Spatial diversion and coordination of flood water for an urban flood control project in Suzhou, China

Suzhou City,located in the Yangtze River Delta in China,is prone to flooding due to a complex combination of natural factors,including its monsoon climate,low elevation,and tidally influenced position,as well as intensive human activities.The Large Encirclement Flood Control Project(LEFCP)was launched to cope with serious floods in the urban area.This project changed the spatiotemporal pattern of flood processes and caused spatial diversion of floods from the urban area to the outskirts of the city.Therefore,this study developed a distributed flood simulation model in order to understand this transition of flood processes.The results revealed that the LEFCP effectively protected the urban areas from floods,but the present scheduling schemes resulted in the spatial diversion of floods to the outskirts of the city.With rainstorm frequencies of 10.0%to 0.5%,the water level differences between two representative water level stations(Miduqiao(MDQ)and Fengqiao(FQ))located inside and outside the LEFCP area,ranged from 0.75 m to 0.24 m and from 1.80 m to 1.58 m,respectively.In addition,the flood safety margin at MDQ and the duration with the water level exceeding the warning water level at FQ ranged from 0.95 m to 0.43 m and from 4 h to 22 h,respectively.Rational scheduling schemes for the hydraulic facilities of the LEFCP in extreme precipitation cases were developed ac-cording to food simulations under seven scheduling scenarios.This helps to regulate the spatial flood diversion caused by the LEFCP during extreme precipitation.

IMPACTS OF SEA LEVEL RISE ON MAJOR PROJECTS AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA'S COASTAL PLAINS

Due to the dual dris oftural and man-made factors, relative sea leverise in China's coastal plains can be 2 to 3 times over the global mean dunng thefirst half of the 21st Century, it will strongly whuence the vanous coastal projectsand installations and the development of coastal dhes and towns. Research resultsshow that a 50-cm-nse in relative sea leve will cause maed decline in the functionof coastal defense and drainage projects and seriously endangur the functionalworking of the vast majority of coastal harbors. Meanwhile, it will also whuence thedevelopment of coastal dhes and towns throwi deterioratin water quality of thesource of urban water supply, increasing urban fiood risk and damagin seasidetounst resources etc.. Tianin, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the three most importancoastal dhes of China, will be Strongly affeded.

Urban Redevelopment, Gentrification and Gentrifiers in Post-reform Inland China: A Case Study of Chengdu, China

Since its process evolved in recent years, the definition of gentrification has expanded to cover different forms of social upgrading, new spaces and new actors around the world. Studies on gentrification in Chinese cities began to take off in the 2000 s. However, they all mainly focused on the newly emerging global cities and there has been a lack of investigation on provincial cities. Furthermore, discussions on gentrifiers′ profiles and their motivations for housing choice are absent from literature on Chinese gentrification. Therefore, this paper aims to assess the relevance of the broad definition of gentrification in provincial Chinese cities through empirical research on urban redevelopment projects in Chengdu, and to examine the characteristics of gentrifiers(as new incoming residents) in it. The results show the rationality of gentrification processes as urban redevelopment in Chengdu, and reveal original outcomes on the corresponding gentrifiers′ profiles and the motivations behind their housing choice, which are different from the general features of gentrifiers in standard Western gentrification research.

The Everyday （in） Urbanism： What＇s New on the Spot

The paper aims at measuring the influence that the everyday theme has exercised in the formation of the idea of space that is permeating the thought of many contemporary urban planners. Through the investigation of two recent approaches, the Italian and the American ones, the complex relationships between daily practices and urban spaces, in the continuous redefinition of the concepts of public and private sphere, are described. In this context, the Everyday Urbanists＇ work had the merit to reveal and investigate the social possibilities offered by the patterns of everyday life. They were among the first to speak about a citizenship redefinition, process which has been increasingly debated by many scholars. Citizenship is thus turning to be less formal, while becoming more substantive and insurgent. The paper demonstrates that, according to this crucial change, new and meaningful relations between citizenship and planning can be established and that these are able to open planning practice up to the present ethnographical possibilities of the urban space, and to its tactical and polysemic dimensions.

Quality of public space and sustainable development goals:analysis of nine urban projects in Spanish cities

The starting point of this research is the urban model promoted by the United Nations through the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).The importance of public spaces is especially highlighted in Goal 11.7:“provide universal access to safe,inclusive,and accessible,green,and public spaces.”The quality of public spaces can be properly assessed by reconsidering the quality indicators and investigating their development potential,which is the main focus of our research.This study is based on a theoretical and methodological reflection on the quality of public space,considering the contributions of some contemporary urban traditions and a few recent experiences.From this perspective,a variety of public space projects developed in the European sphere have been selected and analyzed.The quality parameters identified in this initial analysis were then applied to the analysis of nine representative case studies in three Spanish cities(Madrid,Barcelona,and Zaragoza).The main goal is to propose a methodology that helps to evaluate the quality of those public spaces and determine its relationship with the safety,accessibility,and inclusiveness conditions they offer.

Discussion about the standard system on urban domestic water saving technology in China

Standard is the technical foundation of national economic and social development, and it is the basic rule of establishing social regulation. Researching and constituting the standard system of urban domestic water saving technology is to offer important science basis for revising standard plan and standardize research plan. This paper introduces the present situation of our urban domestic water saving technical standard system, problem and the development direction in the future, as well as project planning of constructing urban domestic water saving technical standard system.

Why High-Speed Railway Stations Continue China's Leapfrog Urbanization:Institutional Parameters of Urban Development

An ambitious program of High-Speed Railway (HSR) is under construction in China and already soon the network will overtake its counterparts in Europe. Reflecting on experiences in Europe, the authors explore the conditions for place making qualities of six new HSR station areas in China. The superb inter-city connectivity of the new infrastructure nodes raises a lot of expectations about the economic and social potential of the station areas, but the experiences in Europe thus far are very differentiated. With regards to the attraction of economic activities usually the existing differences between different economic regions are reproduced rather than shaping completely new conditions. Also the expectations of developing completely new integrated urban centers around stations in the urban periphery are rather ambitious. The paper questions the planning responses to HSR development in Chinese cities and investigates the institutional conditions that frame these responses. The authors explore how the plans for Chinese HSR station development account for their objectives and reflect on the potential of the station area planning by investigating the institutional parameters of urban development.

Progress of research on urban-rural transformation and rural development in China in the past decade and future prospects

Urban-rural transformation and rural development are issues at the forefront of research on the topic of the urban-rural relationship in the field of geography, as well as important practical problems facing China＇s new urbanization and overall planning of urban and rural development. The Center for Regional Agricultural and Rural Development, part of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was established in 2005. The Center has laid solid foundations for integrating research in the areas of agricultural geography and rural development in China over the past decade. The paper aims to review the major achievements in rural geographical research in China during the past decade, analyze innovative developments in relevant theories and methods, and suggest prospects and countermeasures for promoting comprehensive studies of urban-rural transformation and rural geography. The research shows that innovative achievements have been made in rural geography studies of China in the past decade as major national policy development, outputs of result and decision making support; new breakthroughs have been achieved in such major research projects as geographical integrated theory, land remediation projects and technology demonstration projects, new urbanization and urban-rural integration; significant progress has been made in actively expanding the frontiers of rural geography and pushing forward theoretical innovations in land and resource projects; and, with China＇s development goals of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieving modernization in mind, future innovative developments in agricultural and rural geography should aim to make research more strategic, systematic, scientific and security-oriented, with attention given to promoting systematic scientific research on international cooperation and global rural geography.