Analysis of constraints and potentials for wastewater management in the coastal city of Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Manado is the largest and most densely populated coastal city in North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The city is facing problems of wastewater discharged from various sources. These problems are driven by high population pressure, increasing economic activity, and low household income, in combination with inadequate organizational structure of government institutions for addressing the wastewater problems as well as for law enforcement. There have been no community initiatives to prevent or mitigate wastewater problems. Therefore, a wastewater management plan is urgently needed to prevent and mitigate pollution caused by discharged wastewater. In this paper we analyze the current situation with respect to environmental state, sources and treatment of wastewater, socio-economic and institutional capacities as well as community awareness. Constraints and potentials are discussed to give recommendations for an integrated wastewater management plan for the city of Manado.     

Urbanization impact on hydrogeological regime in Jaipur Urban Block: a rapidly growing urban center in NW India

A sharp decline in the water level in Jaipur city and its hinterland region in NW India has been observed during the last decades. Such a drop can be correlated with a widening gap between groundwater draft and recharge resulting from poor and erratic rainfall and over-exploitation of groundwater resources. The city has undergone uncontrolled urban expansion complete with a multifold rise in the population, which now stands at more than 3.3 million. Drying up of the surface water bodies has further led to a total dependence on groundwater resources to meet the rising domestic and industrial demand for water. There are about 1,000 bore wells drilled by Governmental agencies and an estimated 11,000 privately owned ones. The water is generally alkaline carbonate–bicarbonate type. We evaluated water quality for the period between 1993 and 2001 and observed notable deterioration that we attribute to inadequate recharge and a change in the potential water-bearing zones from alluvium to granite–gneiss bedrocks, caused by a drop in the water table. In addition, we also attribute the problem of high nitrate in groundwater in densely populated parts of Jaipur city to improper sewage disposal.     

Quality of life in selected slums of Kolkata: a step forward in the era of pseudo-urbanisation

Urbanisation is the proportionate increase in the urban population with respect to the total population. In India urbanisation was never a result of a strong economic base of cities. It was distress and poverty in rural areas that resulted in a huge influx of rural migrants into urban areas. The pace of urbanisation gained momentum after 1941 with the percentage of people living in urban areas increasing to 31.16% in 2011. The pattern of urbanisation is characterised by continuous concentration of population in the megacities and in Class I cities. India’s urbanisation is best described as pseudo-urbanisation, a condition in which a large city is formed without a functional infrastructure to support it. Migration and pseudo-urbanisation lead to demographic explosion and a progressive concentration of poor migrants in the cities, followed by misery, poverty, unemployment, exploitation, rapid growth of slums and degradation in the quality of urban life. Slums are usually characterised by poor housing conditions, inadequate physical infrastructure, deprivations in socio-economic conditions, health, hygiene and lack of safety and security. Two slums were chosen within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation for assessing the quality of life. Despite government initiatives the condition of the slum dwellers has not improved much.     

模糊数学在成都市水资源评价中的应用

水资源价值是一个复杂的体系,主要由三方面要素构成,即:自然因素、经济因素、社会因素。以成都市为例,选取水质、水资源量、人口密度、国民收入作为评价要素,采用模糊综合评价方法对该市水资源价值进行了评价,结果表明:成都市水资源价格为2.93元/m3,明显高于目前的成都市平均水价。因此,应通过优化产业结构、扩大生产规模、提高用水效率和技术水平、加强环境保护与文化教育、合理控制人口等措施来提高水资源价值。     

Green Space Changes and Planning in the Capital Region of China

Green space plays an important role in complex urban ecosystems and provides significant ecosystem services with environmental, aesthetic, recreational and economic benefits. Beijing is the capital city of China and has a large population of about 15.81 million. Construction of green spaces is an important part of sustainable development in Beijing. To attain the sustainable development of Beijing as a capital city, an international city, a historical cultural city, and a living amenity city, this article attempts to develop a comprehensive plan of green space development both at the municipal and regional levels. At the municipal level of Beijing, based on the study of green space changes, and taking physical geographic conditions and historical context into account, we propose to establish green barriers in the mountainous area, and plan a comprehensive green space pattern composed of one city, two rings, three networks, eight water areas, nine fields, and several patches in the plain area. At the regional level of the Capital Circle Region, integrating the characteristics and causes of main environmental issues, we design a macroscopic pattern—“barriers by mountains in the northwest,” “seaward open spaces in the southeast,” “grassland-forest-field-coast zones,” and “green-blue symphony”—for ecological restoration and green space construction. Finally, we discuss the principles necessary to implement green space planning considering adaptation to local conditions, composite function exploitation, interregional equity and integrated planning.     

Government response to climate change in China: a study of provincial and municipal plans

In this paper, we provide an overview of local and regional climate change plans in China by scrutinizing planning documents from 16 cities, four autonomous regions, and 22 provinces. We develop and apply an evaluation protocol to understand goals, process, and strategies in these plans. We also conduct interviews with government officials to provide a context for subnational climate change planning. The results indicate that current climate change planning in China is characterized by the ‘top-down’ approach, in which the central governmental incentives play a vital role in shaping provincial and municipal plans. In addition, most plans have the following issues: vague definition of what characterizes a low-carbon city/region; deficiency in the quality of greenhouse gas inventory and reduction targets; insufficient strategies provided to respond to climate change; inadequate stakeholder engagement; and weak horizontal coordination. Finally, we offer recommendations to improve climate change planning in China.     

Emergy synthesis of tourism-based urban ecosystem

Macao is a tourist city with a dense population, but is short on natural resources. Almost all of the life-support resources of the city depend on imports from outside. During the past 20 years, Macao has experienced an economic boom accompanied by rapid social development. The tourism industry (including gambling, hotel accommodation, restaurant dining, and shows) have become the city's main economic activity since 1991. This paper uses emergy flow analysis to investigate and characterize the urban evolution and city development that have occurred in Macao from 1983 to 2003. Macao's tourism industry has existed almost from the establishment of the city, with the legalization of gambling in Macao occurring in 1850. Tourism has become the biggest industry in Macao, contributing more than half of the city's revenues since 1995. The emergy flow related to tourism was tracked and analyzed to measure its contribution to Macao. In addition, we used statistical analysis to divide the various emergy-based indicators into three categories: positive, negative, and insensitive indicators.     

安徽省省内人口流动空间选择研究

安徽省省内流动人口空间选择主要体现为省会优先、邻近区域优先和高工资区域优先的特征。省内形成以首府合肥为第一层次,以芜湖和淮南为第二层次,以蚌埠、淮北、安庆、马鞍山和铜陵为第三层次,其余城市为第四层次的空间选择格局。合肥是省内人口流入最大的辐合场,淮南、芜湖是次级辐合场,淮北、淮南、六安、巢湖等城市是对流场,流入人口规模与流出人口规模大体相当。     

Detroit and Los Angeles: A Study in Similarities

There currently seems to be a clear lack of shared understanding of both the physical and spiritual needs of the diverse population of Detroit, Los Angeles and most other large cities. Admittedly, this is not an isolated condition for cities in a revitalization transition. The land adjacent to any city center has a peculiar evolution in the accordion-like economics of time. I am suggesting that a new urban ecology must evolve and reflect a holistic and interconnectedness among community, environment, education, culture, employment and government; allowing the needs and problems of a large city to become a least a piece of the solution. Imagination is required and with that comes responsibilities of seeking and exploring new paradigms of renewal.     

成都市用地规模与土地的有效利用

根据成都市土地资源和人口状况,本文分析了城镇工矿用地和未来社会经济发展对土地的需求,提出了合理控制城市用地规模及有效利用土地的对策．     

Politics of Biodiversity Conservation and Socio Ecological Conflicts in a City: The Case of Sanjay Gandhi National Park,Mumbai

Loss of the green belts in the cities as an antecedent outcome of haphazard and irregular urbanization as one of the principle factors has a negative bearing on the socio ecological services that nature entails. Our paper represents the conditions under which the contemporary statist conservationist efforts to preserve the urban protected areas (PAs) in India induces a marginal existence and livelihood vulnerability upon the survival of the population residing within these PAs. A recent survey to Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai reflects the ways in which a politics of conservation operates not only in the rural regions but also in cities, in highly inequitable and fabricated ways. This has consequently affected the impoverished, disempowered and impecunious inhabitants who comprise a considerable segment of population in cosmopolitan Mumbai, residing within the PAs. The present article assesses the ways in which in metropolises, PAs by definition determine jurisdictions and exercise rights to exclude the social groups who are marginal and less powerful. This is to preserve a pristine people free aesthetic environment in cities, for which there is an increasing demand from the local elite. The results of the study indicate the socio ecological aspects of the conservation politics in the city of Mumbai. The emergent consequences are in terms of the questions of universal rights to the PAs or reflecting an elitist provision of environmental integrity to the privileged visitors in the city.     

Is risk associated with drinking water in Australia of significant concern to justify mandatory regulation?

Presently in Australia there are no mandatory drinking water standards. Here we argue that the risk associated with drinking water in Australia is of a dimension discernible to warrant mandatory regulations. The catchments that supply the major metropolitan areas of Sydney and Adelaide, and the groundwater for the city of Perth have been seriously compromised by the encroachment of development and activities. Melbourne in the past has generally relied on a closed catchment reservoir system; however, population growth in the near future will sequester the full online operation of additional reservoirs, which have multiple land use catchments. In addition to the current landscape circumstances, the management of a water system in itself proposes significant issues of risk. Two critical assumptions that are unique to a mass medium substance like water and dramatically alter the appraisal of risk are: (1) very large numbers of people are potentially exposed, and (2) small changes in contaminant levels may have adverse population outcomes. It is also known that water reticulation systems frequently suffer from contamination problems caused solely by the distribution system, and optimal management of these facilities would best be served by statutory protected transparency and dedicated water quality programs. In 1979, an Australian parliamentary committee stated that an “uncontaminated water supply is” a “basic requirement for the obtainment of good health”; however, recent surveys of Australian water systems show many are not meeting basic water quality criteria, and many communities are not receiving regular monitoring or testing as required by government authorized Australian drinking water guidelines. Exacerbating this situation is the lack of reporting and statutory endorsed standardized procedures to ensure information is properly and promptly recorded and that data are centralized for maximum benefit. The evaluation of risk associated with drinking water in Australia is often hampered by inadequate or incomplete data. Lastly, regional and rural water supplies face a vast array of contemporary problems and experiences that include widespread usage of pesticides and agricultural chemicals. In recent years, the Darling River has experienced the worst algal bloom known to man, and this river system not only supplies a number of regional and rural towns with water, but eventually connects with the River Murray, which supplies the State of South Australia with approximately 50% of its water requirements.     

Facilitating (?) urban agriculture in Philadelphia: sustainability narratives in the inequitable city

In 2008, the city of Philadelphia made increasing healthy food access a priority for sustainable development. Recognising that almost 25% of the population are considered food insecure, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and community leaders sought to increase food access through increasing food production and access to land in the city. Urban agriculture has gradually been incorporated in sustainability narratives in the past decade, both providing a platform for advocates to inform on policymaking, and potentially stripping away the political and activist origins of gaining access to food, land and green spaces in the city. In this paper, we argue that the depoliticising of urban agriculture advocacy through its incorporation in sustainability planning may serve to increase existing inequities in the city. Focusing on the policy-making scale, we examine measures enacted under the Philadelphia Greenworks Sustainability Plan to facilitate urban agriculture in the city. Our preliminary findings suggest that the processes by which urban agriculture gains acceptance demonstrate a disconnect in urban agriculture advocacy and policymaking and further work is needed to understand the impacts of the formalising of urban agriculture in Philadelphia.     

Groundwater-level trends and implications for sustainable water use in the Kabul Basin, Afghanistan

The Kabul Basin, which includes the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, with a population of approximately 4 million, has several Afghan, United States, and international military installations that depend on groundwater resources for a potable water supply. This study examined groundwater levels in the Kabul Basin from 2004 to 2012. Groundwater levels have increased slightly in rural areas of the Kabul Basin as a result of normal precipitation after the drought of the early 2000s. However, groundwater levels have decreased in the city of Kabul due to increasing water use in an area with limited recharge. The rate of groundwater-level decrease in the city is greater for the 2008–2012 period (1.5 meters per year (m/yr) on average) than for the 2004–2008 period (0–0.7 m/yr on average). The analysis, which is corroborated by groundwater-flow modeling and a non-governmental organization decision-support model, identified groundwater-level decreases and associated implications for groundwater sustainability in the city of Kabul. Military installations in the city of Kabul (the Central Kabul subbasin) are likely to face water management challenges resulting from long-term groundwater sustainability concerns, such as the potential drying of shallow water-supply wells. Installations in the northern part of the Kabul Basin may have fewer issues with long-term water sustainability. Groundwater-level monitoring and groundwater-flow simulation can be valuable tools for assessing groundwater management options to improve the sustainability of water resources in the Kabul Basin.     

The reconstruction of reims, 1919–30

Reims was in the direct line of fire throughout the First World War and suffered almost complete destruction. Planning for reconstruction proved controversial and grand designs were only implemented in part, with the help of government funds, important reconstruction cooperatives and American aid. The new Reims involved additional and wider thoroughfares, an enormous array of new public and private buildings in the city centre, and almost a dozen highly distinctive garden suburbs, built by private and municipal housing authorities. By 1926 the city had virtually regained its 1911 population level, but painstaking reconstruction of many historic buildings was not to be completed until well into the 1930s. The architectural legacy of the interwar period, especially that of the Art Deco movement, has been analysed thoroughly and appreciated more positively in recent years.     

全球城市之东京的环境战略转型的经验与借鉴

当前,北京、上海等超大城市已经提出未来要建设全球城市或世界城市,把环境作为城市核心竞争力的主要指标。本文通过研究东京第二次世界大战后环境战略的演变,寻求不同环境战略阶段中,环境目标、管理及政策与经济、人口、能源和城市规划的关系,认为东京环境战略演变历程共分为六个阶段,总结了东京环境战略的成功经验,即科技创新中心是环境领域战略转型中心先天优势、全球环境治理网络枢纽建设促进环境战略转型、能源清洁是东京环境战略转型的关键、重大活动是东京城市环境问题解决的绝佳契机、公众参与为环境战略转型提供了强大的推动力,而城市空间优化与产业转移是东京环境战略转型的核心。     

Achieving energy security in South Asia

South Asia is experiencing unprecedented energy scarcity due to population growth, inadequate infrastructure, lack of investment, and other factors. However, energy security is one of the basic requirements of economic growth, and as its extension, for social harmony. This article identifies challenges to energy security in South Asia and proposes solutions on tackling the challenges.     

Population,Development, and Waste Management in Botswana: Conceptual and Policy Implications for Climate Change

Based on government and other relevant documentation, this paper explores the conceptual linkage between population, development, and waste management in Botswana and the implications of this relationship for global climate change. Population is increasing, albeit at a decreasing rate. Spatially, the population is becoming more and more concentrated as the rates and level of urbanization increase. Economic growth has remained consistently high. The combined effect of population dynamics and economic development are having a noticeable imprint on the environment in the form of increased waste generation. Poor waste management poses a real threat to environmental sustainability in general and climate change in particular because of inadequate technology, weak institutional mechanisms to enforce regulations, and low levels of sensitization among the public to deal with the problem. Mitigation measures are suggested to minimize the negative effects of waste management on climate change.     

Assessment of Water Supply as an Ecosystem Service in a Rural-Urban Watershed in Southwestern Mexico City

Studies from the ecosystem services perspective can provide a useful framework because they allow us to fully examine the benefits that humans obtain from socio-ecological systems. Mexico City, the second largest city in the world, has faced severe problems related to water shortages, which have worsened due to increasing population. Demand for space has forced changes in land cover, including covering areas that are essential for groundwater recharge. The city has 880 km² of forest areas that are crucial for the water supply. The Magdalena River Watershed was chosen as a model because it is a well-preserved zone within Mexico City and it provides water for the population. The general aim of this study was to assess the ecosystem service of the water supply in the Magdalena River Watershed by determining its water balance (SWAT model) and the number of beneficiaries of the ecosystem services. The results showed that the watershed provides 18.4 hm³ of water per year. Baseflow was dominant, with a contribution of 85%, while surface runoff only accounted for 15%. The zone provides drinking water to 78,476 inhabitants and could supply 153,203 potential beneficiaries. This work provides an example for understanding how ecosystem processes determine the provision of ecosystem services and benefits to the population in a rural–urban watershed in Mexico City.     

AN APPLICATION OF INVESTMENT TIMING ANALYSIS: DUAL WATER SYSTEMS1

ABSTRACT: A general methodology to study the economics of dual water systems (defined here as a separate distribution system for untreated low quality local surface Water for outdoor municipal water supply) is summarized and the application of the method to a rapidly growing city is presented. In the first step, a cost-benefit criterion for evaluating dual systems is developed. The criterion is then extended to a dynamic case where the population to be served increases with time and where the dual system is allowed to expand. The optimal investment time to introduce the dual water supply project is obtained by maximizing social welfare. The model is applied to the city of West Jordan, Utah, where a dual system is currently being proposed. Model results indicate that for the city as a whole dual supply is not economically feasible. However, when the model is applied to a part of the city, it is found feasible and the optimal time to initiate the project would be in the year 1989.