World cities in terms of the sustainable development concept

The article considers the issue of the world cities in terms of sustainable development.The population has been increasing in such intensive rates never reached during the middle of the 20th century.The expansion of the cities indicates,on the one hand,the growth of the world’s general socio-economic development,on the other hand,it raises a number of economic,social and environmental problems.The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current state and prospects of the world cities in terms of the sustainable development concept,to identify opportunities,threats,strengths and weaknesses of the world cities,to determine the role of cities in the con-temporary global world and consider further research of the world’s cities.The authors analyzed the world cities rankings and noted that highly developed cities have more chances to quickly implement the sustainable devel-opment concept compared to medium-sized cities due to larger financial resources.The authors built a SWOT analysis of the world cities transformation in terms of the sustainable development concept,identified strengths,weaknesses,opportunities and threats.According to the results of the SWOT analysis,the authors established that sustainable development of cities requires significant investments,particularly in the social sphere develop-ment,purification,and preservation of urban nature from the anthropogenic impacts.The research result is the systematization of the sustainable development criteria used in compiling the world cities rankings,determining the possibilities of the contemporary cities transition to the sustainable development concept.

World Cities and International Organizations: Political Global-city Status of Chinese Cities

In this study, the authors use a political perspective to explore the relative global status of cities in China. Two questions are addressed. Firstly, by using international organizations as the subjects and quantitative analysis of the spatial distribution of their offices, the overall position of Chinese cities in the global distribution of international organizations is estimated. The results show that 22 Chi- nese cities are involved in international political affairs. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou dominate these activities and have high po- litical global-city status. Secondly, through qualitative analysis of Guangzhou City, the authors explore how its status as a center for intemational organizations has been shaped in recent years. The locational decision-making process is analyzed and the factors are demonstrated at both national and city scales. The definition of international organizations as used in this study refers not only to those supranational bodies that have the ability to manage relations across states （such as the European Union）, but also those in- ter-governmental organizations （IGOs）, international non-governmental organizations （INGOs） and diplomatic representatives and delegations that today also manage and regulate relations between and among states.

Measurement and Interpretation of Connectivity of Chinese Cities in World City Network,2010

This is an empirical paper that measures and interprets the position of Chinese cities in the world city network in 2010. Building on a specification of the world city network as a′interlocking network′in which business services firms play the crucial role in city network formation, information is gathered about the presence of global service firms in cities. This information is converted into data to provide the′service value′of a city for a firm′s provision of corporate services in a 526(cities)×175(firms) matrix. These data are then used as the input to the interlocking network model in order to measure cities′connectivity and its predominant geographical orientation. Here we focus on the position of some key Chinese cities in this regard, and discuss and interpret results in the context of the urban dimensions of the′opening up′of the Chinese economy.

Changing Connectivities of Chinese Cities in the World City Network,2010–2016

Against the backdrop of the sizable economic growth of China in recent years, this paper uses the most recent data gathering of the Globalization and World Cities(Ga WC) research network to update and supplement earlier research on the shifting global connectivity of Chinese cities. The update consists of an evaluation of the connectivity of Chinese cities in 2016, the supplement of an analysis of the changing position of Chinese cities in the world city network between 2010 and 2016. To this end, we build on a specification of the world city network as an ‘interlocking network' in which producer services firms play the crucial role in city network formation. Information about the presence of leading producer services firms in cities in 2010 and 2016 is used as the input to a bipartite network projection algorithm in order to measure cities' network connectivity. The first set of results discusses the geographies of urban connectivity in the world city network in 2016. The second set of results discusses standardized measures of change to reveal the major dimensions of the transformations between 2010 and 2016. We find that, with the exception of Hong Kong, Macao and Kaohsiung of Taiwan, all Chinese cities record connectivity gains. This wholesale rise in connectivity is nonetheless geographically uneven, with above all Beijing, Chengdu/Chongqing and Changsha/Wuhan becoming more connected. We conclude that the wholesale rise of Chinese cities in the world city network and their changing trajectories in the post-crisis era are embedded in shifting external and internal political economies.

Permanence of Economic Potential of Cities Based on Sector Development

The paper attempts to answer the following key question: how will a city′s world rank change in the face of crisis in its main economic sector? Crisis is defined here as a decline in financial performance in the given sector, which leads to the decline of its constituent firms and corporations on the world economic scene. The World Economic Center Index(WECI) has been created in order to rank cities based on the value of their resident corporations by sector and show their level of stability upon the removal of the most important sector. This provides information on the potential of each analyzed city as well as on its advanced features or area of specialization. Research has shown that nearly half the World Economic Centers are dominated by the financial and materials sectors of the economy. Different sectors dominate different regions of the world. For example, consumer staples and materials were dominant in North America, while information technology and financials were dominant in Europe. In Asia, several sectors tend to dominate the economy. Research has shown that the ability of a principal economic sector to resist economic crisis largely depends on the strength of the command and control function of a city. Finally, a high globalization level of a city is a key determinant of its susceptibility to economic crisis.

Commissioning of First in the World DMTO-II Demonstration Unit in Pucheng City

On December 21, 2014 the first in the world coal-basedsecond-generation methanol-to-olefin （DMTO-II） commercialdemonstration unit was successfully started up atthe Clean Energy Chemical Company Limited in Puchengcity, Shaanxi province, which has symbolized the majorachievements of this phase associated with the disseminationand application of the new generation technology formanufacture of olefins from methanol, the independentintellectual property rights of which are in the hands ofthis Chinese enterprise.

World Porcelain Capital Playing the Spring Overture——Notes on the Building of Jingdezhen City into the World Porcelain Capital

Jingdezhen city lies in the Northeast of Jiangxi Province.It is located in the transitional area between the Huangshan-Huaiyushan mountain range and the Plain of Poyang Lake and is known as the historical"capital of porcelain"with a history of about 1000 years.It was listed as the four

Ancient Charm in a Modern World Kashgar’s old city recalls Silk Road’s history and time-honored traditions

[Kashgar is] the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia.

An Empirical Study on Chinese City Network Pattern Based on Producer Services

Globalization and informatization have accelerated city networking process over the world, which makes research on city network a hot topic in the fields of urban geography and economic geography. With Chinese economic structure adjustment and city economic growth, producer services have begun to play an increasingly important role in city-region networking. This paper employs the methodology of world city network to analyze and explain the spatial development characteristics of China's urban network system based on the data of nationwide producer services enterprise network. The research result indicated that the distribution of producer services network has a positive effect on the development of Chinese city networks. City network connectivity is closely related to the significance of city in producer services development, and the former will gradually decline with the drop of the latter. Accordingly, the 64 cities can be divided into the national central cities, regional central cities, sub-regional central cities and local central cities in accordance with their position and role in the nationwide producer services network. It is concluded that high-grade cities with quality producer services dominate the pattern of Chinese city networks and there emerges three spatial agglomerations of producer services enterprises in Changjiang (Yangtze) River Delta, Zhujiang (Pearl) River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Economical Region. Moreover, the distribution of different producer services industry varies from city to city, which also affects the characteristics of network development.

BEIJING METROPOLIS' TO THE CONQUEST OF ITS NEW STATUS

In this paper, we analyse the main strategy for the development of Beijing as it was presented by the last Master Plan: “Beijing should be, by the middle of the 21st century an international modern metropolis of the first world rank”. At first, we summarize the current Chinese studies and urban changes that are being carried out in Beijing, both in spatial and function aspects. Further, we underline the necessity to Beijing to become a powerful economically modernized metropolis. We emphasize with three main reasons in order to explain this necessity: the new “socialist economic market” in China, the inter urban competition among Chinese cities, and the comparison with the current metropolises of the first world rank. Finally, after a summary about the internalization process of London, Paris, New York and Tokyo, we present a simplified analysis of the urban internalization process. According to this analysis, we conclude that Beijing must combine two status: a powerful economically modernized metropolis and the Asian Cultural Capital status, so that could project Beijing into the next century as one of the elite metropolis in the world.

Chinese Cities after Reform and Opening to the Outside World

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Intercity connections and a world city network based on international sport events:Empirical studies on the Beijing,London,and Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games

With so many sports becoming increasingly popular,sports have come to play an important role in promoting the process of globalization and formatting the world city network(WCN).Previous studies have constructed the WCN based on the distribution of international sport federations(ISFs)and the sites of international sport events(ISEs),but there is still a lack of systematic research on the intercity connections caused by ISEs.Taking three most recent Olympic Games as cases,this paper explores intercity connections and WCN based on ISEs.The results show that(1)the Olympic WCN has city nodes around the world except in Antarctica,and the number and activity values of the cities in host countries may increase intensively during the Olympic Games.(2)A hierarchical city system with four tiers(global central cities,specialized central cities,national central cities and specialized cities)is formed by the intercity connections caused by the Olympic Games.(3)The WCN based on the Olympic Games,is made up of many subnetworks,while many differences occur due to the diverse decisions made by the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games(OCOG),host cities or even host countries in the events associated with sponsorship activity and publicity activity.This study not only broadens the relevant fields of sports culture-oriented WCN research but also explores the instability of the WCN,which makes it an effective reference for WCN research based on ISEs.

Changing the World,One City at a Time

In this series,Beijing Review will profile several "sister city" relationships between the United States and China.Washington,D.C.-based Sister Cities International facilitates the city pairings,as part of a 50-year-old mission to promote"citizen diplomacy."Our first sister city profile is on Pasadena,California and its counterpart Xicheng District in Beijing.