Assessing the sustainability of major cities in China

Rapid urbanization in the developing world calls for attention to address the issue of urban sustainability, especially in emerging countries such as China, where social equity and environmental conditions have been marginalized by the rapid economic development. In this paper, we addressed the above issue with an attempt to answer the following questions: (1) How did the sustainability of Chinese cities evolve over time? (2) What are the driving forces for the evolution? By constructing a composite index that incorporates three major aspects of sustainability, economy, environment, and social equity, we characterized the recent evolution of Chinese cities and assessed the disparity among regions in terms of the sustainability measures. Further, we analyzed the driving forces for the change of sustainability indices through a driving force-pressure-state-effect model. We substantiate our numerical analysis of Chinese cities with a detailed case study of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, which has experienced significant change over the past 3 decades in every aspect of sustainability. We highlight some fundamental socioeconomic driving forces that have caused spatial restructuring, reflected by land-use change, and consequently impacted the urban environment of Urumqi. A brief case analysis of Guangzhou is also provided.     

Economic Modelling in Sustainability Science: Issues,Methodology, and Implications

Sustainability science is a new branch of human knowledge. It is necessary to model sustainability science based on a framework consisting of the interactions of society, ecology, the environment and the economy. This paper develops such a model, the SEEOSG model, containing the essential structural relationships that incorporate the environmental and economic conditions required for sustainability. The model is solved as a dynamic optimisation problem. This optimal growth model of ecology and economic growth enables us also to analyse the issues which are specific to sustainability science such as the ecologically sustainability and inter-generational equity implications of economic activities and policies. In the model results growth maximisation goals appear to be fraught with difficulties such as infeasibility and non-sustainability. The results also suggest also that an equilibrium ecological and economic system does not sustain over a very long period of time unless appropriate actions are taken. Readers should send thier comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Sustainability analysis of SEEA indicators for non-renewable resources

Despite the fact that the non-renewable resources industry contributes greatly to regional and national gross domestic product(GDP),it casts massive negative impacts on the environment,which fails to be deducted from economic growth.Hence,sustainable development of non-renewable resources(extraction and processing)is playing an essential role in boosting economic growth continuously.The System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting(SEEA)proposed by the United Nations Statistics Division(UNSD)provides a brand-new perspective for sustainability study.This paper designs a fundamental approach of green accounting for non-renewable resources based on SEEA.Three main aspects of the accounting are extracted to explore the way of analysis for sustainability indicators,which are not touched upon by SEEA.Main analyses are as follows:(1)the analysis on the influence of the change of the discount rate in user cost(UC);(2)correlation analysis between environmental degradation and pollutants emission intensity;(3)analysis of the accounting results of green GDP and green GCF(gross capital formation).Then taking petroleum resources in Shandong Province as an example,this paper will calculate and analyze green data based on the accounting and analytical approaches discussed above.However,sustainability indicators studied in the paper are just associated with past economic activities,while investigation into the factors of the change of sustainability indicators is the one most critical point in relevant policymaking.     

Moving towards urban sustainability in Kenya: a framework for integration of environmental,economic, social and governance dimensions

Global urban development is increasingly becoming an aspect of focus as nations fight sustainability challenges. A review of the current literature on urban sustainability suggests that research on development of cities, in both developed and developing countries, is growing fast, with an emphasis on sustainable development. However, very little of this research contains an integrated framework to systematically identify and examine the various dimensions of urban sustainability and to measure and evaluate them appropriately. Cities are more than the sum of their sectors, and are complex and interdependent systems on whose dynamics the quality of life of millions of human beings and a good part of the economy depend. Environmental, economic, social and governance problems can create formidable barriers to urban sustainability. Governance remains a critically important dimension of urban sustainability, especially when discussing urbanization in developing countries, given rapid population movements and imbalances in socio-economic development. Understanding how cities function is fundamental to resolving these imbalances. The aim of this paper is to provide a review and analysis of the concept of urban sustainability and to propose the development of a holistic framework through integration of environmental, economic, social, and governance dimensions of sustainability. Such a review would make it possible to understand the complex dynamics of the four dimensions and to assess the progress and challenges in moving towards urban sustainability, taking the case of Nairobi, Kenya, as an example. The paper argues that, for urban sustainability in developing countries, more emphasis should be placed on the governance dimension, because this is where the biggest challenge exists, with increasing needs for immediate management of rapid urbanization.     

农村水环境保护与经济可持续发展

我国的生态环境问题 ,如水土流失、草场退化、沙漠化、盐渍化等问题 ,归根到底还是农村水环境问题。本文分析了农村水环境保护、高效利用水资源的紧迫性 ,以及影响农村生态系统可持续性的因素和保护、改善农村水环境的主要措施 ;认为加强农村水环境保护及其持续发展能力的建设是我国整个社会特别是农村经济可持续发展的基本保障     

我国发展循环经济的政策与法律体系探讨

建立和完善循环经济政策应遵循三个原则：服务于我国循环经济概念与内涵原则。服务于循环经济实践的原则。用足用好现有政策和补充缺位政策相结合的原则。我国发展循环经济的政策与法律体系应包括四大类：基本政策、核心政策和基础性政策。技术政策可以融入这四类政策之中。基本政策是统领循环经济所有政策的根本。是资源环境与社会经济发展相融合的综合性政策。基础性政策是指为循环经济重点领域实践创造良好制度环境的政策。大致包括宏观经济政策、基本经济制度、基础性激励政策和考核政策等。核心政策是直接推动循环经济重点实践领域的政策。在核心政策中。需要切实落实和用足用好的现有对循环经济发展较有利的政策有：生态工业政策（包括产业结构调整政策、清洁生产政策）。资源综合利用和环保产业税费优惠政策。能源节约和再生能源政策。环境友好型产品标志（标识）政策；需要完善的薄弱政策有：生态工业园建设政策。废弃物回收、再利用、资源化和无害化产业政策。生态农业政策。资源开发利用政策；需要新建立的缺位政策主要涉及消费领域、环境友好型和资源能源节约型城镇基础设施和建筑领域。     

基于生态效率的深圳市交通环境与经济效益分析

生态效率同时考虑经济效益和环境效益,是将可持续发展的宏观目标融入交通管理中的有效工具。本文选用交通经济产出和交通生态足迹作为生态效率的指标,对深圳市交通运输业各阶段生态效率进行详细分析。评价结果有效地揭示了交通环境与经济协调发展的真实状态和特点,进而为城市可持续发展提供科学的依据。研究结果表明:深圳交通环境压力逐年增加,目前仍低于交通经济效益的增速,交通生态效率总体在提高,增速呈下降趋势。交通经济增长是拉动交通生态效率提高的主要因素,应注重加强交通建设和投资,更好发挥交通对经济增长的带动作用。化石燃料及其燃烧排放的大气污染是制约深圳市交通生态效率的主要因素。小汽车及重型柴油车相对于各种交通工具所产生的环境压力最大,对政策反应也最为敏感。因此,增加绿色交通方式的投入,并辅之以交通需求管理等手段,是深圳交通生态效率提高的重要途径。     

区域可持续发展生态评估的能值分析研究进展与展望

可持续发展的生态评估是当前国际生态经济学与可持续发展研究的前沿问题之一，能值分析以能量为单位定量评估人类生态经济系统中各种生态流的可持续性，是一个重要的研究方向。尽管能值分析定量评价了自然环境资源对人类生态经济系统的贡献．克服了传统能量与经济分析方法的诸多缺憾，但在理论方法上仍存在不足之处。综合国内外区域能值分析的最新进展。能值转换率的确定、能值分析与空阃格局分析的整合、能值成本价值论与市场（使用）价值论的整合、可持续性阈值等问题将是下一步的研究重点。     

Comprehensive benefit evaluation of eco-industrial parks by employing the best-worst method based on circular economy and sustainability

At the aim of solving the increasing conflicts among the economic growth, resource shortage, and environmental aggravation, the eco-industrial park becomes a significant research issue to achieve sustainable development and circular economy. Therefore, evaluating the comprehensive benefit of eco-industrial parks and providing references and policy formulation in supporting the improvement of construction and management level for eco-industrial parks are of great significance. In this paper, a hybrid framework was proposed to assess the comprehensive benefit of eco-industrial parks in terms of circular economy and sustainability. Firstly, the evaluation index system was constructed by using grey-Delphi method, which included economic benefit criteria, social benefit criteria, and environmental benefit criteria with nine quantitative sub-criteria and four qualitative sub-criteria. Then, a new comparison-based method, namely the best-worst method, was employed to determine the weights of all sub-criteria and the performance values of all selected eco-industrial parks with respect to the qualitative sub-criteria. Finally, five selected representative eco-industrial parks in China were ranked in terms of comprehensive benefit, and the optimal eco-industrial park was selected. According to the results of comprehensive benefit evaluation for eco-industrial parks, the strengths and weaknesses of each eco-industrial park were obvious. At the end, the recommendations for the effective and rapid development of eco-industrial parks were formulated.     

城市可持续发展的制度经济学分析

城市不可持续发展的突出问题是“不可持续城市化”和“城市不可持续化”。城市发展存在政府与市场的双重失灵 ,制度变迁与制度供给是实现城市可持续发展的关键要素。城市可以看作是由经济、环境、社会、制度四个子系统构成的复杂系统。城市可持续发展的制度安排应遵循聚集利益导向、竞争优势导向、制度创新导向     

Contributions of sustainability science to the study of environmental health problems

From the ontological point of view, environmental health problems do not differ from problems of unsustainability. This leads us to think that sustainability science could contribute to resolve important questions that studies on environmental health are not resolving. A literature review was made in order to analyse the scope and limitations of studies on environmental health problems. Based on the characteristics of environmental health studies, we highlighted some examples of questions that are being ignored and analysed four contributions that sustainability science could make to solve them. These contributions come from three key components of sustainability science: (1) the unit of analysis—social–ecological systems, (2) a theory—resilience theory and, specifically, social–ecological resilience, (3) and the approaches of complex systems and transdisciplinarity. From a sustainability science perspective, four contributions could be made: environmental health problems are redefined as social–ecological systems; environmental health is assumed to be the result of adaptation processes; the environment and society are recognized as systems, not as matrices of factors; and human action acquires content and structure and, in turn, explains the behaviour of environmental health problems.     

ICT applications in the research into environmental sustainability: a user preferences approach

Whether information and communication technology (ICT) constitutes a threat or a cure to environment??s deterioration is controversially discussed. Empirical evidence on the impacts of ICT is rare, so that generalizable lessons can hardly be drawn. This study provides empirical results on the role of ICT in research for environmental sustainability, but instead of ascertaining the impact of ICT on environmental protection, we conduct an analysis of the use of ICT in sustainability research. We assess the preferences of experts in different thematic sustainability fields for applying ICT tools, and we investigate ways to improve the application of these tools in order to augment their returns with respect to environmental protection research. This analysis is based on a set of surveys that were administered to international experts to evaluate the importance of ICT in environmental sustainability research and the research demands in key environmental sectors, such as climate change, natural resources, energy and biodiversity. The methodological framework is built on the analysis of users?? preferences for future developments in ICT tools using stated preferences techniques. Overall results suggest that ICT tools need to be developed in specific contexts, taking into account users?? needs and expectations. Our analysis shows that the use of ICT in environmental research is of great importance in the scientific community, but it can also play a crucial role in the policy context.     

How interdisciplinary is sustainability research? Analyzing the structure of an emerging scientific field

Sustainability research is expected to incorporate concepts, methods, and data from a diverse array of academic disciplines. We investigate the extent to which sustainability research lives up to this ideal of an interdisciplinary field. Using bibliometric data, we orient our study around the “tripartite model” of sustainability, which suggests that sustainability research should draw from the three “pillars” of the environmental, economic, and social sciences. We ask three questions: (i) is sustainability research truly more interdisciplinary than research generally, (ii) to what extent does research grounded in one pillar draw on research from the other two, and (iii) if certain disciplines or pillars are more interdisciplinary than others, then what explains this variation? Our results indicate that sustainability science, while more interdisciplinary than other scientific fields, falls short of the expectations inherent in the tripartite model. The pillar with the fewest articles published on sustainability—economics—is also the most integrative, while the pillar with the most articles—environmental sciences—draws the least from outside disciplines. But interdisciplinarity comes at a cost: sustainability research in economics and the social sciences is centered around a relatively small number of interdisciplinary journals, which may be becoming less valued over time. These findings suggest that, if sustainability research is to live up to its interdisciplinary ideals, researchers must be provided with greater incentives to draw from fields other than their own.     

Multi-causal and integrated assessment of sustainability: the case of agriculturization in the Argentine Pampas

Assessing the sustainability of complex development processes requires multi-causal and integrated analyses. We develop a system-based methodology, rooted in interdisciplinary discussion and consensus building between 15 experts, to construct a multi-causal diagram which examines the sustainability of the Argentine Pampas′ process of agriculturization. The resulting diagram includes 25 factors and provides a big-picture of the multiple dimensions and interrelations affecting sustainability. According to this examination, the increasing concentration of production and the incorporation of technological innovations, triggered by economic and institutional factors, are the cause of environmental distresses and social changes, whose consequences for sustainability are still highly disputed. Nevertheless, the symptoms of both environmental and social unsustainability are more evident in the case of the extra-Pampean regions than in the Pampas. This suggests that the Pampean agriculture model should not be transferred to these regions without substantial modifications. The experts did not reach consensus on whether the agriculturization process is overall sustainable or unsustainable. Lack of consensus revolved mainly around opposing perspectives regarding the significance of the threats to environmental sustainability. The magnitude of socio-distributive unbalance and loss of rural jobs were also contentious. Yet, the paper shows how the exercise of building a joint causal diagram was undoubtedly helpful for linking piece-meal disciplinary facts, brought in from all fronts, into a comprehensive and coherent picture. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

循环经济产业体系论纲

循环经济的核心是物质在产业间和产业与环境间的循环流动。发展循环经济要落实到具体的产业和企业上。需搞清具有物质循环利用关系的产业及其间的关系。为区别传统经济产业间的关系，避免走入用传统产业理论指导循环经济建设的误区，本文提出产业体系和循环经济产业体系的概念。并将若干与某种生产要素有关的产业相互联系、相互制约而构成的整体称为产业体系。以物质要素循环利用关系为纽带的产业体系称为循环经济产业体系。根据物质在环境社会系统中的流动模式。将循环经济产业体系中的产业分成物资产业、人的产业和环境产业三大类。要在传统（线性）经济的基础上发展循环经济。需理性地按生态学原理规范经济活动。重点强化废弃物再生和回用的环境产业。使之同物资产业和人的产业相协调。产业体系是对产业结构概念的发展。循环经济产业体系是循环经济理论和建设的重要内容。构建循环经济理论体系、出台有关法律法规和产业政策。是循环经济建设工作的重点。     

西部大开发要走可持续发展之路

西部地区生态环境条件十分脆弱,水土流失、荒漠化问题严重;各种自然灾害多发,远离目前国家的经济发展中心,由于距离远远输成本高使自然资源失去了价格上的部分优势。西部地区自然条件和经济社会发展的特殊性,要求我们在西部大开发中坚持生态建设,保护环境,节约资源,趋利避害,推进城市化,依靠科技创新,以最小的资源环境代价发展经济,实现人口资源、环境与经济社会发展的良性循环。     

企业积极环境行为的层次及其政策设计

企业积极的环境行为是我国建设生态文明社会的重要着力点,使企业成为积极的环境行为主体是环境政策的重要目标.由于企业在环境治理中存在达到企业最优污染控制水平、社会最优污染控制水平及污染完全控制三个目标层次的选择,企业在不同的污染控制目标层次上,其行为是有差异的.本文针对企业不同的污染控制目标层次,提出企业积极环境行为存在循环经济、利益调配、非此即彼三个行为层次的选择.每一个行为层次和相关的目标层次相对应.不同层次的环境行为,其行为动力和政策要求是有差别的.本文指出,从循环经济层次到利益调配层次、再到非此即彼层次,企业积极环境行为的动力是逐步递减的,并针对这一特征分别设计了相关的环境经济政策,以促进企业积极的环境行为.     

Constructing sustainability science: emerging perspectives and research trajectories

Over the last decade, sustainability science has emerged as an interdisciplinary and innovative field attempting to conduct problem-driven research that links knowledge to action. As the institutional dimensions of sustainability science continue to gain momentum, this article provides an analysis of emerging research agendas in sustainability science and an opportunity for reflection on future pathways for the field. Based on in-depth interviews with leading researchers in the field and a content analysis of the relevant literature, this article examines how sustainability scientists bound the social, political and normative dimensions of sustainability as they construct research agendas and look to link knowledge to social action. Many scientists position sustainability science as serving universal values related to sustainability and providing knowledge that is crucial to societal decision-making. The implications of these findings are discussed with an eye towards creating a space for a more democratic and reflexive research agenda for sustainability.     

The disappearing sustainability triangle: community level considerations

This article challenges the application of the sustainability triangle to conceptualise sustainable development by looking at how weak sustainability can be obtained via the reinforcing increase in social capital and natural capital. Sustainable development is often visualised as a triangle consisting of social, environmental, and economic aspects. Would it be possible to conceive a flattened system, with diminishing economic resources or without refilling financial resources? The possibility involves mutual reinforcement between social capital and natural capital. The consideration of the diminishing economic dimension relates to the concept of development without economic growth, such as degrowth, zero-growth, and sustainable growth, that has been revived in the face of the recent economic crisis. Several countries have imposed extreme budget cuts in development collaboration and in other government expenditures. When the economic resource is not at a satisfactory level, can we rely on the reinforcement between social and environmental aspects for sustainability? Although it is not new to acknowledge the contribution of social capital to environmental conservation, research has long ignored the reinforcing relationship between environmental and social dimensions. This article provides a prototype model to demonstrate how social capital and natural capital can reinforce each other. The prototype is studied and verified at the community level using a comparative method. This article concludes with principles and practices that may encourage sustainability with merely the reinforcement between social capital and natural capital.     

中国循环经济基本法立法架构研究

循环经济基本法立法架构的好与坏，不仅关系循环经济基本法的制定与出台，而且影响循环经济基本法的理解和执行。基于此。就循环经济基本法立法架构展开了综合研究，以期有助于中国循环经济基本法的制定与执行。在比较研究国外循环经济基本法立法架构与综合分析中国循环经济基本法立法架构研究现状的基础上，深入探讨中国循环经济的基本内涵以及中国循环经济基本法的基本定位与基本内容，进而提出一种新的中国循环经济基本法立法架构。从目前实践看，中国特色循环经济的内涵可以概括为是对生产和消费活动中物质能量流动方式的管理经济。中国循环经济建设应该从适度生产系统、适度消费系统和回收利用系统三个环节着手。根据经济基础决定上层建筑的基本原理，中国循环经济基本法作为一部环境友好型经济法以及具有一定强制性与制裁性的促进法，应当按照适度生产-适度消费-回收利用这条主线进行立法架构。