This research investigates how tourism development can be balanced with ecological and cultural sustainability in the karst region of Puzhehei, Yunnan, China. In recent years, Puzhehei has experienced rapid tourism growth, resulting in overtourism and placing significant pressure on its fragile karst ecosystems and rich ethnic cultural heritage. The study identifies key challenges, including ecological vulnerability, cultural homogenization, and the absence of integrated governance.

A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining field surveys, stakeholder interviews, GIS-based spatial analysis, and ecological security pattern (ESP) modeling. The research evaluates the economic, ecological, and cultural effects of tourism. Based on the ESP analysis, the research develops a typological zoning framework that classifies the landscape into four categories: priority tourism development areas with ecological resilience, strictly protected fragile zones, ecologically important zones unsuitable for tourism, and potential reserve areas for future activation. This typology informs targeted planning principles and strategies that align tourism development with long-term ecological and cultural sustainability.
The research highlights the urgent need for a paradigm shift toward ecology- and culture-based tourism planning, emphasizing the integration of ecological science, local knowledge, and participatory governance. The analytical methods and design principles presented offer a replicable model for sustainable tourism development in ecologically sensitive areas, aiming to preserve both the natural and cultural distinctiveness of karst landscapes.

The Brussels-Capital Region (BCR) exemplifies a paradox of urban complexity: home to Europe’s political center and progressive policies, yet persistently struggling with social housing shortages and a high number of homeless individuals. Against the limited public social housing and a private rental market shaped by the homeownership-led housing market in the BCR (Costa & De Valk, 2018), this research proposes to develop a transitional housing stage that can mitigate the housing problem of Belgian nationality roofless people, ultimately enable them to transit more quickly and stably into the regular housing market.

The thesis is grounded in a theoretical framework that explores how social segregation among roofless individuals is reinforced by stigmatization, housing filtering, and Flanders' long-standing obsession with homeownership. It argues that securing housing justice is essential for regaining full citizenship, ultimately reducing social segregation. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research combines quantitative with qualitative analysis, drawing from 21 interviews with experts, roofless individuals, and local residents. Participants were asked to evaluate the key spatial indicators necessary for reintegration and assign weighted scores to their importance. These factors—such as the number of markets and stores by each monitoring district, were then mapped at the BCR level to create a Reintegration Supportiveness Index for Belgian nationality roofless people.

Based on the results, targeted transitional strategies are proposed for selected districts that have relatively low Reintegration Supportiveness Value, focusing on: (1) Stakeholder collaboration to enhance different actors to involve in neighborhoods activities; (2) Flexibility in housing typologies to unlock potential transitional housing spaces; (3) Needs-based spatial improvements at the neighborhood level to improve city space for roofless people to have more opportunities to interact with neighbors and receive more systemic supports. By implementing the housing strategy, the thesis not only offers a way to reduce rooflessness, but also creates opportunities for various vulnerable groups to participate, ensuring that everyone has a place to call home, access to stable housing, and a better chance to integrate into society.