A comprehensive understanding of water systems across space and time is key, both for sustainable urban development and heritage preservation. However, so far, a clear methodology that links the exploration of the past and the protection of heritage properties to the design of the future is still missing. We argue that an exploration of heritage through the lens of water systems using a narrative approach can facilitate the understanding and protection of heritage properties and connect heritage protection to water system thinking. In this research, we established a methodology to collect, code, categorise, and interpret the descriptions of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage properties created by state members and approved by UNESCO to better understandthe role that water systems currently play in the identification and protection of heritage properties. Based on our findings, we argue that adding water to the analysis of heritage can help overcome the ‘culture-nature’ divide. It can also facilitate the systematic thinking necessary for understanding the historic role of heritage properties and facilitating their protection. A water narrative approach can give due recognition to indigenous water narratives in heritage identification and value assessment. We stress the need for a new water awareness and water narrative, considering the input of a wide range of stakeholders to help develop shared strategies for how to identify, treat, utilise, and manage water resources and make them an inherent part of the balanced and sustainable development of historical waterfront cities. The UNESCO Historic Urban Landscape approach and the World Heritage Canopy offer potent tools to tackle current challenges and to emphasise the importance of the new narrative and contribute to its composition.@en

The designation of cultural heritage, especially the World Cultural Heritage Site, is extensively discussed regarding its impacts on tourism destination branding. However, the impact of the designation(s) of World and/or National Cultural Heritage Site on affective city image and behavioural intention is still under-researched. This study aims to investigate the respective impact of visitors’ awareness of the world and national heritage status on existential authenticity perceived at the heritage site, affective city image, and behavioural intention. The quantitative research method was employed to test the proposed structural model. A structured questionnaire was sent, and 363 valid responses were collected from domestic visitors at the Xiaoling Tomb of the Ming Dynasty, China. The results demonstrate that cultural heritage designation, whether it is a world or a national one, when recognised by domestic visitors, determines the shaping of a positive affective image of the city hosting the heritage site, as well as visitors’ future intentions. However, visitor awareness of the world status and national status does not condition the affective city image and behavioural intentions in the same manner. This research takes the lead to stress the significant role of national heritage status in city branding and urges managerial attention@en

Maritime heritage structures, such as cranes or warehouses, are typical for historical port cities around the world and many of them have received recognition as having Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. They have often been preserved and revitalized as expressions of former shipping networks and urban power after containerization in the 1960s when modern ports moved out of their historic inner-city locations to urban peripheries. To learn more about the conceptualization of port heritage as part of global flows and local urban systems, we manually checked 1121 abstracts of world heritage sites published on the UNESCO World Heritage Centre website ¹, exploring a group of words describing the typology of buildings and structures associated with port functions and activities. We found 107 World Heritage Sites (out of 1121) related to port cities. By analysing the abstracts of the 107 sites, the authors established a series of findings. Firstly, the concepts of port city and port heritage reflected in the abstracts do not align with the definitions given by encyclopaedias or by people interested in port city research. The texts placed on the UNESCO World Heritage Centre website mainly focus on specific heritage types and values, rather than the bigger picture of maritime-related structures. Secondly, the listed port heritage sites appear to emphasize three port city functions: maritime trade, defence and colonial practices. Other functions that include housing, leisure or religion are rarely mentioned in the abstracts. Thirdly, since port cities are places where sea meets the land, nature meets human settlements, they should stress the nature-culture connection. Yet, the listed world heritage sites present a culture-nature dichotomy in the testified OUV.

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Centuries of trade have left their traces in the culture and society of port cities. This paper explores the usefulness of the concept “maritime mindset” to recognize these traces, and analyses it from different disciplinary perspectives. In the second part, it proposes the practice of “deep mapping” as a methodology of identifying and documenting expressions of maritime culture and trade in public space. In conclusion, it addresses some questions that are crucial when addressing a maritime mindset, such as whether it is a top-down or bottom-up mindset, which spatial scale it entails, and whose values and interests the mindset represents. Ultimately, we argue that (deep) mapping can play a role in producing a more layered spatial, social and cultural understanding of the complex nature of port cities.@en

This article firstly emphasizes the perspective viewing public spaces as places where meaningful spatial quality, i.e., atmosphere, is generated through multi-sensory spatial experiences, secondly proves that atmosphere has a positive direct impact on affective city image, also a positive indirect impact on behavioural intention, and finally proposes strategies of designing, managing and representing architectures and urban spaces, for city image formulation and communication. Nanjing, a historical Chinese city eager to re-image, is chosen as the case area to testify the significance of multi-sensory spatial perception in shaping one's affection for a city. The study reviews the key dimensions composing multi-sensory experience in public spaces, also interviews 162 visitors and 201 residents. The results suggest that, for sustainable urban development, the design, management and promotion of iconic public spaces should holistically enhance people's haptic, audible and visual experience in motion to facilitate perception of atmosphere.

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Water has served and sustained societies throughout history. Understanding the complex and diverse water systems of the past is key to devising sustainable development for the future with regard to socioeconomic structures, policies, and cultures. Today, past systems form the framework for preservation and reuse as well as for new proposals. In this course, you will learn how to identify the spatial, social and cultural aspects of water heritage in your environment. You will investigate real situations, assess specific issues and evaluate the impact of potential measures, following existing expertise on water heritage and water management traditions as a model for your own practice.@en

The discrepancy between authenticity regarding heritage conservation and perceived authenticity in heritage tourism has been extensively discussed and seen as an obstacle for sustainable heritage tourism and management. In this article, we reviewed the notion of authenticity respectively in heritage conservation and in heritage tourism, interviewed 5 experts and 363 tourists regarding three cultural heritages in Nanjing, China. Findings indicate that once visitors are fully aware of the essential nature, the cultural significance of the cultural heritage, and the connotation of authenticity in heritage conservation, they can assess the cultural values and the authenticity of a given heritage property intellectually from the perspective of conservation. Tourists’ assessment also significantly affects their perceived authenticity and satisfaction. We argue that, heritage conservation can be compatible with heritage consumption, by publicizing sufficient heritage information and encouraging the exchange of heritage knowledge between conservation practitioners and the public.

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Starting from the theoretical thinking of ‘Spatial Narration’ and ‘Programming’, this paper investigates the meaning of ‘Programming’ in ‘Spatial Narration’. Viewing ‘Programming’ as a core mean of spatial narration, this paper explores its representation and significance in architectural projects designed by OMA. Its performance includes reprogramming of the horizontal and vertical spatial order and temporal sequence in experience, as well as the juxtaposition of multiple temporal and functional contexts. Through careful programming in design process, OMA embeds a critical sense of identity and a sense of place with rich temporal and spatial experience in its architecture.@en

Past studies have demonstrated the remarkable energy-saving effect of vertical greenery systems. The vast majority of these works focus on opaque building walls. While external shadings on windows are more effective than these on walls. Inspired by the climbing plants (vines) raised outside windows by residents, the present study proposed the design of movable green window shading systems (MGWSS) that can shade beam solar radiation but allows soft daylighting. On the basis of simplified MGWSS models, experiments were conducted in summer to evaluate the shading performance with three plant species. First, the energy-saving effect and climatic data were measured for test rooms with west-facing windows. The results indicated that the presence of green shading reduced the impact of solar radiation on the cooling energy consumption with the correlation coefficients from 0.94 to 0.61. Then, the shading coefficient, which is a key parameter for energy saving, was measured by a new technique using photovoltaic panels. The correlation between the coverage rate and the surface-averaged shading coefficient was established. The results showed that when the coverage rate of the MGWSS with Dishcloth gourd was 80%, the shading coefficient was 0.28, and the cooling energy consumption and heat flux transferred through the window glass were reduced by 11.5% and 64.8%, respectively. The shading characteristic was investigated using the instantaneous data. It found that stronger ambient solar radiation resulted in better shading performance (lower shading coefficient). For a west-facing window, the best shading performance was found at oblique solar incidence angles.

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This paper argues that a gap exists between the marketing of shore excursions and cruise tourists’ expectations of ‘local flavor’ experiences. The paper first establishes that this discrepancy exists, then aims to refine the focus of marketing and promotion, and finally proposes strategies for improving cruise tourists’ satisfaction. Amsterdam, a city eager to attract more cruise tourists, is chosen as the case area to evaluate the alignment of marketing and passenger expectation. The study is based on an analysis of tours proposed by cruise companies, using a word frequency analysis of their narratives, and on structured interviews with 228 passengers. The result indicates that marketers should more effectively focus on and promote ‘local flavor’ experience. They could place a stronger emphasis on local identity by cooperating with more local partners and engaging tourists in product design.

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The cultural attributes of architecture in touristic cities are vital to city image building, city branding, and rebranding, as well as generating more economic profits for sustainable urban development, and protecting cultural sustainability. However, many studies on this theme focus on the singularity of architecture referring to its stylistic or morphological definitions, lacking attention to visitors' cultural experiences in the architectures. Considering the importance of personal experience involved in cultural activities as a process of spatial narration through which architecture makes sense to visitors and generates cultural values, the aim of this paper is to reveal the respective correlations between different types of architecture regarding the cultural experience it imparts and the non-positive dimensions of the city image. This research builds a categorization system of three cultural types of architecture, and designs a questionnaire to collect tourists' personal opinions concerning architectures and the city image of Amsterdam's waterfront in order to calculate such correlations statistically. The results associate architectures with 'tourism-oriented', 'present/process-based', and 'mass' cultural types with non-positive dimensions of city image, which leads to further discussions of 'authenticity', 'identity', and 'mass culture', suggesting the significance of urban cultural policies and local communities in terms of city rebranding.

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