Developing an Environmental Indicator System for Sustainable Development in China: Two Case Studies of Selected Indicators

Environmental indicator systems are a fundamental tool in quantifying the environmental component of sustainable development. They are useful because they quantify the status and trends of key environmental parameters and provide information on the environment that allows authorities and communities to make informed decisions. This article analyzes the basic framework for Chinese environmental indicator systems and presents a “core” set of environmental indicators. In our research, we used a theme approach to develop the environmental indicator systems. We performed two case studies of selected indicators. In the first, we used an urban ambient air pollution composite index and an urban ambient air pollution indicator for three main pollutants to examine trends in urban air pollution in China from 1990 to 2000 at regional and national levels. The results indicate that China has made some progress towards controlling urban air pollution, but must do more in order to reach acceptable pollution levels. We think that an aggregated index and disaggregated indicators have important complementary roles in the policy-making processes. In the second case study, we developed and constructed a grassland degradation index that aggregates information on the extent and severity of grassland degradation. Taking the Xilinhaote region of Inner Mongolia as the study area, we calculated this index by combining remote-sensing data, a geographical information system (GIS), and field investigation. Based on these results, we provide recommendations regarding further development and measurement of environmental indicators in China.     

Strategic planning harnessing urban policy mobilities: the gradual development of local sustainability fix

The aim of our article is to follow how global policy models affect local policy making. Each city has unique local challenges in promoting development, e.g. economic growth, but also needs to find a balance between these targets and demands for sustainable city solutions. In our empirical study, we follow how ideas of waterfront development – to attract new inhabitants and promote economic growth – and global demands of carbon control were used interactively in a strategic spatial planning process in the city of Tampere, Finland. During the six-year planning process, these two policy targets became interdependent, created a new policy-making domain, and led to a combinatorial development of sustainability elements arising from this domain. These findings demonstrate the serial use of global policy models in the creation of a local urban ‘sustainability fix’. To conclude, the intertwinement of diverse global policy models in a city planning process creates easily a recursive cycle that redefines urban sustainability within cities and intercity networks. This perspective makes local policy narratives and strategic planning highly important in urban sustainability research as promoting urban sustainability becomes an inherently ambivalent practice.     

中国城市CO2排放和空气质量协同变化特征及驱动因素研究

城市既是受到气候变化和空气污染影响的重点区域,又是落实应对气候变化和大气污染防控政策的关键主体。在城市尺度上研究减污降碳政策的协同效应及其时空异质化的影响规律,将为因地制宜地制定减污降碳政策提供依据。本研究分析了2012—2019年我国284个地级市减污降碳协同效应指数的动态时空变化特征和规律;而后通过构建STIRPAT模型和地理时空加权回归（GTWR）模型,探讨了低碳政策、大气污染物防控政策、产业结构等驱动因素对减污降碳协同效应的时空异质化影响机制。结果表明：全国主要地级市耦合协调度指数平均值由2012年的0.79增加至2019年的0.85,环京津冀区域、汾渭平原等京津冀大气污染传输通道城市区域耦合协调度指数显著提高。以低碳试点城市为代表的区域,其降碳政策、减污政策、产业结构、人口规模、城镇化水平以及技术投入对减污降碳协同效应的影响存在显著的空间异质性。华北平原城市群作为大气污染防治的重点区域,主要通过减污政策提高协同效益;低碳政策主要在京津冀城市群、长江中游以及东南沿海地区城市发挥作用;中西部城市则主要通过产业结构调整、加大技术投入实现协同效益。最后,基于此提出促进城市减污降碳协同效益的对策建议。     

基于灰色预测法的空气污染来源及控制对策分析

以2005年~2012年三明市公布的环境空气质量指数为基础,用2005年~2010年的环境空气质量指数数据以改进的灰色预测方法来构建模型。通过对预测值与实际值出现较大差异的地方进行比较和分析,表明大型城建项目、机动车辆爆炸性增长对三明市区的环境空气质量有较大影响。因此针对相应的污染机制和源头提出整治措施,为三明市下一步的环境治理规划的制定提供指导和依据。     

IMPACTS OF URBAN LANDUSE ON MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN STREAMS1

ABSTRACT: Macroinvertebrates were used to assess the impact of urbanization on stream quality across a gradient of watershed imperviousness in 43 southeastern Wisconsin streams. The percentage of watershed connected imperviousness was chosen as the urbanization indicator to examine impact of urban land uses on macroinvertebrate communities. Most urban land uses were negatively correlated with the Shannon diversity index, percent of pollution intolerant Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera individuals, and generic richness. Nonurban land uses were positively correlated with these same metrics. The Hilsenhoff biotic index indicated that stream quality declined with increased urbanization. Functional feeding group metrics varied across a gradient of urbanization, suggesting changes in stream quality. Proportions of collectors and gatherers increased, while proportions of filterers, scrapers, and shredders decreased with increased watershed imperviousness. This study demonstrated that urbanization severely degraded stream macroinvertebrate communities, hence stream quality. Good stream quality existed where imperviousness was less than 8 percent, but less favorable assessments were inevitable where imperviousness exceeded 12 to 20 percent. Levels of imperviousness between 8 and 12 percent represented a threshold where minor increases in urbanization were associated with sharp declines in stream quality.     

Urban sustainable energy development: A case study of the city of Philadelphia

Cities throughout the world are key sites for energy sustainability activities. However, analysis of such efforts to date has focused on a sub-set of atypical cities: early adopters and/or world cities. This article undertakes a case-study analysis for an ordinary city, Philadelphia, PA in order to assess the extent to which prior research provides adequate policy explanation for ordinary cities and to gain empirical insight on two under-researched aspects: policy actors, and the policy-making and implementation sites (action sites) for urban energy sustainability. Overall, the types of policy drivers, modes of governance, and enabling factors and barriers in the Philadelphia case fit with prior studies. Focusing on actors and action sites, however, offers insight on the city’s relative policy-making approach based on “non-controversy”, the key role of third-sector actors in both policy-making and implementation, and the diversification of action sites through external-level policy-making operationalised locally nevertheless at the expense of reduced control by urban actors. These findings lead to recommendations for urban energy sustainability research and practice.     

都江堰市2001～2010年城市环境空气质量变化分析

本文以2001～2010年都江堰市大气环境监测数据为依据,采用综合污染指数法分析了都江堰市近10年环境空气质量的现状、变化趋势及影响因素,并分析比较2008年地震前后空气污染物的变化。结果表明：都江堰市的空气综合污染指数较低（1     

Of parks and politics: the production of socio-nature in a Gujarati town

Urban parks in India are often discussed as positive environmental projects, and their creation appears as unproblematic in public discourse. This paper presents the creation of a municipal park in a small city in Gujarat, India. Using insights from history and architecture, we stress the importance of reading parks as political and to some extent ideological projects in the larger context of city-making. The political ecology and history of the particular park studied here allow us to problematise the socio-ecological project of urban “beautification” via park creation. The municipal park, established in the centre of a small urban agglomeration after displacing a slum settlement from the site, is – as we argue – an integral part of a local geography of power. As such it expresses several registers of values upheld by local elites and brings into focus highly conflictive social relations. The case study contributes to further developing a situated urban political ecological approach that starts theorising cities from the South. It moreover offers a critical perspective on the understudied urban nature of small towns.     

城市环境安全模糊综合评价方法研究

北京作为我国的首都、环境保护的首善之区,在环境问题上应该,也必须是安全的。但实际上,北京大气污染、水体污染日益加剧,水资源紧张,环境安全形势严峻。本文根据2005—2014年十年环境污染统计数据,运用层次分析法、灰色聚类分析法对北京市城市环境安全进行了评价分析,结果表明,北京市城市环境安全度为6.3~6.89,属于较安全级别。十年来北京市环境安全状况呈好转趋势,环境安全度最低值出现在2006年,最高值出现在2011年,增幅9%。地表水的氨氮、BOD、高锰酸盐指数及大气污染中的PM10污染相对严重。PM10安全度指数2005—2007年偏低,由于奥运减排措施的持续作用及沙尘影响减弱,2006—2013年安全度逐年增高,2014年安全度略有下降,但整体呈好转趋势。北京市地表水污染仍为有机污染型,2005—2014年的十年间,通过结构减排、工程减排、监管减排等措施,地表水有机污染得到很大改善,各项污染物浓度总体呈下降趋势。总体而言,环境空气质量仍未达标,水环境污染仍较突出,应针对评价结果加大相应的环境治理措施,确保首都环境安全。     

An analysis of urban development and its environmental impact on the Tampa Bay watershed

Urbanization has transformed natural landscapes into anthropogenic impervious surfaces. Urban land use has become a major driving force for land cover and land use change in the Tampa Bay watershed of west-central Florida. This study investigates urban land use change and its impact on the watershed. The spatial and temporal changes, as well as the development density of urban land use are determined by analyzing the impervious surface distribution using Landsat satellite imagery. Population distribution and density are extracted from the 2000 census data. Non-point source pollution parameters used for measuring water quality are analyzed for the sub-drainage basins of Hillsborough County. The relationships between 2002 urban land use, population distribution and their environmental influences are explored using regression analysis against various non-point source pollutant loadings in these sub-drainage basins. The results suggest that strong associations existed between most pollutant loadings and the extent of impervious surface within each sub-drainage basin in 2002. Population density also exhibits apparent correlations with loading rates of several pollutants. Spatial variations of selected non-point source pollutant loadings are also assessed.     

Road Traffic Pollution Monitoring and Modelling Tools and the UK National Air Quality Strategy

This paper provides an assessment of the tools required to fulfil the air quality management role now expected of local authorities within the UK. The use of a range of pollution monitoring tools in assessing air quality is discussed and illustrated with evidence from a number of previous studies of urban background and roadside pollution monitoring in Leicester. A number of approaches to pollution modelling currently available for deployment are examined. Subsequently, the modelling and monitoring tools are assessed against the requirements of local authorities establishing air quality management areas. Whilst the paper examines UK-based policy, the study is of wider international interest.     

城市群雾霾污染的空间分异及动态关联研究——基于京津冀城市群的实证分析

污染治理联防联控是解决区域雾霾问题的重要手段,雾霾污染的城市联动和交互作用是雾霾区域协同治理的关键问题。本文运用探索性空间数据分析法和标准偏差椭圆方法,分析了京津冀雾霾污染的空间关联特征和空间重心转移轨迹,运用空间计量模型,测算了京津冀雾霾污染的空间溢出效应和驱动影响因素。结果表明:京津冀雾霾污染具有显著的空间集聚特征和空间异质性,雾霾污染的空间溢出效应明显,经济增长、城镇化发展、产业结构、人口密度等均对京津冀雾霾污染产生正向影响,外商直接投资对雾霾污染产生负向影响。本文从构建区域污染协同治理机制、区域产业资源的高效配置、城市空间管控等方面提出了城市群雾霾污染治理的对策建议。     

Sustainability and attitudes to locality: the discourse of town and parish councillors

The possible role of parish and town councils (local councils) in the local implementation of sustainable development has been overlooked both in research and in policy-making. This article is based on research into local councillors' attitudes to sustainability and to their own role within a single county. A “discourse of local council legitimation” is identified, in which local councillors see their communities as living organisms, whose interests they represent with the benefit of local knowledge and holistic thinking – characteristics which they see as absent at other levels of government. Local councillors essentially see their role as local and relatively short-term – a perspective that will have to be addressed if local councils are to make a significant contribution to sustainability.     

The multifunctionality of urban farming: perceived benefits for neighbourhood improvement

Urban farming – a type of urban agriculture focused on entrepreneurial food production – serves multiple functions in neighbourhoods; yet these are not well delineated. Expectations for urban farming often centre on traditional measures of economic development, potentially overlooking other benefits. Through a qualitative case study conducted in Baltimore, Maryland, we sought to understand community perceptions regarding the ways in which urban farms can benefit cities. Interviews with residents, neighbourhood leaders, and urban farmers in three residential neighbourhoods with urban farms revealed the pathways by which community members view farms as improving neighbourhoods. Benefits stemmed from four primary changes urban farms made to study neighbourhoods: creation of public projects welcoming involvement, physical improvement of degraded space, production of local food, and creation of new businesses. These changes led to multiple perceived benefits including increased social connectedness, a transformed physical landscape, improved neighbourhood reputation, increased access to fresh produce, and educational, youth development, and employment opportunities. Our findings demonstrate the importance of a multifunctional paradigm that accounts for social and educational functions in assessing the value of urban farming and bring empirical evidence to the concept of multifunctional agriculture. Urban farms with strong social aims may appear to contribute little to economic development if measured using traditional indicators of success such as job creation or fiscal impacts, but provide numerous other benefits for community development.     

Assessment Tools for Urban Catchments: Developing Stressor Gradients1

Abstract: This is the first in a series of three articles designed to establish empirically defined biological indicators and thresholds for impairment for urbanized catchments, and to describe a process by which the biological condition of waterbodies in urbanized catchments can be applied. This article describes alternative gradients of urbanization for assessing and selecting a nationally applicable biological index (article 2 – Purcell et al., this issue ) and defining the potential of biological communities within a gradient of cumulative stressors (article 3 – Paul et al. this issue ). Gradients were designed to represent the most prominent mosaic of stressors found in urban settings. A primary urban gradient was assembled based on readily obtained information of urbanization to include three broad‐scale parameters: percent urban land use/land cover, population density, and road density. This gradient was used as the standard by which alternative urban gradients, which included fine‐scale instream chemical and hydrologic parameters, were assessed. Five alternative gradients were developed to provide numerous environmental management options based on availability of data from water program resources. The urban gradients were developed with the intent that they be applied throughout the country; therefore, data from three different regions of the United States (Mid‐Atlantic, Midwest, and Pacific Coast) were used to validate the urban gradient model. Our study showed that a relatively straightforward stressor gradient consisting of human population density, road density, and urban land use is useful in providing a framework for developing relevant biological indicators and evaluating the potential of biological communities as a basis for assessing attainment of designated aquatic life use.     

Road Traffic Pollution Monitoring and Modelling Tools and the UK National Air Quality Strategy

This paper provides an assessment of the tools required to fulfil the air quality management role now expected of local authorities within the UK. The use of a range of pollution monitoring tools in assessing air quality is discussed and illustrated with evidence from a number of previous studies of urban background and roadside pollution monitoring in Leicester. A number of approaches to pollution modelling currently available for deployment are examined. Subsequently, the modelling and monitoring tools are assessed against the requirements of local authorities establishing air quality management areas. Whilst the paper examines UK-based policy, the study is of wider international interest.     

The importance of the “not-so-cool” sectors: creative solutions to reconcile environmental and economic sustainability within a floodplain

Creative cities are generally considered as “cool” spaces which attract a particular “creative class” whose ability to innovate and transform – particularly in the media and cultural sectors – offers urban economies a competitive edge. This paper argues that, in the face of dangerous climate change, the creativity of the “not-so-cool” sectors needs to be acknowledged and valued. A case study of Salford in the north-west of England shows how political, technological and economic creativity has secured sustainable regeneration within a floodplain. It is argued that the concept of “creativity” in urban economic discourse needs to be widened to acknowledge the importance of the creativity of planners, civil engineers and builders in securing environmentally sustainable cities. Environmental sustainability, it suggests, not only underpins economic sustainability. Faced with dangerous climate change and society's need to respond, the skills and expertise can in themselves contribute to a city's competitiveness.     

Modelling of light pollution in suburban areas using remotely sensed imagery and GIS

This paper describes a methodology for modelling light pollution using geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technology. The proposed approach attempts to address the issue of environmental assessment in sensitive suburban areas. The modern way of life in developing countries is conductive to environmental degradation in urban and suburban areas. One specific parameter for this degradation is light pollution due to intense artificial night lighting. This paper aims to assess this parameter for the Athens metropolitan area, using modern analytical and data capturing technologies. For this purpose, night-time satellite images and analogue maps have been used in order to create the spatial database of the GIS for the study area. Using GIS advanced analytical functionality, visibility analysis was implemented. The outputs for this analysis are a series of maps reflecting direct and indirect light pollution around the city of Athens. Direct light pollution corresponds to optical contact with artificial night light sources, while indirect light pollution corresponds to optical contact with the sky glow above the city. Additionally, the assessment of light pollution in different periods allows for dynamic evaluation of the phenomenon. The case study demonstrates high levels of light pollution in Athens suburban areas and its increase over the last decade.     

Contaminated sites: the Canadian situation in an international context.

Over the last 2 decades, policy-makers have been giving increasing attention to the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated sites, especially those located in urban areas commonly referred to as brownfields. Traditionally, private developers have tended to ignore these sites on account of a series of obstacles of a structural-political nature, including variability in regulatory processes, lack of information on soil quality, impractical clean up standards, fear of liability, and limited funding resources for clean ups. This paper examines the types of policy-making measures that are currently being taken in Canada to overcome these obstacles, comparing them to those being taken in the US and Europe. It is argued that the contaminated site-related policies and programs employed to overcome each obstacle, both within Canada and internationally, are converging in style and content as governments are becoming more aware of the types of costs and risks they must share in order to solve the problem effectively. It is also argued that this trend is unfolding in a relatively predictable way, and that policy-making in Canada is evolving more slowly than it is in the other jurisdictions examined.     

2017～2018年荆州城区空气质量分布及重污染天气特征分析

利用2017年1月至2018年12月荆州城区3个国家环境空气质量监测点的污染物监测数据和荆州国家气象站地面气象要素观测数据,采用统计学方法,对荆州城区空气质量分布及重污染过程天气特征进行了初步分析,结果表明:空气污染综合指数冬季最高,春秋季次之,夏季最低;PM2.5、PM10、 CO和NO2的浓度在上午和傍晚至上半夜其...