International Cities Club to Demonstrate Urban Sustainability

The inaugural ceremony of International Standardized Sustainable City Club and the Award Ceremony of International Standardization Conference Base were held in Hangzhou on June 30.Tian Shihong,SAC Administrator,Zhang Xiaogang,ISO President,John Walter,President-elect of ISO,Xu Liyi,Hangzhou mayor and other representatives attended the event.

Urban Agriculture:A Transitional Mechanism for Reducing Environmental Degradation and Fossil Fuel over Dependence

With the increasing population in the urban cities of the world,the demand for food from distant areas has been on the rise but at the expense of scarce natural resources like oil,water and forest,etc.However,producing food locally in urban centers provides a sustainable mechanism of reducing the carbon,food or ecological footprints of these cities in particular and environmental degradation in general.It creates a circular metabolic system in which the natural inputs are efficiently harnessed rather than the linear metabolic system in which resources flow in and wastes flow out.This article analyzes some urban agricultural local initiatives in urban centers of the worlds that promote a circular metabolic systems and proposes the procedure that can be adopted to promote urban agriculture.

Urban Big Data and the Development of City Intelligence

This study provides a definition for urban big data while exploring its features and applications of Chi- na＇s city intelligence. The differences between city intelligence in China and the ＂smart city＂ concept in other countries are compared to highlight and contrast the unique definition and model for China＇s city intelligence in this paper. Furthermore, this paper examines the role of urban big data in city intel- ligence by showing that it not only serves as the cornerstone of this trend as it also plays a core role in the diffusion of city intelligence technology and serves as an inexhaustible resource for the sustained development of city intelligence. This study also points out the challenges of shaping and developing of China＇s urban big data. Considering the supporting and core role that urban big data plays in city intel- ligence, the study then expounds on the key points of urban big data, including infrastructure support, urban governance, public services, and economic and industrial development. Finally, this study points out that the utility of city intelligence as an ideal policy tool for advancing the goals of China＇s urban de- velopment. In conclusion, it is imperative that China make full use of its unique advantages-including using the nation＇s current state of development and resources, geographical advantages, and good hu- man relations-in subjective and objective conditions to promote the development of city intelligence through the proper application of urban big data.

Spatial Differences of Coastal Urban Expansion in China from 1970s to 2013

As the ′economic engines′ of China,coastal cities have developed and expanded considerably since the 1970 s.In this study,information on the urban expansion process of Chinese coastal cities from the 1970 s to 2013 was retrieved.Through the analysis of stage characteristics,spatial expansion modes,influences on land use,centroid shifts,and spatial morphological evolutions,the spatial differences of coastal urban expansion were revealed.Results indicate that 1) the expansion stages of southern coastal cities are more complex than those of northern coastal cities,and the expansion ranges and speeds of the former are far higher than those of the latter;2) the spatial expansion of southern coastal cities mostly adopt a single mode,whereas northern coastal cities mostly adopt a mixed mode;3) significant spatial differences in the occupations of different land sources exist between the south and the north along the coastline;4) the centroid of coastal cities tends to migrate toward the coastline,and the centroid shift distances of southern coastal cities are clearly higher than those of northern coastal cities;and 5) the spatial morphology of southern coastal cities tends to be compact,whereas that of northern coastal cities tends to be loose.Policies have a powerful significance in terms of guiding urban expansion and its spatial differences in coastal cities.Urban expansion in coastal cities will encounter new opportunities and challenges under the guidance of new types of urbanization strategies.

Planning and Layout Strategies of Urban Institution Pension Service Facilities under the Background of Aging Society: A Case Study of the Main Urban District of Xuzhou City

China has entered an aging society, and the contradiction between the social pension needs rapidly growing in the dty and the lagged pension business is increasingly outstanding. By analyzing the amount, development level, type, sttucture, and space distribution of the institutional pension facilityin main urban district of Xuzhou Qty, this paper has summed up the main problems. Combining the estimation on the number of the elders and pension bed, coordination and planning of institutionalpension facility in the research zone are conducted from three aspects： distribution guidance, ptindple of locating and differentiation configufation, to promote tiie construction of pension agenqr and impel the development of pension business in Xuzhou Qty.

Evaluation of Three-dimensional Urban Expansion: A Case Study of Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China

With rapid urban development in China in the last two decades, the three-dimensional(3D) characteristic has been the main feature of urban morphology. However, the vast majority of researches of urban growth have focused on the planar area(two-dimensional(2D)) expansion. Few studies have been conducted from a 3D perspective. In this paper, the 3D urban expansion of the Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China from 2003 to 2012 was evaluated based on Geographical Information System(GIS) tools and high-resolution remote sensing images. Four indices, namely weighted average height of buildings, volume of buildings, 3D expansion intensity and 3D fractal dimension are used to quantify the 3D urban expansion. The weighted average height of buildings and the volume of buildings are used to illustrate the temporal change of the 3D urban morphology, while the other two indices are used to calculate the expansion intensity and the fractal dimension of the 3D urban morphology. The results show that the spatial distribution of the high-rise buildings in Yangzhou has significantly spread and the utilization of the 3D space of Yangzhou has become more efficient and intensive. The methods proposed in this paper laid a foundation for a wide range of study of 3D urban morphology changes.

Instruments of Urban Planning in Algerian City： Reality and Challenges

The year 1990 marks a line of rupture in the history of Algeria in general by the fundamental changes that have occurred, especially in the fields of urbanism and the land use planning, which has an important impact on space of the city and its environment. However, the absence of directives based on the reality of upstream territories and sometimes the conflict and the weakness of the instruments created at different levels： national, regional and local, have accelerated the galloping development of urbanization （the irrational consumption of land reserves inside and around the city）, often at the expense of the agricultural land. On the other hand, the involvement of new actors in the production of the framework built in the Algerian town was made without compliance with the rules of architecture and urbanism contained in the build permit and in the MPU （Master Plan of Land Use and Urbanism） and the SOP （Soil Occupation Plan） approved. The analyses conducted in the cities such as the capital Algiers and Setif illustrate this situation well. This article presents these situations of paradox, identifies their causes and suggests the recommendations to implement in the framework of studies and actions to take, to correct and regulate their mutations.

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.

Prospects of Shanghai City Network in 21~st Century

According to the population, area and economy development of Shanghai City, this paper introduces the load forecast of the city and points out that the development of urban power network should adapt the development of its economy. In this paper, the developing targets of Shanghai power network are also presented.

Review on Sustainable Cities:Assessing the Performance and Practice of Urban Environments

Sustainable Cities:Assessing the Performance and Practice of Urban Environments Authors:Pierre Laconte,Chris Gossop Year:2016 Publisher:I.B.Tauris & Co.Ltd ISBN:9781784532321(288 pages,in English) How to build sustainable cities has always been a common concern to the world for a long period of time.Sustainable development usually includes three dimensions:economy,society。

A Comparative History Partnership From a Historical Institutional Theory View―A Brief Introduction of Three Experiments Beyond Conventional City Planning 1970-1991 in Kotake-Mukaihara District,Tokyo

Institutional development and the substantial governance outcomes have continued to be a big theme in Political Science.This paper focuses on partnership practices in public works construction and decision-making cases in city and urban settings(as a socio-political environment).In these settings,the management of policy regarding space and time should conduct on understandings of the various dimensions of institutional settings.We are going to emphasize institution and coordination in the public policy process.So,this paper attempted to describe chronological restrictions that were generated by long-term interactions and institutional transformation’s patterns from a historical institutional view.As much as possible,we have analyzed the following micro-institutional experiments,participatory governance(Case I)and public works executions(Cases II and III)to show the institutional development patterns precisely.

Hydrochemical insights on the signatures and genesis of water resources in a high-altitude city on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, South-west China

Water resources have crucial implications for the steady development of the urban social economy.This study investigated the hydrochemical signatures and genesis of water resources in the urban area of Lhasa City(UALC).To this end,several analyses,such as ion ratio analysis and correlation analysis,were performed by comprehensively applying mathematical statistics and integrated hydrochemical methods.The results show relatively low concentrations of major ions in the groundwater and surface water(GSW)of the UALC.The primary anions and cations are HCO3-and Ca2+,reflecting the HCOg-Ca water type.Nevertheless,groundwater exhibits higher concentrations of key chemical components compared to surface water.GsW are weakly alkaline,with pH values of 7.78 and 7.61,respectively,and they have low salinity with average concentrations of total dissolved solids being 190.74 and 112.17 mg/L,respectively.Anthropogenic inputs have minimal influence on the hydrochemical features of GSw,whereas rock weathering is the dominant controlling factor.Furthermore,cation exchange.is a significant hydrogeochemical.process influencing their hydrochemical features.According to the isotope analysis(H and 180),the primary source of recharge for GSW is atmospheric precipitation,with some input from melted ice and snow.Moreover,GSW samples from the UALC show relatively similar 2H and 18O isotopic compositions,indicating the existence of a discernible hydraulic connection linking the two water sources.The research findings can serve as a valuable scientific reference and foundation for the sustainable development,effective utilization,and proper safeguarding of regional water resources in high-altitude areas.

Study on Forecast Scenarios for Simulation of Future Urban Growth in Shenyang City Based on SLEUTH Model

The SLEUTH urban growth model was used to simulate future urban growth patterns and to explore potential environ-mental impacts of urban development under different conditions of development in Shenyang City, China. The SLEUTH model was calibrated with historical data (1988-2004) extracted from a time series of TM satellite images, and the future growth was pro-jected out to 2030 assuming three different policy scenarios: (1) current trends scenario (Scenario CT), (2) regional policy and ur-ban planning scenario (Scenario PP), and (3) environmental protection scenario (Scenario EP). Scenario analysis showed that urban growth would accelerate under all policy scenarios with significant differences in development pattern and sustainability after 2016. Urban development under Scenario CT would lead to substantial loss of resource lands than that under the other two scenarios, and the urban landscape pattern would be increasingly complex and dispersed. In contrast, urban growth under scenario PP and EP would consume less natural resource land and show a relatively compact urban development pattern during the prediction period. This study suggested that it is crucial to take stringent urban planning and management measures to control future urban growth and to protect primary farmland and the support system of urban ecology in Shenyang City. The SLEUTH model is a useful planning tool to guide sustainable utilization of urban land resources to a certain extent.

The socio-spatial dimension of behavior analysis:Frontiers and progress in Chinese behavioral geography

The interaction between urban space and individual behavior has led to essential social, economic and environmental consequences. Behavioral geography provides a new effective theoretical and methodological framework to investigate behavior patterns in cities. In recent years, behavior approach has become an influential analytical paradigm in Chinese urban geography. This paper provides an overview of behavioral geography research in China, by introducing the theoretical and empirical progress in behavior analysis. It is argued that behavioral approach offers a new perspective to understanding China＇s urban sociospatial reconstruction and addressing social and environmental issues at micro scale. Although theoretical development still lags behind developed countries, Chinese scholars have made much progress in empirical investigations of classical socio-spatial behavior theories. This paper also provides an overview of new trends in Chinese behavioral geography that has started to apply the behavioral approach to urban social, economic and environmental issues. This paper suggests that social dimensions of behavior should be addressed more comprehensively and rigorously by using interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological frameworks, to better understand the complexity of Chinese cities and research the critical social and environmental issues in cities.

Understanding spatial structures and organizational patterns of city networks in China: A highway passenger flow perspective

The use of multi-perspective and multi-scalar city networks has gradually developed into a range of critical approaches to understand spatial interactions and linkages. In particular, road linkages represent key characteristics of spatial dependence and distance decay, and are of great significance in depicting spatial relationships at the regional scale. Therefore, based on highway passenger flow data between prefecture-level administrative units, this paper attempted to identify the functional structures and regional impacts of city networks in China, and to further explore the spatial organization patterns of the existing functional regions, aiming to deepen our understanding of city network structures and to provide new cognitive perspectives for ongoing research. The research results lead to four key conclusions. First, city networks that are based on highway flows exhibit strong spatial dependence and hierarchical characteristics, to a large extent spatially coupled with the distributions of major megaregions in China. These phenomena are a reflection of spatial relationships at regional scales as well as core-periphery structure. Second, 19 communities that belong to an important type of spatial configuration are identified through community detection algorithm, and we suggest they are correspondingly urban economic regions within urban China. Their spatial metaphors include the administrative region economy, spatial spillover effects of megaregions, and core-periphery structure. Third, each community possesses a specific city network system and exhibits strong spatial dependence and various spatial organization patterns. Regional patterns have emerged as the result of multi-level, dynamic, and networked characteristics. Fourth, adopting a morphology-based perspective, the regional city network systems can be basically divided into monocentric, dual-nuclei, polycentric, and low-level equilibration spatial structures, while most are developing monocentrically.

Overview and progress of Chinese geographical human settlement research

Increasing Chinese urbanization and industrialization has prompted greater attention to the study of human settlement and the human-land relationship in the fields of geography, architecture, and urban planning. We used bibliometric methods and statistical software to review 180 articles on human settlement in 16 Chinese geographical journals. We found that Chinese geographical human settlement research is characterized by the following：（1） Most research focuses on human settlement extension, valuation indicators, models for urban and rural settlements, theoretical exploration and the planning practices of single-factor, human settlement and complex, geographical livability in macro-scale, urban settlement differentiation and ideal patterns in medium scale, the comprehensive evaluation of settlement environment, and the planning of community units in micro-scale, community settlements; socio-cultural investigation and warnings about advancing human settlement.（2） No progress has been made in synthesizing and integrating method systems. PSR models and DPSIR models are used for targeting mechanisms, while the standard settlement evaluation system was composed of physical ＆ economic indicators by questionnaire surveys. On the other hand, spatial clustering based on GIS has been a frequent focus in recent years. Pioneering research on human settlement and theoretical systems within the context of China＇s urbanization and industrialization will provide guidance on the sustainability of Chinese cities and regions. The following five aspects require greater attention：（1） Natural suitability research on human settlement, and a survey of human settlement demands to reflect the range of different demands concerning ecologically suitable settlements in urban environments, the corresponding valuation indicators, systems, and evolution, and the impact of the residents＇ socio-economic attributes.（2） Spatial-temporal evaluation and sustainability research on urban and rural human settlement at various scales, focusing on evolution and spatial differen-tiation at various scales such as city clusters and comparisons between cities, within the cities and communities.（3） Development of theory and technology for human settlement evolution research, including detection technology and methods, data mining measures, and forecasting and emulation of regional and urban human settlement evolution processes, mechanisms and patterns.（4） Research on the control of human settlement that focuses on optimization, patterns, and policies for effective management and development.（5） Estimating the human settlement system service value and establishing suitable human settlement systems, including social, economic, cultural and ecological service values.