Extraction of Basic Trends of Urban Expansion in China over Past 40 Years from Satellite Images

If urban sprawl is to be avoided in China in the next ten years, it is not only crucial to understand the overall history, current status, and future trends of urban expansion there, but also these differences, and this is presently lacking. In this study, remotely sensed images with approximately 30 m spatial resolution were used to quantitatively assess the spatial and temporal patterns of urban expansion of 60 Chinese cities(1973–2013). Urban-expansion-process curves of the cities studied were drawn using annual expansion area as an indicator. Curve similarity analysis generated four basic process modes of urban expansion in China. These included cities that: 1) peaked around 2004 and then decelerated; 2) peaked around 2010 and then decelerated; 3) showed sustained acceleration, and 4) showed continued deceleration. Four basic process modes represented cities under different levels of development stage. Geographic location was found to be the most related characteristic to urban expansion process. Regional development policies at the national level in each region also showed highly temporal consistency with fluctuation characteristics of urban expansion process. Urban characteristic such as population size and administrative level were not found to be significantly related to urban expansion-process modes. Understanding the basic process-mode categories well is extremely important for future regional-balance planning and development of macroeconomic policies.

Effects of a Building’s Density on Flow in Urban Areas

The effects of a building＇s density on urban flows are investigated using a CFD model with the RNG k - ε turbulence closure scheme. Twenty-seven cases with different building＇s density parameters （e.g., building and street-canyon aspect ratios） are numerically simulated. As the building＇s density parameters vary, different flow regimes appear. When the street canyon is relatively narrow and high, two counterrotating vortices in the vertical direction are generated. The wind speed along streets is mainly affected by the building＇s length. However, it is very difficult to find or generalize the characteristics of the street-canyon flows in terms of a single building＇s density parameter. This is because the complicated flow patterns appear due to the variation of the vortex structure and vortex number. Volume-averaged vorticity magnitude is a very good indicator to reflect the flow characteristics despite the strong dependency of flows on the variation of the building＇s density parameters. Multi-linear regression shows that the volume-averaged vorticity magnitude is a strong function of the building＇s length and the street-canyon width. The increase in the building＇s length decreases the vorticity of the street-canyon flow, while, the increase in the street- canyon width increases the vorticity.

Experimental study on viscosity characteristic of sewage in urban untreated sewage source heat pump system

To confirm the rheological characteristic of sewage in the research and application of urban sewage source heat pump system, the viscosity of sewage was investigated. The tube-type rheometer was used in this experimental study, and the sewage was treated as homogeneous non-Newtonian fluid. In addition, the relational expression between viscosity parameters was developed, and the function of apparent viscosity was obtained. It is concluded that the viscosity characteristic of sewage is influenced largely by complex mixture in sewage, and the sewage has the characteristic of sheared densification fluid.

Protection of urban features during urbanization based on the roles of springs in Jinan

Thirty-seven years since reform and opening up, China has sustained rapid economic growth and urbanization. However, there was inadequate protection of natural, historical, and cultural heritage, especially in the past 17 years, which led to the outcome that urban and rural construction lacked features. To rebuild our urban features during urbanization, and avoid destroying them,we should probe into the reason of lacking features and how to protect them. Therefore, taking Jinan City as an example, this paper explored the crisis and its causes of urban characteristics during the period of rapid urbanization based on discussing roles of spring features, including economic effects, social effects, ecological effects and so on. What is more, this paper listed and analyzed those protection measures taken by Jinan. The results showed that spring groups spewed again and kept for 8 years through those measures, which meant that urban characteristics restored. Thus, Jinan City provides successful and significant reference for other cities in restoring urban features during urbanization construction. Also, the author deemed that cities could recollect their urban features as long as they take reasonable measures.

Characteristic Construction of Nanchong City

With the gradual improvement of urban economic conditions,the features of local cities have been seriously damaged,and their characteristics have gradually weakened or even disappeared in the wave of urbanization.Taking Nanchong City,the core city in Sichuan-Chongqing region,as the research object,the paper excavates the local characteristics of Nanchong by means of historical tracing and field investigation.Through the research on the urban characteristics of Nanchong,it is hoped to provide some references for the construction of local urban characteristics in the rapid development of China at the present stage.

Quantifying the characteristics of particulate matters captured by urban plants using an automatic approach

It is widely accepted that urban plant leaves can capture airborne particles. Previous studies on the particle capture capacity of plant leaves have mostly focused on particle mass and/or size distribution. Fewer studies, however, have examined the particle density, and the size and shape characteristics of particles, which may have important implications for evaluating the particle capture efficiency of plants, and identifying the particle sources. In addition, the role of different vegetation types is as yet unclear. Here, we chose three species of different vegetation types, and firstly applied an object-based classification approach to automatically identify the particles from scanning electron microscope（SEM）micrographs. We then quantified the particle capture efficiency, and the major sources of particles were identified. We found（1） Rosa xanthina Lindl（shrub species） had greater retention efficiency than Broussonetia papyrifera（broadleaf species） and Pinus bungeana Zucc.（coniferous species）, in terms of particle number and particle area cover.（2） 97.9% of the identified particles had diameter ≤10 μm, and 67.1% of them had diameter ≤2.5 μm. 89.8% of the particles had smooth boundaries, with 23.4% of them being nearly spherical.（3） 32.4%–74.1% of the particles were generated from bare soil and construction activities, and 15.5%–23.0% were mainly from vehicle exhaust and cooking fumes.

The Development Trend and Characteristics of Urban Forestry in China

Urban forestry, which rose in the west in the latter half of the 20th century, is a type of forestry serving for city. Its important characteristic is that it makes through its narrow sense, or "urban afforestation", whose objective is to make city green and beautiful, and develops into a forestry system serving for the urban system. The consequence of rapid modern civilization is that skyscrapers concentrate in urban district and green space become narrower, resulting that