In the context of urban development transitioning from incremental expansion to stock renewal, architectural education urgently requires the establishment of a teaching paradigm oriented toward urban regeneration. This study employs a set of outcomes from the joint graduation design of four schools as a research sample, dissecting the imaging city conceptual framework and methodological system based on iconographic algorithms. A three-tiered analytical framework is constructed, comprising urban cognition, imaging model construction and renewal strategy generation. Focusing on Xicang block, the research integrates multi-source data to construct an imaging city model, proposing a trinity of territorial continuity strategies encompassing cultural gene decoding, business vitality reconfiguration and residential space adaptability. At the operational level, the multiply algorithm is applied to evaluate design interventions, effectively activating spatial vitality within Xicang district. The study further argues that architectural education in the digital information era must transcend the constraints of traditional vocational orientation, establishing a cultivation model that integrates rational analysis with perceptual cognition. Emphasizing that architects, as place-based actors in urban renewal, should comprehend urban everydayness from authentic lived perspectives, they must reconcile the complexities and contradictions of urban space through design interventions. Consequently, the conventional teaching philosophy centered on training professional architects requires revision, shifting from singular skill training to cross-disciplinary, comprehensive quality cultivation. This research contributes methodological innovations to architectural disciplines to address urban renewal transformations, offering significant implications for redefining architects’ professional roles and facilitating pedagogical system transitions.