Toward an Alignment of Stormwater Flow and Urban Space

Urban stormwater practices are individually diverse, but they are components of an overall urban watershed system. This study proposes a conceptual model of that system, including its component spatial areas, their arrangement along the flow route, and their associations with urban land uses and values. The model defines three spatial areas along the flow route which have evolved over time into their present forms: (1) the source area, which is arranged and furnished primarily or entirely for human use, accommodation, and comfort; (2) the perimeter area, where specialized stormwater facilities carry away source‐area runoff or buffer downstream areas from its impacts; and (3) the downstream area, which receives the discharges from the perimeter or directly from the source area. Each area presents a specific combination of stormwater features and human interactions, and excludes others. Considering stormwater flows and functions in the context of physical urban spaces brings into view the spaces’ urban structures and interacting agendas. This model allows practitioners to navigate conceptually through the system, and to focus appropriate objectives and structures on each project site.     

Two Hundred Years of Local Avian Extinctions in Eastern Amazonia

Local, regional, and global extinctions caused by habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation have been widely reported for the tropics. The patterns and drivers of this loss of species are now increasingly well known in Amazonia, but there remains a significant gap in understanding of long‐term trends in species persistence and extinction in anthropogenic landscapes. Such a historical perspective is critical for understanding the status and trends of extant biodiversity as well as for identifying priorities to halt further losses. Using extensive historical data sets of specimen records and results of contemporary surveys, we searched for evidence of local extinctions of a terra firma rainforest avifauna over 200 years in a 2500 km² eastern Amazonian region around the Brazilian city of Belém. This region has the longest history of ornithological fieldwork in the entire Amazon basin and lies in the highly threatened Belém Centre of Endemism. We also compared our historically inferred extinction events with extensive data on species occurrences in a sample of catchments in a nearby municipality (Paragominas) that encompass a gradient of past forest loss. We found evidence for the possible extinction of 47 species (14% of the regional species pool) that were unreported from 1980 to 2013 (80% last recorded between 1900 and 1980). Seventeen species appear on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, and many of these are large‐bodied. The species lost from the region immediately around Belém are similar to those which are currently restricted to well‐forested catchments in Paragominas. Although we anticipate the future rediscovery or recolonization of some species inferred to be extinct by our calculations, we also expect that there are likely to be additional local extinctions, not reported here, given the ongoing loss and degradation of remaining areas of native vegetation across eastern Amazonia. Doscientos Años de Extinciones Locales de Aves en la Amazonia Oriental     

Growth in urban extent and allometric analysis of West African cities

Urban area expansion is happening at much faster rates in Asian and African cities than elsewhere in the world. This study uses multi-temporal Landsat images to map the urban extent of six small to large cities in West Africa at four different time steps from the early 1970s–2010. The selected cities are Kumasi of Ghana, Daloa of Cote d’Ivoire, Abuja and Kano in Nigeria, Kindia of Guinea, and Ouagadougou of Burkina Faso. All cities revealed significant urban growth in both urban area and population; however, it was apparent that there was a lot of variability in urban area development. Exponential urban growth rates in the cities were measured as ranging between 0.026 and 0.077, with allometric scaling factors matching those of other countries.     

我国长江流域中三角区域大气污染物排放特征研究

中三角区域已经是我国第四个国家级城市群,也将成为我国经济增长的"第四极"。在经济发展的同时,更需要以节能减排、资源环境等为重点,以实现经济建设与生态文明"双可持续"的协同发展。本文以二氧化硫、氮氧化物、烟(粉)尘为主要大气污染物,对我国中三角区域大气污染物排放进行了详细的分析,并与京津冀、长三角、珠三角、"三区十群"等进行了多方位比较。结果表明,2013年中三角区域二氧化硫排放量为151.7万t,其中工业二氧化硫排放量为140.1万t;氮氧化物排放量为147.2万t,其中工业氮氧化物排放量为93.6万t;烟(粉)尘排放量为81.8万t,其中工业烟(粉)尘排放量为71.4万t。中三角区域二氧化硫、氮氧化物、烟(粉)尘排放量均位于"四极"的第三。中三角区域二氧化硫、氮氧化物、烟(粉)尘单位GDP排放强度分别为25.03t/亿元、24.29 t/亿元、13.50 t/亿元,分别位于"四极"的第一、第二、第二。同时,本文还从经济发展模式、产业结构调整、煤炭消费方式等方面对我国中三角等经济"四极"提出了相关建议。     

The city as a refuge for insect pollinators

Research on urban insect pollinators is changing views on the biological value and ecological importance of cities. The abundance and diversity of native bee species in urban landscapes that are absent in nearby rural lands evidence the biological value and ecological importance of cities and have implications for biodiversity conservation. Lagging behind this revised image of the city are urban conservation programs that historically have invested in education and outreach rather than programs designed to achieve high‐priority species conservation results. We synthesized research on urban bee species diversity and abundance to determine how urban conservation could be repositioned to better align with new views on the ecological importance of urban landscapes. Due to insect pollinators’ relatively small functional requirements—habitat range, life cycle, and nesting behavior—relative to larger mammals, we argue that pollinators put high‐priority and high‐impact urban conservation within reach. In a rapidly urbanizing world, transforming how environmental managers view the city can improve citizen engagement and contribute to the development of more sustainable urbanization.     

城市燃气事故生命损失风险可接受标准研究

为提高我国城市燃气风险管理水平，帮助风险管理者科学地分配维护资源，探讨提出了我国城市燃气事故生命损失风险可接受标准；采用AIR指标法确定了个人风险可接受标准范围为(2.397 3×10-7,4.794 7×10-7)；运用F-N曲线法结合ALARP原则，确定了社会风险可接受标准，最大可接受风险的截距为4.794 7×10-7，可忽略风险的截距为4.794 7×10-8；利用生活质量指数推导模型，计算了达到城市燃气事故可忽略风险水平的最优安全投入成本；基于风险动态原则，分析提出了风险可接受标准的更新办法。研究结果表明:我国城市燃气行业可接受风险水平低于煤矿、大坝、化工等危险行业的可接受风险水平；虽然我国城市燃气事故死亡率逐年降低，但要达到可忽略的风险水平，每年还需大量安全资金投入。     

土地城镇化与人口城镇化的非协调性和互动关系

土地城镇化与人口城镇化失调是我国目前城镇化进程中的一个突出问题。但对各地区土地城镇化与人口城镇化的非协调性进行全面系统分析的研究相对较少。此外,鲜有研究对土地城镇化与人口城镇化之间的互动关系进行实证检验。本研究利用我国2005—2013年间的省级面板数据考察各省级行政区土地城镇化与人口城镇化的非协调性,并通过构建和估计面板向量自回归模型探究土地城镇化与人口城镇化之间的互动关系。研究发现,土地城镇化与人口城镇化的非协调性存在着显著的时空差异。在样本期的后半段(2009—2013年),多个省级行政区人口城镇化滞后于土地城镇化的程度有所加深。根据全样本期内土地城镇化与人口城镇化非协调性的严重程度,可将各省级行政区划分为5个等级。城镇常住人口变化对建成区面积变化具有显著的正向影响;建成区面积变化对城镇常住人口变化的影响方向虽然为正,但该影响不具有统计显著性。从而表明人口城镇化对土地城镇化起到了推动作用,但土地城镇化却未能有效地带动和促进人口城镇化。此外,第二、三产业增加值变化对城镇常住人口变化具有显著的正向影响。研究从改革新增建设用地指标分配方式、抑制城市空间粗放扩张及推动户籍制度改革和基本公共服务均等化等方面提出了促进土地城镇化和人口城镇化协调发展的政策建议。     

Coupling of the Water Cycle with Patterns of Urban Growth in the Baltimore Metropolitan Region,United States

Regional municipal water plans typically do not recognize complex coupling patterns or that increased withdrawals in one location can result in changes in water availability in others. We investigated the interaction between urban growth and water availability in the Baltimore metropolitan region where urban growth has occurred beyond the reaches of municipal water systems into areas that rely on wells in low‐productivity Piedmont aquifers. We used the urban growth model SLEUTH and the hydrologic model ParFlow.CLM to evaluate this interaction with urban growth scenarios in 2007 and 2030. We found decreasing groundwater availability outside of the municipal water service area. Within the municipal service area we found zones of increasing storage resulting from increased urban growth, where reduced vegetation cover dominated the effect of urbanization on the hydrologic cycle. We also found areas of decreasing storage, where expanding impervious surfaces played a larger role. Although the magnitude of urban growth and change in water availability for the simulation period were generally small, there was considerable spatial heterogeneity of changes in subsurface storage. This suggests that there are locally concentrated areas of groundwater sensitivity to urban growth where water shortages could occur or where drying up of headwater streams would be more likely. The simulation approach presented here could be used to identify early warning indicators of future risk.     

生态福利绩效视角下的上海市可持续发展评价研究

资源与环境约束加剧的大背景下,在"生态门槛"内实现社会福利最大化的可持续发展模式是未来城市发展的必然选择。从生态福利绩效视角出发,选取人均生态足迹和人类发展指数构建城市可持续发展评价指标体系,并采用DEA方法计算二者的投入产出效率,对上海市1999~2012年可持续发展水平进行多维度、动态化的实证分析。研究发现:1上海市人类发展指数、人均生态足迹与经济发展同步增长,但人均生态足迹水平大于生态承载能力,处于严重"生态赤字"状态,并不断恶化;2上海市多数年份的生态福利绩效处于DEA无效状态,且2005年以来进入规模收益递减通道。最后提出政策建议。     

吉林省城市紧凑度与城市效率的时空演变及相关性

紧凑城市理念被认为可以有效提高城市经济发展效率,减少城市在开发建设、资源配置等方面的低效率。为探究我国城市紧凑度和城市效率的时空演变及两者间的相关性,本研究以吉林省地级及以上城市为研究对象,研究时间段选择为2000—2013年。研究主要分为三个部分。第一部分,运用熵值法,对吉林省地级及以上城市的紧凑度时空演变特征进行研究,研究发现,吉林省城市紧凑度平均水平较低,并且空间分布极不均衡,受区位和经济发展水平影响较大,高紧凑度城市基本位于哈大城市走廊一线。第二部分运用DEA数据包络模型,对吉林省城市效率演变特征进行研究,结果显示,吉林省城市效率在经过了长期的反复波动后于2012年步入快速增长阶段,受多种因素影响,各城市全要素生产率增长节奏迥异,但都表现出与技术进步一致的变动性,城市经济发展对新技术、新的生产要素投入的依赖较大,资源利用效率整体较低。第三部分运用R语言对吉林省城市紧凑度与城市效率的相关性进行了研究,两者间存在极弱的相关性,接着借助象限图法得出两者在不同时间段内存在一定程度的同步性,紧凑度提升时大部分城市的城市效率会出现提升,紧凑度的下降不一定有效引起城市效率同步下降。