Towards Sustainable Urban Environmental Management in Jiangyin city, East China

Dramatic economic and social changes have taken place in Jiangyin city due to rapid and uneven urbanization and industrialization. The environmental degradation has followed driven by these changes since the 1980's. With the pressures and effects of environmental deterioration, the city has implemented environmental management to hold back the trends of negative environmental changes. From the viewpoint of systems, DPSER is a good model for urban environmental changes to understand the causes, pressure, state, effect, existing responses and future action strategies. We took Jiangyin city, a developed city in South Jiangsu province, East China, as an example, and analyzed the characteristics of environmental changes and urban responses using DPSER model. Some operational strategies have been put forward to direct the city environmental management towards a sustainable road step by step.     

Conceptualizing Discourses on Ecological City and Its Planning

Abstract

Ecological city (eco-city) and its planning approach are emerging concepts in urban study, urban planning, ecological economics, environmental policy and corporate environmental management. However, opinions remain divided over the connotation and denotation of the term “ecological city”, what key issues ecocity planning can solve, and its specific contents. In this study, we present 10 basic propositions that define the eco-city and clarify its key parameters, thereby providing the basis for discussing the assumptions and principles underlying different approaches to sustainable urban development. We then summarize the concept and principles of an eco-city, and define the main requirements for ecocity planning. We conclude that an eco-city is a city in which the urban population, scale of land use and intensity of human activities are limited to the regional resource and environmental carrying capacity, which does not cause increasing or irreversible damage to the regional ecosystem’s structure, functions and processes.     

Estimate on spillover effect of environmental pollution between peripheral areas

ABSTRACT

Interaction of environmental pollution between peripheral areas has become a central topic in the field of resources and environment but little is known about the actual impact on peripheral areas in the current literature. This paper sets out a simultaneous equation model to investigate the spillover effect of environmental pollution between China’s peripheral areas utilizing the panel data of 218 cities in China. Making use of indicators for measuring the impact on environmental pollution, it identifies that environmental pollution between cities of China has a significant two-way spillover effect. After standardization of variables, it is found that the spillover effect of peripheral areas on urban environmental pollution cannot be neglected. Nearly, a third of the environmental pollution level in a city is induced by the environmental pollution in peripheral areas. If the indicator of environmental pollution in peripheral areas is missing, wrong conclusions will be drawn. Therefore, government should shift the emphasis of environmental regulation from local to global, and improve the overall environmental quality through coordinated management of regional environment.     

An exploration of the potential for re-distributed manufacturing to contribute to a sustainable,resilient city*

Abstract

Re-distributed manufacturing (RDM), broadly described as manufacturing done at a smaller-scale and locally, could be beneficial to business and urban society through creating jobs, reducing the environmental impacts of production, and improving resilience to future disturbances. Consideration of RDM within a city-region requires the consideration of a wide range of issues – societal, technical, economic and environmental. This paper presents the results of a study into the potential for RDM to contribute to a sustainable, resilient city in the face of a range of expected future disturbances on the city and on manufacturing sectors. The study took an integrated assessment approach which incorporated the development of a conceptual framework; a ‘strawman’ causal loop diagram which was reviewed by participants in a workshop; and a stock and flow system dynamics model that represents our understanding about the structure and behaviour of urban manufacturing. Several key themes emerged: similarities between RDM and traditional manufacturing, availability of physical space for RDM to be done, achieving urban resilience through RDM by enabling responsiveness to disturbances, changes in environmental impacts from production, additions or losses in jobs, the competitiveness of local manufacturing, and skills and innovation for RDM technologies. Further work is recommended.     

Development of China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS) and Establishment of China Center for Resources Satellite Data and Application (CRESDA)

Abstract

Building ecocities becomes an objective requirement for sustainable development. This article discusses the relationship between sustainable development and sustainable urban development. On the basis of discussing the sigificance of sustainable urban development and that of an eco-city from different perspectives, it suggests several management strategies for developing an eco-city, a desirable sustainable urban model.     

Integrating ecosystem services evaluation and landscape pattern analysis into urban planning based on scenario prediction and regression model

ABSTRACT

Urban planning has become a widely concern for minimizing the negative effects of urban expansion on terrestrial ecosystems. We developed an interdisciplinary modeling framework to evaluate the effectiveness and shortcomings of urban expansion management strategies. A three-step method was applied to Yinchuan Plain in the northwestern of China, including (1) analyzing the relationship between landscape pattern and ecosystem service values through mathematical statistics; (2) predicting landscape pattern and ecosystem services change under different scenarios based on cellular automaton model (SLEUTH-3r model); and (3) designing and validating optimized scenario through integrating historical analysis experiments and future multi-comparison suggestions. Results have suggested that landscape composition and configuration can significantly affect regional ecosystem service values, especially the connectivity and shape of landscape. Compact urban growth policy and medium environment protection policy are the appropriate setting for urban expansion plan. Optimization validation of the combined designed scenario implied the reliability of this method. Our results highlighted the significance of integrating application of landscape pattern analysis, ecosystem service value evaluation, model simulation and multi-scenario prediction in urban planning.     

Study on Management and Control of Nonpoint Source Pollution from Urban Surface Runoff

Abstract

Urbanization is the dominant form of land-use change in terms of impacts on water quality, hydrology, physical properties of watersheds and their nonpoint source (NPS) pollution potential at present. Urbanization has changed the source, process and sink of urban NPS pollution, especially raised the pollution load of urban runoff NPS in receiving water. Urban runoff pollution is a hot spot of research on NPS. This paper analyzed type, source and harm of the NPS pollutants of urban runoff and its influence on the receiving water. Through estimating NPS pollution load of urban runoff and summarizing the law and characteristics of urban runoff NPS systemically, study on management and control of urban runoff NPS pollution was focused on the application of BMPs (best management practices). It is a fresh methodology that management and control on NPS pollution from urban surface runoff was analyzed by methods of landscape ecology, environmental economics and environmental management. The paper provided a scientific reference for mitigating urban water environment pressure and an effective method for management and control of NPS pollution from urban surface runoff.     

Environmental perception during rapid population growth and urbanization: a case study of Dhaka city

Dhaka city in Bangladesh has been passing through a hasty process of urbanization and population growth since the last few decades. Rapid growth of population, unplanned urbanization and industrialization in the periphery has generated pressure to the changes in land use pattern, which has also caused huge urban expansion. This expansion process is engulfing cultivated land, vegetation, wetlands and water bodies without considering their environmental impacts. This study argues that these changes and their scale of environmental impacts or sufferings are not equally distributed among the dwellers in Dhaka city. It seeks to explore variations of environmental qualities on the basis of people’s perceptions. The study finds that the dwellers in the city perceive their neighborhood environment differently, which may affect environmental qualities of the area and their sustainable management as well. Therefore, it is imperative to consider spatial variations and inequalities of environmental opportunities or sufferings in urban planning of Dhaka city.     

Traffic-related air pollution and health co-benefits of alternative transport in Adelaide,South Australia

BackgroundMotor vehicle emissions contribute nearly a quarter of the world's energy-related greenhouse gases and cause non-negligible air pollution, primarily in urban areas. Changing people's travel behaviour towards alternative transport is an efficient approach to mitigate harmful environmental impacts caused by a large number of vehicles. Such a strategy also provides an opportunity to gain health co-benefits of improved air quality and enhanced physical activities. This study aimed at quantifying co-benefit effects of alternative transport use in Adelaide, South Australia.MethodWe made projections for a business-as-usual scenario for 2030 with alternative transport scenarios. Separate models including air pollution models and comparative risk assessment health models were developed to link alternative transport scenarios with possible environmental and health benefits.ResultsIn the study region with an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2030, by shifting 40% of vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) by passenger vehicles to alternative transport, annual average urban PM_2.5 would decline by approximately 0.4 μg/m³ compared to business-as-usual, resulting in net health benefits of an estimated 13 deaths/year prevented and 118 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) prevented per year due to improved air quality. Further health benefits would be obtained from improved physical fitness through active transport (508 deaths/year prevented, 6569 DALYs/year prevented), and changes in traffic injuries (21 deaths and, 960 DALYs prevented).ConclusionAlthough uncertainties remain, our findings suggest that significant environmental and health benefits are possible if alternative transport replaces even a relatively small portion of car trips. The results may provide assistance to various government organisations and relevant service providers and promote collaboration in policy-making, city planning and infrastructure establishment.     

Exploring the effects of population growth on future land use change in the Las Vegas Wash watershed: an integrated approach of geospatial modeling and analytics

The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is one of the fastest growing areas in the southwestern United States. The rapid urbanization has presented many environmental challenges. For instance, as population growth and urbanization continue, the supply of sufficient clean water will become a concern. In addition, the area is also experiencing the longest drought in history, and the volume of water storage in Lake Mead, the main fresh water supply for the entire region, has been reduced greatly. The water quality in the main stem of the Las Vegas Wash (LVW) and Lake Mead may also be significantly affected. In order to develop effective sustainable management plans, the very first step is to predict the plausible future urbanization and land use patterns. This paper presents an approach to predict the future land use pattern at the LVW watershed using a Markov cellular automata model. The multi-criteria evaluation was used to couple population density as a variable depicting the driving force of urbanization in the model. Moreover, landscape metrics were used to analyze land use changes in order to better understand the dynamics of urban development in the LVW watershed. The predicted future land use maps for the years 2030 and 2050 show substantial urban development in the area, much of which are located in areas sensitive to source water protections. The results of the analysis provide valuable information for local planners and policy makers, assisting their efforts in constructing alternative sustainable urban development schemes and environmental management strategies.     

Sustainable supplier selection criteria classification for Indian iron and steel industry: a fuzzy modified Kano model approach

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work is to provide a systematic approach for sustainability criteria clustering into different useful categories. For this purpose, a methodology has been proposed with the following three steps. (i) A comprehensive set of the sustainability criteria in economic, environmental and social dimension has been extracted from the literature and have been customised for the iron and steel industry. (ii) A fuzzy Kano methodology has been used to classify these sustainability criteria into useful Kano cluster like must-be, one-dimensional, and attractive cluster (iii) further, must-be and attractive criteria derived from the second step were further sub-classified into three categories using Type IV Kano model. All steps have been examined in the iron and steel industry of India and findings indicate that quality and delivery criteria are classified as high must be criteria in the economic realm. Further, environmental and energy management system in the environmental dimension and social responsibility and right of stakeholders criteria in the social dimension are classified as high must be criteria. Prioritising must be and attractive criteria enable decision makers of other industries to select the appropriate criteria to adopt sustainability.     

城市化与北京增温的协整分析

城市增温现象和城市热岛效应对人居环境的影响日益显著，而城市化是否是城市增温现象的一个主要影响因素，为此。利用协整分析等经济计量方法研究城市化对城市增温现象的影响。协整分析是近年来计量经济学发展的最新成果，能够揭示变量之间存在着的长期均衡变动关系。分析发现，城市化因子与城市气候因子之间存在着协整关系。长期看北京市的年平均最低温度与人口密度基本上处于同步增长状态；短期内城市气温的变动受人口和城市化因素的影响较大。为此可知，北京市70年代以来，城市气温的升高基本上与城市化的发展相一致。二者具有长期协同变动的均衡关系。这些发现对我们制定减缓城市热岛效应的城市规划以及合理人口规模的城市发展战略都有很大的帮助。     

WATCH

Abstract

The development of everthing follows its own law, which does not change at people's own sweet will. Therefore, we must study the development of things so as to grasp the essence of things in their deep meanings, explore the direction of their development, and make them better serve the people. As a part of the thought of sustainable development, city environment art will be of active significance to the perfection of the thought and will also be the concrete embodiment of the synthetic index of economic development. Such a thesis, starting from the macroscopic angle, and relying on the leading thought of sustainable development, takes hold of the development trend of city environment art, and explores the various problems that have arisen in city environment in the process of city management by combining thoughts on city planning, so as to guide urban harmonious development theoretically. The present paper expounds on the views comprehensively and, through the synthetic analysis on city planning, city environment, art esthetics and the thought of sustainable development, makes a detailed analysis of the effects of the present rapid city development on city environment.     

Luoyang Dual Spatial Criterion Ecological City Construction

Abstract

The construction of an ecological city has two foundational platforms: the small platform, namely urban district or simply called as “city ecosystem”; and the big platform, namely around city district in certain region scope or also referred to as “city-region ecosystem”. The construction of an ecological city must be launched in the dual spatial criteria: in city (urban district) criterion—optimizing the city ecosystem; in city-region (city territory) criterion—optimizing the city-region ecosystem. Luoyang has the bright characteristic and the typical image within cities of China, and even in the world. The construction of an ecological city in dual spatial criteria—the city and the city-region—has the vital significance to urbanization advancement and sustainable development in Luoyang. In city-region criterion, the primary mission of Luoyang's ecological city construction is to create a fine ecological environment platform in its city territory. In city criterion, the basic duty of Luoyang's ecologic city construction is to enhance the ecological capacity and benefit of the central city.     

Impacts of Suburbanization on Urban Eco-environment of Xi’an in China

Abstract

Suburbanization in large cities is an important phenomenon in the process of urbanization development in China in recent decades, which plays a very important role in promoting city development, whereas some side effects on the eco-environment appeared at the same time. This paper, taking Xi’an City in China as a case study site, analyzed the features of population suburbanization and industry suburbanization and pointed out the impacts of suburbanization on urban eco-environment. Based on the research, suggestions of countermeasures for urban planning and municipal management of Xi’an City in protecting urban eco-environment and conserving natural ecology were put forward in the end.     

Problems of urban environment: A case study of Jodhpur,India

This paper attempts to analyze the environmental problems of Jodhpur city in terms of air quality, water supply, wastewater disposal, and solid waste management. Maps have been prepared to show the boundaries of municipal circles responsible for the disposal of solid wastes. Areas of comparatively higher degrees of air pollution have also been demarcated on the maps. The daily output of urban refuse and the intensity of urban refuse for wards within Jophpur's walled city versus for wards outside the walled city have been cartographically depicted.     

Floating Population Increase and Its Influence on the Urban Population Situation: A Case Study in Beijing

Abstract

Floating population is a special population group in China resulting from the implementation of household registration system. This paper uses a set of floating population survey data, population censuses data and statistical data to analyze the increase and influence of floating population on the urban population situations in Beijing. It is found that Beijing has experienced a rapid increase of floating population since the 1990s and that the increase of this group has become the key factor of the current population expansion in the city. Its distribution in the urban regions intensified and extended the suburbanization process of the capital. In addition, the population structures of sex, age, education and employment in Beijing have changed to some extent due to the influx of floating population.     

Urbanization and sustainability: challenges and strategies for sustainable urban development in Bangladesh

Like other developing countries, urbanization in Bangladesh is a growing phenomenon, which is steady in nature but fretfully affects urban sustainability in the wake of lacking in good governance. Despite urban authorities are concerned about this issue, they often fail to address the problems due to the fact of uncontrollable and unpredictable rural to urban migration, and negligence of urban poor’s sustainable living and access to basic services. Virtually the rural poverty problem has been transposed to urban areas, particularly in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Inadequacy of infrastructural services, basic amenities and environmental goods; environmental degradation; traffic jam and accidents; violence and socioeconomic insecurity are the major challenges which are created through rapid urbanization. This paper provides a general understanding of urbanization in Bangladesh and tries to embrace related sustainability issues and challenges hindrance to sustainable urban development in Dhaka city. In addition, it presents a brief case study of water supply in Dhaka city which introduces an issue of ‘system hijack’. The paper concludes providing some strategies that might be helpful to the policy makers in formulating development policies for sustainable urban services.     

Urban Land-banking Planning: A New Instrument to Regulate Urban Land Supply-demand of Nanjing City

Abstract

It is the major purpose of the paper to present the urban land-banking planning and its functions of promoting the urban land-banking system and land use administration. The urban land-banking system has the potential attribute of acting as an irreplaceable role in urban land administration, but its unexpected function-deviation has impacted its implementation effect in China. A few city governments are attempting to deal with the problem by the urban land-banking planning which is expected to contribute to the extension of urban function, optimization of urban patterns, promotion of urban core competitiveness and overall construction of the urban value chain. In this paper, we primarily discuss the necessity, functions, purposes and main contents of the urban land-banking planning. Subsequently, the implementing situation of the urban land-banking system in Nanjing is analyzed, including its integrated mode, spatio-temporal quantitative distribution and main characteristics. Finally, the background and targets including total, compositions, space, and regulation points are gradually introduced to present the Nanjing land-banking planning version 2.     

农村城镇化进程中非农用地结构变化研究——以江苏省江阴市为例

如何协调经济发达区农村城镇化发展过程中土地占用需求的不断增长与土地占用供给的相对有限性之间的矛盾是关系到经济发达地区社会经济能否实现可持续发展的关键，以经济发达区江苏省江阴市为例，系统描述了苏南地区江阴市经济发展阶段农村城镇化过程中用地结构转换的动态变化过程，伴随着这一过程区域经济产业结构明显升级，土地利用效率也相应提高，但是，从目前江阴市城镇建设与土地资源利用管理现状来看，仍然存在着城镇用地结构与规模不合理，城镇发展与经济发展水平不相适应等问题，必须从这几方面着手，即进一步完善城镇发展规划，合理协调城镇发展与村庄建设的关系；深化城镇土地使用制度改革，提高城镇土地使用效率，调整工业用地布局，促进工业用地的集约利用，制定城镇生产环境发展规划，改善城镇人居环境。