Constructing the sustainable city: examining the role of sustainability in the ‘smart city’ discourse

The idea of the ‘smart city’ is increasingly central to debates on urban development and sustainability, and a host of cities are now pursuing ‘smartness’ as a way to improve energy efficiency, transport, and public services. However, existing research does not provide a clear picture of how this smart city agenda actually contributes to sustainability. The social science literature has been critical toward urban smartness, with most of the empirical research focusing on the politics of data-driven and entrepreneurial urbanism. This article seeks to contribute to this debate by empirically examining the role that sustainability plays in the smart city discourse. Its distinctive approach is to investigate how urban smartness and sustainability are framed by an authoritative institution (the European Union) and then to trace these framings down to a particular city (Stavanger, Norway). The data show that the smartness approach is strongly tied to innovation, technology, and economic entrepreneurialism, and sustainability does not appear to be a very important motivating driver. Nevertheless, the ‘sustainability component’ of the smart city agenda becomes clearer the closer we come to the city level.     

The climate adaptation imperative: local choices targeting global problems?

When confronted with the demands of global climate change, what causes some policy-makers to move the climate adaptation agenda forward in their communities, while others seemingly get little accomplished? To answer this question, we first discuss work on policy-drivers in a coupled human–natural systemic context. This summary review of past research helps us develop a set of competing and complementary explanations for why some communities aggressively pursue climate adaptation policies, while others do less. Following the discussion of policy-drivers, we then undertake an aggregate-level analysis of data collected across the 169 towns in Connecticut regarding climate adaptation, thus linking policy to its fundamental global cause. The quantitative data are augmented with interview data from policy-makers and activists from around the New England region.     

近10 a武汉市城市热岛效应演变及其#br# 与土地利用变化的关系

城市化进程的加快，农村人口大量涌入城市，城市布局及局部气候改变等因素使得城市热岛效应问题日益突出，已成为当前城市环境研究热点之一。以武汉市为例，应用遥感技术与地理信息系统技术，选取2004~2015年5个时相Landsat系列影像数据，利用单窗算法反演地表温度，并以此为基础进行热岛强度分级，获取了近10 a武汉市城市热岛效应变化结果，并分析了武汉市11个辖区城市热岛效应动态变化特征及热岛效应与土地利用变化的关系。研究结果表明：（1）自2007年后，武汉市老城区热岛面积持续减少，而新城区热岛面积则持续增加，呈现出以老城区为中心向新城区扩张的趋势，至2015年，新老城区热岛面积仅相差20.74 km2；（2）东西湖区、蔡甸区、江夏区与洪山区是近些年城市热岛面积增长较为显著的辖区，其中江夏区的热岛面积年际变化最大，最高值达95.42 km2；（3）城市热岛效应与土地利用类型的面积年际平均值拟合关系显示，2004~2015年，城市热岛效应与建筑用地的R2值最大，为0.681 2，建筑用地面积的增加是城市热岛强度面积扩张的重要影响因素。     

广州市建筑垃圾资源化的必要性分析

摘要：随着广州市城市化进程的不断加快，城市建筑垃圾的排出量也在快速增长，如何应对和处理建筑垃圾所带来的“垃圾围城”困境，已经成为人们不得不面对的重要问题，推进建筑垃圾资源化是开展建筑垃圾综合治理的有效途径。论述了建筑垃圾资源化再生利用的必要性、紧迫性，指出了广州市建筑垃圾资源化过程中存在的问题，为推进广州市建筑垃圾综合处理实践提供了参考。     

Why does the United States lack a global warming policy? The corporate inner circle versus public interest sector elites

Why has the United States not adopted global warming policies? Because the inner circle of the corporate elite has opposed these policies despite some corporate support for cap-and-trade and other policies. Pro- and anti-positions taken by think tanks that have led the policy debate in the post-Kyoto period are analyzed in order to demonstrate this. The corporate and upper class social ties of the directors of these pro- and anti-think tanks are examined, revealing a corporate elite split between the inner circle opposing these policies, and a ‘public interest sector’ of corporate law and media corporations along with top executives from higher education and other nonprofits that is supportive of policies addressing global warming. To enable adoption of major global warming policies, the corporate inner circle will need to become supportive and forge a class-wide corporate consensus on the need to address global warming.     

我国典型南方城市臭氧污染特征

分析了我国典型南方城市的臭氧污染特征,选取我国4个有代表性的南方重点城市武汉、宁波、中山和南宁的2013—2015年监测数据,使用EXCEL、ORIGIN和MATLAB等统计软件开展研究,结果表明:我国南方典型城市的臭氧质量浓度分布有明显时间变化特征,超标时间跨度大,部分南方城市与氮氧化物存在较明显负相关性,相关系数高于-0.6;受城市所在不同地理位置、气象因素、大气扩散条件及可能的不同本地排放污染源构成等因素影响,4个城市的近3年臭氧浓度月均值、超标情况和年内峰值均存在一定差异和分组相似性;与部分气象因素也表现出显著相关性。     

知识管理导向的煤炭城市技术创新路径创造

技术创新是煤炭城市协调发展的重要支撑和根本保证,现有的煤炭城市技术创新存在着历史遗留及因其特性产生的固有障碍因素。知识管理是通过对知识资源的有效管理和利用,创造新价值和增强竞争优势的持续管理创新活动,它是破解煤炭城市技术创新路径闭锁的有力工具。     

中国城市温室气体清单研究

介绍城市温室气体排放特征和国际城市温室气体清单研究进展,研究了全球城市化和城市CO2排放的强正相关性,以及中国城市清单方法研究起步较早但发展缓慢的特点。分析了城市温室气体清单相对国家清单的特征,即城市清单编制往往采用消费模式,区别于国家清单的生产模式;国际城市清单中往往包括了由于外调电和供暖产生的CO2排放,同时城市温室气体清单编制灵活性和针对性更强。针对我国城市温室气体清单研究的不足,提出了我国城市温室气体清单方法,强调中国城市采用尺度1+尺度2的范围,暂不考虑尺度3的范围,即生产+消费的混合模式,并且在城市市域温室气体排放研究的基础上,加强狭义城市温室气体排放水平的研究。选择北京市和纽约市,对比分析了两个城市CO2排放特征,结果显示,在确定的清单体系下,北京市和纽约市具有较好的可比性。纽约市的总排放量(尺度1+尺度2)略低于北京市排放量,人均排放量略高于北京市。     

上海市能源利用碳排放足迹研究

能源利用是人类生存的基础和前提,对其碳足迹及生态压力进行研究具有重要意义.本文运用碳排放足迹的相关含义及研究方法,计算得出1995-2006年上海市能源利用的总碳足迹、各能源类型和产业类型的碳足迹、碳足迹的产值和生态压力值.并以此为基础,利用岭回归函数进行STIRPAT模型拟合,进一步研究经济发展与碳排放足迹之间的关系,最后提出适应性的管理策略.研究结果表明:①总碳足迹从1995年的1.05 hm~2/人上升到2006年的1.36 hm~2/人,呈现波动上升的趋势;②1995-2006年各能源利用的碳足迹及其分配率均以煤炭最大,石油次之,天然气最小,且煤炭利用的碳足迹分配率逐年下降,石油与天然气与之相反;③2001-2006年第一、二产业的碳足迹变化不明显,而第三产业与产业总碳足迹呈明显上升趋势;④能源利用的碳足迹产值从1995年的1.79万元/hm~2增加至2006年的3.79万元/hm~2,碳足迹的生态压力也从1995年的129.6上升至2006年的231.8;⑤能源利用碳足迹与经济增长关系的模型拟合研究结果中没有出现环境库兹涅茨曲线,进一步证实能源利用对环境所造成的压力增大.     

Environmental assessment of garden waste management in the Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark

An environmental assessment of six scenarios for handling of garden waste in the Municipality of Aarhus (Denmark) was performed from a life cycle perspective by means of the LCA-model EASEWASTE. In the first (baseline) scenario, the current garden waste management system based on windrow composting was assessed, while in the other five scenarios alternative solutions including incineration and home composting of fractions of the garden waste were evaluated. The environmental profile (normalised to Person Equivalent, PE) of the current garden waste management in Aarhus is in the order of −6 to 8 mPE Mg⁻¹ ww for the non-toxic categories and up to 100 mPE Mg⁻¹ ww for the toxic categories. The potential impacts on non-toxic categories are much smaller than what is found for other fractions of municipal solid waste. Incineration (up to 35% of the garden waste) and home composting (up to 18% of the garden waste) seem from an environmental point of view suitable for diverting waste away from the composting facility in order to increase its capacity. In particular the incineration of woody parts of the garden waste improved the environmental profile of the garden waste management significantly.