Urban Chemical Industrial Cluster Area Restructuring and Determinants: A Case Study of a Typical Old Chemical Industry Area Along the Yangtze River, China

China is in a transitional period between urban renewal and industrial change.In this period,the focus has been on the suburbanization of enterprises and land transformation in old industrial areas,particularly areas with chemical industries.A life cycle theoretical framework was established to develop chemical industrial zones in the context of urban expansion and land function conversion.The long-term historical processes and mechanisms that transformed a typical old chemical industry area along the Yangtze River,Yanziji Area of Nanjing City were unveiled and comparatively analyzed.The study found that the entire life cycle of the case study area was formed through the combined action of different influencing factors.Traditional industrial location factors played important roles during the rise and continuity of the chemical industry zone,while unconventional environmental regulations and government policies drove its decline and transformation.In the transformation of the old chemical zone,the renewal and redevelopment of industrial land into higher-value residential land is a key link determining the feasibility of government fund compensation and the circulation of capital.These findings demonstrate that regional control and environmental regulation play crucial roles in determining the location of polluting industries and the renewal of urban industrial areas.This research enhances the understanding of the development history and reconstruction of chemical industry clusters and plots within megacities at a finer geographic scale.

The Community Renewal of Shantytown Transformation in Old Industrial Cities:Evidence from Tiexi Worker Village in Shenyang,China

There are many problems,such as poverty,unemployment,poor infrastructure and how to improve the ecological environment,in the shantytowns of old industrial cities.Shantytowns are the most centralized areas with different contradictions,referred to as the‘problem areas’of urban sustainable development.The shantytown transformation of old industrial cities is a typical process of unit community disintegration,which is reflected not only in the reconstruction of physical space but also in the community renewal of social spatial integration and culture reconstruction.Based on qualitative research,questionnaires and in-depth interviews,taking Tiexi Worker Village in Shenyang as a research case,this paper attempts to analyse the characteristics and driving forces of the community renewal of shantytown transformation in old industrial cities.We found that the physical space of Tiexi Worker Village has changed considerably,which is embodied in its land use structure,living environment and community service facilities,reflecting the development of community function from simple industrial function to comprehensive functions.The residents in this community have experienced a transformation from a period of homogeneity to one of heterogeneity.The social network of the community has been destroyed.Social stratification,social differentiation and higher fluidity have occurred.Community renewal is mainly affected by macro factors such as policy regulation,economic driving,condition constraints,and micro factors such as residents’choice of living space and willingness to renew their communities.The transformation policy of the old industrial zone and the development policy of the new urban area are the fundamental and deep-seated reasons for the renewal of Tiexi Worker Village,which determine the direction of the renewal and development of the community.The paid use of land and the development of the real estate industry are the direct stimulating factors for the renewal of Tiexi Worker Village,which become the direct reasons for the spatial transformation.The changes in the population in urban and rural areas and the promotion of traffic are the driving factors for the renewal of the community,while the choice of residents and their willingness regarding community renewal are the endogenous forces for promoting community renewal.Finally,the author attempts to put forward a model of the interlaced mechanism of the forming of community renewal at the macroscopic and microcosmic levels,which are the urban renewal and reconstruction and social space differentiation of community residents,respectively.

Financial Supports to the Rejuvenation of the Old Industrial Base of Northeast China

Supporting the reconstruction and reform of the old industrial base in Northeast China is a significant strategy made by the Central Government. With the strategy going into effect, it will be a great opportunity for the economy and finance development in Northeast. Based on the financial facts in Northeast China and the analyses on the key issues concerning finance and the rejuvenation of the old industrial base, countermeasures in five aspects are put forwarded in this paper.

Effects of the Northeast China Revitalization Strategy on Regional Economic Growth and Social Development

Measuring the economic and social effects of the Northeast China Revitalization Strategy is critical to addressing regional sustainable development in China. To shed light on this issue, an integrated perspective was adopted that is combined with the difference-in-differences method to measure the effects of the strategy on economic growth and social development in Northeast China. The findings suggest that the strategy has significantly improved regional economic growth and per-capita income by increasing its gross domestic product(GDP) and GDP per capita by 25.70% and 46.00%, respectively. However, the strategy has significantly worsened the regional employment in the secondary industry of the region. In addition, the strategy has not significantly improved regional infrastructural road, education investment or social security, and has had no significant effect on mitigating regional disparity. In addition, the policy effects are highly heterogeneous across cities based on city size and characteristics. Therefore, there is no simple answer regarding whether the Northeast China Revitalization Strategy has reached its original goals from an integrated perspective. The next phase of the strategy should emphasize improving research and development(R&D) and human capital investments based on urban heterogeneity to prevent conservative path-dependency and the lock-in of outdated technologies.

Influences of Different Transport Routes and Road Nodes on Industrial Land Conversion: A Case Study of Changchun City of Jilin Province, China

Nowadays, urban transit system has become one of the major forces underlying urban pace transformation via changing accessibility of related land parcels, which leads to the changes of land value and land use structure. This paper studied the interaction between land use changes and related transport routes, particular about how different transport routes and road nodes influence the conversion of industrial lands to residential and commercial uses respectively. Taking Changchun, an old industrial city in the rust belt of China as a case of study, we explored and compared the influences of different transport routes and road nodes on industrial land conversion. We found that surrounding the studied transport routes, more industrial lands were replaced by residential lands than by commercial lands. Also, apparent differences exist in the corridor effects of different transport routes(i.e., light rail, expressway and trunk road) and road nodes(i.e., expressway nodes and trunk road nodes) while the industrial lands convert to residential and commercial uses. Our research findings help us to illuminate the interactive relationships between transportation and industrial land conversion in old industrial cities which are undergoing social, economic and the related urban transition in Northeast China.

Increasing Subsidies to Main Grain Production Area——Necessity of the Rejuvenation of Northeast China

As an old industrial base, Northeast China is one of the most important grain production base. To rejuvenate Northeast China, it is necessary to strengthen farming products processing, lengthen industrial chain and develop sustainable agriculture.

Economic development and energy efficiency in Jilin Province, China

The relationship between economic development and energy consumption is revealed by employing cointegration theory, the index decomposition method, and a log-linear regression approach based on a case study of Jilin Province, China. The results suggest： 1） the economic development and energy consumption are interdetermined, whose relationship is positive and long-term. The economic development is highly depending on the energy in Jilin Province. 2） Under the condition of other unchanged factors, the change of industrial energy efficiency contributes to the energy saving, while that of industrial structure increases the energy consumption. 3） The industrial structure change enhances the energy intensity, but the energy utility efficiency change lowers it. From the view of contribution to the energy consumption, the contribution of industrial structure was more than that of the energy utility efficiency in 2000-2011. 4） In 2000-2011, the comprehensive energy intensity change and hydroelectricity energy intensity change were related to all industrial structures＇ change, and the influencing factors about structure of oil energy intensity change were more than those of coal energy intensity change; from the impact degree, agricultural proportion decreased exerted an positive and greater effect on lowering the energy intensity of comprehensive energy and hydroelectricity, and industrial one did on coal and natural gas. Some conclusions can be drawn as follows： the major way to promote the coordinated development of the industrial economy and energy consumption is to optimize the industrial structure by increasing the proportion of the tertiary industry and low energy consumption industrial sectors and to enhance the energy utility efficiency.