Urban expansion of oasis cities between 1990 and 2007 in Xinjiang,China

An oasis is not only the most concentrated area of human activity in an arid area but also the largest area where artificial disturbances occur at a regional scale. The study of oasis urban expansion and related factors is important to understand the development of cities in arid areas, guide the evolution of rational urban expansion and promote sustainable development of oasis cities. Although there have been several studies on urban expansion in Xinjiang over past decades, a lack of quantitative data and methods impedes further research. In this paper, urban expansion of the studied area in 1990, 2000 and 2007 is evaluated using 39 Landsat satellite images, a geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS). We also analyse the related factors of urban expansion using quantitative and qualitative methods. We found that economic development and the area of the urban administrative region greatly effect urban expansion. Too rapid growth and outward urbanized expansion paradigms should not be applied blindly in arid areas from the point of view of sustainability. Historic–geographic features of oases and urban planning influence oasis urban morphology. Compact urban morphology is relatively better for protecting precious water and arable resources, and reducing ecology damage to the surrounding oasis. The relationship between urban expansion and population growth was not coordinate before 2000, and effectively only improved after that date. City growth should be moderated, with lower elastic coefficients, slower expansion and higher elasticity coefficients. Oasis cities in Xinjiang are expanding under the combined effects of urbanization, economic development, transportation, environment, resources, policy and planning.     

The widening urbanization gap between the Three Northeast Provinces and the Yangtze River Delta under China’s economic reform from 1984 to 2014

Urbanization has created a significant gap between the Three Northeast Provinces (TNP) and the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) since China’s reform and opening-up. In this study, we explain this problem by employing an urban expansion index, spatial hierarchical clustering, the Zipf-PLE model, fractal theory, and time-series analysis. Statistical data on the built-up area, population, and gross domestic product were downloaded from the National Bureau of Statistics of China. The results revealed the following. (1) During the stage of the planned economy, as a result of the significant government investment in development, the urban built-up areas in the TNP and the YRD reached 1867 and 757 km², respectively, in 1984. (2) During the stage of the socialist market economy, the urban built-up area of the YRD experienced rapid growth over the 30 years from 1984 to 2014 with a rate of increase of 668.8%, which was higher than that of the TNP (139.9%). In 2014, the urban built-up areas of the TNP and the YRD were 4479 and 5820 km², respectively. (3) Locational advantages had significant effects on urban development after China’s economic reform. The coastal cities of the YRD had higher rates of increase of the built-up areas. By contrast, the border cities of the TNP had lower rates of increase. Finally, this paper finds that the socialist market economy exhibited more efficiency in promoting urban expansion and economic development. The results are significant for generating balanced and sustainable regional development strategies in the future.     

Current situation and development of Chinese urban forestry

This paper introduces Chinese urban forestry research in terms of the concept, forest types, ecosystem services, spatial structure, planning and construction, assessment and management. Modern Chinese urban forest had a close relationship with traditional landscape architecture. Urban forest services had been quantified in some case cities, and determined by urban forest spatial patterns and internal structures. Based on landscape ecology and urban planning, urban forest spatial patterns have been analysed and planned rationally in some cities. However, studies on urban forestry generally lack long-term, continuous and systemic observations, as well as in-depth research on ecological processes and mechanisms. The development trends in urban forestry in China might include extensive application of '3S' technology, research on the relationship between urban forest landscape spatial patterns and their ecological effects, economic assessment, ecological and economic benefits and studies on the negative effects of pollutants.     

Methodology for an urban ecological footprint to evaluate sustainable development in China

The ecological footprint (EF) is a method for measuring sustainable development through ecological impact. A methodology is presented for predicting urban ecological footprints. Urban energy use and natural resource consumption were analyzed to calculate an EF based on land type (arable, pasture, forest, fossil energy land, built-up area and water area) and consumption (food, housing, transportation, goods, services and waste). The result was then compared with the local ecological carrying capacity to develop criteria for sustainable ecological footprints. Case studies of four cities in China (Guangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou and Yangzhou) illustrate the urban EF approach. The time series of EF in a case study of Guangzhou for 1991–2001 was analyzed and the consumption–land-use matrix of urban EF was established. The results show that the cities are ecologically unsustainable, with average ecological conflicts per capita of more than 2 ha. The urban EF method is useful to measure urban sustainable development and provides policy proposals for decision-making. However, the EF method still has limitations and weaknesses.     

我国水污染防治的战略与政策的探讨

我国大部分城市污水的95%未经处理排放入水体,城市地区的水质有继续恶化的趋势,甚至许多城镇的下水管网尚不完善.随着城市化和工业化的发展,城市污水将继续增加.我国在污水处理中投资不足和水污染规模大这一不相适应的矛盾将会在相当长的一个时期内存在.解决我国水污染的根本原则是供求最大的费用—有效性.未来水污染防治的政策要点是:1.集中力量于源头削减污染产生量;2.建立按总量控制的流域级水污染防治的方法和示范工程;3.在投资和管理体制上建立以城市污水集中处理的市场经济刺激机制.     

Emergy-based urban health evaluation and development pattern analysis

The objective of this study is to measure and evaluate the ecosystem health levels of 31 Chinese capital cities in 2004 through an emergy synthesis framework. A system of indicators was developed corresponding to the four factors of urban ecosystem health including efficiency, structure, impact and flux. Furthermore, combined with individual indices, an emergy-based urban ecosystem health index (EUEHI) was proposed to measure and evaluate the health levels among various typical cities in China, which offers an integrated evaluation tool in view of urban production, trade and consumption. The results showed that there are intrinsic differences among six clusters associated with driving mechanisms distinguishing the rankings of urban health levels. After lining the cities of similar health levels with cluster map, the spatial distribution of the urban health is found to be arch-shaped, increasing initially and then decreasing from coast to inner land. This kind of spatial hierarchy is per se compatible and consistent with the hierarchical theory of emergy synthesis. The results also revealed double restrictions of urban health between economy and environment. Moreover, the interaction analysis was used for mirroring the driving mechanism of urban ecosystem health. Three conclusions were arrived at. Firstly, environmental health is inversely related to the economic health in China, indicating that cities cannot achieve win–win between environment and economy in the current urban development mode. Secondly, based on economy-driven mode, four quadrants were divided in the city division map, wherein 43.33% of the concerned cities developed in high economy-restriction mode, which means low economic level is still an important limiting factor for the major cities of China. Finally, based on environment-driven mode, two sections were divided, of which weak environmental dominance mode expounds the special characteristics of urban environment with obvious fragility. 23.33% of the 30 cities were in the intermediate state, which means a few correspondingly unhealthy cities should develop concrete polices for the urban ecosystem restoration.     

The urban growth, size distribution and spatio-temporal dynamic pattern of the Yangtze River Delta megalopolitan region, China

As one of the six megalopolitan regions in the world, the Yangtze River Delta is one of the most populated and developed regions of China. The spatial and temporal dynamic pattern of the urbanization process of the megalopolitan region is investigated. This work compared the spatial and temporal dynamic pattern of the urban growth for the five urban areas (Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou) in this region. During the 15 years, urban growth patterns were dramatically uneven over three 5-year periods. The size distribution of the five urban areas became more even with the rapid urbanization process. The patterns of urban expansion reflected policy adjustment and economic development throughout the time. Landscape metric analysis across concentric buffer zones was conducted to elucidate the area, shape, size, complexity and configuration of urban expansion. The study indicates the coalescence process occurred during the rapid urban growth from 1990 to 1995 and the moderate growth period from 2000 to 2005, but different urban growth period between 1995 and 2000. The urban growth pattern was coalesced for the Nanjing and Wuxi metropolitan areas and diffused for Shanghai, Suzhou and Changzhou. This approach indicates that the coalescence process was the major growth model for this region in the recent 15 years despite their different size, economic growth and population growth. The diffusion-coalesce dichotomy represent endpoints rather than alternate states of urban growth. This work will be beneficial in understanding the size distribution and urbanization process of the megalopolitan region in China.     

四川遂宁现代生态田园城市建设的研究

生态田园城市是现代城市的发展目标,已成为我国城市建设的热点.现代生态田园城市建设的关键在于建立城市生态基础设施系统,为城市可持续发展和营造宜居环境提供生态系统服务.遂宁现代生态田园城市规划将生态基础设施规划、产业发展规划、社会公共服务设施规划"三规合一",营造一个生态安全健康、生产低碳高效、生活安康富裕,社会公平和谐的美丽新城市.     

美国金融危机的影响与扩大内需

随着全球经济一体化的不断深入,此次美国金融危机给世界各国带来了广泛的影响．对于外贸依存度超过60％的中国经济来说,在微观和宏观上受到了较大的冲击,随着我国融入世界经济的程度不断加深,由投资和出口驱动的经济增长模式,使我国经济运行的风险越来越大．因此,扩大国内消费需求,促进经济增长由主要依靠投资、出口拉动向依靠消费、投资、出口协调拉动的转变,将是我国经济增长的努力方向．参5．     

Evaluation of urban metabolism based on emergy synthesis: A case study for Beijing (China)

Cities (“urban superorganisms”) exhibit metabolic processes. Disturbance of these processes results from the high throughput of the socioeconomic system as a result of the flow of resources between it and its surroundings. Based on systematic ecology and emergy synthesis, we developed an emergy-based indicator system for evaluating urban metabolic factors (flux, structures, intensity, efficiency, and density), and evaluated the status of Beijing's environment and economic development by diagramming, accounting for, and analyzing the material, energy, and monetary flows within Beijing's metabolic system using biophysically based ecological accounting. We also compared the results with those of four other Chinese cities (Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, and Baotou) and China as a whole to assess Beijing's development status. From 1990 to 2004, Beijing's metabolic flux, metabolic intensity, and metabolic density increased significantly. The city's metabolic processes depend excessively on nonrenewable resources, but the pressure on resources from outside of the city decreased continuously. The metabolic efficiency increased by around 12% annually throughout the study period. Beijing had a highest metabolic fluxes and density compared with the four other cities; its metabolic efficiency was lower, and its metabolic intensity was higher. Evaluating these metabolic indicators revealed weaknesses in the urban metabolic system, thereby helping planners to identify measures capable of sustaining these urban metabolic processes.     

中国快速城镇化的边际环境污染效应变化实证分析

通过建立模型并实际测算城镇化每增长1个百分点引起的污染物产排放变化量,来分析我国城镇化发展的边际环境污染效应。结果显示,我国城镇化发展与环境污染之间的矛盾仍十分突出,1996-2009年期间,城镇化每增长1个百分点带来的城镇生活污水排放量、COD产生量、NH3-N产生量、NOx排放量、CO2排放量、城镇生活垃圾产生量仍呈上升趋势。由于近年来城镇污水处理率明显提升,城镇化每增长1个百分点带来的COD和NH3-N排放量由＂十五＂的增加逐步转为＂十一五＂的减少;由于城镇生活用煤的减少,城镇化每增长1个百分点带来的SO2排放量在＂十五＂＂十一五＂期间都呈减少趋势。为减少环境污染,我国应选择有中国特色的城镇化发展道路,合理把握城镇化发展速度和节奏,促进城镇与环境协调发展。     

苏南快速城市化地区森林生物量时空变化及影响分析

随着我国城镇化进程的快速推进,城镇密集区城市扩张带来的负面生态环境问题得到广泛关注。森林生态系统具有固碳释氧等多种生态服务功能,对减小城市化的负面效应、改善生态环境具有积极作用。近年来我国植树造林成效明显,森林资源总量和质量持续提升,科学评估森林生物量动态对理解碳源汇变化及制定森林保护政策具有重要的意义,但当前对快速城市化地区长时期生物量变化及影响因素研究较少。苏南地区处于我国最大的城镇密集区长江三角洲的中心,近年来该地区森林面积和质量不断增加,而受中低卫星遥感数据分辨率影响,以往对该地区生态系统生物量研究未探测到这种变化。利用1990、2005年江苏省森林资源调查数据及2010年江苏省森林覆盖监测数据,采用换算因子连续函数法和平均生物量法等计算苏南地区三个时期森林生物量,研究20年来苏南快速城市化地区森林植被生物量的时空变化,并结合社会经济数据探讨了生物量变化与经济人口的关联。结果表明：20年来,苏南地区森林植被面积、生物量和生物量密度总体呈显著增加趋势,生物量从7.15 Tg增长到16.72 Tg,乔木林的生物量密度由29.32 t＆#183;hm-2上升至39.82 t＆#183;hm-2,但远低于同期全国的均值;各市生物量分布不均匀,2010年生物量总量从大到小依次是南京、无锡、镇江、常州和苏州;各市森林生物量总量主要由森林面积和地形决定,森林面积增加是生物量增加的主要因素,阔叶林比例和林龄的增长也促进了生物量增加,随着区域森林林龄不断增长,森林生物量仍将不断增加;政府政策和经济利益等影响下的森林建设是区域森林生物量增加的主要原因,较高的经济发展水平促进了各市森林资源数量增长,而高人口密度未对森林面积和生物量未产生显著负面?     

The relationships of urbanization to surface water quality in four lakes of Hanyang,China

By converting rural land into urban land, urbanization impacts on surface water quality, because cities produce more pollutants than farmlands, especially heavy metals. Ways to reduce urbanization impacts on water quality are now being highlighted worldwide. Considering that land use can be a source or sink in pollution runoff, an understanding of the relationship between urbanization and surface water quality, as well as effects of specific land uses on water quality, is crucial. Corresponding management and controlling steps can then be put forward towards non-point source (NPS) pollution control and urban sustainable development. China has experienced rapid urbanization, especially since the 1980s. However, the environmental impacts of this process are not fully investigated. Hanyang, Hubei Province was selected as a typical city to study the impacts of urbanization on lake water quality. Pearson's correlation analysis was performed to elucidate the correlation between different land uses and water quality indicators at both whole lake watershed and small catchment scales. The results indicated that land uses play different roles, either source or sink, in pollution flow processes. Bottomland had a negative and residential land a positive correlation to most water quality indicators, especially heavy metals. These proved to be indicative and crucial land uses in NPS pollution control. Finally, a strategy for regulating urban land uses is proposed for improving surface water quality in cities similar to Hanyang, in southern China.     

Emergy analysis of the urban metabolism of Beijing

Cities can be modeled as if they were superorganisms with a range of metabolic processes. Research on this urban metabolism can contribute to solving urban environmental problems by revealing details of the metabolic throughput of the system. A key issue is how to find a common basis for measuring the environmental and economic values. By providing a single unified unit, emergy theory integrates the natural and socioeconomic systems and thoroughly evaluates a system's metabolism. We analyzed Beijing's urban metabolic system using emergy synthesis to evaluate its environmental resources, economy, and environmental and economic relations with the regions outside the city during 14 years of development. We compared Beijing's emergy indices with those of five other Chinese cities and of China as a whole to assess Beijing's relative development status. These indices are the emergy self-support ratio (metabolic dependence), the environmental load ratio (metabolic loading), empower density (metabolic pressure), emergy used per person (metabolic intensity per capita), and the monetary equivalent of emergy (emdollars; metabolic intensity). Based on our emergy analysis, Beijing's socioeconomic system is not self-sufficient, and depends greatly on external environmental resources. Its GDP is supported by a high percentage of emergy purchased from outside the city. During the study period, Beijing's urban system showed an increasing dependence on external resources for its economic development. Beijing's loading and pressure on the ecological environment is continuously increasing, accompanied by continuously increasing human emergy consumption. In the future, it will become increasingly necessary to improve Beijing's metabolic efficiency.     

Landscape spatial changes associated with rapid urbanization in Shenzhen,China

Rapid urbanization and a building boom in Chinese cities, together with the increase in human disturbances in ecosystems, have resulted in a range of ecological and land-use problems. The formulation of policies relating to urban land use requires adequate understanding of the landscape dynamics. The objective of the study was to describe spatial patterns and dynamic changes of the regional landscape of Shenzhen in the past 20 years. Based on MSS & TM images from 1978, 1986, 1990, 1995 and 1999, a landscape classification map of Shenzhen was constructed. Three kinds of spatial pattern indices, including landscape diversity, spatial configuration and characteristics of patches, as well as a human disturbance index, were examined using models and GIS. In the past two decades, the regional landscape in Shenzhen has changed dramatically, from a typical agricultural landscape to a rapidly urbanizing landscape. The gradual reduction in the cultivated land area and the dramatic increase in the built-up areas illustrate this progress clearly. Indices for the landscape spatial pattern have changed substantially. Some of the changes, reflecting the reasonable control of urban planning on the regional landscape, are the consequence of careful planning, but many of them are the result of disordered human disturbances that have occurred during the rapid urbanization process. These findings are helpful to future landscape development and land-use planning.     

快速城市化过程中的南京市生态环境可持续发展研究

以南京市为例,探讨了快速城市化过程中出现的一系列城市生态环境问题,并分析了这些问题产生的原因,最后提出了积极推行清洁生产,创建循环经济体系,建设城市绿地景观,优化产业结构,加强环境执法力度、提高环境管理水平等5项生态环境可持续发展对策。     

The city as a refuge for insect pollinators

Research on urban insect pollinators is changing views on the biological value and ecological importance of cities. The abundance and diversity of native bee species in urban landscapes that are absent in nearby rural lands evidence the biological value and ecological importance of cities and have implications for biodiversity conservation. Lagging behind this revised image of the city are urban conservation programs that historically have invested in education and outreach rather than programs designed to achieve high‐priority species conservation results. We synthesized research on urban bee species diversity and abundance to determine how urban conservation could be repositioned to better align with new views on the ecological importance of urban landscapes. Due to insect pollinators’ relatively small functional requirements—habitat range, life cycle, and nesting behavior—relative to larger mammals, we argue that pollinators put high‐priority and high‐impact urban conservation within reach. In a rapidly urbanizing world, transforming how environmental managers view the city can improve citizen engagement and contribute to the development of more sustainable urbanization.     

2010年亚运会对广州市可持续发展的影响

2010年举办的第16届亚运会将是广州有史以来承办的最大型的综合性体育赛事。分析了亚运会的举办将对广州市经济、社会发展、城市与环境建设等方面的影响,并提出了全面贯彻可持续发展思想,进一步办好亚运会的建议:立足长远,社会效益与经济效益并重;加大生态环境建设力度;加大宣传力度,推动公众参与;加强区域合作,协调区域发展。     

Ants as a Measure of Effectiveness of Habitat Conservation Planning in Southern California

Abstract: In the United States multispecies habitat conservation plans were meant to be the solution to conflicts between economic development and protection of biological diversity. Although now widely applied, questions exist concerning the scientific credibility of the conservation planning process and effectiveness of the plans. We used ants to assess performance of one of the first regional conservation plans developed in the United States, the Orange County Central‐Coastal Natural Community Conservation Plan (NCCP), in meeting its broader conservation objectives of biodiversity and ecosystem‐level protection. We collected pitfall data on ants for over 3 years on 172 sites established across a network of conservation lands in coastal southern California. Although recovered native ant diversity for the study area was high, site‐occupancy models indicated the invasive and ecologically disruptive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) was present at 29% of sites, and sites located within 200 m of urban and agricultural areas were more likely to have been invaded. Within invaded sites, native ants were largely displaced, and their median species richness declined by more than 60% compared with uninvaded sites. At the time of planning, 24% of the 15,133‐ha reserve system established by Orange County NCCP fell within 200 m of an urban or agricultural edge. With complete build out of lands surrounding the reserve, the proportion of the reserve system vulnerable to invasion will grow to 44%. Our data indicate that simply protecting designated areas from development is not enough. If habitat conservation plans are to fulfill their conservation promise of ecosystem‐level protection, a more‐integrated and systematic approach to the process of habitat conservation planning is needed.     

Changes in area and number of nature reserves in China

Nature reserves (NR) are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation. Over the past 60 years, the rapid expansion of NRs in China, one of the world's megadiverse countries, has played a critical role in slowing biodiversity loss. We examined the changes in the number and area of China's NRs from 1956 to 2014 and analyzed the effect of economic development on the expansion of China's NRs from 2005 to 2014 with linear models. Despite a continuing increase in the number of NRs, the total area of China's NRs decreased by 3% from 2007 to 2014. This loss resulted from downsizing and degazettement of existing NRs and a slowdown in the establishment of new ones. Nature reserves in regions with rapid economic development exhibited a greater decrease in area, suggesting that downsizing and degazettement of NRs are closely related to the intensifying competition between economic growth and conservation. For example, boundary adjustments to national NRs, the most strictly protected NRs, along the coast of China's Yellow Sea, a global biodiversity hotspot with a fast-growing economy, resulted in the loss of one-third of the total area. One of the most important ecosystems in these NRs, tidal wetlands, decreased by 27.8% because of boundary adjustments and by 25.2% because of land reclamation. Our results suggest conservation achievement, in terms of both area and quality, are declining at least in some regions in the Chinese NR estate. Although the designation of protected areas that are primarily managed for sustainable use has increased rapidly in recent years in China, we propose that NRs with biodiversity conservation as their main function should not be replaced or weakened.