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Our research aim was to define possible AI-based solutions to be embedded in the Greencoin project, designed as a supportive tool for smart cities to achieve climate neutrality. We used Kamrowska-Załuska's approach for evaluating AI-based solutions' potential in urban planning. We narrowed down the research to the educational and economic aspects of smart cities. Furthermore, we used a systematic literature review. We propose solutions supporting the implementation process of net zero policies benefiting from single actions of urban dwellers based on the Greencoin project developed by us. By following smart city sectors, the paper introduces AI-based solutions which can enrich Greencoin by addressing the following needs: (1) shaping pro-environmental behaviors, (2) introducing instruments to reinforce the urban management process, (3) supporting bottom-up initiatives allowing to shape urban resilience, (4) enhancing smart mobility, (5) shaping local economies supporting urban circularity, and (6) allowing better communication with residents. Our research fills the gap in the limited group of studies focused on shaping climate awareness, enhancing smart governance, and supporting social participation and inclusion. It proves that AI-based educational tools can be supportive when implementing adaptation policies toward climate neutrality based on our proposed AI-based model shaping climate awareness.

In the context of digital technology innovation, an in-depth investigation into the impact of digitalization on haze pollution is of great significance for scientifically understanding environmental effects of digitalization and building a livable civic environment. From the perspective of energy consumption intensity and structure, this paper theoretically analyzes the direct and indirect effects of digitalization on haze pollution. On this basis, the impact of digitalization on haze pollution for 81 countries over the period 2010-2019 is empirically investigated by using the system GMM and mediating effects model. Empirical results show that digitalization can effectively suppress haze pollution, and there is significant heterogeneity in this inhibiting effect. In addition, digitalization can indirectly restrain haze pollution by reducing energy consumption intensity and optimizing energy consumption structure. The findings of this paper can provide enlightenment for countries to promote digitalization, combat haze pollution, and thus enhance the health of community residents.

Sponge city construction (SCC) has improved the quality of the urban water ecological environment, and the policy implementation effect of SCC pilots is particularly remarkable. Based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, this study employed the related index factors such as economy, ecology, infrastructure, and the population of the pilot city as the input, and the macro factors of SCC as the output, to scientifically evaluate the relative efficiency between the SCC pilots in China. Eleven representative SCC pilots were selected for analysis from the perspectives of static and dynamic approaches, and comparisons based on the horizontal analysis of the efficiency of SCC pilots were conducted and some targeted policy suggestions are put forward, which provide a reliable theoretical model and data support for the efficiency evaluation of SCC. This paper can be used as a reference for construction by providing a DEA model for efficiency evaluation methods and thus helps public sector decision makers choose the appropriate construction scale for SCC pilots.

Green development is the core goal for contemporary urban areas. It has become essential to explore new types of urban green development, and the concept of the "national civilized city" which is the most influential city brand in China, has emerged. Drawing upon the administrative competing theory, based on the panel data of 281 cities in China from 2000 to 2018, this paper employs a propensity scores matching (PSM) design and a difference-in-difference (DID) approach to examine the influence of the establishment of the national civilized city policy on the green development of prefecture-level cities in China. First, the result shows that the establishment of the national civilized city policy can significantly improve the urban green total factor productivity (GTFP). Second, the mediation mechanism analyses show that the establishment of national civilized city policy can promote cities to increase their investment in R&D, increase the financial investment in environmental governance, and optimize the industrial structure, which further lays a solid foundation for urban green development. Third, the heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of civilized city construction on urban GTFP is different in terms of population and economic scales. The results show that the weight of environmental management and R&D investment should be increased in the evaluation index of the national civilized city, and the promotion of urban green development should be maximized.

The complexity and uncertainty of compound disasters highlight the significance of local emergency resilience. This paper puts forward a framework, including the Projection Pursuit Model based on Real-coded Accelerating Genetic Algorithm and the Moran's Index (Moran's I), to measure the local emergency resilience and analyze its spatial distribution. An empirical test is conducted with the case of Hubei Province, China. The results show that: (1) the measurement indices related to infrastructure, material reserves, and resource allocation have a larger weight, while those related to personnel and their practice have a smaller weight. (2) The measurement value of local emergency resilience of sub-provincial regions in Hubei Province is vital in the eastern and weak in the western, and there are apparent east-west segmentation and north-south aggregation characteristics. (3) Although the sub-provincial regions do not show significant spatial correlation, the eastern regions centered on Wuhan are negatively correlated, and the western regions are positively correlated. Furthermore, this study provides theories and methods for local emergency resilience evaluation and spatial correlation exploration, and it has specific guidance recommendations for optimizing local emergency management resource allocation and improving local emergency resilience.

The essay aims to illustrate the results of the I-Access Interreg Italia-Malta 2016-20 project, carried out by a partnership led by the Department of Architecture of the University of Palermo with the scientific coordination of Renata Prescia. The project involved the Vucciria district in Palermo and the Bijcceria district in Valletta. Within the framework of the products created (database, web platform, mobile apps, protocol, etc.), we would like to explain in this paper the measures taken to facilitate physical and cultural accessibility from the integrated point of view of restoration and exhibition design, that is, in particular measures to overcome architectural barriers, measures for cultural dissemination and measures of a museographic-communicative nature, including re-evocations of lost or dislocated monuments and artistic works. The proposal is designed as a method for historic urban areas that have similar problems to the district under study. The Vucciria, for example, despite its high density of monuments, has a low quality of life because many of its monuments, especially churches, are closed and therefore unusable and because there is little motivation for local people to engage with these monuments, partly because it is an evolving community. The proposal, therefore, provides for concrete actions to restore the memory of the inhabitants and to re-establish an identity bond with the context, with concrete implications for attracting widespread tourism to provide opportunities for renewal for the district. Project proposals included the installation of three urban totems, ten tactile maps associated with as many churches, and the design of two new access ramps to two churches. By being realized as smart additions in a contemporary and stimulating way compared to the interventions characterized by a solipsistic retour au passè and previously carried out in accordance with the philosophy of the current urban plan, they also become an educational opportunity for a dialoguing community.

The prevalent air pollution along the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) possesses a significant threat to the natural environment, which further affects nearby tourism destination development. The paper seeks to assess the impact of air pollution on tourism in this region through a 2002-2012 panel data of 31 prefecture-level cities, along with geographic information system (GIS) and cluster analyses. The results reveal that air pollution is negatively associated with the number of inbound tourists along the YREB. In general, when air pollution intensifies by 1%, the number of inbound tourists decreases by 1.171%. This impact is more evident when air pollution is more severe, in the long term, and in areas that are larger, more central, and with more tourism resources. The paper contributes to the literature by addressing common limitations in previous studies and providing a more comprehensive evaluation of air pollution's impact on inbound tourism in the YREB. Practical implications regarding public policies and development directions based on air pollution periods, regions, and tourism resource allocations are provided.

The growing population over 65 years old and the process of urbanization are two of the major challenges that the contemporary city has to address urgently. These issues require a rethinking of public spaces to ensure health and well-being and stimulate active ageing. The theme of age-friendly cities emerges in this context; it's about inclusive cities harmonised with the Agenda 2030 goals and the Universal Design principles since they support people's lives regardless of age, gender, and abilities. In particular, the neighbourhood scale represents the optimal one able to implement experimentations for the sustainable development of the city. Furthermore, the neighbourhood is generally the place of the elderly's everyday life where they are encouraged to go out and maintain their daily habits thanks to the existence of a safe and good public realm. Starting from the case study of the Santa Marta neighbourhood in Venice, the author has conducted a multi-phase analysis to investigate the quality of outdoor public spaces and which activities are played in these spaces to understand how the urban experience and the quality of life of the elderlies can be improved. At the same time, both the good practices listed by the WHO for the achievement of age-friendly environments and some of the major neighbourhood sustainability assessment tools were studied, paying attention to the social dimension of sustainability, seen as an "accelerator" of urban well-being and inclusiveness. This paper aims to present the first results of an ongoing research, whose purpose is to draft a new tool able to measure the age-friendliness - called SMARTAGING protocol - of a selected neighbourhood. Specifically, the methodological framework will be better described. In this regard, the new protocol shall support administrations in the understanding of the phenomena related to ageing by directing active policies and design choices with an increasing focus on citizens and local and social issues acting complying with the principles of Universal Design.

The university has always been the highest and noblest form of educational institution. Likewise, the relationship between the university and the urban setting has characterised the debate on the management and development of city policies. Cities and universities have been involved in urban regeneration processes, leading to profound changes. The progressive physical development of anthropised areas has gradually reached and definitively incorporated the oldest universities originally built outside the urban setting. This paper analyses the case of the university institution as a promoter of regeneration, inclusion, and development. We shall consider the close relationship between university, campus, and city, paying close attention to the recent evolution of methods for the planning and design of public spaces. The above is becoming a total social fact, a large field of application in which urban regeneration policies are reflected and in which the design dynamics of a resilient, accessible, inclusive, and sustainable city of the future converge.

The virtuous objectives of the United Nations 2030 Agenda look to inclusion and accessibility as matrices for an autonomous and independent life through the regeneration of urban agglomerations. The paper presents the case of the city of Udine which tried to take the opportunity of the PEBA and the consequent programming, to start a process of reviewing the contents, procedures, and interactions between the various administrative offices in a more general framework for the management of goods, spaces, and services. Following the agreement between the University and the Municipality of Udine, the dalt Laboratory has oriented its studies towards research aimed at a structural intervention solution at the beginning of the experimentation on the urban routes of Udine. At the same time, the SWOT survey on the national offices in charge of accessibility and environmental well-being has given rise to research aimed at identifying how many and which offices are dedicated to inclusion as personal services and those committed to environmental accessibility to understand the connection between the bodies supervised by the responsible technical managers. Crossing the norm of accessibility, the paper aims to highlight how the Udine experimentation can shift attention to the expansion of the degree of usability of a place and service by focusing on the promotion of an additive and adaptive process that does not look at the simple removal of barriers but also to a guaranteed awareness of a sharing culture for fair, healthy and safe use of collective goods (This contribution reports some of the results of a research conducted under the responsibility of Christina Conti as part of a broader scientific program and in response to a research agreement between the University of Udine and the Municipality of Udine and an agreement between the FVG Region, the University of Trieste and the University of Udine. The recognition of the single contribution of the authors and the authoritativeness of the texts is attributable to the different roles covered and in particular: Christina Conti of the addresses and the summary of the results, defined the structure of the contents of this contribution supervising the overall drafting with attention to the part 'Introduction' and 'conclusions' and is co-author with Silvia Cioci and Teresa Sambrotta of the paragraph 'Results'. Silvia Cioci, postdoctoral research fellow for the program with the Municipality of Udine, has defined the contents, the general references as well as having carried out the editorial review of the contribution. The commitment of Teresa Sambrotta, research fellow for the program with the FVG region, is attributable to the results related to the actions between the development of the program with the Municipality and the planning of the FVG Region.).

Floodgate operation is one of the main forms of river regulation in the development and utilization of river basins. It changes the natural structure, flow process, and correlative environment of rivers. However, there is little analysis of the multiple impacts of small floodgate operation on the water environment in river networks and of the regulation patterns of urban floodgate infrastructure on pollution. In this paper, a one-dimensional hydrodynamic-water quality model, MIKE 11, was used, taking Wuxi's two main pollutant indicators-the permanganate index (COD Mn ) and ammonia nitrogen (NH 3 -N)-to simulate the water quality response of Wuxi's river network based on different design solutions of urban floodgate infrastructure. The results show that among the three design scenarios, the order of the decreasing amplitude of the COD Mn and NH 3 -N concentrations was as follows: 1.4 m design solution scenario > 2.1 m design solution scenario > 0.7 m design solution scenario. Meanwhile, under the 1.4 m scenario, the maximum decrease in the COD Mn concentration reached 37.57%, and the maximum decrease in the NH 3 -N concentration reached 206%. In the entire river network system, the improvement in the water quality in the downstream area was significantly better than that in the upstream area. In addition, under the three scenarios of floodgate operation, the changes in pollutant concentrations during the flood season (June-September) were significantly lower than those during the dry season (October-February) and the flat water season (March-May). The research results can provide theoretical support and new ideas for future research on the ecological operation of small floodgates and related research on the water environment effect.

"Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable" is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda approved by the UN General Assembly. This means that every Country must commit to facing the challenge of increasingly welcoming and barrier-free cities, providing "universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities". The mission of inclusive play is to create accessible and sensory-rich play environments that meet the widest range of users and abilities offering several and stimulating play opportunities in the same setting. In many playgrounds of our cities, for persons with disabilities, accessing, moving and making play experiences is not easy, in some cases it is not possible. The paper presents the results of a study carried out in order to investigate the inclusiveness of outdoor playgrounds and introduces the need of new perspectives towards a new and innovative view of inclusive playgrounds. The development process of the checklist for assessing the inclusiveness of outdoor playgrounds involved four steps. Step 1: Definition of the main concepts of investigation and generation of the items on the basis of the relevant literature and best practices. Step 2: Scaling and scoring. Step 3: Pilot test to verify the real applicability of the checklist. Step 4: Design of the final checklist. The final checklist was applied to a sample of playgrounds belonging to an Italian urban area selected as a case study in order to make a picture of the state of the art of the playgrounds built in recent years. After the checklist application, the processing of the collected data shows that there is still much to be done to make urban play areas fully accessible and usable by all. Physical accessibility (not always guaranteed) to the play area and to the play components is not enough. Currently there are few playgrounds that ensure inclusive experiences by offering a wide range of equipment with different game values and levels of challenge and services that can be used by everyone. Inclusive playgrounds in our communities are still a small percentage compared to all existing play environments, although there is a greater attention to the theme from year to year. The importance of inclusive playgrounds is recognized by everyone at a theoretical level, but in practice it is still necessary to promote, implement and verify the culture of accessibility and inclusive play. If we want inclusive cities, it is necessary to find skills and resources as well as effective operational tools to map the critical issues of existing playgrounds and to implement restyling interventions or new projects of successful and comprehensive inclusive play environments.

Chinese officials play an important role in air pollution control. This paper used a sample of 282 prefecture-level cities in China to discuss the impact of promotion incentives of officials on air pollution from the perspectives of heterogeneity, mechanism and spatial effects. We found that the promotion incentives of officials reduced air pollution, and GDP per capita had positive moderating effects. The effects of promotion incentives were more significant in cities with less air pollution, in the central and western regions, for officials with higher education levels, or years after 2007. The promotion incentives could promote the development of green finance and green technology innovation, both of which were conducive to mitigating air pollution. Using the dynamic spatial Durbin model (DSDM), we found that the promotion incentives had negative spatial spillover effects. The promotion incentives in surrounding cities reduced air pollution in the local city; however, it had only short-run effects and no long-run effects., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Climate change and biodiversity loss are two pressing global environmental challenges that are tightly coupled to urban processes. Cities emit greenhouse gases through the consumption of materials and energy. Urban expansion encroaches on local habitats, while urban land teleconnections simultaneously degrade distant ecosystems. These processes decrease the supply of and increase the demand for ecosystem services inside and outside urban areas. Most cities are in a state of ecosystem services deficit, whereby demand exceeds local supply of ecosystem services. Methods to quantify this deficit by capturing multi-scale and multi-level ecological exchanges are incipient, leaving scholars with a partial understanding of the environmental impacts of cities. This paper deploys a novel method to simulate future urban supplies and demands of two key ecosystem services needed to combat climate change and biodiversity loss - global climate regulation and global habitat maintenance. Applying our model to eight representative European cities, we project growing ecosystems deficits (demand exceeds supply) between 8% and 214% in global climate regulation and 11% and 431% in global habitat maintenance between 2020 and 2050. Variation between cities stems from differing dietary patterns and electricity mixes, which have large implications for ecosystems outside the city. To combat these losses, urban sustainability strategies should complement local restoration with changes to local consumption alongside promoting remote ecological restoration to tackle the multi-level environmental impacts of cities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare this work has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The authors have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Climate change triggers increasing stresses on urban settlements and coastal areas. The intensification of climate-connected impacts requires municipalities and communities to undertake adaptation measures and plans. These interventions should be capable of reducing negative climatic effects on human habitat and regional bioregions. On the one hand, the international scientific community recognized the supported adaptation planning approach as the more suitable to cope with local needs and criticalities. On the other hand, there is a lack of practical guidelines and examples that can be used to implement the theory. From a perspective of growth of global awareness and sensitivity to the climatic emergency, it is necessary to develop a practical methodology able to link together impacts perception and public decision process at the local scale. The paper aims to fill the gap between the theoretical approach and the practice, through a replicable experience of integration among climate change adaptation concepts and decision-making processes. The proposed methodology is described in a 4-step process to support decision-makers in selecting tailored adaptation policies and measures. The article is based on the experience developed within the Interreg It-Hr project "iDEAL - Decision support for Adaptation pLan" project. The research combines a quantitative and qualitative methodology in local participation processes. The approach is tested on five Mediterranean coastal cities and allowed to support the development of tailored adaptation measures. Furthermore, the interaction with local actors during the process led to an acceptance of the implemented measures, designing each measure to stakeholders' ambitions and expectations., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Energy-saving reconstruction of old residential buildings is a vital way to achieve sustainable development, but the potential of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) energy-saving in old residential buildings has not been studied. This study established a basic framework for the estimation of rooftop PV technical, economic and environmental potential in the old residential buildings of Nanjing City, and provide the prediction results for the development of rooftop PV development plan in Nanjing. We estimated the available area, maximum electricity generation, environmental and economic benefits of rooftop PV in five districts of Nanjing by using building roof profile data, calculation method of maximum solar radiation at optimal tilt angle and GIS method. We find that the electricity generation potential of installing rooftop PV in the old residential buildings in the study area would meet about 17.7-20% of the residential electricity demand under three scenarios of the PV performance ratios (PR). Additionally, the carbon reduction potential of the life cycle rooftop PV reaches 13912874.12t (PR = 0.85), 13094469.76t (PR = 0.8), and 12276065.4t (PR = 0.75), respectively; and the result of economic potential shows that the life cycle of rooftop PV cannot generate economic benefits with an NPV value less than 0. The feasibility analysis framework provided in this paper can be applied to the assessment of rooftop PV potential in other cities in China, and provide valuable advice for the rational planning of rooftop PV., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

With rapid urbanization, the use of external lighting to illuminate cities for night-time activity is on the rise worldwide. Many studies have suggested the excessive use of external lighting causes light pollution, which harms human health and leads to energy wastage. Although more awareness has been raised, there are not many regulations and guidelines available. As one of the cities most affected by light pollution in the world, Hong Kong has started exploring this issue within the general and business communities. However, studies that quantitatively evaluate the problem of light pollution in this city are lacking. This study aimed to assess light pollution quantitatively through measurement and numerical modelling. To achieve this, measurement protocols were developed, and site measurements were carried out in one of the known problem areas, Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mong Kok district. Through this exercise, both vertical and horizontal illuminances on the street level and the light distribution along the street were determined. An average level of 250 lx for the vertical illuminance was found, which was 3-4 times higher than the recommended brightness for normal activity. The light environment of the measured area was also modelled with the simulation program DIALux. This effort complemented the measurements by providing a means to increase the resolution on the light variation and to visualize light pollution in a 3D environment. The simulation results were verified by correlating the numerical model with measurements. The correlated model was exercised in a subsequent sensitivity study to predict possible outcomes with changing lighting pattern and lighting lumen level. This study serves to quantify this issue, which helps with the further development of effective solutions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nowadays, littering is one of the biggest challenges that environmental conservation is facing. Although beverage containers, such as bottles and cans, belong to the most common threats in this context, their effect on animals has been poorly studied. The aim of this study was to assess the diversity and mortality level of the animal taxa entering discarded containers and to investigate which container features influence the number and functional composition of the trapped animals. The study was conducted in 10 urban woodlands in the city of Wrocław, Poland. In total, 939 open containers were collected. In 56% of them, a total number of 10,162 dead individuals (10,139 invertebrates and 23 vertebrates) was found. The most common amongst them were insects (orders: Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera), malacostracans (Isopoda), arachnids (Opiliones, Sarcoptiformes) and gastropods (Stylommatophora). The number of dead animals was affected positively by the container capacity and was significantly higher in glass and plastic bottles when compared to aluminium cans. At the same time, the presence of a neck negatively affected the number of dead animals. Container capacity was also positively correlated with the abundance of the most common functional groups: predators, phytophages and saprophages. Moreover, colourless and green, but not brown, containers were a significant predictor for the abundance of the latter two groups. Our study revealed that discarded containers constitute an ecological trap for many groups of animals. There is an urgent need to reduce the amount of rubbish in the environment by, for example, the implementation of regional and international regulations addressing the problem of littering, or organising repeated clean-up and educational activities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ozone (O 3 ) has become the primary pollutant in many cities, and high concentrations of O 3 cause significant harm to the ecological environment and human health. This study investigated the spatiotemporal distribution of surface concentrations of ozone over entire China and analyzed the influencing factors based on the geographical detector technique. Moreover, the Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the influence of various meteorological factors on ozone concentrations. The results showed that, on the national scale, the daily average O 3 concentration in the cities of China in 2019 was 92.441 μg/m 3 and the nonattainment rate of daily average ozone was 7.98%. However, the ozone nonattainment rate was 33.33% in heavily polluted regions. The highest O 3 concentration was observed in summer, and the lowest was observed in spring. The O 3 concentrations in cities across the country showed significant spatial distribution characteristics. Among the five pollutants, the highest correlation was observed between O 3 and PM 2.5 and the lowest was observed between O 3 and SO 2 . Among the metrological factors, wind speed and solar radiation are the most influencing factors, and showed positive correlation. Moreover, the annual precipitation is negatively correlated with O 3 -8h concentrations. The methods and findings of this paper can be used as an aid for air pollution control programs in different regions for diminishing the risk of exposure to various air pollutants., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Urbanization poses threats and opportunities for the biodiversity of wild bees. At the same time, cities can harbor diverse wild bee assemblages, partly due to the unique plant assemblages that provide resources. While bee dietary preferences have been investigated in various studies, bee dietary studies have been conducted mostly in nonurban ecosystems and data based on plant visitation observations or palynological techniques. This data set describes the larval food preferences of four wild bee species (i.e., Chelostoma florisomne, Hylaeus communis, Osmia bicornis, and O. cornuta) common in urban areas in five different European cities (i.e., Antwerp, Belgium; Paris, France; Poznan, Poland; Tartu, Estonia; and Zurich, Switzerland). In addition, the data set describes the larval food preferences of individuals from three wild bee genera (i.e., Chelostoma sp., Hylaeus sp., and Osmia sp.) that could not be identified to the species level. These data were obtained from a Europe-level study aimed at understanding the effects of urbanization on biodiversity across different cities and cityscapes and a Swiss project aimed at understanding the effects of urban ecosystems in wild bee feeding behavior. Wild bees were sampled using standardized trap nests at 80 sites (32 in Zurich and 12 in each of the remaining cities), selected following a double gradient of available habitat at local and landscape scales. Larval pollen was obtained from the bee nests and identified using DNA metabarcoding. The data provide the plant composition at the species or genus level preferred by each bee. These unique data can be used for a wide array of research questions, including urban ecology (e.g., diversity of food sources along urban gradients), bee ecology (characterization of bee feeding preferences), or comparative studies on the urban evolution of behavioral traits between urban and nonurban sites. In addition, the data can be used to inform urban planning and conservation strategies, particularly concerning flower resources (e.g., importance of exotic species and, thus, management activities). This data set can be freely used for noncommercial purposes, and this data paper should be cited if the data is used; we request that collaboration with the data set contact person to be considered if this data set represents an important part of the data analyzed in a study., (© 2022 The Authors. Ecology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America.)

Cities are gradually developed on the basis of adapting and transforming the natural environment. In a certain urban area, human activities, natural environment, and other factors and their mutual influence constitute the urban ecological environment. Therefore, the evaluation of urban ecological environment quality is of great significance to the analysis of urban development. This paper takes a city in Western China as the evaluation object, uses AHP to determine the index weight, reasonably analyzes the current situation of the urban ecological environment, and further comprehensively evaluates the quality of the urban ecological environment. The study shows that from 2013 to 2018, the comprehensive capacity of the city's ecological environment quality showed a steady upward trend, except that the natural disasters of floods and mudslides in 2014 had a certain degree of fluctuation. The comprehensive index of ecological environment quality has increased from 0.337 in 2013 to 0.412 in 2018. The overall level is still low, but the development speed is relatively stable. The urban ecological environment has been gradually improved, and society, economy, and nature have maintained a certain degree of sustainable development., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Liang Zhou.)

In recent years, China has focused its development on technological innovation, trying to achieve a win-win situation between environmental protection and economic growth, and it has formulated a series of policies to promote technological innovation. Taking China's national independent innovation demonstration zone (NIIDZ) policy as an example, this paper empirically investigates the impact of China's innovation policy on haze pollution by using a difference-in-differences (DID) model. The results show that the NIIDZ policy promotes the governance of urban haze pollution and confirms the applicability of the experimentalist governance model in the practice of innovation policy in developing countries. Dynamic analysis shows that the NIIDZ policy has an experience accumulation effect. This policy can continue to promote haze control for at least 6 years, and the policy effect increases year by year. Action mechanism analysis shows that the NIIDZ policy can inhibit urban haze pollution by promoting urban technological innovation and high-tech industrial agglomeration. The estimation results of the spatial DID model show that the NIIDZ policy not only inhibits haze pollution in NIIDZ cities but also has an inhibitory effect on haze pollution in the surrounding non-NIIDZ cities and the NIIDZ cities, which confirms the positive externality characteristics of policy diffusion theory and environmental governance. The conclusions of this paper have important theoretical value for understanding the ecological effect of innovation policy and provide experience for developing countries to implement an experimentalist governance model., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The coupling coordination of the logistics industry and manufacturing industry is conducive to the sustainable development of logistics and manufacturing and the stability of sustainable supply chain. The logistics and manufacturing industries are not only the basic industries that support social development, but also the industries with high carbon emissions. This paper constructs the measurement system of coupling coordinating ecological efficiency of two industries based on carbon emission constraints and finds out the driving factors affecting ecological efficiency, which is of great significance to the low-carbon coordinated development of the two industries in the future. Firstly, this paper classifies the carbon emissions from the logistics industry and manufacturing industry as undesirable outputs and evaluates the ecological efficiency of the logistics industry (LEE) and manufacturing industry (MEE) in the three urban agglomerations from 2006 to 2019 by using the unexpected slacks-based measure (SBM) model. Secondly, the coupling coordination method is used to analyze the coupling coordination scheduling of industrial ecological efficiency (MLCC). Finally, the spatial econometric model is used to analyze the driving factors of the MLCC. The results show that during the study period, the coupling coordination of the three urban agglomerations continued to grow, the Pearl River Delta coupling coordination is the highest, the Yangtze River Delta coupling coordination grew the fastest, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coupling coordination grew slightly slower. The development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period is obviously faster than that during the 11th and 12th Five-Year Plan. The empirical analysis results of spatial econometrics show that the driving factors have an impact on the coupling coordination degree of the three urban agglomerations, but the significance of each factor is different. The driving factors have significant spatial heterogeneity. The three urban agglomerations should formulate low-carbon industry development policies in line with local development according to the actual situation of each region and local conditions., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

From 1957 to 1973, Barcelona Zoo was transformed from a small-scale, antiquated establishment harboring very few animals, a place that was still in a poor condition following the Spanish Civil War, into a new, larger, modern, and internationally recognized institution that included up-to-date animal enclosures and that boasted one of the first dolphinariums in Europe, as well as a famous white gorilla as its icon. From its very beginning, this renovation involved an intense popularization campaign.In this paper, by describing the public discourse generated throughout this transformation and by analyzing the roles played by Antoni Jonch, the director of the zoo at that time; Josep Maria de Porcioles, the then-mayor of Barcelona; and General Francisco Franco, the Spanish dictator who was head of state during this period, I will highlight how the context of the dictatorship not only authorized the new Barcelona Zoo but is, in fact, crucial to its understanding. The narratives that surrounded the renovation of the zoo focused on its civic and educational purpose, with a firm emphasis on modernity . The zoo was a modern space for learning about animals in order to become better people. These narratives were not only suitable to the policies, ideas, and aims of Porcioles' City Council and Franco's dictatorial regime; in fact, they completely matched them. Both local and national governments benefited from the restructuring of Barcelona Zoo and from its public discourse as a tool for social control and an instrument for their own propaganda, legitimation, and perpetuation.

After years of governance, China's PM 2.5 pollution has improved significantly, but some problems remain. PM 2.5 is the carrier of many heavy metals, and it has a stronger capacity to carry heavy metals, causing more significant harm to public health. At present, most of the studies on PM 2.5 -bound heavy metals in China are based on individual cities, and there are few studies from China's provincial capital cities. Given the above reasons, this paper described the pollution characteristics of PM 2.5 -bound heavy metal (Hg, Pb, Cd, As, Cr(VI), Ni) in 29 provincial capital cities in China (except Hohhot and Lhasa). Furthermore, the human health risk assessment recommended by US EPA was used to evaluate the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of the male adults, the female adults, and the children. The results indicated that (1) the children were facing a higher risk value of PM 2.5 -bound heavy metals than the adults; (2) Cr, As, and Pb were the top three elements that contributed to the average non-carcinogenic risk, while Cr(VI), As, and Cd were the three elements with the highest carcinogenic risk; and (3) the concentrations of PM 2.5 -bound heavy metals in the provincial capital cities of northern China were worse than those in the South. In response to the above conclusions, this paper put forward: (1) the government should strengthen the management of metallurgical industry and coal-burning industrial enterprises; (2) establish a real-time monitoring system for toxic and harmful heavy metal pollutants carried in the atmosphere as soon as possible; (3) concern on the regional synergies to form pollution control metropolitan areas., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

As the competition of tourism industry becomes increasingly white-hot, the sustainability and competitiveness of tourism economies inside a zone gradually gets people's attentions. Based on data of 16 cities from 2010 to 2019, this paper aims to investigate the sustainability and competitiveness of tourism economies in the Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area, by constructing a niche evaluation index and four niche models (niche ecostate-ecorole model, niche expansion model, niche breadth model, and niche overlap degree model). The results show that (1) during the sample period, the niche values of tourism competitiveness in most cities of the Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area have shown a sustained increasing trend, indicating that the status of these cities in resources, market, environment, social economy, and other dimensions is rising steadily, and their competitive advantages are gradually increasing; (2) the niche values of tourism competitiveness in the core cities of Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area (Chengdu and Chongqing) remain stable, while the niche values of tourism competitiveness in the remaining cities vary greatly; the comprehensive niche values of tourism industry competitiveness of the cities in the central area are significantly lower than those of the cities in the peripheral area; (3) the niche overlap of tourism competitiveness in the Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area is relatedly high, indicating that the homogenization of tourism in these cities is more serious., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This paper analyzes the impact of second wave of COVID-19 lockdown on environmental noise levels of 25 sites in Delhi city and compares the noise scenario during pre-lockdown, lockdown, and post-lockdown periods. The study utilized the noise monitoring data acquired from 25 real-time ambient noise monitoring stations, installed by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Delhi, at various sites throughout Delhi city. A significant reduction of up to 10 and 3 dB(A) in day and night equivalent noise levels, respectively, had been observed during the lockdown period as compared to the pre-lockdown and post-lockdown periods. The study also revealed that only nine sites, including four industrial and five commercial zone sites, complied with the ambient noise standards during lockdown period, and no silence or residential zone sites complied with the ambient noise standards even during the lockdown period. A roadmap for environmental noise management and control is suggested. The study also reports the community's perception toward the change in acoustic environment of Delhi city during the lockdown period by conducting an environmental noise perception survey. The present study should be helpful in devising noise control action plans and policy interventions for environmental noise management and control in the metropolitan city Delhi, India.

The collection radius of biomass raw materials is an important factor affecting the volume of raw materials for energy utilization. At present, it is usually studied based on a single biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plant. However, as the heat transfer threshold of biomass CHP plant is limited, it is necessary to consider the optimal collection radius and biomass raw material allocation under the distribution mode of multiple power plants to improve the overall utilization rate of raw materials. Biomass raw material collection distance threshold (BCDT) refers to the maximum road length between the resource point (that allows the transportation of raw materials to the biomass CHP plant) and the biomass CHP plant. Under the mode of multi-power plant planning, the greater the BCDT is, the more destinations there will be for raw materials to be transported to from the same resource point, and the more flexible the transportation plans and allocation of transportation volumes will be. This also means more raw materials can be ultimately used for energy utilization, which leads to higher transportation cost. Therefore, determining the appropriate BCDT plays a key role in the unified planning of biomass raw materials. Based on the limitation of heat transfer threshold, this paper carries out multi-power plant planning with Fuxin City as the research object. Based on such planning, ArcGIS is used to generate biomass raw material planning schemes with different BCDTs. Then the transportation cost and energy surplus factor (ratio of renewable resource potential to energy demand) of each scheme are calculated and compared. The results show that there is a positive correlation between BCDT and the energy surplus factor. With the increase of BCDT, the growth rate of the energy surplus factor gradually becomes slower. The study also allows to set the utilization threshold of biomass energy utilization capacity and obtain the corresponding BCDT. In order to achieve a higher energy surplus factor, it is recommended that 40 km be used as the BCDT when carrying out uniform planning for biomass raw materials. At this time, the utilization of biomass energy utilization capacity is 75%, which can achieve a high degree of energy self-sufficiency and ensure its economic competitiveness., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Urban areas are greatly affected by human activities that may result in the release of microplastics. Fugitive release of microplastics is the unorganized discharge of microplastics produced during plastic manufacturing and use. The microplastics enter the environment in a variety of ways. To investigate fugitively released microplastics and identify the major influencing factors in urban watersheds, the central area of Suzhou city was selected as a case study. This area has a dense network of canals without sources of organized release. The results show that the microplastic abundance in the urban canal of the area ranged from 8.29 to 40.63 particles L -1 , with a mean of 14.75 ± 3.95 particles L -1 . To better understand the relationship between microplastics and human activities, the main influencing factors, including water quality, water-related activities, dwelling type, urban landscaping, trash collection and land use type, were assessed. Water quality was not correlated with microplastic distribution in the urban watershed, as it is in larger watersheds. Water-related activities caused elevated fugitive release of microplastics. The abundance of microplastics discharged into the water environment in modern communities was significantly less than that discharged in an area of traditional residences. Traffic activities contributed to microplastic release, while urban landscaping physically blocked microplastics from flowing into urban waterbodies to some extent. Trash collection did not reduce the abundance of microplastic particles in the water, despite its ability to remove other types of plastic waste. The results also suggest that the contributions of different land use types to the abundance of microplastics in urban areas from highest to lowest were as follows: tourist districts > commercial areas > public areas > residential areas > roads. Moreover, fugitive release is an important source to be considered in future research on urban microplastic management. The renewal of urban construction to mitigate the influence of human activities on water ecology may play a positive role in controlling the fugitive release of microplastics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Health inequalities are globally widespread due to the regional socioeconomic inequalities. Myocardial infarction (MI) is a leading health problem causing deaths worldwide. Yet medical services for it are often inequitably distributed by region. Moreover, studies concerning MI's potential spatial risk factors generally suffer from difficulties in focusing on too few factors, inappropriate models, and coarse spatial grain of data. To address these issues, this paper integrates registered 1098 MI cases and urban multi-source spatio-temporal big data, and spatially analyses the risk factors for MI severity by applying an advanced interpretable model, the random forest algorithm (RFA)-based SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) model. In addition, a community-scale model between spatio-temporal risk factors and MI cases is constructed to predict the MI severity of all communities in Wuhan, China. The results suggest that those risk factors (i.e., age of patients, medical quality, temperature changes, air pollution and urban habitat) affect the MI severity at the community scale. We found that Wuhan residents in the downtown area are at risk for high MI severity, and the surrounding suburb areas show a donut-shape pattern of risk for medium-to-high MI severity. These patterns draw our attention to the impact of spatial environmental risk factors on MI severity. Thus, this paper provides three recommendations for urban planning to reduce the risk and mortality from severe MI in the aspect of policy implication., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Eco-efficiency has been considered a valuable gauge for evaluating how efficient economic activities are in regard to resource inputs and eco-environmental pressures. Even though Ecosystem services (ESs) are inseparable from sustainable eco-environment, a paucity of literature has considered ESs in eco-efficiency research lines. Therefore, this study aims to construct a novel eco-efficiency evaluation framework by integrating ESs as natural capital input and measure it utilizing the Epsilon-based measure model for the county-level cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration (BTHUA) during the period 2005-2015. The spatial econometric technique is further performed to acquire quantitative evidence about whether ESs and other determinants impact eco-efficiency. The results revealed that eco-efficiency increased continuously in the whole BTHUA and BTHUA's optimized development functional areas, whereas eco-efficiency of BTHUA's sub-regions showed a significant temporal diversity. The average eco-efficiency values of cities in key development functional areas and restricted development functional areas showed the V-shaped trend (declining before 2010 and then rising). Interestingly, this study found that ESV economic loss may result in eco-efficiency decline for cities located in key development functional areas. From the spatial heterogeneity perspective, the city with high EE is mainly located in eastern BTHUA, whereas cities in the northern plateau areas, southwestern, and western BTHUA have relatively low EE. Furthermore, there existed a significant spatial autocorrelation and a spatial agglomeration heterogeneity, which suggests that the low-low correlation regions gradually being the most dominant spatial pattern. The results of spatial econometric model verified that water yield has the strongest positive effect on EE while soil erosion will lead to declining EE. This paper potentially provides new insights for future policy design of urban agglomeration sustainable deployment., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

To a certain degree, the resilience of the transportation system expresses the safety of the transportation system, because it reflects the ability of the system to maintain its function in the face of disturbance events. In the current research, the assessment of the resilience of urban mobility is attractive and challenging. Apart from this, the concept of green mobility has been popular in recent years. As a representative way of shared mobility, the implementation of ridesharing will affect the level of urban mobility resilience to a certain extent. In this paper, we use a data low-intensity method to evaluate the urban traffic resilience under the circumstance of restricted car use. In addition, we incorporate the impact of ridesharing services. The research in this paper can be regarded as an evaluation framework, which can help policy makers and relevant operators to grasp the overall resilience characteristics of cities in emergencies, identify weak sectors, and formulate the best response plan. This method has been successfully applied to two cities in China, demonstrating its potential for practice. Finally, we also explored the relationship between urban traffic resilience and the pattern of population distribution. The analysis shows that population density has an impact on the level of transportation resilience. And the incorporation of ridesharing will bring an obvious increment in resilience of most areas.

Industrial transformation (IT) is the inevitable course for the sustainable development of resource-based cities, while digital inclusive finance (DIF) provides essential capital elements for industrial transformation. Based on the panel data of 115 resource-based cities in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper discusses the influence mechanism of digital inclusive finance on industrial transformation from the perspectives of the optimization of industrial structure (OIS) and the rationalization of industrial structure (RIS). The empirical results show that digital inclusive finance has a positive effect on both the optimization of industrial structure and the rationalization of industrial structure. Digital inclusive finance influences industrial transformation through residents' income and technological innovation. In addition, in the analysis of income gap and innovation gap, low-income regions have a better effect on the industrial transformation of industrial structure optimization, while high-income regions have a better effect in manufacturing upgrading, thus resulting in a more significant effect of industrial transformation on the rationalization of industrial structure. Obviously, the development of high-innovation regions has relative advantages with more channels for industrial transformation, which have significant effect of industrial transformation. Therefore, it is necessary to provide differentiated reform on the basis of unified development reform., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The increasing marine pollution in China's coastal areas has seriously affected the sustainable development of the economy and the living standards of residents. It is of great significance to explore the relationship between urbanization and marine pollution in coastal areas for the sustainable development of coastal cities. Based on the marine pollution data and nighttime light (NTL) data of 46 coastal cities from 2006 to 2015, the paper discusses the impact of urbanization on marine pollution by using the generalized spatial two-stage least square method (GS2SlS), and analyzes the role of technological innovation, financial development, and human capital in the impact of urbanization on marine pollution by using the three-stage least square method (3SLS). Results show that China's coastal marine pollution has a strong spatial spillover effect, and a U-shaped relationship exists between urbanization and marine pollution. Regional heterogeneity analysis shows that an inverted U-shaped relationship was found between coastal urbanization and marine pollution in the northern marine economic circle, while the eastern and southern marine economic circles have a U-shaped correlation. The heterogeneity of the urbanization pattern indicates that the relationship between different urbanization patterns and marine pollution in coastal areas is generally in a positive correlation stage, but the depth of urbanization occupies a dominant position. Further mechanism tests show that urbanization can effectively reduce coastal marine pollution and improve the marine environment through the technological innovation effect, financial development effect, and human capital effect.

With the development of China's social economy as well as the accelerating urbanization construction and the expanding scale of cities, the integration of land use and urban land classification based on land use spatial planning has become an important task for the sustainable development of China at present. Land use spatial classification planning is the basic basis for all kinds of development and protection construction activities, and government land use spatial planning at all levels plays an important role in implementing major national, provincial, and municipal strategies and promoting the rational and effective use of land use space. By briefly describing the spatial classification of land use and analyzing the idea of systematic integration of land use, this paper provides guidance and reference for exploring the construction of urban land use classification under land use spatial planning, aiming to improve the classification system of land use spatial planning. A neural network-based land use classification algorithm is proposed for the problems of few labeled samples of remote sensing images with high spatial resolution and feature deformation due to sensor height changes in land use spatial classification planning. By multiscale adaptive fusion of multiple convolutional layer features, the impact of feature deformation on classification accuracy is reduced. To further improve the classification accuracy, the depth features extracted from the pretraining network are used to pretrain the multiscale feature fusion part and the fully connected layer, and the whole network is fine-tuned using the augmented dataset. The experimental results show that the adaptive fusion method improves the fusion effect and effectively improves the accuracy of land use spatial classification planning., Competing Interests: The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest regarding this work., (Copyright © 2022 Zhifei Zhang and Shenmin Wang.)

Emergency management research is used to deal with the increasing number of extreme weather threats in urban areas. This paper uses causal analysis based on systems theory (CAST) to review the subway water ingress accident and the government's emergency management actions in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, during the heavy rainstorm disaster on 20 July 2021. The aims of this article are to establish safety control structures at both the enterprise level and the government level, and to systematically analyze the problems in emergency management in Zhengzhou City. Our analysis found that the construction of disaster prevention facilities restricted emergency management. Therefore, we suggest that enterprises and governments not only pay attention to emergency management, but also to the construction of disaster prevention facilities. This article also points out that the system of chief executive responsibility that is implemented in China is becoming a double-edged sword in emergency management. Our study makes recommendations for enhancing the capacities of emergency management, points out the shortcomings of the existing emergency management structure, and provides knowledge gained for future emergency management research.

Along with the development of society and the deepening contradiction between economic growth and natural resources, green finance has attracted more and more attention. As an area of great strategic significance in China's modernization, the development of green finance can improve the quality of its ecological environment and find new economic growth points for it. Based on the index system of pressure state response and while considering the scientific nature and desirability of the indicators, this paper selects 12 indicators to construct an index system of eco-environmental quality. It uses the entropy method to calculate the level of eco-environmental quality. Then, three control variables are selected, and the difference-in-difference model is used for empirical analysis. It is found that green finance positively affects the ecological environment quality of the Yangtze River Delta. In addition, the level of opening to the outside world and the level of economic development also have a positive effect on the quality of the ecological environment to a certain extent. Still, the impact of industrial structure on it is negative. Therefore, this paper puts forward some suggestions for strengthening the disclosure of green financial information, paying attention to the concept of green development and strengthening regional cooperation and exchange to promote the development of green finance further and promote the coordination of economic development and ecological protection in the Yangtze River Delta.

In the global trend of urban shrinkage, urban vitality, as one of the important representations of high-quality urban development, has become a breakthrough. More and more scholars advocate to awaken urban vitality, so as to realize the high-quality development of shrinking cities. This paper takes the municipal districts of 34 cities in the three northeastern provinces of China as study areas, based on the broad concept of urban shrinkage, selects the indicators of population, economy and society, and uses the "two-step diagnostic method" which is consistent with Chinese conditions to identify the urban shrinkage from 2010 to 2018. In this research, the indexes of economic, social, cultural, environmental and spatial dimensions are selected, and the urban vitality and the vitality of each dimension from 2010 to 2018 are calculated and analyzed by using the entropy weight method (EWM). Then, this paper analyzes the correlation between urban shrinkage and urban vitality by Pearson correlation coefficient. The results show that: (1) urban shrinkage in the three northeastern provinces of China has become a regional remarkable phenomenon, which is also an inevitable process in some regions of China and even the world; (2) overall, the urban vitality of cities in the three northeastern provinces of China is steady and rising a little, and there is an obvious spatial agglomeration pattern like "central city polarization"; (3) there is a significant correlation between urban shrinkage and urban vitality, that is, the lower the degree of urban shrinkage, the higher the urban vitality, showing the opposite trend in the process of urban development; (4) the influence of urban shrinkage on each dimension of urban vitality is different, and the correlation results are different, too. In the planning process of shrinking cities in the future, paying attention to the relationship between urban vitality and urban shrinkage, conducting benign guidance on this basis, and adjusting urban vitality elements of different dimensions to stimulate urban development power can enhance urban competitiveness and achieve better development.

Due to the fast growth of China's economy, urban atmospheric pollution has become a serious problem affecting the public's physical and mental health. The '2 + 26' cities, as the Jing-Jin-Ji atmospheric pollution transmission channel, has attracted widespread concern. There were several previous studies on the economic loss of public health caused by PM 2.5 pollution in '2 + 26' cities. To assess the economic loss caused by PM 2.5 on human health in '2 + 26' cities, this paper used the exposure-response model, the health effect loss model and willingness to pay method to obtain the economic loss from PM 2.5 pollution with the latest available data in 2020. It was concluded that, in 2020, the economic loss of '2 + 26' cities from PM 2.5 was spatially distributed low in the east and high in the west. In addition, it was larger in the southern and northern part, which was smaller in the middle of the region. Based on the conclusions, policy recommendations were put forward.

The launch of the selection process for National Development Zones(NDZs) marked a fundamental change in the construction of development zones, making it an essential position for local authorities to implement high-quality development. Based on the data of prefecture-level cities in China from 2000 to 2018, this paper examines the impact and mechanism of selecting NDZs on urban green innovation through a double-difference spatial durbin model using the selection of NDZs as a "quasi-natural experiment". The study finds that the selection of NDZs can promote green innovation in cities and has a significant window-radiating effect. The heterogeneity test results show that the implementation of the selection policy for development zones in non-old industrial cities, large and medium-sized cities, cities with easy access to transportation, and cities with high market orientation are more likely to promote urban green innovation. At the same time, the higher the level of government governance and the better the level of economic development of the development zones, the more it helps to realize the effects of the selection policy. The results of the mechanism test show that the selection of NDZs has a positive impact on urban green innovation through environmental regulation effects, resource allocation effects, and policy amplification effects., Competing Interests: We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and company.

With the rapid progress in urbanization, frequent urban waterlogging and non-point source pollution are threatening the living and health of human beings. Sponge city construction has become an effective means to curb urban waterlogging. Although related studies have explored the comprehensive benefits of sponge cities, few studies have been conducted on the effects of different geographical environments on runoff control and suspended solid (SS) removal. Based on 76 cities with sponge cities in China, this study used the meta-analysis method to evaluate the relationships of climate, terrain, underlying surface conditions, and construction area with the increase in the total annual runoff control rate and SS removal rate. The results reveal that the runoff control benefit can be significantly improved by sponge cities under the combined conditions of average annual precipitation of approximately 1000 mm, high fractional vegetation cover, sufficient soil fertility, a terrain slope i of ≤2%, and a permeability coefficient of strata of 100-200 m/d, especially in northern China, where the weight representing the quantity of comprehensive benefits was calculated to be 25.5%. In addition, the study results assist in reforming unfavorable geographical environments in the construction of sponge city, thus providing more effective solutions for tackling SS pollution. The most significant benefits of SS removal were obtained in north central China, where the weight was 21.4%. This study comprehensively investigated the effects of geographical environmental factors on the comprehensive benefits of sponge city reflected by the improvement in the total annual runoff control rate and the SS removal rate. The results will provide guidance for the planning and design of global sponge cities and effectively optimize the practice, scale, and location of existing construction based on specific geographical environments., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Existing studies ignore the importance of information infrastructure development in improving regional health care environment. This paper adopts a spatial difference-in-difference (DID) model to assess the impact of information infrastructure development on urban health care environment based on a quasi-natural experiment of the "Broadband China" city pilots (BCCP). A balanced panel of 259 cities from 2010 to 2019 is selected for empirical analysis in this paper. Our findings show that the implementation of BCCP resulted in a 4.1 and 2.9% improvement in local medical workforce and medical infrastructure. In addition, there is significant spatial spillover effects of the implementation of BCCP, with 7.2 and 12.5% improvement in medical workforce and medical infrastructure in the surrounding areas. Our findings also suggest that information infrastructure development enhances the health care environment by driving industrial upgrading and education levels. Further analysis shows that BCCP has the strongest improvement on medical workforce in the eastern region and non-ordinary prefecture-level cities. For medical infrastructure, BCCP has stronger improvement in central region, western region, and non-ordinary prefecture-level cities. Finally, the paper conducts a series of robustness tests to ensure the reliability of the analysis results, including parallel trend tests, placebo tests, and re-estimation with different methods. Policies to improve the health care environment through information infrastructure development are proposed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Tu, Zang, Tan, Zhou and Yu.)

The assessment of regional economic security (RES) is mainly based on the theoretical ideas of political economy and marginalism, and the research areas are mainly concentrated in European and American countries/regions, especially Eastern Europe. Taking the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China as an example, this paper constructs a triple-dimensional analytical framework, resources, and environmental-economic foundation-driving forces, based on the institutional approach of economic geography, with the purpose of making up for the deficiency of the extant literature, which pays little attention to regional characteristics and the dynamic mechanism concerning RES, and to provide a tool to identify key factors affecting RES. This paper obtained the main conclusions as follows. (1) The index of the economic security in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is on the rise, and the difference at the level of RES among cities is significant but tends to decrease. (2) There is a significant spatial autocorrelation among cities in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in terms of RES. The high-value areas are concentrated along the southeast edge, and the low-value areas are concentrated in the central areas of the west. (3) Despite lower weight values, the weakness of the economic foundation and the fragility of the ecological environment has increasingly hampered the improvement of the economic security in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In terms of driving forces, it is the support of the central government and aid programs of other provinces that contributes to its economic development.

With the rapid development of soft computing technology, various models and comprehensive analysis methods are emerging one after another, and new theories and research results continue to emerge, showing great strength and development potential in actual theoretical research and engineering applications. This paper analyzes the air pollution detection and environmental responsibility of sports clubs based on RBF neural networks, constructs the corresponding neural network algorithm, and simulates and analyzes the data. In the process of simulation design, we adjust the weight and threshold of the network according to the error performance of the network to realize the functions required by the system. Different models were used to predict the concentration of air pollutants in typical cities. At the same time, a meta-analysis method was used to conduct a preliminary discussion on the impact of air pollutants on the health of the Chinese population, and some research results were obtained. In the past years, Chinese sports clubs have also built a solid social environmental protection system around the related environmental protection responsibilities of sports clubs. The research on green environmental monitoring has improved people's awareness of environmental responsibility and provided technical support for the green development of sports clubs., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zijian Guo et al.)

Based on the exogenous shock of digital financial development in China in 2013, a difference-in-differences (DID) model is set up in this paper to investigate the causal relationship between digital financial development and haze pollution reduction. The finding of the paper is that a one standard deviation increase in digital finance after 2013 decreases the PM 2.5 concentrations by 0.2708 standard deviations. After a number of robustness checks, like placebo tests, instrumental variable (IV) estimations, eliminating disruptive policies, and using alternative specifications, this causal effect is not challenged. In addition, this paper explores three potential mechanisms of digital finance to reduce haze pollution: technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and green development. Moreover, the heterogeneous effects signify that the usage depth of digital finance works best in haze pollution reduction. Digital finance has more positive effects in cities in the north and those with superior Internet infrastructure and higher levels of traditional financial development. However, the quantile regression estimates suggest that for cities with light or very serious haze pollution, the positive impact of digital finance is limited. These findings supplement the research field on the environmental benefits of digital finance, which provides insights for better public policies about digital financial development to achieve haze pollution reduction., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhao and Yan.)

The green growth mode of modern economy is affected by both policy and market, but previous studies have lacked a comparison between the two effects on green economy development. Which is the leading factor of green growth: policy or market? Using the Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) model and the twelve-year data of more than 200 prefecture-level cities in China, we compared and analyzed the linear and non-linear effects of environmental regulation and marketization degree on green total factor productivity (GTFP). The results show that: (1) both environmental regulation and marketization degree have a non-linear promoting effect on GTFP. (2) GTFP is mainly market-driven rather than policy-guided. (3) Environmental regulation and marketization promote the improvement of GTFP through the industrial upgrading effect and the innovation development effect, respectively. This paper makes up for the comparative analysis gap of factors in the field of green growth and extends from the single determination of influencing factors to the importance of the comparison of influencing factors with the transition perspective. The conclusions provide a reference for the green development of countries and regions, emphasizing the importance of green development policies adapting to local conditions and time and providing evidence for market-oriented green economy development.

Sponge city special planning represents a basis for sponge city construction in China. It has a leading role in problem-oriented, effect-centered comprehensive, and coordinated construction. In accordance with the Interim Provisions on the Formulation of Sponge City Special Planning , China has gradually established a standardized method for formulating sponge city special planning based on the "four-water" framework. While this method emphasizes the normalization of planning contents, it has limitations when dealing with regional characteristics. The present paper clarifies the purposes and demands of formulating sponge city special planning for semi-arid valley cities in northwestern China. It furthermore highlights the limitations of the standard method and suggests a three-level optimization, i.e., problem identification, target indicators, and system construction. Based on the framework of "mountain management-water management-moist city," this paper proposes a set of ideas for formulating sponge city special planning. In this regard, the discussions are based on the formulation practice of Xining., Competing Interests: Authors YY, JH, and JZ were employed by China Urban Construction Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. The remaining author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wu, Yang, He and Zhu.)

Addressing the recent trend of the massive demand for resources and ubiquitous use for all citizens has led to the conceptualization of technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities. Ubiquitous IoT connectivity can be achieved to serve both urban and underserved remote areas such as rural communities by deploying 5G mobile networks with Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN). The current architectures will not offer flexible connectivity to many IoT applications due to high service demand, data exchange, emerging technologies, and security challenges. Hence, this paper explores various architectures that consider a hybrid 5G-LPWAN-IoT and Smart Cities. This includes security challenges as well as endogenous security and solutions in 5G and LPWAN-IoT. The slicing of virtual networks using software-defined network (SDN)/network function virtualization (NFV) based on the different quality of service (QoS) to satisfy different services and quality of experience (QoE) is presented. Also, a strategy that considers the implementation of 5G jointly with Weightless-N (TVWS) technologies to reduce the cell edge interference is considered. Discussions on the need for ubiquity connectivity leveraging 5G and LPWAN-IoT are presented. In addition, future research directions are presented, including a unified 5G network and LPWAN-IoT architecture that will holistically support integration with emerging technologies and endogenous security for improved/secured smart cities and remote areas IoT applications. Finally, the use of LPWAN jointly with low earth orbit (LEO) satellites for ubiquitous IoT connectivity is advocated in this paper., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Developing high-quality manufacturing industries and realizing green transformation are relatively pressing issues in the 21st century. Existing studies only focus on the economic or environmental effects of agglomeration, and the combined effects of manufacturing agglomeration have been neglected. Therefore, by referring to industrial agglomeration theory and constructing a theoretical analytical framework for manufacturing agglomeration and green development, this paper adopts the spatial panel Durbin model and mediating effect model with the panel data from China's Yangtze River Economic Belt to empirically test the influence and its mechanism of manufacturing agglomeration on green development. The results show that: (1) There are significant temporal and spatial differences in green development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Overall, green development has maintained a steady increase on the timeline, but each region shows a hierarchical structure of "multiple peaks-multiple centers". (2) There is a typical inverted U-shaped relationship between manufacturing agglomeration and green development, and the linear and quadratic coefficients of manufacturing agglomeration are -0.585 and -0.167, respectively. (3) Under the constraints of temporal, spatial, and urban heterogeneity, the impacts of manufacturing agglomeration on green development show significant differences. (4) Manufacturing agglomeration affects green development through three paths: the labor force upgrading effect, industrial structure upgrading effect, and technological innovation effect. The study can provide a theoretical and empirical basis for the green development of developing countries around the world.

With the gradual improvement of material living standards, people have higher and higher requirements for the livability of modern cities. As an important component of urban construction, the optimal layout of street public space has gradually received more and more attention. In the development stage of the new era, it is very important to improve the image of the city by transforming the street construction, optimizing the urban public space, and building a place full of vitality. Implementing the people-oriented connotation and improving the green travel components in the city, such as encouraging walking and increasing bicycles, are of great significance for optimizing the street public space. This article studies the relevant content of the optimization design of street public space layout based on the Internet of Things and deep learning and expounds the solutions for the optimization design of street public space layout based on the Internet of Things and deep learning. Design research provides cutting-edge scientific theories and evidence. This paper uses data to prove that based on the Internet of Things and deep learning technology, the optimized design of street public space layout has increased the latter's recognition among residents by an average of 21.7%. The designed model has both space utilization and environmental protection. Very good results have been obtained., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Shanshan Yu et al.)