Building Community Trust in Historic and Cultural Districts:A Case Study on Shijia Hutong in Beijing

Concerning the complexity and diversity of demands in historic and cultural districts,the protection and regeneration planning(PRP)practice has been gradually shifted from spatial design to pluralistic and participatory community governance.Previous studies have pointed out that community trust is an essential means to eliminate social resistance and improve community cohesion and executive capability.However,the trustbuilding mechanism has been given little attention in urban planning.This study intends to improve the theoretical cognition of trust in community governance and provide suggestions for addressing issues of protection and regeneration planning in historic and cultural districts.With Shijia Hutong in Dongcheng District of Beijing,as an empirical case,this paper conducts a household survey and applies the Structural Equation Model(SEM)to explore the influencing elements and community trust-building path in the protection and regeneration planning from the perspective of residents.Through analyzing the influencing mechanism of residents’perception,it reveals that,firstly,pluralistic governance that is composed of the grass-roots government,NGOs,and residents can directly promote residents’perception of the protection and regeneration planning,and have a greater influence by facilitating public participation in building up community trust.Secondly,residents’perception of the protection and regeneration planning would not be improved if public participation failed to build up community trust.Thirdly,community trust consists of neighborhood trust and leadership trust,of which the latter is more important.These findings contribute a new perspective and solution to urban regeneration and heritage protection in the future.In addition,this study may inspire research on trust-building through urban planning,governance,and public participation.

How to Make Virtual Community More Active and Cohesive:From Brand and Perceived Protection Perspectives

With the increasing popularity of the Internet and mobile Internet, the Virtual Community （VC） is becoming an important medium for person-to-person communication. To realise the potential of the VC, it is neces- sary to cultivate within it good group cohesion and vitality. Using empirical and experimental research methods, this study explores the ef- fect of users＇ trust in the VC Platform （VCP） on group cohesion and vitality and how brand and perceived privacy security can affect us- ers＇ trust in the VC. The research results indi- cate that the brand of the VCP can directly af- fect users＇ trust in the VC, and can also influe- nce it indirectly through users＇ perceived pri- vacy protection and perceived security protec- tion. Further, this study also confu＇ms that the performance of the VC （group cohesion and vitality） is significantly affected by users＇ trust in the VC. The results of this study can provide theoretical guidance for internet companies to maintain and enhance the value of VCs.

Identity, Traditions and Lack of Environmental Behaviour

Place memories （traditions）, transmitted through art and the stories of a community, are key elements for the construction of individual and collective identity, connected to specific places. In this regard the authors examined how the representation of traditions affects place identity and in what ways the cultural heritage of the town might influence environmental forms of behaviour such as plans and projects. To this end the authors investigated the small town of Pagani in southern Italy, which has many ancient cultural traditions linked to specific locations and their rituals such as the festival of Our Lady of the Hens. Our contribution favours a qualitative approach in examining the data gathered and a participative methodology. The statistical analysis of the vocabulary distribution within 83 texts concerning town and its traditions, written by local citizens （52% male and 48% female） of different ages （range： 18-78） revealed a strong place identity. Narrative interviews （14） with key people were then analysed by means of grounded theory. In the perspective of conservation psychology the authors finally focussed on how feelings of impotence and social distrust influence relations between citizens and their local environment.