Studies in Art and Architecture

Research on the Perception of Community Public Space Vitality and Renewal Strategies Based on Deep Learning and Street View Data

Tinghui You — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Community public spaces serve as essential venues for the daily activities of urban residents, and their level of vitality directly affects the quality of the living environment and the sustainability of urban development. To scientifically evaluate the vitality of community public spaces and propose targeted optimization strategies, this study integrates deep learning techniques with multi-source street view data to construct a vitality perception evaluation framework focusing on five core dimensions: aesthetics, recognizability, functionality, comfort, and safety. Taking two representative neighborhoods in Shanghai—one in the city center and one in the suburban area—as case studies, the research employs visual semantic segmentation to perform pixel-level analysis of street view samples, quantifying the proportions of spatial elements such as buildings, greenery, roads, and public facilities. These data are then combined with Point of Interest (POI) information for kernel density and diversity analyses. The results show that central urban neighborhoods perform better in pedestrian paving, street furniture, POI density, and road accessibility, indicating a higher overall vitality perception level. In contrast, suburban neighborhoods exhibit slight advantages in traffic signage but generally suffer from lower green visibility, encroached pedestrian spaces, and insufficient green and environmental facilities, which constrain spatial vitality. The findings suggest that both types of neighborhoods insufficiently address user experience. Accordingly, this study proposes four renewal strategies—enhancing walkability, improving environmental attractiveness, enriching functional services, and strengthening safety perception—to maximize the effectiveness of public space use and provide a scientific basis for the optimization of urban living environments.

“Artification”: Market-Oriented Design Strategy of China Daily-Use Ceramics After Reform and Opening-up

Tao Tao — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

After the Reform and Opening-up, faced with intense market competition and low-value challenges, China’s ceramic industry began to shift its focus to design, attempting to expand domestic and international markets and increase product added value through the “artification of daily-use ceramics.” In this process, designers sought to enhance the decorative and aesthetic qualities of daily-use ceramics by combining artistic expression with advancements in materials and technology, aiming to meet consumers’ upgraded aesthetic demands. However, constrained by cost control, production technology, and design capabilities, many “artified” designs of daily-use ceramics have deviated from their original intent.

Residential Exclusion Mechanisms of Architectural Rehabilitation as an Urban Renewal Tool in the Old City of Barcelona

Raúl I. Álvarez — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines architectural rehabilitation as a mechanism of residential exclusion within the broader framework of urban renewal in the Old City of Barcelona. It argues that rehabilitation, though often framed as preservation and improvement, functions as an instrument of neoliberal transformation that reorganizes social hierarchies while aestheticizing inequality. Drawing on the theories of Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, Michel Foucault, and Sharon Zukin, the study situates rehabilitation within the production of space as a field of power where architecture, governance, and capital converge. The transformation of Ciutat Vella, particularly in Raval, is analyzed as both material and symbolic: the renewal of buildings accompanies the displacement of working-class and migrant populations, while heritage becomes a tool of market valorization and cultural branding. The research exposes the contradictions of socially conscious rehabilitation, where participation and inclusion operate as ideological instruments that legitimize inequality through design and visual order. It concludes by calling for a re-politicization of architectural practice and urban renewal, reclaiming the right to the city as a collective capacity to inhabit and define space beyond capital and spectacle.

How Material Surfaces Communicate Meaning in Contemporary Chinese Mixed-Media Art

Qian Sun — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines how material surfaces communicate meaning in contemporary Chinese mixed-media art. Rather than treating surfaces as secondary or decorative elements, the study approaches them as active sites of expression shaped by material choice, process, and sensory engagement. Through a conceptual analysis of recurring surface conditions, including roughness, layering, and wear, the paper demonstrates that meaning is produced through physical traces, perceptual resistance, and embodied experience rather than through explicit imagery or symbolic representation. The discussion further considers how everyday and discarded materials, as well as process-based surface formation, embed time, use, and material history directly into surface structures. By focusing on surface as a non-linguistic mode of communication, the paper offers an alternative framework for understanding how contemporary Chinese mixed-media art conveys experience, memory, and tension through material presence and sensory perception.

Theoretical Dilemmas of Artistic Originality in the Age of Digital Technology

A. J. Torres — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper explores the theoretical dilemmas of artistic originality in the age of digital technology. It examines how traditional concepts of authorship, authenticity, and creativity have been reshaped by digital reproduction, algorithmic systems, and networked forms of artmaking. The discussion begins with the modernist inheritance of originality, tracing how the Romantic idea of the artist as a singular genius evolved into a central value of modern art. It then considers how digital reproduction has destabilized the very notion of the “original,” as perfect copies can now circulate endlessly without loss or decay. The analysis extends to algorithmic creativity and the posthuman author, showing how artificial intelligence has turned creation into a shared process between human and machine. The paper also discusses the paradox of digital authenticity, focusing on how blockchain technology and NFTs attempt to restore the “aura” of originality described by Walter Benjamin. Finally, it argues for a relational theory of originality, where creative value lies not in isolation or ownership but in connection, collaboration, and circulation within digital culture. The study concludes that originality today is not lost but transformed, it now exists through relations, systems, and the continuous movement of meaning across human and technological networks.