A Cradle-to-Cradle Novel Approach for Wastewater Management in Sustainable Urban Communities

Water, a valuable resource to human lives, is being abused and driven to scarcity. This scarcity is leading some countries and areas to face difficulty in accessing drinking water. As the UN recently stated “by 2050 water shortages and harder access will be reached by around 2/3rd of the world total population” [1], thus, there is a high need to treat and reuse wastewater for domestic purposes, which will lead to less reliance on fresh water as an initial water source. Greywater—defined as the water produced in domestic houses including sinks and bathroom showers, and excluding any blackwater mix which is collected from toilets—is a type of wastewater. Greywater accounts for up to 75% of the daily water produced [2] while it has fewer contaminants when compared to blackwater. This makes greywater a focal point for treatment, and reusing to conserve fresh water and approach net zero water concept. Even though the definition of greywater is the same globally, its criteria can differ from one country to another, from one building to another, or even from the same person’s usage along the day. Accordingly, several treatment methods evolved over years aiming at treating the produced greywater for reuse mainly in irrigation and toilet flushing. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate a novel net zero wastewater approach applying cradle-to-cradle concept for urban communities;while also proposing a sustainable greywater treatment technique that is environmentally friendly, cost-effective and socially acceptable.

The Strategy of Outdoor Space Micro-Renewal under the Goal of Communities for All Ages: A Case Study of Xingchaibeiyuan Community in Nanchang City

With the rapid development of the city,the old city has gradually lost its former glory,and the old community accounts for a large proportion in the city,and is located in the core area of the city. At present,there are some problems in the old community,such as high degree of aging,poor quality of living space,and lack of outdoor space. The old community transformation is mainly in the way of ' guided reconstruction',it has completely destroyed the original historical environment and the spirit of the place. Therefore,taking Xingchaibeiyuan Community in Nanchang City as an example,we deeply explore the strategy of micro-renewal of community outdoor space,so as to provide a reference for the renewal of outdoor space in this kind of old residential area.

Understandings of Urban Sustainability in China:a Bibliometric Analysis Using Chinese Literatures

Cities hold a critical responsibility for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)due to their high population density,extensive resource consumption,and significant economic contributions.To examine the present state of understandings regarding urban sustainability(SDG 11:Sustainable Cities and Communities)within Chinese research communities,this study collected 15950 papers from 1994 to 2022 on the 12 indicators of SDG 11,from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI),a hub of Chinese academic papers,that directly relate to policymaking.Significant research topics on SDG 11 were identified for each indicator using bibliometrics analysis approaches.The high-frequency keywords and clusters of keywords over the last three decades reveal that existing studies primarily concentrated on the physical aspects,such as transportation and environment,while there is a lack of consideration of societal aspects.This indicates a limited and biased understanding of the urban sustainability within the Chinese academic community.Hence,it is crucial to prioritize the societal aspects in order to develop a research agenda that further advances urban sustainability.

Research on the Harmonious Development of New Rural Communities under the Perspective of Balancing Urban and Rural Areas

On the basis of offering a definition of New Rural Communities (NRCs), the paper analyzes the values of New Rural Communities and argues that the construction of NRCs is able to contribute to the enhancement of the comprehensive agricultural production capability as well as the development of social productivity. Meanwhile the incomes of the rural residents can be boosted, which denotes the realization of a harmonious society where the achievements of China's reform and development are shared by each citizen. Moreover, the construction of NRCs facilitates the economization of land use and thus improves the overall living standard of the residents, while helping to cut the administrative cost and promote democracy at the primary level. This paper also points out various problems arising during the construction of NRCS in China: blindly following suit in accordance with the modes of the urban communities; lack of funds, which leads to the absence of the supporting mechanisms of NRCs; vague positioning and the ensuing shortage of impetus for continued development. Finally, the paper raises the corresponding measures and suggestions: first, based on reality, make overall planning and scientific arrangement; second, the government should play the dominant role while respecting the principal position of the rural residents and introducing the market mechanism; third, increase science and technology input and attach equal importance to economic and social benefits; fourth, broaden fund-raising channels while completing the supervision mechanism.

Significant Differences in Elderly Health between Urban and Rural Communities: A Literature Review

This study aimed to examine measures pertaining to elderly health in urban versus rural settings, and to identify differences in the health of elderly people living in urban and rural communities through a literature review. An electronic literature search was performed using PubMed for English articles published in peer-reviewed journals up to August 2018, with the following search terms: “urban”, “rural”, “comparison of community”, “elderly health”, and “comparison of community health”. A total of 35 articles were extracted for a critical full-text review, and six articles that met the inclusion criteria were subjected to analysis. Measures related to elderly health in urban and rural communities were classified into the following three categories: functional abilities, health, and health perception. Five of the six articles described functional abilities (e.g., social function) and health (e.g., mental health, depression) as categories with significant differences in elderly health between urban and rural communities. The results suggest that elderly health measures related to social function and mental health or depression are more important outcome measures of effective person-centered integrated community care systems from the perspective of community characteristics. As there were only a few articles reporting on elderly health according to differences in environment between urban and rural communities, further investigation is globally warranted.

Bacterial Communities Associated with An Occurrence of Colored Water in An Urban Drinking Water Distribution System

This study aimed to investigate bacterial community in an urban drinking water distribution system （DWDS） during an occurrence of colored water. Variation in the bacterial community diversity and structure was observed among the different waters, with the predominance of Proteobacteria. While Verrucomicrobia was also a major phylum group in colored water. Limnobacter was the major genus group in colored water, but Undibacterium predominated in normal tap water. The coexistence of Limnobacter as well as Sediminibacterium and Aquobocterium might contribute to the formation of colored water.

Study of Problems in the Development of Non-profit Organizations in Urban Communities

With the continuous advancement of construction of urban communities and the continuous development of the needs of community residents in China,non-profit organizations in various urban communities have developed rapidly and have increasingly played an important role in social and economic life. At present,the development of non-profit organizations in urban communities is still faced with many problems,such as difficulty in raising funds,lack of incentives that results in low enthusiasm for volunteering and low participation of community residents,etc. It is urgent and practical significance to study,analyze and solve the problems faced by non-profit organizations in urban communities. That article focuses on the analysis and discussion of the problems facing the development of non-profit organizations in urban communities,and proposes countermeasures to solve the problems.

Construction of Eco-livable Communities in the New Urbanization:A Case Study of Zhangzhou Green Lake Eco-park

Taking the construction of Green Lake Eco-park for example, this paper introduced the achievements and experience of this project in rural land expropriation, ecological conservation, humanistic development, and commercial development via field investigation, literature consultation and resident interview, and also problems in the current construction. Then suggestions were put forward to provide references for the further improvement of the Green Lake Eco-park.

Walkability Assessment of Microclimatic Environments of Six Typical Communities in Central Urban Area of Beijing from the Perspective of the Elderly

Community walking space is the most used space in residents’daily life,such as commuting and walking,and is also the most basic type of space for outdoor activities.The microclimatic environment of walking space not only affects the health status of residents,but also determines the service effi ciency of outdoor public space.Based on actual measurement and simulation of microclimatic environment,the status quo of walkability of microclimatic environments in six typical communities is evaluated by quantitative methods,and general problems and optimization suggestions are put forward,in order to provide new ideas for future community environment transformation.

Research on the Path of Improving the Efficiency of Urban Community Governance from the Perspective of Collaborative Governance:A Case Study of Daqing City,China

Under the background of“co-construction,co-governance,and sharing,”the role of the grassroots level is becoming increasingly important.In the past,the governance body was single with blocked information,and the inefficient governance mode required gradual transformation.In order to achieve collaborative governance and break through the obstacles in grassroots governance,the key lies in how to play the role of the community,coordinate the relationship between citizens and the community,and allow the community to better play the role of grassroots governance.Under the guidance of the concept of collaborative governance and combined with relevant data,this paper discusses the problems and current situation of community governance in Daqing City,China,explores the path to improve the efficiency of urban community governance,and puts forward relevant constructive suggestions to better realize the role of community in grassroots governance.

Landscape Pattern Analysis of International Livable Communities Based on Satellite Images of Wenjiang District, Chengdu City

This paper used Google Earth satellite maps of Wenjiang District, Chengdu City in 2008, 2012 and 2015 as basic data sources, and field investigation data in recent years, and employed Photoshop and Auto CAD to analyze landscape pattern of urban and suburban areas of Wenjiang District—the international livable communities. The results showed that urban forest patches accounted for the absolute dominance in the study area, the overall landscape fragmentation index in 2008 was 0.0054, landscape diversity index 1.3603, landscape dominance index 0.2937, and evenness index 0.8452. From 2008 to 2012, patch density index reduced by 7.04, landscape fragmentation index increased by 0.0014, diversity index reduced by 0.043, evenness index reduced by 0.0269, landscape dominance index increased by 0.0027. From 2012 to 2015, patch density index increased by 1.22, landscape fragmentation index kept stable, diversity index reduced by 0.024, evenness index reduced by 0.0149, landscape dominance index increased by 0.0196. Through analyzing quantitative indexes of urban landscape pattern, and exploring basic features of the international livable communities from the perspective of landscape eco-pattern, this paper put forward suggestions for city management and green space system protection of Wenjiang as the references for the future researches on maintenance and operation of landscape eco-pattern.

Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Microplastics in Snow in the Inner Mongolia Plateau, China

Microplastics(MPs;<5 mm)have become one of the most prominent global environmental pollution problems.MPs can spread to high altitudes through atmospheric transport and can be deposited by rainfall or snowfall,potentially threatening the structure and function of natural ecosystems.MPs in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems alter the growth and functional characteristics of organisms.However,little attention has been given to the possible harm associated with MPs deposited in snow,particularly in the context of global climate warming.MPs collected from surface snow in the Inner Mongolia Plateau,China,were used for quantitative analysis and identification.The results showed that MPs were easily detected,and the related concentration was approximately(68±10)–(199±22)MPsL1 in snow samples.Fibers were the most common morphology,the polymer composition was largely varied,and the abundance and composition of MPs were linked to human activity to a great extent.High-throughput sequencing results showed that the composition and abundance of microorganisms also differed in snow samples from areas with different MP pollution characteristics,indicating a considerable difference in microbial functional diversity.MPs may have an interference effect on the individual growth and functional expression of microorganisms in snow.In addition,the results showed that functional living areas(e.g.,landfills and suburban areas)in cities play an important role in the properties of MPs.For instance,the highest abundance of MPs was found in thermal power plants,whereas the abundance of polymers per sample was significantly lower in the suburban area.The MP contaminants hidden in snow can alter microbial structure and function and are therefore a potential threat to ecosystem health.

Spatial Distribution Characteristics and Coverage Rate of Commercial Facilities in 15-minute Radius Livelihood Service Circles of Chunshu Street

Building a 15-minute radius livelihood service circle from the needs of residents is a topdown process of optimizing urban layout and promoting high-quality development implemented by the government.In September 2022,Xicheng District of Beijing served as a national pilot of the 15-minute radius livelihood service circle.Based on the data of POI,urban walking network and building outline,this paper studies the coverage of commercial service facilities in the 15-minute radius livelihood service circle of Chunshu Street by using kernel density analysis and urban network analysis tools.The research shows that the commercial facilities are concentrated in Zhuangsheng Square and Dazhalan commercial district.There are large gaps in housekeeping and couriers logistics facilities,which need to be further improved.

Introduction to Urban and Community Forestry in the United States of America: History, Accomplishments, Issues and Trends

The urban and community forestry movement in the United States has matured over the last 20 years from managing street trees, to understanding the benefits of trees in urban ecosystems, and now to managing urban green infrastructure. This paper introduced the history, development, and major accomplishments of the urban and community forestry movement, highlighted the economic, ecological, environmental, and social values of forests and trees to communities, and discussed issues and trends of the urban and community forestry program in the United States.

Spatial Patterns and Driving Factors of Urban Residential Embedded Carbon Emissions: An Empirical Study in Kaifeng, China

With the continuous improvement in living standards and great changes in lifestyles, more attention is being paid to the embedded carbon emissions produced by human consumption. With large sample data and high-resolution remote sensing images, we explored the spatial differentiation and influencing factors of household embedded carbon emissions within the city fine scale using the EIO-LCA model, spatial autocorrelation analysis and standard deviation ellipse, quantile regression, etc. The results indicate that the spatial dependence is more obvious than the characteristics of spatial heterogeneity;the high-value area of household embedded carbon emissions gathers in new development zones in cities that are expanding rapidly, mainly with residents in large number of newly-built commercial housing families and the relative’s courtyard of institutions. The factors of family characteristics, housing characteristics, lifestyles, and consumption concept have significant effects on the embedded carbon emissions of each person. The influencing intensity of most factors showed an increasing trend with increased carbon emissions. The study verified the impact of urban sprawl on residential carbon emissions and the applicability of the situated lifestyles theory in the construction of urban low-carbon communities in China.

Seasonal co-occurrence patterns of bacteria and eukaryotic phytoplankton and the ecological response in urban aquatic ecosystem

Microorganisms play a key role in aquatic ecosystems.Recent studies show that keystone taxa in microbial community could change the community structure and function.However,most previous studies focus on abundant taxa but neglected low abundant ones.To clarify the seasonal variation of bacterial and microalgal communities and understand their synergistic adaptation to diff erent environmental factors,we studied the bacterial and eukaryotic phytoplankton communities in Fenhe River that runs through Taiyuan City,central China,and their seasonal co-occurrence patterns using 16S and 18S rDNA sequencing.Results indicate that positive interaction of eukaryotic phytoplankton network was more active than negative one except winter,indicating that the cooperation(symbiotic phenomenon in which phytoplankton are interdependent and mutually benefi cial)among them could improve the adaption of microbial community to the local environmental changes and maintain the stability of microbial network.The main genera that identifi ed as keystone taxa in bacterial network were Salinivibrio and Sphingopyxis of Proteobacteria and they could respond to the variation of nitrite and make use of it,while those that identifi ed as keystone taxa in eukaryotic phytoplankton network were Pseudoschroederia and Nannochloris,and they were more susceptible to nitrate and phosphate.Mychonastes and Cryptomonas were closely related to water temperature.However,the loss of the co-occurrence by environmental factor changes aff ected the stability of network structure.This study provided a reference for analyzing relationship between bacteria and eukaryotic phytoplankton and revealing potential importance of keystone taxa in similar ecological domains in carbon,nitrogen,and phosphorus dynamics.

CHINA’S URBAN RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY IN THE COURSE OF TRANSFER OF SOCIAL PATTERN

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Urban Geography and the Production of Socio-Environmental Inequalities

In this article we use the Urban Political Ecology approach to show that by analysing governance networks we can better understand the production of certain socio-environmental transformations that negatively affect some social groups while benefiting others. Drawing upon two case studies in the UK, the article explores the dialectical relationships between different modes of urban governance on one hand and the socio-environmental transformations fulfilled in each case study on the other hand. The article concludes that although urban regeneration policies are always constrained by the neoliberal established framework of power relations, policy outputs and outcomes could be very different from one place to another, shaping uneven socio-environmental constructions. Finally, we make some recommendations in order to stimulate the production of more sustainable communities in the future.

Cardiovascular Risk Factors (CVrf) in Rural and Urban Areas Mali: Data from the Step 2013 Survey

Background: Traditional cardiovascular risk factors (CVrf) like hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, obesity, smoking have been studied extensively through theses in hospital studies. Therefore, recent published data from community based studies are rare in Mali. Available data are old justifying to perform a community based study on traditional CVrf in rural and urban areas. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively performed a study which data stemmed from the last STEPS survey carried out in 2013 in some rural and urban areas of Mali. We studied hypertension, diabetes, tobacco smoking, obesity based on body mass index, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio. After bivariates analyses, we conducted a logistic regression with rural/urban as dependent variable using SPSS as analysis software for this purpose. Results: Weight, height, WC and HC were higher in urban area with 69.77 Kg, 169.13 cm, 85.98 cm and 97.26 cm compared to 66.27, 165.42, 81.46 and 93.23 in rural area (p as more prevalent in urban area while elevated waist-to-hip ratio was more prevalent in rural area. But in logistic regression for female, the Odds for Tobacco smoking rural as reference was 0.334 [CI: 0.151 - 0.738] (p = 0.007) and that for WHr is 0.582 [CI: 0.415 - 0.815] (p p p = 0.038). Conclusion: Traditional cardiovascular risk factors have high prevalence in this study and need to be monitored with larger studies. Female predictors were raised waist circumference in favour of urban and tobacco smoking and waist-to-hip ratio in favour of urban dwellers. Male diabetes was the only predictor we found.

Community Based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition: The MSF Experience from an Urban Slum Setting in Bangladesh

Background: Until recently, the experience on implementing community based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) among children has been largely based in African settings. While the government in Bangladesh is yet to scale up CMAM approach, there is still paucity of knowledge on the experience of CMAM within the complex milieu of an urban slum context. In Kamrangirchar slum, Dhaka, Bangladesh, this paper describes a CMAM programme performance and outcomes run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)/Doctors without Borders, in light to performance indicators set by MSF and the Sphere minimum standards. Methods: This was a descriptive retrospective study using routinely collected programme data of children admitted with severe acute malnutrition between May 2010 and November 2011. Kamrangirchar is an urban slum of a large migrant population in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Results: There was a total of 640 new admissions, of whom 333 (52%) were males. The median age was 18 months (Inter-quartile range (IQR) 12 - 41). 599 children had a reported nutritional outcome at discharge from ambulatory therapeutic feeding centre (ATFC), this included: cure rate of 69% with an average length of stay of 68.8 (SD ± 46.0) days and average weight gain of 3.8 g/kg/day (SD ± 2.7). The lost-to-follow-up rate was 18% and 5% reported to the programme that they will leave the slum and go back to their villages. These performance indicators did not meet the threshold level indicators set by MSF and Sphere standards. Conclusions: Our experience highlights the need for developing more adapted and contextualised indicators for assessing the performance of CMAM programmes in settings such as urban slums. Community engagement in the process of developing relevant standards is crucial. Nutrition humanitarian actors have a vital role to collaborate with local authorities to contextualize and refine these standards.