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The article aims to elucidate the impact that neoliberal tourism development has had on the living environment of the Old Town of Tallinn through the perceptions of residents and property owners.

This article's empirical analysis is based on a sociological survey conducted amongst 338 residents and property owners of Tallinn Old Town.

The research showed quite low tourism tolerance amongst the residents of Tallinn Old Town, the host community, in comparison to the city's residents in general. Half of the residents estimated the tourism load to be too heavy during the high season before the pandemic. The differences in perceptions based on geographical location indicated that people who lived in the most touristic areas of the Old Town were more critical about all aspects about their living environment.

The article provides a detailed insight into the social impact of tourism in a historical urban area, where the post-socialist neoliberal context has enabled unrestricted tourism growth and increasing vulnerability of the local community. The roots of these processes can be traced back to Soviet urban and housing policies. The case exemplifies the significance of local time-space specificities to be considered in building an understanding of contemporary touristification and its impact on local communities in heritage areas.

Regarding research on authenticity perception, this paper aims to pose the following questions: In different cultural regions, what are the different authenticity elements of old towns from a tourist perspective? What is the difference in authenticity perception in different cultural regions? How does the authenticity perception of old towns change in the tourismification process?

Combining eight cultural regions in China, this study focuses on 155 old towns to discuss the differences between authenticity perception of various old towns in different cultural regions and how the interactions between tourists and local places influence the perception of authenticity, with 11,387 user-generated photographs applied to interpret authenticity perception.

The study shows that the authenticity perceived by tourists varies greatly between farming and pastoral cultural regions; after authenticity loss, old towns with a long history of tourismification regain authenticity in tourists’ perception.

The findings could serve as a reference for tourism development and authenticity protection of old towns. Furthermore, the study explores a creative research method and theoretical framework for regional authenticity studies, which is significant in a global context. In the process of globalization, the implications of this study, including differences in authenticity perception within various cultural regions, will also be significant globally.

With the rapid development of modern economy and the process of urbanization is faster, a large number of historical relics have been mercilessly destroyed in the urban reconstruction. In order to balance the contradiction between urban development and historical heritage and promote the harmonious development of new and old urban areas, it is necessary to research on the old urban areas from the perspective of historical landscape. Old urban area of Jingdezhen is taken as an example in this paper, the present situation of the reconstruction of the old city in Jingdezhen is analyzed. Then, by using the methodology of urban historical landscape, some specific methods for updating and designing the old urban area reconstruction of Jingdezhen is put forward, such as the elements of spatial form, urban texture, historical and cultural landscape elements, streets and alleys, the Changjiang River, public facilities and landscape sketches, and so on. A new design method of landscape transformation of old urban area is established. As the renewal method of respecting the urban history and cultural heritage is a very intelligent urban renewal model, it is found that the application of urban historical landscape in the old urban city is reasonable and effective, which is based on the development of the old urban area and pursues the coexistence of protection and development.

In last year, the innovations in shipbuilding and logistics have opened the walled towns of Mediterranean port cities to cruise tourism and other culture-led regeneration strategies. Thus, walled towns in Mediterranean port cities have a particular development potential which questions about the opportunities and risks connected to any comprehensive regeneration strategy with a cultural and tourist purpose, especially for fortified systems whose continuity has been undermined. The paper aims to provide some guidelines for policy-makers and planners in port cities which have decided or are deciding to develop a comprehensive strategy and a knowledge framework for the walled town similar to those already adopted for fortified sites in the World Heritage List.

The paper investigates on the opportunities and risks connected to any comprehensive regeneration strategy with a cultural and tourist purpose for the walled towns through a comparative analysis of four Mediterranean seaport cities, selected as case studies. Cities which have developed an integrated strategy to inscribe their walled towns to the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

On the base of the case studies’ analysis, the paper proposes a critical reflection upon the management strategies for the UNESCO’s walled towns and supports a better understating of context factors as a way to strengthen the HUL approach when applied to Mediterranean seaport cities.

The paper sheds light on the application of the historic urban landscape approach to the walled towns of Mediterranean seaport cities. The paper is original because it provides: guidelines for policy-makers and planners in walled towns of Mediterranean seaport cities which have decided or are deciding to develop a comprehensive regeneration strategy for the city centre in line with those adopted in UNESCO’s fortified sites; a critical reflection upon the context factors which can strengthen the HUL approach when applied to Mediterranean seaport cities; criteria to update the HUL approach by UNESCO in analysing the conservation state, the managerial aspects, the participation and social aspects of walled towns.

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The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of locally-produced architectural design solutions for the provision of thermal comfort in the vernacular settlements of Mardin, Turkey.

With an aim of extracting clues of climate responsive design, the paper develops a socio-technical assessment methodology and presents a comparative inquiry between the vernacular and contemporary built environments of Mardin.

Findings display that the capacity of vernacular architecture in providing a more climate responsive living environment than contemporary one is in fact correlated with the design of living spaces in harmony with the local climatic conditions as well as how inhabitants traditionally use and behave in designed space.

The paper argues for a need for (re)conceptualization of thermal comfort within and through the production of housing, as well as by taking into account the ways in which end-users interact, adapt and sustain end-users' everyday life in accordance with the local climatic characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different notions about the conservation of built heritage develop in a situation of structural change that demands either the demolition or relocation of a large number of historic buildings.

The analysis is based on a case study of the on-going urban transformation of the Swedish mining town Kiruna. The investigation was based on the text analysis of urban planning documents and media reporting, which was used to distinguish stakeholders’ positions towards conservation based on authenticity aspects.

The conservation goals of the urban planning process are unclear and the stakeholders have conceptually different views regarding which parts of the town’s built heritage are of significance, which negatively affects the ability to make well informed, transparent and intelligible management decisions. Stakeholder views on the management of built heritage span from the relocation of a few, single historic buildings to maintaining the integrity of the town as a heritage site by moving a significant number of buildings.

The Kiruna case, being exceptional because conservation in situ is impossible, has the potential to highlight the relation between single historic buildings and the integrity of an urban heritage site, as well as implications for conservation on the urban scale.

This investigation contributes to knowledge of built heritage in situations of structural change, which is of concern for planning and conservation practice. Currently, many urban areas are under pressure of transformations or destruction.

At the turn of the twenty-first century, a “new orthodoxy” in explaining homelessness had emerged in the field of homeless research. Combining structural and individual factors, the consensus is that people with personal problems are more vulnerable than others to the structural conditions of becoming homeless.

Drawing on a three-year ethnographic study of older homeless people (aged 50 years and above) in Singapore, this chapter highlights three issues with this new orthodoxy. The first is the continued reliance on a strict dichotomy of structural and individual factors. This strict dichotomy does not reflect the realities in people’s lives. The “individual vulnerabilities” of older people in the study had structural dimensions that must be considered as well. The second is the framing of individual vulnerabilities as individual pathologies. This way of framing homelessness results in the assumption that there is something deficient with all people who are homeless that requires correction. Such a view is encapsulated in the compulsory institutionalisation and rehabilitation of rough sleepers in Singapore. The final and most fundamental issue is the problematic association of individual vulnerabilities with one’s heightened risk of becoming homeless. Older people in the study did not become homeless solely because they had more personal problems or issues than others. Rather, multiple pathways (or life events) that encompass both structural and individual factors weakened their ability to draw resources from work, family and friends and government assistance. Homelessness occurred when older people in the study ran out of all these three options.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of beneficial externality generated by the World Heritage List (WHL) on residential property values in order to offer new insights into heritage discourses.

The study uses the hedonic price model to estimate empirically the difference in prices for residential properties located in the Old Rauma World Heritage. The study uses residential sales transaction data from the City of Rauma from January 2005 to September 2012 drawn from an online database called KVKL Hintaseurantapalvelu managed by the Central Federation of Finnish Real Estate Agencies.

The research results indicate a positive, but insignificant, relationship between the property sale prices (euros/sqm) and heritage designation. However, the total sale prices are higher in Old Rauma as the properties are significantly larger in Old Rauma compared to other properties in Rauma.

Studies in heritage economics have assessed the influence of the property market on heritage listing and designation at either the national level, the local level or a mix of national/local levels. This paper contributes to the literature by analysing the impact of a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) world heritage designation on residential property values. UNESCO is the leading global institution which deals with the protection of heritage sites that transcend national and local boundaries.