The Differences between County,County-level City and Municipal District in the System of Administrative Divisions in China

Administrative division is an important means of political power reorganization and management,resource integration and optimal allocation,which profoundly shapes the spatial layout of urban development in China.To clarify and compare differences between counties,county-level cities and municipal districts is the primary premise for the study of administrative division and urban development.This paper analyzes the institutional differences between counties and county-level cities,as well as counties,county-level cities and municipal districts,from the aspects of organizational structure,urban construction planning,land management,finance,taxation and public services.The research shows that the establishment of counties,county-level cities and municipal districts adapt to different levels and stages of economic and social development,and the conversion from county to county-level city and the conversion from county(or county-level city)to municipal district are both important transformation ways to change their administrative systems,which has different management system and operation pattern.At the same time,the transformation of county-level administrative region is also a“double-edged sword”,we should think about the administrative system as a whole to decide whether it should be adjusted,and effectively respond to the actual needs of local economic and social development.

Impact of coupling coordination development of port and city environments on urban economic competitiveness:Evidence from the coastal port cities in eastern China

Promoting the coupling coordination development of port and its hinterland city environments is an important way to improve urban economic competitiveness.Based on relevant data of 13 coastal port cities in eastern China from 2000 to 2018,this study explores the coupling coordination development of port and city environments and its impact on urban economic competitiveness by constructing the coupling coordination degree model and the panel threshold model.The research results show that:(1)In terms of the coupling coordination development of port and city environments,most coastal ports and their hinterland cities are in a state of moderate or serious disorder.Overall,the degree of coupling coordination of port and city environments needs to be further improved;(2)The coupling coordination degree of port and city environments has a significant impact on urban economic competitiveness,and this effect gradually increases with the development of the ports and the urban economy.Among the variables that impact the urban economic competitiveness,fixed assets investment and foreign trade are significant factors that can enhance urban economic competitiveness.(3)At present,there is a“U-shaped”relationship between the coupling coordination degree of port-city environments and the urban economic competitiveness.This relationship lies on the right side of the inflection point of the“U-shaped”curve.Therefore,following the concept of assigning priority to ecological development,expanding fixed assets investment and actively developing foreign trade can further enhance the urban economic competitiveness.

Application Strategies of Spatial Refinement Design in Ancient Cities Supported by Digital Te-Zhaoyu Ancient City in Qixian County as an Example

Digital technology provides a method of quantitative investigation and data analysis for contemporary landscape spatial analysis,and related research is moving from image recognition to digital algorithmic analysis,providing a more scientific and macroscopic way of research.The key to refinement design is to refine the spatial design process and the spatial improvement strategy system.Taking the ancient city of Zhaoyu in Qixian County,Shanxi Province as an example,(1)based on obtaining the integrated data of the ancient city through the drone tilt photography,the style and landscape of the ancient city are modeled;(2)the point cloud data with spatial information is imported into the point cloud analysis platform and the data analysis is carried out from the overall macroscopic style of the ancient city to the refinement level,which results in the formation of a more intuitive landscape design scheme,thus improving the precision and practicability of the landscape design;(3)Based on spatial big data,it starts from the spatial aggregation level,spatial distribution characteristics and other evaluation index system to achieve the refinement analysis of the site.Digital technology and methods are used throughout the process to explore the refined design path.

Leveraging AI for Energy-Efficient Smart Cities: Architectural and Urban Planning Solutions for Sustainable Growth - A Comparative Case Study of Amman City and International Examples

As cities worldwide face increasing energy demands and environmental sustainability challenges,the need for innovative solutions becomes more urgent.Smart cities,driven by advances in Artificial Intelligence(AI),offer promising avenues for enhancing energy efficiency,optimizing urban planning,and improving overall urban living conditions.This research explores how AI can be leveraged to develop energy-efficient smart cities by focusing on architectural and urban planning solutions that promote sustainable growth.The study includes a comprehensive literature review on the role of AI in managing energy consumption,optimizing transportation systems,and aiding urban planning efforts.A critical component of this research is the comparative analysis of case studies from both Jordan and international cities,such as Singapore,Barcelona,and Copenhagen,to evaluate the potential of AI-driven solutions in local contexts.This paper presents a case study applying an AI-driven smart city model to Amman,Jordan,where the city's urban infrastructure,energy management,and transportation systems are analyzed using AI-powered simulations.By integrating real-time data from IoT devices,geographic information systems(GIS),and digital twin technologies,the study simulates energy-saving interventions,improved traffic flow,and optimized urban designs.The research also compares the outcomes from Jordanian developments like Abdali Boulevard and Saraya Aqaba with international examples,revealing valuable insights into the progress and challenges of implementing smart city solutions in Jordan.Key outcomes include a reduction in energy consumption,carbon emissions,traffic congestion,and overall cost savings,demonstrating how AI can contribute to the sustainable development of modern cities.The findings from the case study provide a framework for the application of AI in other urban environments facing similar sustainability challenges,with a focus on enhancing local policy frameworks,infrastructure,and capacity to enable the successful integration of AI solutions.

Coordinated Development of Human Settlement and Economy in County-level Cities in the Yellow River Basin

[Objective] To provide quantification means for comprehensively analyzing the coordinated development of urban human settlement and economy by constructing an index system of economy and human settlement. [Method] By constructing an evaluation index system of economy and human settlement, and using the coordinate measurement model of them, 22 county-level cities in the Yellow River Basin were analyzed. [Result] In the Yellow River Basin, the construction level of economy and human settlement in those county-level cities is low with distinct spatial differences and deteriorating polarization; there is a great spatial corresponding between coordinated development degree and economic level, the higher the economic development level, the higher coordinated development degree in county-level cities; county-level cities around the boundaries of provinces have difficulties in development. [Conclusion] Evaluation standards and models are clear in significance, convenient in application, which can successfully evaluate the coordination of human settlement development in the study region.

A Latency-Aware and Fault-Tolerant Framework for Resource Scheduling and Data Management in Fog-Enabled Smart City Transportation Systems

Thedeployment of the Internet of Things(IoT)with smart sensors has facilitated the emergence of fog computing as an important technology for delivering services to smart environments such as campuses,smart cities,and smart transportation systems.Fog computing tackles a range of challenges,including processing,storage,bandwidth,latency,and reliability,by locally distributing secure information through end nodes.Consisting of endpoints,fog nodes,and back-end cloud infrastructure,it provides advanced capabilities beyond traditional cloud computing.In smart environments,particularly within smart city transportation systems,the abundance of devices and nodes poses significant challenges related to power consumption and system reliability.To address the challenges of latency,energy consumption,and fault tolerance in these environments,this paper proposes a latency-aware,faulttolerant framework for resource scheduling and data management,referred to as the FORD framework,for smart cities in fog environments.This framework is designed to meet the demands of time-sensitive applications,such as those in smart transportation systems.The FORD framework incorporates latency-aware resource scheduling to optimize task execution in smart city environments,leveraging resources from both fog and cloud environments.Through simulation-based executions,tasks are allocated to the nearest available nodes with minimum latency.In the event of execution failure,a fault-tolerantmechanism is employed to ensure the successful completion of tasks.Upon successful execution,data is efficiently stored in the cloud data center,ensuring data integrity and reliability within the smart city ecosystem.

Concentrations of Potentially Toxic Elements in Groundwater and Surface Water in Ruashi and Annexe Municipalities of Lubumbashi City, Southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Groundwater and surface water contamination by PTE(Potentially Toxic Elements)was assessed in Ruashi and Annexe municipalities of Lubumbashi city.Analyses of seventy water samples collected from six drilled wells,eight spade-sunk wells,one river and one spring in both municipalities in 2017 and 2018 were carried out by ICP-SF-MS(Inductively Coupled Plasma-Sector Field Mass Spectrometry).Twenty PTEs including aluminum,arsenic,barium,bismuth,cadmium,cesium,chromium,cobalt,copper,iron,lead,manganese,molybdenum,nickel,strontium,thallium,tungsten,uranium,vanadium and zinc were detected at various concentrations in each one of the samples.Many samples had concentrations and mean concentrations of PTEs,such as aluminum,cadmium,copper,iron,lead,manganese,nickel and zinc,higher than the respective acceptable limits set for drinking water by the EU(European Union),the USEPA(United States Environmental Protection Agency),and the WHO(World Health Organization)standards.Most PTEs being deleterious to human health even at very low concentrations,people who use the groundwater and surface water to meet their water needs in both Ruashi and Annexe municipalities are at risk.

Studying and Estimating Visual Pollution in Irbid City (Centre of Irbid City-Case Study)

Despite the global attention towards pollution,it remains a significant global threat and challenge for both developed and developing countries.Urbanization and economic development influence different types of pollution.Visual pollution is considered a new phenomenon referring to the impact of existing and growing mainstream pollution which impairs an individual’s ability to enjoy visits or views.Recently,Jordanian cities have expanded in response to urbanization and ongoing development.Irbid City has the second largest population in Jordan after the capital Amman City highest population density in Jordan.In the modern era,Irbid City dramatically increased in population and dimension.The growth of the demographic population has been significant and has led to overpopulation,rapid urbanization,and unresolved problems associated with spatial planning and infrastructures leading to different types of pollution including visual pollution.The study area focuses on the city center with the most crowded population through field visits and actual observations.The study technique is descriptive and analytical,with a focus on meticulous monitoring and a follow-up-based questionnaire which is a tool for the study,involving data collection,classification,presentation,analysis,interpretation,and exploration to identify new facts and generalizations that can help solve current issues of visual pollution.The study provides recommendations for Irbid Municipal to eliminate visual pollution,in parallel with stricter supervision from the municipality during the building process to ensure proper implementation of the new rules,adopting an integrated policy for the city with the rest of the social,political,sensory,cultural,economic,and functional aspects,so that this policy is in the short and long term.

A Review on Integration of IoT as an Approach for Energy Saving in Smart Sustainable Cities

Rapid urbanization has been happening around the world,leading to many challenges and difficulties in infrastructure,communication network,transportation,environmental and organizational problems.Proper and responsible management of urban resources plays a significant role in sustainable development.Smart sustainable cities use ICTs(Information and Communication Technologies)to improve quality of life,efficiency of urban operation and services.The latest advancement in communication,technology,data management,and IoT(Internet of Things)provide a tremendous role for practical implementations and adoption of devices and entities.Smart sustainable cities can be intellectualized as an innovative approach of controlling urban resources and valuable components based on the latest advancement in ICT.Our study focuses on reviewing and discussing the literature that states the vital components of IoT associated with smart sustainable cities in general and specifically with green energy.

Transitional Road of Resources-exhausted Cities to Low-carbon Economy:Tourism Resources Development——A Case Study of Gejiu City

Tourism is of vital practical significance to low-carbon economic transition of resources-exhausted cities.By taking Gejiu City of Yunnan Province for example,the paper discussed that Gejiu City as the resources-exhausted city should positively develop tourism,particularly industrial heritage tourism,treating tourism development as the breakthrough and motive power of low-carbon economic transition of resources-exhausted cities,so as to walk out a unique road of tourism promoting low-carbon economic development.

Research on Budding "Villages in Cities" during Urbanization Process in Lanzhou City of China——A Case Study of Chaijiahe Village,China

By introducing the theory of suburb urbanization,it was considered that budding villages in cities emerged with the close relation between city and suburb during rapid urbanization process.The paper had briefly analyzed development of villages in cities in China.By taking villages in Lanzhou City for example,it had studied geological location,appearance,spatial structure,economy and demographic feature of budding villages in cities.Furthermore,with Chaijiahe Village of Xiguoyuan Town as case study,empirical study had been conducted and development thought of Chaijiahe Village as budding village in city had been discussed.It emphasized that it should control the development scale of villages,economically and intensively utilize lands;develop industrialized high-efficiency agriculture and leisure agriculture,develop lily economy and explore the potential of characteristic industries;realize integration of urban and rural development;strive to develop education,improve villages' quality and cultivate villagers of new generation who possessed pioneering spirit and modern agriculture technology.On this basis,it summarized approaches to realize sustainable development of budding villages in cities.

Research on Landscape Ecology Mode of New Resources-based Cities—A Case Study of Yulin City of Shaanxi Province in China

Based on the overall understanding of new cities developing based on resources,by taking Yulin City of Shaanxi Province for example and combining with relevant statistical data,main problems existing in resources development have been pointed out,covering simple resources industrial structure and serious wastes in resources development;insufficient intensive processing of products and low level of resources integrated utilization;and deteriorative regional eco-environment.On this basis,a new mode of landscape ecology of resource-based cities have been proposed,emphasizing constructing new green energy industrial development mode from the perspective of microscopic view;ecological industrial park of circular economy from the perspective of mesoscopic view;and the overall ecological recovery mode of the mining area from the perspective of macroscopic view.It hopes to give a vital inspiration to the sustainable development of new resources-based cities.

Research on Ecological Livable Urban Construction in Small and Medium Cities of China——A Case Study of Huaihua City

The paper has analyzed the concept of ecological livable city,considered that small and medium cities as the major pattern of China's urbanization are more likely to become ecological livable cities compared with large cities.Based on the actual situation of Huaihua City,it has pointed out its advantages in transport,ecology,foundation and national characteristic,and analyzed existing problems in the construction of ecological livable city from the perspective of urban eco-environment.It considers that its urban ecological planning is to be perfect,urban environment pollution is still serious and people's consciousness for environmental protection is to be improved.On this basis,relevant suggestions have been proposed for ecological livable urban construction in Huaihua City,emphasizing it should perfect urban ecological planning,enhance environmental pollution treatment,intensify environmental protection education,and improve people's consciousness for environmental protection.

Investigation on the Characteristics of the Senior Citizens' Activities in the Parks and Greenbelts——A Case Study of Nanjing City

From the perspective of senior citizens,questionnaire survey and field investigation were carried on and analyzed in three parks in Nanjing City.The results showed that outdoor activities are the principal ways for the senior citizens to spend their time,the parks near home is their prior choice,and the radiation range of the park and greenbelt mostly is no more than 2 km;most of the senior citizens come to parks on foot and the parks are always within 30 minutes walking distance;the senior citizens always have fixed partners and groups for their exercise-dominant activities.

Winter Waterscape Design for Residential Areas in Northeastern Cities of China——A Case Study of Waterscape Design of “Riverbank House” in Yingkou City of Liaoning Province

The paper has proposed the design concept of "solid waterscape". It considers that in waterscape design, it should select a design style suitable for local climate, traditional culture and folk customs; respect the nature and be close to nature; and approach the life and fit in with the reality. In terms of flowing water and solid water, it should make a reasonable and comprehensive design in terms of time, space and pattern, develop new landscape factors, and enrich winter landscape; set indoor waterscape; and enrich color design. By taking waterscape design of the residential area "Riverbank House" for example, it has stressed the solid character of water to highlight snow and ice culture and northeastern style, so as to create a natural and vivid snowy and icy landscape. Snow and ice have been the lead of winter landscape. Finally, waterscape can provide two different patterns of beauty throughout the year.

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.

Residential environmental evaluation of local cities considering regional characteristic and personal residential preference—a case study of Saga City,Japan

Questionnaire surveys and subjective evaluations on residential environment were performed in order to grasp the main factors of residential environment of small local cities. The suitable evaluation index system was established, and the regional residential environment characteristics and personal residential preference types were analyzed, so that their influence on residential environment evaluation could be grasped. The results can be applied to the residential environment planning, construction and monitoring of local cities.

文旅融合:“Citywalk”热潮下的冷思考

“Citywalk”(城市漫步)强调慢节奏和沉浸式体验,是深受年轻人追捧的文旅消费新范式。“Citywalk”火爆出圈的背后,也存在着产品辨识度不高、利润低、专业性不强、产品更迭慢等问题。“文旅融合”的有效健康发展,需要在资源供给、产品创新、服务品质等方面开展全方位、多领域的合作联动,成果共享才能形成互利共赢新格局。

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.

Application of Multi-agent Models to Urban Expansion in Medium and Small Cities: A Case Study in Fuyang City,Zhejiang Province,China

In this study, three-phase satellite images were used to define rules for the allocation of time and space in construction land resources based on a complex adaptive system and game theory. The decision behavior and rules of government agent, enterprise agent and resident agent in construction land growth were explored. A distinctive and dynamic simulation model of construction land growth was built, which integrated multi-agent, GIS technology and RS data and described the interaction among influencing agents, Taking Fuyang City in the Changjiang River Delta as an example, an assessment process for the remote sensing data in construction land and scenario planning was constructed. Repast and ArcGIS were used as simulation platforms. A simulation of the spatial pattern in land-use planning and the setting of scenario planning were conducted by using the incomplete active game, which was based on different natural, social and economic levels. Through this model, a simulation of urban planning space and decision-making for Fuyang City was created. Relevant non-structured problems arising from urban planning management could be identified, and the process and logic of urban planning spatial decision-making could thus be improved. Cell-by-cell comparison showed that the simulation accuracy was over 72%. This model has great potential for use by government and town planners in decision support and technique support in the policy-making process.