social engagement'. Self-concept clarity plays a vital role in bridging the gap between emotional attachment and real-world social engagement. Design implications include enhancing continuity features, contextual memory, and self-expression design, with the aim of fostering healthier psychological and social outcomes in AI virtual companion-related attachment.

It is commonly recognized that street spaces in high-density cities are able to cause negative impacts in terms of residents’ physical and mental health. This research intends to investigate and analyze how residents use street spaces in a high-density city in order to construct a healing environment for these street spaces. The research was conducted in Macao’s old town by using spatial syntax methods to define the research areas, and implemented on-site observations that evaluated the age of the residents in the space and the conditions of their usage of the space. The study collected data through expert grading and employed the Analytic Hierarchy Process to calculate the weight of each indicator in order to attain accurate and objective research outcomes. The evaluation results indicate that the current Macao street spaces are poor healing environments. By analyzing the effective factors for constructing a healing environment in these street spaces, so that residents can get more space for healing when they use it, the paper aims to provide a model example for those who are involved with city governance, planning and design.

With the rapid pace of global urbanization, the urbanization of resettlement communities in China has garnered increasing attention from scholars. This study, grounded in experiential value theory, delves into the relationship between public spaces in resettlement communities and their social cohesion. Focusing on resettlement communities in the central urban area of Fuzhou, this study employs a mixed-method approach to analyze the functional characteristics of public spaces using geospatial data, including their green coverage ratio, spatial accessibility, facility configuration, and neighborhood density. A correlation analysis and multiple linear regression were employed to identify the key elements influencing social cohesion. The results indicate significant disparities in the green coverage, accessibility, facility configuration, and neighborhood density of public spaces. These differences are evident in the quantitative metrics used and also reflect imbalances in spatial layout and resource distribution, highlighting potential pathways for optimizing the quality of public spaces. Further data analyses revealed that both emotional value (β = 0.602, p < 0.01) and functional value (β = 0.136, p < 0.01) have significant positive impacts on social cohesion, with emotional value being particularly influential. This study offers insights for urban planners and policymakers by providing scientific evidence for the optimization of public space design in resettlement communities, with implications for community governance and urban sustainability.