Theoretical and Empidcal Study on Urban Population Carrying Capacity:Case of Haidian District in Beijing

The measurement of urban population carrying capac- ity is the basis for cities' sustainable development.However,the traditional study on population carrying capacity which was based on food supply is not applicable to the single urban area.This paper built a model for the analysis of urban carrying capacity, and took Haidian District in Beijing as an example to calculate the urban carrying capacity of Haidian District in the future,which was the basis for the improvement of the population carrying capac...     

Model Modification and Application on Carrying Capacity of Relative Resources

Based on the retrospection of researches on carrying capacity, this article reviewed systematically the research progresses on carrying capacity of relative resources （CCRR）. Then the viewpoint was put forward that CCRR is not an appropriate method of appraising the regional sustainability, but a sound way to obtain cognition for coordinating spatial location and flow of population and economy. However, as the most popular computing method of CCRR, the Weighting Linear Sum Model is defective in the random of weight choice and the neglect of matching among different resources. Therefore, this article established the Geometric Model on CCRR based on modifying Weighting Linear Sum Model, which can be used to appraise regions where resources are close matching. Employing the Geometric Model, the article empirically analyzed the population and economic CCRR in Hubei Province from 1978 to 2006. The result indicates that the population in Hubei Province is overloading while the economic carrying capacity is abundant compared to the whole country, and the economic insufficiency restricts the population carrying capacity. In the future, Hubei Province will become one of the core developing zones which are characterized by economic conglomeration.     

An Analysis on the Spatial Distribution of Population Aging Pressure in China

Based on comprehensive analysis of the impact of population aging to social and economic development,a comprehensive evaluation system including 18 indexes was constructed for evaluating regional pressure of population aging on social and economic development.Using statistics data of 31 regions in China from 2004 to 2008,the pressure of population aging on social and economic development,was comprehensively evaluated by using the factor analysis method.The spatial distribution of population aging in China was also analyzed.This study is to provide scientific basis for government to make strategies of coping with population aging according to regional pressure of population aging on social and economic development in China.     

Conceptualizing Discourses on Ecological City and Its Planning

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 eco-city 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 sus- tainable urban development. We then summarize the concept and principles of an eco-city, and define the main requirements for eco- city 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.     

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

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.     

Climate capacity:the measurement for adaptation to climate change

This article proposed the concept of"climate capacity"as a way of measuring human’s adaptiveness to climate change.This article also focused on the related concepts like ecological carrying capacity,water resources carrying capacity,land carrying capacity as well as population carrying capacity.The concept of climate capacity was articulated against a background of global climate and environmental change.Essentially,China’s efforts to adapt to climate change was a matter of improving climate capacity,which is the ecosystem as well as the frequency,the intensity and the scale of human’s social activities that the climatic resources of a particular geographic area were supposed to support.The climate capacity has two components.One is the natural climate capacity,which includes temperature,sunlight,precipitation,extreme climatic events,etc.The other is the derived climate capacity,which includes water resources,land resources,ecological systems,climatic risks,etc.The climate capacity can be developed or be transferred between regions by taking engineering,technology or regime-based adaptive measures.However,these adaptive measures must be implemented under the principle of economic rationalism,ecological integrity,climate protection,and social justice.It is expected that by combining the climate capacity and its threshold value with the assessment of climate change risks,we are able to predict the optimal population carrying capacity and the scale of socioeconomic development,and furthermore,provide policy support for the socioeconomic development strategy and adaptive planning.In the regions with high climate capacity,there is a symbiotic relationship between adaptation and socioeconomic development.But,in the regions with limited climate capacity,irrational development may further damage the environment.Taking the Yangtze River delta,a region with high climate capacity,and a region of Ningxia,a region with limited climate capacity,as illustrative examples,the authors of this article analyzed the policy implications of climate capacity and further made suggestions on the problems of capacitylimited adaptation and development-driven adaptation.This article argued that the concept of climate capacity can not only be used as an analytical instrument of climate change economics,but also it can provide research support for planning regional adaptation and development with climate change impact and risk assessments.     

Urban Agriculture：A Transitional Mechanism for Reducing Environmental Degradation and Fossil Fuel over Dependence

With the increasing population in the urban cities of the world,the demand for food from distant areas has been on the rise but at the expense of scarce natural resources like oil,water and forest,etc.However,producing food locally in urban centers provides a sustainable mechanism of reducing the carbon,food or ecological footprints of these cities in particular and environmental degradation in general.It creates a circular metabolic system in which the natural inputs are efficiently harnessed rather than the linear metabolic system in which resources flow in and wastes flow out.This article analyzes some urban agricultural local initiatives in urban centers of the worlds that promote a circular metabolic systems and proposes the procedure that can be adopted to promote urban agriculture.     

Benefits and Challenges of Urban Green Spaces

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the benefits,and challenges towards providing multifunctional urban green spaces.The results are based on critical analysis of study findings from different cities in Europe,America and to a lesser extent in Asia.Inner-city green spaces are especially important for improving air quality through uptake of pollutant gases and particulates which are responsible for respiratory infections.Due to their amenity and aesthetics,green spaces increase property value.To ensure multifunctional role of urban a green space is achieved,in particular the social and psychological role,certain standards of quantity,quality and distribution within the urban area should be adequately established.Green spaces need to be uniformly distributed throughout the city area,although each does not need to be extremely large but should be large enough to accommodate the city population.     

Fuelwood assessment at the micro-watershed level:a case study in Garhwal Himalaya,India

Biomass,as fuelwood,is one of the major sources of energy in rural areas,especially in the mountainous regions of the world.As the increasing human population exerts more pressure on the forest thereby inducing an adverse effect on the sustainability of the ecosystem,which consequently causes fuelwood crisis at a local level,this crisis is spatio-temporal in nature.Thus,the major objective of this study is to assess the sustainability of fuelwood at different probable scenarios at a micro watershed level.The present study was conducted in the Phakot watershed,the Tehri Garhwal district of central Himalaya in India,during 2006-2008.Based on the vegetation composition in the study area,the net primary productivity(NPP)value of the Oak forest,and mixed oak and sal forests,was used for the quantification of fuelwood availability in evergreen and deciduous forests,respectively.The fuelwood demand was calculated on the basis of seasonal fuelwood consumption values.Nine probable permutations for availability-demand scenarios assuming the existence of high(H),low(L)and average(A)conditions were analyzed for evaluating the stress.The available annual harvestable fuelwood in the watershed is in the minimum and maximum ranges of 2283.28 to 4066.00 tons,respectively,per year whereas it has a demand of 110.76 tons as the minimum to 3659 tons as the maximum annually.This shows that in the current availabilitydemand scenario,the watershed does not have fuelwood crisis in the present situation but needs to maintain the sustainability of the system.Based on our study,it is concluded that,globally,more spatio-temporal study is required to understand the issues at the local level.     

Quantitative Evaluation on Urban Ecosystem Carrying Capacity in Tianjin Binhai New Area

Based on the concept of ecosystem carrying capacity, the indicator system of quantitative assessment was set up, which consisted of support indicator system and pressure indicator system. And the factor analysis method was used to screen the indicator system. Different from the traditional indicator weight determination based on the absolute values of the coefficients of regression equation, the squares of factor loadings in the rotated component matrix were attempted to determine the weights of 40 assessment indicators. The result shows that ecological support system and pressure system in Binhai New Area are relatively balanced among six years, and the developing level of urban ecosystem is basically healthy on the whole. However, due to continuously increasing pressure of the resources consumption caused by the rapid growth of the second industry, which is the Leading Industry of Binhai New Area, the ecosystem carrying capacity reached the minimum in 2005.     

Theoretical and Empirical Study on Urban Population Carrying Capacity: Case of Haidian District in Beijing

Abstract

The measurement of urban population carrying capacity is the basis for cities’ sustainable development. However, the traditional study on population carrying capacity which was based on food supply is not applicable to the single urban area. This paper built a model for the analysis of urban carrying capacity, and took Haidian District in Beijing as an example to calculate the urban carrying capacity of Haidian District in the future, which was the basis for the improvement of the population carrying capacity. This study would also provide a reference to the measurement of the urban population carrying capacity for other cities and districts in China.     

基于工业总产值发展目标的城市生态承载力情景分析--以佛山市为例

本文以佛山市为例，在分析该市社会经济发展与资源，环境因素之间相关关系的基础上，以其产业发展规划中的工业总产值发展目标为基准和情景平台，通过单一目标，多因素，多途径下的情景分析，来模拟工业经济高速发展所可能出现的城市人口变化，对资源的要求，污染物排放量变化，评价城市发展对城市生态承载力的要求及其满足程度，找出制约当地经济发展的生态承载力限值因子，并根据分析结果对城市发展模式提出了建设性意见。     

Fundamental issues and solutions in the design of China's ETS pilots: Allowance allocation,price mechanism and state-owned key enterprises

This paper analyzes the three main fundamental issues in the design of China’s ETS pilots,including allowance allocation,price mechanism and state-owned key enterprises,and proposed suggested solutions.For the issue of allowance allocation,we suggest that the gradual hybrid mode could be applied at the beginning,which starts with mainly free allocation and then increases auction ratio gradually.And grandfathering is a suitable method of free allocation.For the issue of price mechanism,we suggest a price floating zone with open market operation to reduce the uncertainty of prices.For the issue of state-owned key enterprises,we suggest a good coordination with SASAC,defining the state-owned property right and supervision right when state-owned key enterprises are involved into the carbon market,and the local government can set rules of allocation and transaction to limit their potential market power.     

基于生态足迹的武汉城市圈生态承载力评价和生态补偿研究

在推进新型城镇化和生态建设的背景下,客观定量评价区域生态环境状态,是当前我国生态建设重要而紧迫的任务之一。高密度的人类活动会对自然生态系统产生超负荷的压力,通过生态承载力的分析能够定量测度这种状况,为区域可持续发展提供借鉴意义。基于生态足迹模型,计算了2008年和2013年武汉城市圈各县域单元的生态足迹/承载力,并进行了时空变化分析。研究发现武汉城市圈各县域单元的生态足迹和生态承载力在空间上存在显著的差异性,生态足迹逐年增加,生态承载力的变化相对较小,出现两级分化的现象。根据生态足迹/承载力进行跨区县生态补偿测算,得到2008年和2013年武汉城市圈48个县域的转移支付情况,表明如果运用财政转移支付的手段,整个区域能够达到生态系统供给和需求动态平衡的目标,缓解武汉城市圈的生态压力,实现武汉城市圈的可持续发展。     

“长江经济带”战略背景下武汉城市水环境承载力综合评价

为揭示长江经济带战略背景下武汉城市水环境承载力的演化特征,理解长江经济带建设过程中武汉城市水环境的承载基础,从水资源环境、水污染控制和社会经济承载3个子系统来构建城市水环境承载力指标体系,采用结构熵权法和均方差决策法进行主客观联合赋权,对长江经济带战略下的武汉城市水环境承载背景进行研究。研究结果表明：（1）2004~2013年武汉城市水资源、环境与社会经济的发展协调性较好,城市水环境承载力综合值呈上升态势,具有较好的水环境承载基础;（2）水资源环境和水污染控制两个子系统在武汉城市水环境承载力中贡献较大;（3）长江经济带建设背景下水污染控制是提升武汉水环境承载力的关键,未来控制城市生活污水、加强城市环保基础设施的建设和管理是武汉城市水环境管理的重中之重     

人口、资源与环境协调发展关键问题之一——环境承载力研究

坏境承载力是人口、资源与环境协调发展研究的重要内容,是协调经济发展与环境保护的关键所在。本文试图从环境承载力的定义与表示方法入手,通过对发展变量与限制变量及其间的关系的描述,探讨承载力的内涵与研究方法;同时以福建省湄州湾新经济开发区为例进行分析,提出其规划建议,为该区人口、资源与环境协调发展提供科学依据。     

土地功能视角下的土地资源人口承载力研究

长期以来,国内外对土地资源人口承载力的研究基本上都是围绕“耕地 粮食 人口”这一思路而展开的。在当前经济全球化、快速城市化的背景下,单一评价方法难以全面反映社会发展实际。从土地功能视角出发提出土地资源人口承载力评价的新体系：基于土地粮食视角的人口承载力、基于建设用地视角的人口承载力、基于土地经济关系视角的人口承载力。首次将土地经济关系引入土地资源承载力评价中,利用不同土地类型与国民经济部门的关系进行人口测算,可以真实反映当今经济社会下人口承载的实际状态。以攀枝花市、六盘水市为例进行了实证研究,仅从本区域评价结果来看,原有传统的土地粮食人口承载能力在此次评价中并不构成最大限制因素,而是建设用地或者土地经济关系等因素决定了人口承载力,这也证明了土地资源人口承载力研究方法的可行性和相对合理性     

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.     

长江三角洲人口集聚与布局探讨

长江三角洲是我国重要的经济区域,是参与国际竞争、提高国际分工地位的代表地区,也是最主要的人口聚集区。随着国家贯彻落实科学发展观,推进人口分布、产业布局和经济环境在空间上的均衡发展,长三角在产业和人口方面的集聚效应将更加明显。从生态景观和经济发展的分析入手,开展了人口承载力和人口集聚的研究,大胆提出未来长三角人口集聚的规模以及在空间上的分布,同时提出建设六大都市圈和六大国际门户,形成网络化的城市空间布局,有效承接大量流入的人口和支撑产业的发展。