STATE POLICY AND URBAN SYSTEMS :THE CASE OF CHINA

Thispaperusestherank sizemodelandtheexpansionmethodtoexaminethe changeofcity sizedistributioninChinafrom 1 95 2to 1 990 .Itrevealsthatafterashort periodofconcentration ,populationdeconcentrationamongcitieshasdominatedurban China .Thistrendhasevenbeenspeededupinthereformperiodsince 1 978.Theestab lishmentofalargeamountofnewcitieshaslargelycontributedtothetrendofdecreasing populationconcentrationamongChinesecities.Withouttheconsiderationofnewlyestab lishedcities,Chinesesystemofcitieswouldexperienceatrendofincreasedpopulation concentrationandpopulationintheupper rankcitiesgrewfasterthanthatinthelower rankcities.

Multi-agent system simulation for urban policy design:open space land use change problem

Multi-agent system(MAS)models have been increasingly applied to the simulation of complex phenomena in different areas,providing successful and credible results.Citizens behavior related to a specific urban activity(i.e.,recreation activities in a park,using bicycle for mobility purposes)can be modeled as an agent(actor)with several affinities and preferences which are dependent on aspects that affect the activity.A particular application of a MAS approach is in area of urban policy design,in which policies should be designed considering citizens needs,preferences and behavior.Once an open space in a city is available(i.e.,an industry is moved to an industrial area),a land use policy should contribute to identify the new use for the urban space.There are different land use policies that can be applied depending on which services or facilities must be empowered in the city.It is important to identify the correct policy in order to satisfy present citizens needs but considering also the future needs in a social changing context.A socio-technological simulation model has been developed to allow citizens to get a better understanding of the urban problem,its dynamics and explore the sustainability of the different solutions.,enhancing citizens to participate in the urban decisions through new technologies(i.e.,e-participation).This paper illustrates an open space MAS simulation model for land use design policies in which citizens can check their opinion and get a better understanding of the different choices and its acceptability by the community considering not only present neighborhood profiles,but also future neighborhood configurations.It is the first step before the development of the final software including a user friendly interface to let citizens with different cultural profiles to perform simulations as an essential and neutral tool to reach consensus during the decision-making process in urban policy design.

CHINA'S URBAN HOUSING SYSTEM IN TRANSITION

This paper discusses transition of urban housing system andhousing policy issues in China. It focuses on China's urban housing systemand future housing policies Some of the main contexts to be discussed are:(1) the process and characterstics of housing development in new China, (2)the weaknesses of the old urban housing system; (3) reforms of the urbanhousing system; (4) China's housing markets in transition; (5) Current urbanhousing reform policy dilemmas; (6) experiences from developed countries;(7) main housing policy issues in the western world, and (8) ways to dealwith the dilemmas.

CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS: CHINA'S URBAN GOVERNANCE

China′s urban reforms have brought social progress and development, but a comprehensive national system of social welfare (for example, unemployment insurance, pensions, medical care and public housing) for new migrants from rural areas is lacking. One of the most remarkable changes in Chinese cities in the last decade was a change in social "equality", with the rise of new poverty both in individual communities and some social groups in urban society. However, there is little social assistance and public infrastructure for the migrants. Governments or communities or individual should pay attention to the control of new urban poverty and new slums. This paper consider that it is necessary to launch a successful policy, which include mainly: 1) accommodating urban growth through low cost investment projects; 2) urban economy depends heavily on successful macroeconomic policy; 3) to broaden the three channels linking adjustment to the incidence of urban poverty; 4) to restructure urban economic based on the high or new technology; 5) to coordinate relationship between urban economic growth and environment management for sustainable development of Beijing′s metropolitan fringe.

AN APPROACH ON SEVERAL PROBLEMS OF CHINA'S URBANIZATION DEVELOPMENT

China, having urique national conditions, is facing a basic contradiction between large numbers of less educated surplus rural labor forces and limited capacities of urban employment and infrastructure on the urbanization process.Hence, the urbanization model should prevail in comprehensive and several ways: (1)On occupational and spatial shift rural surplus labors, two fashions of 'leaving land bot not countryside' and 'leaving both land and countryside' should be integrated with joint effort of cities and countryside. (2) On urbanization motive, urban construction will be invested by not only the govermment (from the upper), but the locality, personnel and foreigners (from the lower). (3) On urban scales, metropolis,large, medium-sized and small cities and towns should play fully their roles to absorb rural surplus lanors. Thereby, the present urban development policy needs to be rectified, which this paper has discussed particularly. (4) On account of great regional disparities in China, urban development should perform different models in different regions. In addition, this paper has also focused on the problem and its primary countermeasures of 'labor force mass', a hot issue closely related to urbanization and rural labor transfer.

Spatiotemporal Responses Between Urban Regeneration and Policy Change of Stock Industrial Land:A Case Study on the Downtown Area of Tianjin

The regeneration of stock land has gradually occupied the mainstream of China’s urban development.In order to cope with the inherent complexity of land property rights and transaction costs in stock land regeneration,relevant urban policies need to play a necessary guiding role.Taking the downtown area of Tianjin as an example,this paper discusses the interaction between spatial regeneration and policy change of stock industrial land.Firstly,a spatial database is constructed through multi-party research to quantitatively describe the spatial and temporal evolution of the stock industrial land since 1995.Secondly,the relevant urban policies since 1979 are sorted out,and the characteristics of policy changes are evaluated and analyzed.Finally,through comparative studies,it is confirmed that the regeneration rate of stock industrial land is affected by policy change,and the speed of policy impact is subject to the policies’inherent characteristics,namely,"guiding policy"or"regulating policy."

A Dynamic Planner as a Sustainable Planning Way： A Bridge between the Law, Technical Knowledge and the Local Population

The social and environmental demands in Brazilian cities are usually neglected by the local municipal powers due to a heavy bias toward speculative capital. The main issue is a public administration that benefits the private initiative instead of popular and environmental values and needs. Despite federal efforts at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21 st century, water resources and urban reform policies are not able to ensure a connection between these two issues in the urban environment. Aiming at showing a new approach of citizenship and environmental rights in a developing country, Bauru, a Brazilian city located in the state of S^o Paulo, was used as a study case. In this scenario, the research is based on the action research method, in which a dynamic profile of the researchers was adopted in order to solidify environmental and social issues in the urban planning process. This article shows the advantages in using the river basin as an urban planning territory in the city master plan, and providing continuous technique support to the citizen, through the role played by the researcher-planner between government and population, as a way to possibly reach social and environmental interests. The territorial perception of the river basin by citizens brings effective environmental and social results.

From Villages to Urban Neighborhoods:Urbanization and Health

With rapid urbanization,millions of rural villagers have become urban citizens in China.This paper estimates the effect of the in situ urbanization policy on an individual's health by employing the difference-in-differences framework and using panel survey data from the China Family Panel Studies.Our findings show that this program,unlike other kinds of urbanization,which have had negative impacts on mental health or made people smoke or drink more,increased people's self-reported health status significantly.Further mechanism analysis reveals that the in situ urbanization policy afected health by increasing people's confidence in the future,their satisfaction with their current lives,and their medical insurance enrollment.This study highlights the importance of"the city comes to villagers"urbanization in China,and it can play an essential role in advancing the urbanization rate and avoiding the negative impacts of urbanization on health.

CPC Central Committee and State Council Release Opinions Concerning Establishing and Improving the Institution, Mechanism, and Policy System for Urban and Rural Integrated Development

On May 6,2019,the CPC Central Committee and State Council released the Opinions Concerning Establishing and Improving the Institution,Mechanism,and Policy System for Urban and Rural Integrated Development(shortened into the Opinions in the following part).The Opinions suggests that by 2022,a primary urban-rural integrated development mechanism should be established.An institutional channel for free flowing of urban and rural elements should be basically opened up,the restrictions on urban permanent household registration should be gradually eliminated,the unified urban and rural construction land use market should be set up,the capacity of finance serving for countryside revitalization should be apparently promoted.

In the Future,Will There Be Creative Cities in China?

The aim of this paper is to establish the notion of the creative city,show its essential characteristics,and critically evaluate and analyse what elements impact creativity and innovation in cities using real case studies and related literature.Finally,in the essay,the topic of whether or not China will have creative cities in the future is asked,and the feasibility of constructing creative cities in China is discussed,prompting a new way of thinking about China’s future creative city plan.

Problem regions and regional problems of socioeconomic development in China： A perspective from the coordinated development of industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization

Identifying the problem regions and regional problems, and thus improving regional policies, are crucial for the sustainable development of various economic entities. The coordinated development of industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization（hereinafter referred to as ＂Sihua＂） is not only a practical need but an important strategic direction of integrating urban-rural development and regional development in recent China, and it also provides a significant perspective for identifying problem regions and regional problems so as to improve the regional policies. This study mainly aims to： firstly, establish a comprehensive evaluation index system so as to explore the spatial pattern of coordinated development of Sihua in China at prefecture level; secondly, to develop an evaluation criteria system to identify the problem regions and regional problems from the perspective of coordinated development of Sihua. This paper comes first in the scientific community to evaluate the coordinated development state of Sihua in China at prefecture level and identify the problem regions and regional problems from the perspective of Sihua development by quantitative analysis. This study may benefit the improvement of regional policies and thus contribute to the sustainable socio-economic development of China.

Planning Policies Towards Shanghai's Rapid Urban Development

The central core of Shanghai is expanding rapidly. The industrial area in the outskirtsmapped out in the overall planning of 1959 has become part of the two wings of the cen-tral city in the overall planning of 1984. The satellite town of Minhang, together with Wuj-ing, Baoshan and the towns in the neighborhood, tends to be joined together with thecentral city. More than one thousand multi-storey residential buildings have been put upin the central city,60 percent of which are erected in the old distrlcts. This, again, turnsthe old districts into overpopulated areas. In order to control the population density ofthese old areas and to develop Pudong(on the east of Huangpu River). Shanghai will beexpanded to the eastern side of Huangpu River. The central city, thus, will become a beltof dense population with Huangpu River as its axis: and it will outgrow, in size and inpopulation, its limits set by the overall planning. In the next century, how will the structure of city planning change? How to readjustthe planning of regional functions. urban traffic systems and infrastructural facility sys-tems? How to control unsystematic development in the city and in the outskirts? How toremove some of the residents from the central city to Pudong? How to change HuangpuRiver into a city axis? The following article will hold a discussion on the above problems.

Wastewater reclamation and reuse in China:Opportunities and challenges

The growing water stress both in terms of water scarcity and quality deterioration promotes the development of reclaimed water as a new water resource use. This paper reviewed wastewater reuse practices in China, and the opportunities and challenges of expanding reclaimed water use were analyzed. Rapid urbanization with the increasing of water demand and wastewater discharge provides an opportunity for wastewater reuse. The vast amount of wastewater discharge and low reclaimed water production mean that wastewater reuse still has a great potential in China. Many environmental and economic benefits and successful reclamation technologies also provide opportunities for wastewater reuse. In addition, the overall strategy in China is also encouraging for wastewater reuse. In the beginning stage of wastewater reclamation and reuse, there are many significant challenges to expand wastewater reuse in China including slow pace in adopting urban wastewater reuse programs, the establishment of integrated water resources management framework and guidelines for wastewater reuse programs, incoherent water quality requirements, the limited commercial development of reclaimed water and the strengthening of public awareness and cooperation among stakeholders.