Are there higher pedestrian fatalities in larger cities?: A scaling analysis of 115 to 161 largest cities in the United States

Objective: In 2012, 4,743 pedestrians were killed in the United States, representing 14% of total traffic fatalities. The number of pedestrians injured was higher at 76,000. Therefore, 36 out of 52 of the largest cities in the United States have adopted a citywide target of reducing pedestrian fatalities. The number of cities adopting the reduction goal during 2011 and 2012 increased rapidly with 8 more cities. We examined the scaling relationship of pedestrian fatality counts as a function of the population size of 115 to 161 large U.S. cities during the period of 1994 to 2011. We also examined the scaling relationship of nonpedestrian and total traffic fatality counts as a function of the population size.

Methods: For the data source of fatality measures we used Traffic Safety Facts Fatality Analysis Reporting System/General Estimates System annual reports published each year from 1994 to 2011 by the NHTSA. Using the data source we conducted both annual cross-sectional and panel data bivariate and multivariate regression models. In the construction of the estimated functional relationship between traffic fatality measures and various factors, we used the simple power function for urban scaling used by Bettencourt et al. (2007 Bettencourt LMA, Lobo J, Helbing D, Kühnert C, West GB. Growth, innovation, scaling and the pace of life in cities. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2007;104:7301–7306.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2010 Bettencourt LMA, Lobo J, Strumsky D, West GB. Urban scaling and its deviations: revealing the structure of wealth, innovation and crime across cities. PLoS ONE. 2010;5:e13541.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the refined STIRPAT (stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology) model used in Dietz and Rosa (1994 Dietz T, Rosa EA. Rethinking the environmental impacts of population, affluence and technology. Human Ecology Review. 1994;1:277–300. [Google Scholar], 1997 Dietz T, Rosa EA. Effects of population and affluence on CO₂ emissions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1997;94:175–179.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and York et al. (2003 York R, Rosa EA, Dietz T. STIRPAT, IPAT and IMPACT: analytic tools for unpacking the driving forces of environmental impacts. Ecol Econ. 2003;46:351–365.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).

Results: We found that the scaling relationship display diseconomies of scale or sublinear for pedestrian fatalities. However, the relationship displays a superlinear relationship in case of nonpedestrian fatalities. The scaling relationship for total traffic fatality counts display a nearly linear pattern. When the relationship was examined by the 4 subgroups of cities with different population sizes, the most pronounced sublinear scaling relationships for all 3 types of fatality counts was discovered for the subgroup of megacities with a population of more than 1 million.

Conclusions: The scaling patterns of traffic fatalities of subgroups of cities depend on population sizes of the cities in subgroups. In particular, 9 megacities with populations of more than 1 million are significantly different from the remaining cities and should be viewed as a totally separate group. Thus, analysis of the patterns of traffic fatalities needs to be conducted within the group of megacities separately from the other cities with smaller population sizes for devising prevention policies to reduce traffic fatalities in both megacities and smaller cities.     

经济发达城市全面建成小康社会环境目标指标研究——以深圳市为例

从深圳新形势下率先全面建成更高水平的小康社会的发展和公众需求分析入手,分析当前全面建成小康社会的环境进程和构建全面小康环境目标指标体系的必要性.基于全过程、全覆盖、惠民性和衔接性考虑,提出应尊重深圳当前所处社会经济与环境阶段,遵守全过程防控思路,以人口、区域全覆盖和环境要素全面改善为工作核心,建立全社会行动体系,确立更严标准、更高质量的全面建成小康环境目标,构建包含源头防控、治污减排、质量提升、社会参与的全面建成小康社会环境指标体系.     

房地产市场促进城镇化建设的作用机理与协调发展研究

新型城镇化建设是中共十八大提出的重要发展目标,其建设水平直接关乎我国经济发展方式转变路径,房地产市场作为国民经济运行的重要组成部分,其市场化程度对于城镇化建设至关重要,因此,如何实现房地产市场与城镇化建设的同步和协调发展是当前中国经济社会发展亟需解决的现实问题。本文基于理论模型和经验分析,从系统分析入手,通过综合指标建立"房地产市场—城镇化建设水平"系统(系统Ⅰ:房地产市场;系统Ⅱ:城镇化建设水平),运用熵值法进行评价指标权值的求取,进而运用耦合协调度模型,重点分析不同等级城市两个系统的运行成效、耦合阶段和协调趋势,以期强化政策制定的针对性和现实性。研究表明:1房地产销售价格、预期与信贷和人口流动是房地产市场作用于城镇化建设的主要渠道;2系统Ⅰ—房地产市场,序参量的空间规律表现为:三线城市二线城市一线城市;系统Ⅱ—城镇化建设水平,序参量的空间规律表现为:一线城市二线城市三线城市;3我国现阶段房地产市场和城镇化建设水平的耦合度还处于较低水平,且地区差异较大,耦合程度从大到小依次表现为:二线城市三线城市一线城市;从协调度来看,整体表现为中度协调,但应注意北京市已表现为低度协调状态。最后本文提出了相应的政策建议:首先要限制一线城市"以速度为纲"的城镇化发展思路;二是依靠房价、信贷和户籍等政策约束引导新型城镇化建设,有效控制一线城市的体量;三是放宽中小城市和城镇户籍限制,鼓励符合条件的农业转移人口逐步在城镇落户,注重提升三线城市的城镇化发展质量。     

资源型城市环境规制的经济增长效应及其传导机制——基于创新补偿与产业结构升级的双重视角

对于中国多数资源型城市来说,改善生态环境与促进经济增长是当前面临的重要任务。一些研究认为治理环境污染可能加重"遵循成本",进而不利于经济增长;也有研究认为环境规制会通过"创新补偿"效应,增进当地产品竞争力,弥补企业成本负担并促进经济增长;此外,还有研究认为环境标准提高有助于区域产业结构升级,进而带动经济增长。为验证中国资源型城市环境规制对经济增长的影响及其传导机制,本文基于2004—2014年资源型城市数据,以样本城市GDP为被解释变量,以工业污染治理设备运行费用为解释变量,进行了面板数据实证分析,并观察了科技行业人员比重和第三产业比重的中介效应。结果显示:(1)资源型城市工业污染物治理对GDP总量和人均GDP的影响均显著为正;(2)在环境规制与GDP(或人均GDP)的正向关系中,科技行业人员比重的提升起到了部分中介作用,即存在显著的创新补偿效应;(3)除了传统观点看到的创新补偿效应,污染治理对产业结构的积极影响也在二者正向关系中有重要的中介作用,而且比创新补偿效应的作用更显著。本文的结论是,资源型城市环境规制未对经济增长造成不利影响,主要是由于经济资源从效益不佳的工业企业流向了第三产业,同时工业部门自身的创新潜力也已逐步凸显。因此,面对经济社会持续发展的压力,资源型城市要取得经济增长与生态环境的双赢,应当强化污染治理成本对企业技术进步的倒逼机制,进一步实现创新驱动发展,同时要构建多元产业体系,促进资源型行业与现代服务业的有效对接和深度融合。     

沿海和河口城市防灾设防标准系统分析

本文针对天津、上海、青岛等三种不同类型的沿海、河口城市，运用灰色理论、随机模拟等方法进行了洪水、风暴湖、巨浪等环境因素的计算，并进行了灾害经济损失的风险分析，给出了不同的防灾设防标准。     

Seasonal Variations and Chemical Forms of Heavy Metals in Soils and Dusts from the Satellite Cities of Seoul, Korea

This research investigated heavy metal pollution of soils and dusts in two representative satellite cities of Seoul, Korea and studied the seasonal variations in metal concentrations through the rainy season and the chemical forms of metals using a sequential extraction analysis. The metal dispersion pattern was illustrated to match with urban structure. Soil and dust samples were collected from the cities of Uijeongbu and Koyang, which are the northern and northwestern satellite cities of Seoul (the capital), before and after rainy season. Concentrations of Cu, Pb and Zn were higher than those of the world averages for soils, and their levels decreased after rain, particularly in highly contaminated samples. Relatively high pH values were found in roadside soils, but no seasonal variation was found after the rainy season. The three metals (Cu, Pb and Zn) in soils and dusts were associated with various chemical fractions of soils and dusts as distinguished by the sequential extraction scheme, and a strong similarity of metal association between soils and dusts was found, which indicates that airborne dust may be a principle source of soil contamination. Copper is uniformly distributed, and Pb is largely associated with the reducible phase. There is an appreciable proportion of total Zn in the exchangeable/water-acid soluble fraction. After the rainy season, the most soluble fractions in soils and dusts were leached away. In terms of mobility and bioavailability of metals in soils and dusts, the order Zn >> Cu > Pb is suggested. Geographical variations of total metals corresponded well with urbanised areas of cities, especially the industrial complex and major motorways.     

关于资源性城市的可持续发展与再城市化问题

我国资源性城市发展面临的主要问题和衰退的根本原因；在此基础上，提出了若干对策。     

沿海地区中小城市环境空气质量预报模式的研究与应用

根据两年来的实际工作经验,探讨了沿海地区气象因素对环境空气质量的影响,并结合沿海地区气候特征及污染现状对影响环境空气质量的因素进行了研究分析,建立了适合于沿海地区中小城市环境空气质量预报模式,其预报准确率高。对沿海地区中小城市今后开展空气质量预报工作具有一定的指导意义。     

中国资源型城市经济转型问题与战略探索

资源型城市经济性转型正面临着重大的经济、社会和资源环境问题：①城市产业结构属于资源型、粗放型的传统初级产业结构。技术水平与效益低下；②就业和社会保障压力巨大；③资源濒临枯竭。环境污染和生态问题严重；④机制体制问题突出。创新能力不足。资源型城市的经济成功转型需要战略创新。具体战略包括：发展目标创新——社会福利均等化、经济持续发展、生态环境整治与社会经济协调发展的三大效益目标；循环经济发展战略一多元化产业结构优化。构建生态产业体系。转变传统增长方式；资源替代与产业替代战略；科技创新战略——依靠高新技术的后发优势战略；生态城市战略；机制体制创新战略等。     

我国沿海地区地质灾害现状及宏观防治对策

在我国人口密集、经济发达的沿海地区，地质灾害普遍发育，其造成的危害和损失不容轻视。地面沉降、水土流失、海水入侵等是沿海地区典型的地质灾害类型。根据不同地质灾害类型的分布情况，可将沿海地区地质灾害划分为华北沿海-长江下游和东南-华南沿海两个区域。应采取严格控制地下水开采量等有针对性的措施，对沿海地区不同地质灾害进行有效防治。