International Arts Festivals Visitors＇ Motives and Profile Characteristics： The Case of Two Medium-Sized Greek Cities

This paper presents an analysis of two renowned international arts festivals visitors＇ motives and profilecharacteristics, in two medium-sized Greek cities： the Kalamata International Dance Festival （KIDF） and theDrama International Short Film Festival （DISFF）. The purpose of the study was to determine the reasons visitorsattend these festivals, which is necessary for building more concise marketing strategies and, therefore,more successful and sustainable events, with long-term benefits, ranging from the local to the national levels.The research addresses international arts festivals that share four main characteristics： （1） they host internationalprofessional artists; （2） they feature explicitly-stated artistic visions and objectives; （3） they are publicly funded;and （4） they have achieved a consecutive 23 years of successful presence in each city. These two case studiesrepresent two cultural events which have managed to maintain their popularity and high status, on the Europeanfestival map, as well as to raise their host cities＇ cultural and tourism standards, despite the serious economiccutback they have both faced. Due to limited available funds, the festivals lack marketing resources andspecifically data collection on visitor motivation, a gap which this study aims to remedy. Primary datawere collected with the aid of online structured questionnaires, distributed and collected during autumn2016. Altogether, 130 questionnaires were answered by visitors of the DISFF and 186 questionnaires wereanswered by visitors of the KIDF. Even though both festivals share similar characteristics regarding theirorganization and their aims, our analysis emphasized the heterogeneity of the motives of attendance in connectionwith the visitors＇ profile characteristics, for each event. While some similarities were found, especially betweendemographic sample characteristics and visitors＇ profiles, the general picture to emerge from the findingsindicates significant differences between the two cases. Arts festivals-goers do not appear to constitute a singlehomogeneous market; rather, each event appears to attract different audiences for different reasons. Theimplications of these findings, deriving from statistical analysis, are discussed and suggestions for further researchare outlined. This research aims to contribute to knowledge concerning the marketing strategies of internationalarts festivals in medium-sized cities, useful for research and academic purposes, as well as to local and nationalauthorities and other agencies and bodies, responsible for urban tourism and cultural city/town planning andmanagement.

Five-force Analysis and Market Strategies of Budget Hotels in Small and Medium-sized Cities --ake Xuchang Jinjiang INN for Example

Budget hotels, as an emerging hotel model, were started and attained a rapid development in China in the last ten years, and have proven to be important part of China抯 hotel industry. As competitions in the hotel industry become increasingly fiercer, budget hotel brands launch a fight for seizing more market share. Therefore, it is necessary for Xuchang Jinjiang INN as a famous hotel brand to be distinguished from the hotel product strategies of the developed economic areas in the development environment of the small and medium-sized tourism cities, so as to adapt to the characteristics of regional market.

On the Development Principles and Models of Recreational Belt around Small and Middle Cities

The definition and type of recreational belt around metropolis were introduced,the development principles of recreational spot around small and middle cities were analyzed.With Baoding City as an example,the empirical analysis was conducted,and the development models of recreational spot around metropolis in Baoding City were put forward.

Sustainable Development Research in Chinese Medium-Sized City Based on SLEUTH

Compared with megacity, the medium-sized city is playing a more and more important part in the rapid urbanization process in China. Due to the expanding scale of the medium-sized city, urban growth is sprawl and this way leads to ecological, social and environment problems that are unsustainable. To measure the urban growth of the medium sized city, cellular automata (CA) model is employed. CA has proven to be a popular and effective modeling approach to investigate dynamic urban growth systems and for evaluating the impacts of possible policy options. We use the SLEUTH model, which is a well known CA model, to simulate the future urban growth of Huaian, Jiangsu province of China. The results confirm the value of SLEUTH which provides a rich exploratory of knowledge for evaluating the effects of possible decision-making in local government.

A Case Study of Affordable Housing in a Medium-Sized City in Central China

The main task of this paper is to explore the housing condition and housing policy in the vast but long-neglected middle-sized cities in China. Under the requirement of ＂Construction of 10 Million Units in 2011＂ from the central government, the affordable housing has started its nationwide building. Medium-sized cities are facing different developing periods but applying same housing policy as big cities. The paper examines the economic and social condition of the case city to find out the housing problems. It concludes that houses are affordable in these medium-sized cities, but housing policies are not implemented well. The paper proposed that housing affordability in medium-sized city is not about quantity but about quality. To keep houses affordable in these medium-sized cities, housing market, legislation, urban planning, public participation and intensive developments are all important.

Impact of City Scale and Regional Difference on Small & Medium-Sized Cities' Development and Its Implication

By studying the relationship between urban development performance and city scale and regional difference, this paper aims at revealing the real challenges faced by small and medium-sized cities(referred to as SMSC hereafter) in China. It analyzes the growth of different-sized cities, their positions in China's overall urban system, the influence of city scale on their capability in migrant absorption, economic development, public service, and environmental remediation, as well as the capability difference among SMSCs. Results show that city scale is less a determinant in economic development capability and per capita ownership of public service than in economic performance, quality of public service, and environmental remediation capabilities. Besides, there are many other factors determined by regional differences instead of city scale. Therefore, in the context when SMSC plays an increasingly important role in the process of urbanization, relevant parties should avoid the "trap of scale," and re-position urbanization within the framework of sustainable development.

Study on administrative division reform of China’s small and medium-sized cities in the urbanization process

Throughout the world,urbanization has been basically understood to refer to the process of increasing population flow from rural to urban areas.To adapt to this irreversible process,besides eradicating the urban-rural dual household system,China needs to accelerate the building of administrative system in small and medium-sized cities,which will enable them to absorb more migrants from rural areas,and thereby help ease the burden on large cities,and forge a sensible urban system.According to the statistics in this paper,by 2050,China’s urbanization rate will reach around 80%.This calls for as many as 1,050 small and medium-sized cities,i.e.,those capable of accommodating less than 500,000 residents.Currently,however,there are only 383 cities of that scale in China.Therefore,we need to think hard and clearly about how counties and towns are best developed under the urbanization drive,how to achieve optimal administrative structure through reclassification and adjustment of different administrative units,and how,in general,to enhance the quality of urbanization in China.

The Dilemma and Way-Out of Urban and Rural Planning Management in China's Small and Medium-Sized Cities

In China, for small and medium-sized cities, urban and rural planning management should play an important role during the process of urbanization. However, it failed to do that in reality due to a series of limits, such as local fiscal deficiency, scarce human resources, incomplete management systems, historic planning defects, inadequate supervisions, and imperfect regulations, etc. This paper made a comprehensive analysis on the dilemma of urban and rural planning management in China's small and medium-sized cities and the interests and status of the government, enterprises and public in space resource allocation and put forward the methods to improve the quality of planning management in China's small and medium-sized cities from the view of systems and mechanisms.

Prediction of Traffic Volume of Motor Vehicles Based on Mobile Phone Signaling Technology

Urban traffic volume detection is an essential part of trafficplanning in terms of urban planning in China. To improve the statisticsefficiency of road traffic volume, this thesis proposes a method for predictingmotor vehicle traffic volume on urban roads in small and medium-sizedcities during the traffic peak hour by using mobile signal technology. Themethod is verified through simulation experiments, and the limitations andthe improvement methods are discussed. This research can be divided intothree parts: Firstly, the traffic patterns of small and medium-sized cities areobtained through a questionnaire survey. A total of 19745 residents weresurveyed in Luohe, a medium-sized city in China and five travel modes oflocal people were obtained. Secondly, after the characteristics of residents’rest and working time are investigated, a method is proposed in this studyfor the distribution of urban residential and working places based on mobilephone signaling technology. Finally, methods for predicting traffic volume ofthese travel modes are proposed after the characteristics of these travel modesand methods for the distribution of urban residential and working placesare analyzed. Based on the actual traffic volume data observed at offlineintersections, the project team takes Luohe city as the research object and itverifies the accuracy of the prediction method by comparing the predictiondata. The prediction simulation results of traffic volume show that the averageerror rate of traffic volume is unstable. The error rate ranges from 10% to 30%.In this thesis, simulation experiments and field investigations are adopted toanalyze why these errors occur.

Study on the Greening Design of Residential Areas in Yichun City

In this research,the functions and principles of residential greening design in medium-sized cities are analyzed.Taking the greening design of a residential area in Yichun City for an example,we aim at providing some references for the urban residential district greening design.

Source apportionment of VOCs in a typical medium-sized city in North China Plain and implications on control policy

Characteristics of atmospheric VOCs(volatile organic compounds) have been extensively studied in megacities in China, however, they are scarcely investigated in medium/smallsized cities in North China Plain(NCP).A comprehensive research on possible sources of VOCs was conducted in a medium-sized city of NCP, from May to September 2019.A total of 143 canister samples of 8 sites in Xuchang city were collected, and 57 VOC species were detected.The average VOC concentrations were 42.6 ± 31.6 μg/m3, with 53.7 ± 31.0 μg/m3 and 32.1 ± 27.8 μg/m^(3), in the morning and afternoon, respectively.Alkenes and aromatics contributed 80% of the total ozone formation potential(OFP).Aromatics accounted for more than 95% of secondary organic aerosol potential(SOAP).VOCs were dominated by the local emission with significant transport from the southeast direction.PMF analysis extracted 6 sources, which were combustion(33.1%), LPG usage(19.3%), vehicular exhaust & fuel evaporation(15.8%), solvent usage(15.2%), industrial(9.11%) and biogenic(7.51%), respectively and they contributed 33.4%, 17.6%, 12.9%, 18.6%, 9.28% and 8.22% to the OFP, respectively.Combustion and LPG usage were the dominant VOC sources;and combustion, solvent usage and LPG usage were the main sources of OFP in Xuchang city, which were different to megacities in China with a high contribution from vehicular exhaust, solvent usage and industry,suggesting specific control strategies on VOCs need to be implemented in medium-sized city such as Xuchang city.

POPULATION EXPANSION IN CHINA'S METROPOLISES AND ITS SCALE-CONTROL

Metropolises are centers of politics, economy, culture and information, and also economic growth poles in comparatively large areas. After 1949, China’s urban structure have changed greatly, from original 'pyramid' shape into 'upside -down pyramid' shape, that is, more megalopolises and metropolises, fewer medium-sized and small cities. The most distinguishing feature of urban population growth was the remarkable increase of population in megalopolises and metropolises. The key reason for urban population expansion is to want to obtain the benefits of scale -agglomeration economy of metropolises. The number of urban functions directly determines the quality and quantity of urban population. Metropolises appeal not only agricultural population but also the population of medium-sized and small cities, which put much more population pressure on metropolises. The ideal goals of scale-control of metropolitan population are discussed in terms of economy, society and ecollogy. In order to control the

Should medium-sized contractors still implement home-made information technologies on construction sites?

Despite the increasing dissemination of the Building Information Modeling(BIM)approach,many firms are still far from BIM and are only starting to adopt information technologies.We conducted an ethnographic action research with an industrial partner that implements information technologies on its construction sites,with a strong preference for home-made applications.Results show that the development of such applications faces difficulties and that multiple iterations and versions are necessary before achieving the expected goals because the required competencies are lacking among internal development teams.Moreover,initial needs evolve considerably throughout the application’s development and evaluation process.However,notwithstanding the difficulties encountered during the different application development phases,the industrial partner believes the decision to be worthwhile because of the desire to have internal control over the project data and the need to consider certain specificities related to business processes.

Problems of private industrial economic development and its countermeasures for Zigong City,Sichuan Province,China

The differences of regional economic development between underdeveloped areas and developed areas are mainly embodied by different levels of private economic development. Since 20-year reform and opening-up to the outside world, the private industry of Zigong has developed gradually, become more and more economically competitive, and played a more and more important role in the economic structure of Zigong. This paper analyzes the problems of private economy and its countermeasures based on the research on its status quo.

Drivers and barriers to engage enterprises in environmental management initiatives in Suzhou Industrial Park,China

Small-and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs)play an important role in sustainable development not only for their significant contribution to China’s economy,but also for their large share of total discharged pollutants.Therefore,this research takes the enterprises in Suzhou Industrial Park,China as the case study to investigate the environmental management practices of SMEs,and identify drivers and barriers to engaging businesses in environmental management initiatives.It is shown that,as in other countries,SMEs are less active in adopting environmental management initiatives than larger companies.Legislation remains the key driver to engage SMEs in environmental management initiatives.Based on the analysis,policy recommendations are also presented.

The impact of regulatory and financial discrimination on China's low-carbon development:Considering firm heterogeneity

Firms in China within the same industry but with different ownership and size have different production functions and face different emission regulations and financial conditions,thus can give very different responses to environmental policies.This fact has been largely ignored in most of the low-carbon development related literature.Using an augmented Chinese input–output table in which information about firm size(large-and small and medium-sized firms)and ownership(state-,foreign-,and private-owned firms)are explicitly reported,a dynamic computable general equilibrium model is developed in this study to analyze the impact of alternative low-carbon policy designs with different regulatory coverage and financial equalization on heterogeneous firms.Our simulation results show that,with the fully balanced regulation coverage and equalized financial system for heterogeneous firms,the total green investment accounts for 4%of GDP in 2030 for fulfilling China's commitment to reduce carbon emissions,which is the lowest among the various scenarios;about one-third of this investment is made by small and private firms;at the same time,green investment efficiency will be the highest,about 84%higher than that of the business-as-usual level.Therefore,a market-oriented and new technology-driven arrangement and mechanism for sharing emission reduction burden and allocating green investment across heterogeneous firms,especially to small and medium-sized firms,is crucial for China to achieve a more ambitious emission target in the long run.

How different types of financial service providers support small- and mediumenterprises under the impact of COVID-19 pandemic: From the perspective of expectancy theory

The 2019 novel coronavirus disease(COVID-19)pandemic has significantly impacted several aspects of the society and the economy.A problem that needs prompt attention in this situation is the increasing difficulties faced by small-and mediumsized enterprises(SMEs)in raising capital,which has aroused great concern from multiple stakeholders such as public administrations and regulators.As the major supply of capital,financial service providers(FSPs)play a critical role in financing SMEs.However,how FSPs deal with SME financing during shocks has not yet been fully researched.Accordingly,in this study,a theoretical framework based on expectancy theory is proposed to explore the expected strategic adjustments of FSPs in financing SMEs.Specifically,this study investigates 272 FSPs in China on their expectancy and attitude on financing to SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic.Furthermore,this study has divided FSPs into three categories:commercial banks,non-bank financial institutions,and credit-enhanced FSPs.Differences among these categories are compared and analyzed.

The influence of the corporate social responsibility disclosures on consumer brand attitudes under the impact of CO VID-19

This study focuses on the use of we-media by small-and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs)to disclose internal corporate social responsibility(ICSR)under the impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease(COVID-19).Study 1 interprets the catalyst effect of COVID-19 on the externalization of SMEs'ICSR.The fuzzy grading evaluation method is initially verified.Under the impact of COVID-19,SMEs fulfilling their ICSR can enhance consumer brand attitudes.Study 2 uses a structural equation model and empirical analysis of 946 effective samples and finds that consumers perceive the self-sacrifice of corporations during the coronavirus disease period.SMEs can fulfill their ICSR to enhance the internal explanation mechanism of consumer brand attitudes and the moderating role of enterprise losses.