Urban greenways in dense cities face land constraints and changing ecological and social demands. This study develops a process-oriented framework from social–ecological systems (SES) theory and examines it through an explanatory documentary case study of Fukuoka, Japan. Planning and project records and published studies dated 1974–2025 were assessed through theory-guided pattern matching across river corridors, the urban core, and coastal areas. The framework links adaptability, social–ecological coupling, and governance feedback to three proposed mechanisms: spatial resource reorganization, context-dependent value realization, and feedback-enabled adaptation. River-edge reuse, vertical greenery, and phased coastal opening document distinct forms of spatial renewal. Published ACROS studies provide bounded thermal evidence and a later fungal-community observation; comparable service outcomes across the three settings remain unavailable. Public and expert comments can be traced into planning text and indicator design. A supplementary park-design episode also links residents’ requests to a revised scheme for a playground opened in 2025, although individual as-built changes and subsequent benefits are unverified. The case qualifies the framework by distinguishing project change from network completion, service potential from observed outcomes, and design uptake from a completed adaptive cycle.

Health-promoting trail (HPT) networks can provide spatial support for walking-based physical activity and healthy city development. Yet existing planning approaches often address environmental suitability or route optimization without fully integrating spatial continuity, network generation, and service potential. This study develops a data-driven framework for HPT network planning using multi-source spatial data (MSSD), with the eastern urban area of Qingdao, China, as a case study. Previously published choice-based conjoint (CBC) preference estimates were used to weight eight environmental indicators in a geographic information system (GIS) to calculate a fitness suitability index (FSI). Connection nodes were linked by routes minimizing the length-weighted inverse FSI, and urban spaces with high continuity potential were incorporated as planning corridors. The generated network’s service potential was evaluated through Euclidean proximity coverage of residential locations and estimated population, together with network length within residential proximity buffers. The spatial assessment identified limited provision of long continuous walking segments in the existing walking network. The proposed integration identified opportunities for longer continuous walking corridors and extensive potential residential coverage. By linking preference-informed assessment, geospatial network generation, and service potential evaluation, the framework supports sustainable urban planning by identifying opportunities to coordinate existing urban spatial resources for health-promoting walking infrastructure.

Coastal promenades support outdoor physical activity, yet how spatial morphology relates to thermal–response patterns during winter exercise remains unclear. This study examined physiological, cognitive, and psychological responses during standardized brisk walking at three coastal promenade locations in Qingdao, China. Sixteen healthy young adults completed the same protocol at all locations. Air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, spatial characteristics, and multidimensional human responses were analyzed using linear mixed models. Linear mixed models identified an enclosure ratio × air temperature interaction for mind–body connection: the temperature–mind–body connection relationship was more negative in the semi-enclosed condition than in the open conditions, indicating greater temperature sensitivity in the semi-enclosed setting. Other spatial–thermal and thermal/individual associations across physiological, cognitive, affective, exercise-related, and thermal-perceptual outcomes were exploratory or response-specific. Together, these findings characterize winter coastal walking as a multidimensional human–environment experience. They also motivate future design tests that combine spatial diversity with opportunities for users to choose between exposure and localized protection.