Search

Abstract: Recent years have seen increasing demand for wider application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA), especially SEA of major policies, as a powerful instrument to safeguard the environment during the rapid industrialization and urbanization in China. Debates on SEA are concentrated on its feasibility and effective implementation in practice. This study applies Emergy analysis within the framework of social–economic–natural complex eco-system theory to overcome the limitations of methods used for assessing regional sustainability so far. This established model is tested in the case of Chinese paper industry to assess the sustainability of 5 policy scenarios. The results show that Emergy-based Indices (EbI) are more effective to measure the sustainability of industry complex ecosystem, thus EbI approach is very useful in SEAs on policy scenarios of a given complex ecosystem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To cope with the severe challenges related to traditional economic-centered urbanization, the Chinese government has proposed a people-oriented new-type urbanization strategy, which focuses on promoting the coordination and sustainable development of the environment, economy, and society. The existing literature has studied the impact of traditional urbanization on energy use but has not yet revealed the mechanisms and effects of the new transformation of urbanization on energy efficiency. Based on socio-economic-natural complex ecosystem theory, this paper systematically explains how new-type urbanization affects energy efficiency. By adopting a newly developed dynamic panel threshold model, the paper examines the complex impact of new-type urbanization on energy efficiency using panel data of 285 cities in China from 2003 to 2017. The results show that new-type urbanization has a significant double-threshold effect on energy efficiency. As the new-type urbanization level increases, the improvement effect of new-type urbanization on energy efficiency presents the change features of "strong-weakened-stronger." The heterogeneity analysis shows that under the constraints of multiple factors, such as new-type urbanization stages, geographic regions, economic development levels, and resource endowment, the impact of new-type urbanization on energy efficiency varies significantly. Targeted and differentiated policy recommendations for promoting new-type urbanization and energy efficiency are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges in the transition to a low-carbon economy is how to improve the energy and environmental performance of migrants. China has experienced rapid urbanization and a surge in domestic migration in recent years. People migrate within China are an indispensable integral part of sustainable development. Do migrants engage in environmental affairs to the same extent as the locals? Extant literatures have paid insufficient attention to this topic. This paper contributes to the understanding of differences in environmental participation among urban residents who hold varying types of household registration (namely, hukou) identity. Drawing on large-scale survey datasets and the technique of matching, the study finds that: (1) the environmental engagement of migrants is less active than those owning hukou , (2) migrants' duration of residence, household income, and the level of barriers to obtaining local hukou moderate the above relationship, and (3) the lack of social trust and sense of belonging that comes with the absence of hukou identity are channels constraining migrants' environmental involvement. This article contends that further reform of the hukou system might be necessary to incentivize migrants to take a more proactive role in environmental matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural China is experiencing rapid socioeconomic transformations, including suburbanisation and rural gentrification. In this paper, we argue that to understand these processes, we have to take into account the changes in rural land rights. Based on an analysis of a pilot case for China's rural collective commercial construction land (RCCCL) reform policy at the edge of Chengdu City, we demonstrate how state-led rural land reform paves the way for stealthy land dispossession and rural gentrification. Our argument in this paper is threefold. First, given the entrenched collective land use rights of rural villagers in China, state-led land commodification, is a necessary condition for rural gentrification in China. Secondly, the prospect of capital accumulation through rural gentrification motivates entrepreneurial public and private actors to promote such reforms in ways that dispossess rural peasants and peasant collectives of their land (use) rights. Thirdly, the particularities of dispossession through state-led land reform result in particular experiences of displacement and displacement pressure on the side of affected rural communities. Our findings contribute to the decentring of rural gentrification theory, in that they underline the necessity to include the particular histories of land commodification and dispossession in our understanding of rural gentrification in contexts where rural land is partly or wholly shielded from market influences. In the case of China, dynamics of rural gentrification are blurring the rural-urban boundary on three dimensions: political economy (land use governance), material infrastructure (landscape and residential architecture), and socio-cultural practices (rural livelihoods and identity). • Rural land regimes structure peri-urban development in China. • Land commodification is a precondition for rural gentrification in China. • Original villagers are dispossessed and displaced. • Rural gentrification blurs the rural-urban boundary in terms of land use (rights), landscape and social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversity is influential and integral in innovation and economic growth. Despite the extensive research on the relationship between diversity and innovation, little attention has been paid to dialect diversity. The paper fills the research gap by investigating the impact and mechanism of dialect diversity on urban innovation in China. Also, this paper confirms the potential role of language as a non-institutional factor in urban innovation. Based on data from 276 prefecture-level cities in China, we find that dialect diversity impedes urban innovation. Moreover, in mechanism, it is not the communication barriers, but rather the identity from dialectal diversity that reduces regional trust to constrain urban innovation. Finally, we find that the negative impact of dialect diversity on urban innovation is continuous and more pronounced in eastern and southern cities. The conclusions not only enrich the theoretical research on innovation but also provide insights on how to promote language diversity governance and urban innovation for China and other countries. • Dialect diversity profoundly affects innovation in non-immigrant countries. • Dialectal diversity has a significantly negative impact on the level of urban innovation in China. • The impact of dialectal diversity on urban innovation level is heterogeneous, with southern regions and eastern regions experiencing a greater degree of inhibition in China. • The regional culture and identity embodied in dialects form trust barriers, leading to lower regional trust, which in turn inhibits urban innovation. • The mechanism that dialectal diversity influences urban innovation level is the obstacle of trust, rather than oral communication barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Incorporating water quality into the WEF system pressure (WEFSP) evaluation framework. • Exploring the impact of new-type urbanization (NU) on WEFSP. • WEFSP exhibits an inverted "U-shaped" characteristic under NU. • China's current level of NU has exceeded the threshold of the Environmental Kuznets Curve. • Economic and spatial urbanization contribute to the reduction of the WEFSP. To address the resource and environmental challenges posed by rapid urbanization, China has devised and executed the strategy of new-type urbanization (NU). This study aims to discuss the effects of NU on resource pressure in view of the water-energy-food (WEF) system. Taking 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2020 as samples, this paper firstly establishes a comprehensive evaluation indicator system of NU from the population, economic, spatial, social and eco-environmental dimensions, and assesses the level of NU using the entropy weight method. Secondly, this paper uses the gray water footprint as a measurement indicator, innovatively integrating water quality into the WEF system for assessing WEF system pressure (WEFSP). Finally, the impact of NU on WEFSP is explored based on the panel fixed effects model. The findings revealed: (1) There is an inverted "U-shaped" relationship between NU and WEFSP, and China's current level of NU has exceeded the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) threshold. (2) The impact of NU on WEFSP exhibits significant regional heterogeneity, with a significant impact in the eastern region. (3) NU consistently exacerbates regional water stress when water quality is considered, indicating that sustainable urban water management practices are essential. (4) The subdimensions of NU indicate that population and social urbanization are important factors that exacerbate the WEFSP, while economic and spatial urbanization reduce the WEFSP. The research results help to clarify the impact of NU on the WEFSP and provide a reference for the timely adjustment and optimization of NU policies to achieve effective resource management and regional sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper we present a case study where the Swedish planning support system Citylab is applied to a Chinese case in Changzhou's Tianning District. Design/methodology/approach -- China's planning system is a vertical system based on policy development on the national level, policies which are to be implemented on local level. There is a gap between the ambitious central policies and the implementations on local levels. China is now exporting its planning model to other developing countries which makes it urgent to show examples of other strategies including more horizontal planning involving the public. The planning system in Sweden is based on a much more horizontal process. Therefore, the authors try to learn from Sweden's vertical planning system in the urban development environment of China. Findings -- A key message for policy makers in China is that systems like Citylab can play an important role in developing practical and scalable examples of more sustainable city districts. The paper concludes that a barrier for local sustainability planning in China is still lack of effective communication between local actors including the public. Originality/value -- The authors exemplified Changzhou Tianning District's practical exploration, thus proving the adapted Citylab method's practical operability. Based on the common problems faced by eco-city development in developing countries, the method framework of Citylab is applicable to other developing countries, with strong roomfor deduction and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the rapid urban expansion and the rise of consumer society, urban fringe areas have become an essential place for urban capital to intervene and achieve spatial regeneration, and it has triggered the consumerization and transformation of space. Taking Guangming Town in the urban fringe area of Shenzhen as an example, this paper reveals the process and dynamics of spatial consumerization transformation under the influence of capital intervention. It examines the intricate mechanisms of capital operation underlie the production of space, and endeavors to explore a novel model of rural spatial regeneration in China's urban fringe areas. This paper found that the production of space in Guangming Town under the capital intervention includes the material production and social relations production. With the reconstruction of spatial form and relationships, new local products, spatial configuration, social services and organizational relations are generated, forming a consumption space with heterogeneous landscape, market institutionalized management, commercialization and symbolization. The realization of the production of consumption space in urban fringe areas is based on the joint action of core elements such as land, capital and government, which provide the material foundation, operational power and coordination organization for space consumption. These promote capital to complete the triple cycle of "acquiring land - creating space scarcity - realizing space consumption", and then realizing space reproduction and capital appreciation. In the Chinese context, the spatial transformation and production of urban fringe areas should not be regarded as a local practice of Western counter-urbanization or rural gentrification theory. Rather, it as a new spatial regeneration mode that harmonizes urban and rural production, lifestyles and development trajectories. This paper offers valuable practical insights and analytical perspectives for promoting integrated urban-rural development and fostering a new type of urbanization, thereby broadening the regional framework of rural development. • Capital intervention shapes space by material and social relations production, leading to space consumerization. • Land, capital and government are the core elements to achieve production of consumption space in urban fringe areas of China. • China's urban fringe areas realize space reproduction through land acquisition, creating space scarcity, and consumerization. • Space consumerization of China's urban fringe areas is a new spatial regeneration mode, coordinating urban-rural elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Evaluation for urban green land use efficiency (UGLUE) of resource-based cities. • The UGLUE has experienced a trend of first fluctuating and then improving. • Industrial upgrading, financial development and technological innovation are main factors. • Spatial-temporal heterogeneity in the impact of different factors on UGLUE. The green use of urban land has become a key for the sustainable transformation of resource-based cities. This paper selects 116 Chinese resource-based cities to construct an evaluation system for urban green land use and measure its efficiency. Secondly, it identifies driving factors affecting urban green land use efficiency (UGLUE) and comprehensively analyze the heterogeneity of these factors. The important findings of this paper include: (1) The UGLUE of resource-based cities in China has experienced a trend of first fluctuating and then improving. However, there are obvious regional differences. The UGLUE in the eastern and western regions are higher than those in the central and northeastern regions. (2) Industrial upgrading, financial development and technological innovation are key factors affecting UGLUE in resource-based cities. (3) There is significant heterogeneity in the impact of different factors in different city types, different regions and different time periods. The land use in resource-based cities should transform from blind expansion in pursuit of short-term economic benefits to a green development that pursues the coordination of economic, social, and ecological benefits based on the local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviewed the history of the coupling relationship between land consolidation and urban-rural development in China since 1949. It found that, although land consolidation projects in non-integrated urban-rural development phases improved the quality and quantity of cultivated land, it did not improve the rural decline effectively before 2013 because it focused more on land issues and did not complement and stimulate urban and rural development. Comprehensive land consolidations in China are expected to operate as both a tool and a platform for the operation of a developmental policy that aims to promote rural vitalisation through the integration of urban-rural development. The case of Huai Town was analysed using a framework of Rural In Situ Urbanisation (RISU) through a semi socio-economic restructuring. This was done to present an innovative style of RISU in which villagers live in towns and their livelihoods, living spaces, and public services are urbanised while they still retain both their rural land rights and rural household registrations, which allowed for the integration of urban and rural resources, the protection of villagers' interests, and a smooth social transition. The key factors for these comprehensive land consolidations to help combat rural decline include a bottom-up, community-supported structure; a coordinated approach incorporating livelihood transformation, population urbanisation, and land urbanisation, with livelihood transformation serving as the foundation; and the protection of villagers' rights and interests. • Land consolidation projects before 2013 in China did not improve the rural decline effectively. • Comprehensive land consolidations in China are expected to operate as both a tool and a platform for the operation of a developmental policy that aims to promote rural vitalization. • The key factors for comprehensive land consolidations to help combat rural decline include a community-supported structure; a coordinated approach and the protection of villagers' rights. • The type of RISU in the case township achieved the integration of urban and rural elements to combat rural decline in which villagers who lived in small towns were still with rights to village land collective ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we first detect the uneven distribution of regional inequality in rural China with the per capita net income data at county level, and then diagnose the various factors that contribute to this as well as its driving mechanisms using the four-dimension transitional framework. The results suggest that rural inequalities are clustered at the province level, and those most unequal regions tend to be geographically gathered. Stemming from the framework, the study reveals that the spatio-temporal disparity in rural inequality is deeply embedded in the quadruple-transition process of marketization, globalization, decentralization and urbanization. Employing both the pooled OLS and spatial regime models, the study further unfolds that influences of the transition processes are diversified across regions and study periods. We finally argue that human investment rather than economic growth plays the key role in reducing the rural inequality in eastern provinces, and that the formulation of policies in line with regional characteristics would be helpful to address or alleviate rural inequality. • The uneven distribution of regional inequality in rural China is detected. • Major contributors and impetus of the disparities of rural inequality is diagnosed. • Rural inequalities tend to be geographically gathered. • Spatio-temporal disparity in rural inequality is deeply embedded in China's transitional process. • Human investment plays the key role in reducing the inequality in eastern provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land finance dependency has become an intriguing yet contentious tool for promoting economic prosperity. In China, the impact of regional coordinated development policies on land finance dependency is evident. However, these internal influencing mechanisms have not been unveiled. In response, this paper used the difference-in-difference model to explore the effects of urban agglomeration development on land finance dependency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) in China. The findings underscore that urban agglomeration development played a significant role in reducing land finance dependency. Specifically, this impact exhibited negative effects in the Yangtze River Delta and the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River, while the Chengdu Chongqing Urban Agglomeration experienced positive effects. Furthermore, the effects were found to be more pronounced in mature urban agglomerations compared to those in growing urban agglomerations. Additionally, the moderating effects results indicate that investment incentives, rather than fiscal gaps, played a crucial role in reducing the impact of urban agglomeration development on land finance dependency. However, industrial agglomeration can strengthen the impact of urban agglomeration development on land finance dependency. Consequently, it is advisable to implement tailored top-down policies to promote urban agglomeration development, in order to effectively alleviate land finance dependency and enhance the land finance system. • A framework of urban agglomeration development affecting land finance dependency is proposed. • Urban agglomeration development contributes to reducing land finance dependency. • Geographical heterogeneity and growth cycle heterogeneity can be found in the relationship. • Top-down policies and bottom-up industrial agglomeration should be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rich body of literature is stressing the crucial importance of migration and market evolution on the underutilization of housing in cities. Rural housing is unique given its less mature market structure. Drawing on an empirical case of Sunan, the work reported in this paper addresses underlying mechanisms of housing land underutilization in rural China. Employing a multi-level modeling approach, results suggest that the likelihood of underutilization relates to household and village features, such as family attributes, housing/parcel characteristics, type of villages, and geographical locations. Additionally, underutilization was also closely associated with regional contexts including local economic development levels and migration patterns. Theoretically, we conceptualized rural housing land underutilization as a land use transition with villagers' awareness of policy change possibilities in the context of both rapid urbanization and rural transformation with nested hybrid results. We argue that urban-rural differences do not induce underutilization. Rather, policy-induced overbuilding of new houses and insistence on retaining uninhabited older houses combined with the tendency for villagers' to view investments as a mechanism to retain ties to their rural hometowns drove underutilizaiton. • We propose a multi-scalar analytical framework on the underutilization of rural housing land. • We identify the nested impacts of factors at different levels on the utility of rural housing land. • The dualistically organized regime is argued as the primary driver of housing land underutilization in rural China. • The transition of rural space from productivism to post-productivism matters as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examines how urban conservation unevenly incorporates peri-urban village land and housing. • Details how uneven incorporation shapes social differentiation. • Shows how uneven incorporation shapes experiences of rural-urban transitions. • Develops a volumetric conceptual framework including multiple dimensions of space and time. • Reorients approaches to agrarian and urban questions through attention to their interconnections. A central feature of China's "green" development plan has been the creation of conservation zones across the peri-urban fringes of major cities. In these conservation zones, rural land and housing are being unevenly incorporated into urban space, leading to a diverse set of experiences for dislocated villagers. In this paper, I develop a volumetric approach to analyze the spatial politics of agricultural and urban transitions in China's conservation zones. I advance theories of vertical and volumetric space, which consider relations across heights, depths, and surfaces, through attention to the temporalities and everyday experiences of volumes. My volumetric approach provides a foundation for delineating how the uneven valuation and compensation of rural land and housing shapes social differentiation, as well as how villagers navigate and experience rural-urban transitions. Furthermore, I argue that a volumetric account of three-dimensional space exposes the interconnections between agrarian and urban questions, which are usually considered discretely. The central contribution of this paper, therefore, is to reorient the agrarian and urban questions in relation to one another across horizontal, vertical, and temporal axes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The intensification of urbanization has had a significant impact on land-use change, ecosystem services, and the urban environment in China. In this paper, we measured land eco-efficiency from an economic and ecological perspective using a Super Efficiency DEA model and Malmquist Index. Our study included 13 prefecture-level cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and covered the period from 2005 to 2013. We then built an indicator system to evaluate new-type urbanization and quantify the impacts of new-type urbanization on land eco-efficiency based on an extended Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) Model. Our results reveal an average annual growth rate of 14.3% for land eco-efficiency. There were distinct differences among cities that are closely related in terms of their development stage of new-type urbanization. The relationship between land eco-efficiency and new-type urbanization produced an N-shaped curve. This suggests that, when the development of new-type urbanization is taken into consideration, the land eco-efficiency trend followed a pattern of up-down-up. Enhancing technology, as well as modifying policies for environment management, will also help improve intensive land use and land eco-efficiency. Our paper provides a significant contribution to strengthening land-use management and advancing sustainable urban development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-ecological networks maintain reciprocal interactions between nature and society. As a result of these interactions key abundant ecological resources and ecosystem services for society emerge. Urban expansion is a direct driver of peri-urban forest change and cause shifts in socio-ecological relationships. However, to date there has not been an attempt to analyze resource management alongside peri-urban forests based on social-ecological network, and in the network the connection between the social and peri-urban forests. In this paper, we developed and applied social-ecological network analysis to assess peri-urban forests management in the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration area. Exponential random graph models and multilevel networks were used to assess the structural characteristics and evolution of the peri-urban forest social-ecological network in 2010 and 2020. The results were as follows: (1) the spatial distribution of the 2010 and 2020 Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration ecology-human-resource security index was imbalanced and the surrounding area is safer than the central area. (2) in 2010, the number of two kind effective management modes was enhanced significantly and the number of two kind overexploited management modes was suppressed significantly, compared to 1000 random networks. (3) in 2020, the number of two kind effective management modes was enhanced significantly and the number of one kind overexploited management mode was suppressed significantly, compared to 1000 random networks. These results suggest a highly interconnected management structural feature with suppressed overexploited management mode through conceptualizing complex modes of social-ecological network. The management and utilization of resources need to take into account the ecological relationship between peri-urban forests and the common agreement between managers in network. • Developed and applied social-ecological network analysis to assess peri-urban forests management by MPNet. • A highly interconnected management structural feature with suppressed overexploited management mode. • Ecological relationship between peri-urban forests and the common agreement between managers in network should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Effects of RETI on urbanization are identified. • RETI is the pivotal role in the urban sustainable development. • Greater promoting effect is related with geographical location, human capital and energy sources. • Mechanisms of RETI's effects on urbanization are shown by industrial structure, productivity effectiveness and rural income. Renewable energy technology innovation (RETI) is a bran-new technological innovation of renewable energy. Not only does it reflect the residents' needs of pursuing high-quality life, but also construct the tighter relationship between population urbanization and urban sustainability. This paper selects China's prefecture-level cities as research sample to explore the impact of RETI on urbanization from 2010 to 2021. I find that RETI can promote urbanization significantly by methods of fixed effect, IV and other robustness, and then heterogeneous tests show differently owing to factor of geographical location, human capital and energy sources. Notably, RETI promotes urbanization by improving industrial structure, productivity effectiveness and rural income. To date, this study has discovered the urbanization improvement effects of RETI primarily, providing theoretical basis and practical recommendations for governments, energy agencies and local residents to realize efficient and sustainable urban development mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This paper discusses the planning processes and social outcomes of the high-density small-scale (HDSS) neighbourhood pattern in China. • Many HDSS developments have inadequate consideration of social sustainability. • Discussions show the conflicts between stakeholders and their varied goals and interests in different dimensions. • The increasingly fragmented society is a consequence of the rapid urban transformation. • A more collaborative approach is needed to coordinate future urban development. Abstract There have been wide ranging and ongoing debates regarding the relative advantages and disadvantages of high-density development for the context of social sustainability. However, little of this discussion has focused on the high-density small-scale development (HDSS), which has emerged as the typical urban form in many large Chinese cities. This paper examines the processes that shape the HDSS neighbourhood and the subsequent social consequences of this development. Document analysis and interview methods were used in a case study of neighbourhood development in the city of Shenzhen. Revealing the trade-offs behind the development of these neighbourhoods, the result reflects the varied roles and interests of different stakeholders and highlights how inadequate consideration is given to the social dimensions of sustainability in contemporary high-density small-scale urban development in China. This is now becoming a great challenge for both the Chinese city and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late twentieth century, rural areas in China have experienced a rapid and far-reaching transformation of social and economic structures. Residential land in rural areas, as a type of land where rural residents live and engage in producing, is under significant pressure and face significant change as a consequence. How has rural residential land changed over time, and why it differs across peri-urban interface? This paper presents a methodology for confronting this issue. By applying an integrated framework, we explored the rural residential land transition patterns from the internal structure, i.e., rural residential land-use structural transition (RLST) and identified the driving forces from the perspective of urbanization and industrialization. Our findings show that there are three RLST patterns in China, i.e., non-agriculture, rurality and decay. During the period, the peri-urban area – Pinggu has shown the coexistence of non-agriculture and decay patterns. In particular, RLST patterns varied at different levels. Spatially, along with getting closer to urban areas came increasing complexity of RLST patterns, which formed the structure of circle layer. The various RLST patterns are closely linked to interaction and reorganization between external and internal factors, including basic condition, industrialization, urbanization and policies. Among of them, urbanization changed the internal structure of rural residential land through the population flow; while industrialization influenced the RLST through shaping the industrial structure and level of economic development. Other outstanding issues discussed in this paper relate to the implication for rural spatial restructuring and benign rural residential land transition, which can be achieved through industrial structure reshaping, population relocation and cultural regression. The findings of this study can help us better understand the process of rural residential land transition and thus have significance for the land use multifunctionality and restructuring policies in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to research on the land–growth–environment nexus by putting emphasis on assessing the quality of land urbanization using our evaluation index system from four aspects: suitability of land urbanization, social, economic and ecological benefits of urban land use. By employing Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), this paper concerns the spatial-temporal characteristics of land urbanization quality(LUQ) in the 285 prefecture-level cities over the past decade. In analyzing the determinants of LUQ, this paper starts from addressing the driving forces of LUQ in six urban agglomerations from the perspective of economic development, land market and local governments’ behavior. The results indicate that land urbanization in China has relatively positive spatial autocorrelation with significant agglomeration effect. The path of LUQ in 285 prefecture-level cities fits in the waves of urban development and land use policy in the country. Moreover, the levels of urban land marketization and economic growth are the most common determinants while local governments behavior mostly influence the western region of China. These findings may suggest that development of urban agglomeration needs to be further promoted and more emphasis of New-type urbanization should be given to improve the urban layout and morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, more than 3000 villages (known as Taobao villages) in China have achieved significant economic growth due to e-commerce. The changes in these villages represents a new development path that is distinct from that of the traditional Chinese villages. This paper examines this growth experience, arguing that the 'blossoming' of the Taobao villages is essentially the result of the interaction and co-evolution of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and China's rural society. This study will be based on case studies of three Taobao villages. As ICT and e-commerce are embedded in rural society, the potential of existing organizations and skills in the countryside can be fully explored through synergy. This research finds that with the accessibility of China's huge online market for rural products, the traditional weak rural economic organizations in Taobao villages are gradually evolving into strong economic organizations, which have greatly enhanced their capacity to adapt to the flexible demands of the online economy. It is found in the research that the co-evolution of ICT and rural society are still in the development stage, which can have broad and profound impacts on the future transformation of rural China. • 'Blossoming' of the Taobao villages is the result of the interaction and co-evolution of ICT and rural society. • Taobao villages represent a new development path different from that of the traditional ones. • Supporting by ICT and emergence of e-commerce, rural weak economic organizations can be upgraded. • Taobao villages bring both economic restructuring to the rural economy and a series of changes to the social structure. • The ICT and e-commerce in rural areas generates a new form of Chinese urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling non-point source pollution (NPSP) has been viewed as a priority for realizing rural sustainability. Substantial literature has examined the effects of economic growth or urbanization on NPSP, while little work has been undertaken to investigate how rural transformation development (RTD) influence NPSP, and how differences in the process itself affect the impact that RTD has on such emissions. To fill these gaps, this paper empirically and comprehensively investigates the multiple effects of RTD on NPSP, by addressing three different dimensions of the RTD process-namely, regional urbanization, agricultural modernization, and land use transition. Longitudinal trends analysis of NPSP loads over the long-term (1990–2017) using the approach of inventory analysis was conducted to overcome the difficulty in gathering pollution monitoring data. Our results suggest that RTD generally presents an inverted "U" shaped relationship with NPSP, and differentiated evolution trajectories exist between different dimensions of RTD and different components and sources of NPSP. The turning points of total phosphor (TP) and planting industry-induced NPSP emission appear later than others. Land use transition and agricultural modernization process have significantly positive relations with the emissions from the planting industry. Furthermore, the evolution of NPSP is highly coupled with the shifts in national strategies, agricultural policies, and environmental regulations. These findings provide insights into the human-environment relation, suggesting that reasonable countermeasures should be formulated corresponding to the development stage of RTD. • How rural transformation development affects non-point source pollution is investigated. • A multidimensional analysis is used to demystify the heterogeneity of the effects. • Rural transformation development presents an inverted "U" shaped relationship with non-point source pollution. • Differentiated evolution trajectories exist between different dimensions of rural transformation development and different components and sources of non-point source pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates land-related resettlement and integration institutions and policies in small town urbanization from the perspective of affected villagers, focusing on their socioeconomic opportunities and life transformation. Based on the conceptual discourse on rural-urban societal differences, institutional boundaries, and resource redistribution, it examines the process and outcomes of rural villagers’ transformation under land-related local policies and the market, and articulates affected villagers’ viewpoints regarding compensation, resettlement, and integration. By the case of three small towns in metropolitan Xi’an, the paper discusses educational attainments and occupations, household earnings, income compositions, home-workplace commuting patterns and modes, social security programs, and attitudes towards land acquisition and resettlement. The study calls for villager-centered hybrid governance for humanistic planning and management of resettlement communities in small town urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban development can occur through diffusion (sprawl) or coalescence. This paper selects all 363 prefecture-level or higher level cities in China and detects their dynamic change of urban growth pattern in 1995–2005 and 2005–2015. Three main findings can be obtained: (1) In two periods, the vast majority of Chinese cities are expanding by the way of edge-expansion.(2) Cities in the western region tend to be most likely to grow through dispersion (64.71%), with smaller percentages of cities in the eastern region (46.08%) and the central region (43.20%) growing through dispersion; (3) During the two stages of urban development, the achievement of controlling urban sprawl is mainly in the city with high economic development level. (4) Xinyu City, Nujiang City, Guangyuan City etc., a total of 20 individual cities are the key cities where urban sprawl is occurring, besides, the junction of Gansu Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in the northwest China and the junction of northern part of Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province in the east China are the key regions of urban diffusional sprawl, The result of this paper could provide reference to China’s urban master planning in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Megaregion has emerged as a new dimension of global urbanization. A megaregion approach based on polycentric strategy is deemed to enhance regional economic competitiveness. Numerous studies have highlighted the economic benefits, celebrated the spill-over effects, and outlined the creative potentials of contemporary megaregion policies in different nations worldwide. However, further policy instruments require the knowledge about the achievement and failure of megaregion policies that seek for spatial, economic, social, and environmental efficiency and sustainability. This paper introduces China’s megaregion policy and proposes an analytical framework for performance evaluation from four principle domains (rational urban growth, economic development, social equity, environmental protection) at three levels (internal collaboration, integral development, and overall development). Using a case of the Megaregion around Hangzhou Bay (MAHB), we find very limited success of China’s megaregion policy. In particular, the megaregion policy only accomplishes the economic goal, and fails to achieve the goals of rational urban growth, environmental protection, and social equity. A series of mechanism based regressions are established and show that the implementation duration of megaregion policy: (1) associates positively with the economic growth; (2) relates negatively to social equity and urban rational growth; and (3) has no significant relationship with improved environmental quality. Institutional fragmentation, no unified spatial planning, and inadequate legislation at megaregional level are the underlying causes of the expected performances within the policy context of governance itself. We finally propose some possible solutions and discuss the implications for spatial polycentric governance. The demonstrated methodological framework can be applicable to other megaregions around the world. This paper is thus believed to provide some new insights for land use policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Wuhan University Journal (Philosophy & Social Sciences) / Wuhan Daxue Xuebao (Zhexue Shehui Kexue Ban) is the property of Wuhan University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The citizenization of peasant migrants is key to understanding China's long-term urban-rural imbalance and ongoing rural transformations. The majority of existing literature focused on structural/institutional or agentive/subjective factors, while an integrated perspective examining both structural and agentive factors related to the citizenization process is rarely seen. Borrowing theories from the strategic-relational approach, this paper unfolds the matching and mismatching mechanisms between the policy design and peasant migrants' intentions of citizenization. Drawing on a case study in China's Guangdong Province, this study finds that: (1) citizenization policies prefer to offer citizenship to the new generation of peasant migrants, which matches the age structure of peasant migrants; (2) although municipal governments are prone to attract young peasant migrants with high educational level and strong competitiveness, peasant migrants generally have a relatively low educational level and weak professional training; (3) the high threshold of citizenization in mega-metropolitan and metropolitan cities mismatches peasant migrants' preference towards the first-tier cities. This paper describes the matching and mismatching mechanisms between structure and agency associated with the citizenization of peasant migrants. The policy reflections proposed by this study point towards enhancing nearby urbanization and in situ urbanization, so as to increase the attraction of young peasant migrants by ordinary cities. Besides, this paper calls for the promotion of rural-urban co-governance, making rural revitalization an alternative and supplement to the urbanization driven by rural-urban migration. • The strategic-relational approach is a critical perspective for understanding citizenization. • As a progressive and dynamic process, the citizenization of peasant migrants intersects with local strategies of urbanization. • Governments should realize that ordinary cities are critical places for most peasant migrants to realize citizenization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural settlements in China have been experiencing unprecedented transformation since the economic reforms of the late 1970s. This paper examines population movement over the post-reform era and how this affects settlement patterns in an inland nonmetropolitan county-level city region with a well performing economy. It is found that the settlement size distribution in Gongyi is generally transforming from a traditional rural pattern to one that features an urban system, taking place in the form of "in situ urbanisation" and "rural urbanisation". Without experiencing mass out-migration and in line with the transition of China's political economy, Gongyi has developed its local urban system in parallel with the life and spatial cycles of city-based urbanisation in China. From the perspective of urbanisation cycles, "in situ urbanisation" underpinned by relevant socioeconomic and political conditions is argued to be both theoretically meaningful and practically useful in the context of the evolving settlement systems in China and less urbanised countries. • Developed the notions of "rural urbanisation" and "in situ urbanisation" in an inland nonmetropolitan region. • Analysed long-term population movement and its impact on the change of spatial patterns of rural settlement. • Discussed potential of developing local urban system in parallel with the life and spatial cycles of city-based urbanisation. • Suggested theoretical contribution and policy application of "in situ urbanisation" in China and less urbanized countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid urbanization and suburbanization in China, there is clear evidence of the decoupling of home-work locations in cities which is in contrast to the socialist danwei system where workers were housed in workplace compounds. This paper examines the diverse commuting patterns of suburban neighbourhoods in the Beijing metropolitan region. The research first examines the relationship between the characteristics of commutes in terms of time, distance, and mode, and the socio-economic attributes of residents. The analysis allows us to examine how different socio-economic groups, via latent class analysis, are often spatially concentrated in marginalized neighbourhoods, and further disadvantaged in their commuting experience. The socio-spatial variations in commuting patterns are analysed via GIS mapping analysis, statistical testing, and multiple regression analysis. Major variations ivere found in the commuting patterns in terms of time, distance and mode across different socioeconomic groups and across various suburban neighbourhood types. The results from regression models further suggest that personal resources have the strongest influence on commuting time but less so on distance, regardless of the type of neighbourhoods in which they live. The findings call for integrative planning and major transport measures, at different spatial scales, to shape commuting behaviour. Despite the unique institutional and cultural context of China, the lessons learnt from the need to have integrative strategic planning are relevant to other cities, and especially those in the developing world which are undergoing rapid urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the acceleration of economic globalization and trade liberalization, environmental issues have attracted more and more attention from the world and become one of the major issues facing mankind. A series of global environmental problems that have emerged under the background of economic globalization have become barriers restricting the sustainable development of the economy and society. As one of the key issues in network research, BP neural network provides an effective tool for studying the multi-objective and multi-dimensional interaction between networks. During training, the BP neural network can adaptively memorize the learning content in the weights of the network through learning. That is, the BP neural network has a high self-learning and self-adaptive ability.This paper fully contrasts and studies several neural networks and deep learning models at this stage,This paper fully contrasts and studies several neural networks and deep learning models at this stage, and forms a new type of network model. In this paper, through the construction of BP neural network training model for experimental simulation, the experimental results show that our city's urban expansion phenomenon in 2019 is still showing a growth momentum. The urbanization and eco-environment system of our city are developing in a good level with fast and stable development rate, which indicates that the development under the existing development conditions can realize the coordinated development of urbanization and environment. In order to protect the damaged ecological environment, it is necessary to improve the path of ecological environment damage compensation responsibility and diversified ecological environment damage compensation relief procedures. Academic and legal practitioners can distinguish clearly from the elements of tort construction and environmental tort, improve the system of environmental tort liability, and strengthen China's environmental legislation. • The neural network toolbox is used to implement a multi-layer feedforward network. • Solves the problems of overlapping information in the selection of indicators and the one-sided problems of screened indicators. • The researchers study from three aspects: the causes, the damage assessment methods and the proposed measures. • The research on environmental damage compensation can learn from the environmental damage compensation in the marine field to study other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization for rural development in the developing countries is often mired in the tension between economic productivity and social equality. Paradigm shifts in relation to spatial strategies are identified in the process of rural-urban transition in China. An adoption of regional dispersion under the central planning regime to mitigate disparity between regions inadvertently gives rise to local rural-urban divide during 1949–1978. Economic under-productivity does not bring up prosperous equality. Regional agglomeration has been engaged by the pro-marketization reforms to pursue productive urbanization since the economic reforms launched in 1978. A historical window also allows in-situ rural urbanization, market-driven local dispersion, to prosper, though spatially concentrated and temporally brief. Surging economic benefits in parallel with rising social costs prompts further paradigm shift after 30 years' rapid urbanization. This paper argues that the state-manipulated spatial dispersion may not help achieve true and real spatial equality, and well-off spatial equality has to be obtained through a mechanism of marketization in a relatively advanced stage of urbanization, helped by the government's facilitative policies. The strategy of regional dispersion with local agglomeration intends to strike a balance between growth and equality, aiming for inclusive integrated development of urban and rural entities. • Spatial Paradigm of rural development in China shifted after 30 years' rapid urbanization. • The state-manipulated spatial dispersion may not help achieve true and real spatial equality of rural development. • Regional dispersion with local agglomeration intends to strike a balance for urban-rural integrated development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To promote sustainable urban development and green industrial process are critical solutions for sustainable and low-carbon society transition in China, considering the significant environmental impacts derived from the industrialization and surging urbanization. Under this background, China adopts top-down programs on smart cities and smart industrial parks to forward the above efforts. While practices and lessons from these programs will be valuable to enlighten other regions and practitioners, to date, rather few studies have paid attentions to this issue. Particularly, the emerging smart technologies strongly support the practice, via offering smart solutions like better renewable energy projection, low-carbon life styles transformation, as well as energy planning and management. However, there has been a lack of discussing their future role in-depth. With this circumstance, this paper conducts an integrated and in-depth review on China's promotion on smart cities and smart industrial parks. In detail, the national pilots, key technical innovations, incentives and policies framework, as well as spatial features were discussed in-depth. Particularly, we further explored how the smart solutions can contribute to better decision making on low-carbon urban and industrial system planning. Finally, we highlighted policy recommendations targeting on future smart cities and industrial parks promotion, focusing on the perspectives of technological and social system innovations, innovative decision support tools, and smart management framework. Our results expect to offer critical enlightenments for policy makers to address future concerns on smart cities and industrial parks promotion and management. • China's progress on Smart cities and industrial parks were reviewed. • Related technological and social innovations were highlighted. • Discussed how emerging smart infrastructures support novel decision making. • Contribution to low-carbon society were discussed systematically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The interaction between urbanization, economic growth, and environmental pollution in three directions is investigated. • A model of "urbanization-economic growth" and a "simultaneous equation model" are constructed. • There is an environmental Kuznets inverted U curve between economic growth and environmental pollution. Abstract As the state is vigorously promoting the construction of new urbanization in China, it is of great practical significance to study the interaction between urbanization, economic growth, and environmental pollution in three directions for the scientific planning of urbanization. Based on panel data of 30 provinces and cities in China during 2006–2015, we built the "Urbanization economic growth model" and a "simultaneous equation model." The results show that urbanization promotes economic growth through the accumulation of physical capital, knowledge capital, and human capital; that the relationship between economic growth and urbanization is a benign interaction; that environmental pollution has a significant inhibitory effect on urbanization; and that there is an environmental Kuznets inverted U curve between economic growth and environmental pollution, and between urbanization and environmental pollution. On this basis, this paper puts forward some policy suggestions on how to enhance the positive interaction between urbanization and economic growth and promote the construction of new green urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We review state land administration from the perspective of the rule of law. • We identify three-level indicators for the rule of law of land and resources. • We develop the rule of law index for quantitatively assessing land administration. • Euclidean distance discriminant and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation are integrated. • An empirical case study using the index shows its validity and applicability. Abstract China has experienced significant developments in the construction of the rule of law (RoL) regarding land and resources which led to a series of remarkable achievements. The legal system regarding land and resources is now basically complete. However, the construction of the RoL regarding state land administration is still far from meeting practical needs. The removal of these shortcomings requires a scientific, systematic and quantitative evaluation of the state of the RoL regarding land and resources. To improve legal oversight in land administration, this paper introduces the development and application of a rule of law index (RoLI) for the evaluation of state land administration, which provides a theoretical basis and methodological guidance for the systematic evaluation of the RoL regarding land and resources by the Ministry of Land and Resources. The construction of the RoL regarding state land administration is of great significance for the promotion of legal oversight in the course of urbanization in modern China and worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Since 2014, the Chinese government has initiatednew-type urbanization under the guidance of 'the National New-type Urbanization Plan (2014–2020)', which embarks on a significant transformation of the model of urbanization in post-reform China. To understand the origin and outputs of this policy, this article demonstrates the context of China's new-type urbanization. The paper proposes a conceptual framework of new-type urbanization, which mainly includes four aspects: humanism, people-oriented urbanization; inclusivism, benefits sharing for urban and rural; sustainability, development without sacrifice of resources and environment; and harmonism, coordination. This is followed by an examination of the case of Anhui province, as a pilot province of China's new-type urbanization. Anhui has performed a lot of related work to promote citizenization of peasant workers and has made great progress on the reform of the household registration system. The study found that despite a special emphasis on people-oriented urbanization, the pressures and costs of citizenization of peasant workers are growing fast, accompanied by rising housing prices in cities. This insight suggests there are benefits and costs of promoting China's new-type urbanization. Despite the advantages of institutional innovation, the unexpected side effects such as rapid rising housing prices actually undermine the success of plan implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Urban ecological resilience (UER) was evaluated in a three-stage framework. • Four-quadrant model was constructed to analyze the relationship of urbanization-UER. • Urbanization continuously coordinated with UER in NSEBTM from 2005 to 2020. • CUL-lagging city faced more pressure of coordination than UER-lagging city. Revealing the relationship between urbanization and urban ecological resilience (UER) is essential for high-quality urbanization and urban ecosystem sustainability. In this study, we evaluated the comprehensive urbanization level (CUL) and UER in the Northern Slope Economic Belt of Tianshan Mountains (NSEBTM), and analyzed the relationship evolution between CUL and UER using the Pearson correlation analysis, four-quadrant model and Markov transition matrix. The results showed that the overall CUL and UER in the NSEBTM gradually increased from 2005 to 2020 while presenting significant spatial heterogeneity. The distribution of CUL displayed a decrease from middle to both sides, and the UER in the western area was generally higher than that in the central and eastern areas. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between CUL and UER, with the number of double-high cities increasing whereas the number of double-low cities decreasing during the research period. Compared with the UER-lagging cities, the CUL-lagging cities faced more pressure to upgrade and develop the two systems coordinately. This paper provides a useful reference for analyzing the man-land relationship in arid regions and contributes to urban sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• As for the spatial correlations of CO 2 emissions and new urbanization, the spatial econometric approach is employed. • The new urbanization and CO 2 emissions per capital at provincial level presents an inverted U-shaped relationship. • The turning points of denote that the overall level of new urbanization has exceeded its threshold in eastern China. • The overall level of new urbanization in central China hasn't exceeded its threshold. • The new urbanization promotes CO 2 emissions monotonically here in western China. The new targets of carbon emission reduction make China slumps into a development dilemma, and luckily the Chinese Government has been determined to take new urbanization path. Based on Chinese provincial panel data, this paper adopts spatial econometric techniques to analyze the effects of new urbanization on CO 2 emissions in view of the geographical correlations. The results suggest that: (1) Chinese provincial CO 2 emissions display significant positive autocorrelation, and specifically most provinces present significant High-High clustered characters, whereas some provinces present significant Low-Low clustered characters; (2) The level of new urbanization promotes CO 2 emissions within local provinces and also exerts positive impact for neighboring provinces; (3) The inverted U-shaped relationship between new urbanization and CO 2 emissions denotes that there exists a threshold effect, and the average level of new urbanization hasn't yet exceeded its threshold at present; (4) The average level of new urbanization in eastern China may have exceeded its threshold, whereas it's is far from its threshold in central China, and new urbanization promotes CO 2 emissions only monotonically in western China. Overall, these conclusions illustrate that China should spare no effort to take the new urbanization path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal cities play a leading role in world development; however, they are highly vulnerable to natural disasters given their specific locations and rapid urbanization pace. Characterizing the social vulnerability of coastal cities to hazards should provide critical references for coastal management. This paper developed a composite social vulnerability index (SVI) for Chinese coastal cities by integrating 17 indices from three aspects (exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity) that shaped the vulnerability of urban society to hazards; and then verified SVI effectiveness by quantifying its correlation with the total economic loss of hazards. Social vulnerability patterns along the Chinese coast in 2000, 2005 and 2010 were then obtained. Results showed that cities around the Bohai Bay generally presented lower SVI values in the three years. Cities in the eastern and southeastern coast generally had higher SVI values in space but became lower with time. Conversely, SVI values became higher for cities in Hainan and Guangxi Province. The clustering approach categorized the 53 cities into different groups according to their profiles of vulnerability. These categorized groups could facilitate more targeted coastal management options. This paper highlighted that adaption should be incorporated in analyzing the reaction of urban society to hazards. The SVI was believed to be an applicable and reliable tool to inform coastal management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore how affect can be registered to the interests of sociological research. It investigates how affect can be operationalised in empirical studies through a review of existing sociological literature, and illustrates the arguments made with ongoing research on zhongxing (neutral sex and/ or gender) sensibility in urban China. I illustrate how social sciences literature attempts to operationalise affect and how sociological literature in the sociology of emotion and the sociology of the body has addressed the corporeal and the emerging. This paper concludes that affect may provide an additional lens to sociological research, but, when appreciating the insights of affect, we should not abandon the established concepts and paradigms of sociology as a discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface water flooding is currently viewed as the most serious water-related issue in many of the China’s large cities due to rapid urbanization, land-use change and the process of rapid socio-economic development. In 2014, the People’s Republic of China established the concept of the ‘Sponge City’, which will be used to tackle urban surface-water flooding and related urban water management issues, such as purification of urban runoff, attenuation of peak run-off and water conservation. The concept is being developed to make use of ‘blue’ and ‘green’ spaces in the urban environment for stormwater management and control. It is envisaged that related practices will enhance natural ecosystems and provide more aesthetically pleasing space for the people that live and work in urban environments, in addition enabling nature-based solutions to improve urban habitats for birds and other organisms. Until recently, grey infrastructure and hard engineering-based management approaches have been adopted in the rapidly developing Chinese urban environment as urban flood and drainage issues are predominantly managed by municipal water engineers. The Sponge City concept and related guidelines and practices will provide multiple opportunities to integrate ideas from eco-hydrology, climate change impact assessment and planning, and consideration of long-term social and environmental well-being, within the urban land-use planning process. This paper aims to explicate the Sponge city concept and its development, and consider the implications of the transformation of urban land-use planning and urban-water management practice in China. To achieve the dual goals of sustainable water-use and better flood control (as targeted by the Sponge City concept), more effective development and implementation of land-use guidance and assessment tools (with explicit integration of urban flood-risk assessment, land-drainage guidance, climate projection methods, and assessment of long-term sustainability) are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of nonfarm employment stability on migrant workers’ farmland transfer decisions. Using data on 1148 migrant workers extracted from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), our structural equation model determined a significant positive impact of employment stability on migrant workers’ farmland transfer behaviour. Results show that the employment stability of migrant workers has a significant positive impact on their farmland transfer behaviour. In particular, their willingness to settle in the city is an important, although incomplete intermediary factor, accounting for 42.15% of the overall employment stability effect. These findings imply that creating a fair and inclusive employment system in urban China and expanding the urban welfare system to include migrant workers are likely measures to develop land rental markets in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“New urbanization”, as a new proposition, has become an important strategy and direction in the progress of China’s urbanization. Consequently, exploring the development pattern can be valuable for our academic study and practical work. This paper chose population urbanization and land urbanization as the research subjects, aiming to find the coordination between them and propose a development model. The results are as follows. (1) From 2000–2014, the composite indexes of population and land urbanization in Shandan County have shown an upward trend. The composite index of population urbanization has been higher than that of land urbanization from 2000 to 2012, but lower from 2013 to 2014. (2) The process of population and land urbanization has promoted the rapid development of Shandan County. The coordination between population and land urbanization has gone through four stages: disordered, transitional, moderately coordinated and highly coordinated stages. The final change from moderate incoordination to high coordination is a good transition but of low level. Therefore, there is a large room for transition of development. (3) We have proposed urban optimization by considering reasonable population transfer, intensive land utilization, reform of mechanism, and new type urban construction. The urbanization development models suitable for arid oasis areas in China have also been established, including comprehensive model of eco-industry, guiding model of cultural tourism, city-industry integration model, development model of new rural communities, and construction model of innovative cities. These results might provide useful references for the development of oasis cities in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing city developments in China have resulted in the expansion of the city subway system as well. To provide design and operation guidance for the control system of the environment of subway stations and tunnels, Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) has undertaken a multiyear study of the environment and developed Subway Environment Simulation Software (STESS).The software can simulate the dynamic thermal environment in subways under different environmental control system. It is an effective auxiliary tool for design, operational decisions as well as economic analysis. Compared to Subway Environment Simulation (SES), STESS improves the airflow and underground unsteady heat transfer algorithm. Firstly, STESS adopts MMKP method instead of the four-step Runge-Kutta used in SES to solve unsteady flow to accelerate the convergence. Secondly, two-dimensional mode is used in STESS other than concentric cylinder model in the heat transfer algorithm to adapt to heterogeneous underground environment. And lastly, this software uses the Eigenvalue method to achieve the dynamic simulation of the heat transfer process. Tsinghua University also organized field tests in Beijing and Shanghai and verified the accuracy of STESS. This paper introduces the development history, technical features, program structure and main functions of STESS and presents the experimental validation performed on the software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the method of entropy and TOPSIS method, the paper analyzes the comprehensive urbanization level from 2000 to 2015 of Anhui Province in four aspects: urban population, economy, society and space. With the help of the ESDA and trend space analysis technology, we studies the spatial evolution and characteristics of urbanization in Anhui province. The results show that the cities score higher mainly concentrated in southern area, the cities score lower concentrated in northern area of Anhui Province, which show weak spatial autocorrelation. There are an enlarging trend between the higher and the lower cities. The number of cities and the polarization effects are increasing for both higher area and the lower area of the comprehensive urbanization level. The central gravity of the higher area has shifted from the north to the south gradually. The spatial trend is becoming higher from west to east which is stable from 2000 to 2015. However, the trend that takes on a handstand “U” shape becoming the same. The construction of the development zone, industrial development, traffic location, policy measures are the main drive factors which increasing the comprehensive urbanization level in Anhui province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How human activities impact on coastal ecosystem during rapid urbanization is one of the hot spots in the coastal management study. In this paper, we comparatively evaluate changes in the positive and the negative ecological elements of Shenzhen's coastal zone in the rapid urbanization process to understand impacts of human activities. The positive and the negative ecological elements divided by built of classification based on extracted land uses from multi-source remote sensing images and land-use degree index. Then landscape indexes such as AWMSI, ED, PSSD, PSCOV at the class level and CONNECT, SHEI at both class level and landscape level were used to reveal spatial and temporal differentiation of impacts of human activities on ecological elements. Results revealed that impacts of human activities on coastal ecosystem were stronger in west coast than that in east coast, and environmental protection awareness of government began to enhance from 2000, whereas the ecosystem health didn't become better. Future urbanization plans about coastal zones need to consider the ecological benefit of the landscape pattern from both a local and global point of view. This method can contribute to the sustainable management of other coastal zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shanghai’s officials and urban planners often equate development with “cleaning up the streets.” The snacks (xiao chi 小吃) that are sold from the small shops and mobile stands—dumplings steamed in wooden baskets, nighttime barbeques, carts selling stir-fried noodles—are seen to belong to a past that must be overcome. This paper reflects on the changing fate of Shanghai’s street food in order to analyze tensions between a regulated, formal commercial sector and a much more anarchic informal economy as it plays out in the making of the future city. It argues that the informal is not simply a temporary phenomenon, and that the evolutionary conception of economic growth in which a “backward” black market progresses to a more “advanced” formal sphere masks a deep (and sometimes violent) struggle. Shanghai’s importance as a model for twenty-first century urbanism rests not only on its high-speed trains and super-tall skyscrapers, but also, just as vitally, on its street food, street markets and street life. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Land use transitions and socio-economic transitions jointly drive urban-rural transformation development in China. Farmland resources are a core element contributing to food security, and the characteristics of farmland transition and its influences on grain production in the urban-rural transformation development process help reveal the underlying laws governing farmland transition. Farmland transition characteristics also help effectively regulate grain production transition in China. Given the “man-land relationship” defined by large populations with relatively little arable land in China, this paper constructs a theoretical model for farmland transition using the per capita farmland area (PCFA) metric, which consists of the temporal changes in PCFA and PCFA spatial transitions as elevations change. Based on the theoretical model for farmland transition, we designed a coupling coefficient between PCFA and per capita grain possession, uncovering the inner link between farmland transition and grain production transition in China. Based on transitions measured at a 1 km gridded resolution of PCFA across the country, this study found that China’s PCFA transitioned from a gradual decline to a steady rise during 1990–2010. In addition, the spatial transition trends for farmland were significant. The elevations of 1000 m and 500 m marked two important lines in the spatial transition of farmland, representing inflection points for the PCFA change trend and PCFA growth rate, respectively. The study concludes that regional differences in grain production transition are significant in the farmland transition process. While traditional agricultural areas gradually transitioned from an “Intensive type” to a “Modern type,” grain production in South China experienced a significant “Declining type” transition trend. Regulating the farmland transition process can provide a basis for decision making about appropriate grain production scales of farmers in China. Farmland transition and urban-rural transformation development are closely related; as such, properly coordinating the relationship between them can help stabilize the socio-economic transition in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1978, the Chinese central government has undertaken a series of market-oriented policy reforms which has led to responsibility for urban development shifting from central government to the local level, i.e., the provincial, prefectural city and district governments. As a result, local district governments in China’s larger cities have become key players driving economic development through an intensive process of entrepreneurial urbanization (where markets drive urban policy). These urban projects are best characterized as property-led, encouraged by neoliberal policies such as government support for land-based urban growth coalitions and property speculation. Based on local government planning and infrastructure development, this process has led to several newly built districts or towns. However, they have become ghost cities due to their lack of inhabitants and empty apartment units (apartment units are often purchased as part of an investment portfolio rather than as primary residences). This paper will unpack economic mechanisms and government motivations behind three iterations of ghost cities, to explore how local governments interact with central government as well as with property developers to expand urbanization. We examine three cases, the distinct urban contexts of Shanghai Thames town, Ordos, and Kunming (reflecting suburban tourism; debt-financed urbanism; and pro-growth strategic urbanism respectively) – to examine the variations across ghost cities in China (both in terms of neoliberal mechanisms and its outcomes). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]