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The landscapes and infrastructures of cities have long been viewed as products of human–nature interaction. This paper sheds new light on how a critical constituent of urban landscape and infrastructure, urban public green spaces, has been produced in China's ongoing profound urbanization process. Over the past decade, China's urbanization has been characterized by a land-based pattern centered on the commercialization and capitalization of urban land induced by the decentralization of state power. The non-budgetary revenues generated from urban land leasing hold the promise to empower local governments' fiscal capacity and flexibility in financing various urban infrastructures aiming to enhance local amenities and attract external investment. This paper investigates the impact of land-based urbanization on the provision of urban public green spaces, an integrated part of urban public infrastructure, using panel data across 285 Chinese prefecture cities from 2002 to 2009. The results reveal a negative relationship between the reliance on land finance and the amount of urban public green spaces, indicating that local governments' pursuit of maximizing land lease revenue will not be able to finance more public green spaces, and may even cause the loss of public green spaces. The regional variations amongst the eastern-coastal, central, and western cities confirm that an initially positive relationship between land finance and the provision of urban public green spaces at the early stage of development would reverse to a negative relationship with the increasing pace of urbanization and economic development, which may lead to a social inequity pertaining to public accessibility to urban green spaces. A balance amongst economic growth, environmental concerns, and social equity is very much needed in the quest for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population change is a key variable that influences climate change, ecological construction, soil and water use, and economic growth. Census data are always point data, whereas planar data are often required in scientific research. By using nighttime light (NTL) images and land use data, combined with the fifth and sixth census data of China at the county level, we carried out spatial matching on the population of each county, respectively, and established population density diagrams of China for 2000 and 2010, which had a spatial resolution of 1 × 1 km. The method proposed in this paper is relatively simple and has a high simulation precision. The results showed that during the first ten years of the 21st century, there are some remarkable characteristics in Chinese population spatial pattern change: 1) the “disappearance” of intermediate-density regions; namely, areas with a population density between 500 and 1500 persons/km 2 have decreased by 41% during the ten years; 2) continuous growth of high-density regions; namely, areas with a population density of more than 1500 persons/km 2 have increased by 76%; 3) an expansion tendency of low-density regions similar to high-density regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Against the background of a recent shift in growth dynamics from export-oriented activities towards the domestic market in Chinese regions, it is the aim of this paper to demonstrate how the spatial organization of the electronics industry in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta has evolved over time and to assess the impact of the institutional setting and differences between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta on localization and upgrading of the industry. The empirical findings suggest a strong trend towards the localization of business activities in China and a differentiated perspective regarding the kinds of activities that are more likely to be localized. An advanced front shop, back factory model with complementary, but intertwined assets has been identified. The institutional interpretation of spatial processes has proven its potential to further develop contextually sensitive concepts for the economic geography of China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the spatial distribution and patterns of land use change associated with expansion of bamboo production in three important bamboo-producing counties (Anji, Pingjiang and Muchuan) along a development gradient in China. Existing and new bamboo plantations tend to be located at higher elevation and on sloping lands around formerly established plantations, with different patterns of expansion related to the level of development of the bamboo industry and general economic development in the county. Distance to factory is more important for low value-added products where raw material represents a high percentage of production costs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]