Formulaic Expert Method to Integrate Evaluation and Valuation of Heritage Trees in Compact City

Urban trees serve important environmental, social and economic functions, but similar to other natural endowments they are not customarily depicted in monetary terms. The needs to augment protection, funding and community support for urban greening call for proper valuation. Heritage trees (HTs), the cream of urban-tree stock, deserve special attention. Existing assessment methods do not give justice to outstanding trees in compact cities deficient in high-caliber greenery, and to their social-cultural-historical importance. They artificially separate evaluation from valuation, which should be a natural progression from the former. Review of tree valuation methods suggested the formula approach to be more suitable than contingent valuation and hedonic pricing, and provided hints on their strengths and weaknesses. This study develops an alternative formulaic expert method (FEM) that integrates evaluation and valuation, maximizes objectivity, broadly encompasses the key tree, tree-environment and tree-human traits, and accords realistic monetary value to HTs. Six primary criteria (dimension, species, tree, condition, location, and outstanding consideration) branched into 45 secondary criteria, each allocated numerical marks. Each primary criterion was standardized to carry equal weight, and a tree's maximum aggregate score is capped at 100. A Monetary Assignment Factor (MAF) to consign dollar value to each score unit was derived from three-year average per m² sale price of medium-sized residential flats. The applicability of FEM was tested on selected HTs in compact Hong Kong. The aggregate score of a tree multiplied by MAF yielded monetary value, which was on average 66 times higher than the result from the commonly-adopted Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers method. The computed tree values could be publicized together with multiple tree benefits to raise understanding and awareness and rally support to protect HTs. The property-linked FEM could be flexibly applied to other cities, especially to assess HTs in compact developing cities.     

粮食基础设施震后恢复重建关键问题研究

在对汶川8.0级地震后绵阳市粮食基础设施破坏情况调研的基础上,提出恢复与发展并重、粮食基础设施节点与网络并行、推进行业整合和信息化的建设思路,规划了绵阳市灾后恢复重建的维修保障和重建发展项目,并对规划实施效果进行了经济和社会效益分析。     

Spatial distribution of aerosol pollution based on MODIS data over Beijing, China

With the help of regression analysis,the relationships were detected between aerosol's contribution to apparent reflectance(ACR) derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)on board Terra and hourly PM_(10)mass concentration measured at 30 ground-based locations in Beijing for the August of 2003 and 2004.It was shown that there was a good correlation between the ACR and PM_(10)(linear correlation coefficient,R=0.56).On the basis of this relationship,spatial distribution and possible sources of PM_(10)derived from MODIS were analyzed and two frequently heavily-polluted regions were found,namely downtown of the city and the district near Xishan Mountain.These two regions coincidently are also urban heat island centers.The foundings of this paper will be greatly useful for environmental monitoring and urban planning for Beijing,especially for the 2008 Olympic game to be held in Beijing.     

岷江上游山地生态系统的退化及其恢复与重建对策

阐述了岷江上游山地生态系统的主要特征及主要由人类活动引起的森林、草地、农用地和整个山地生态系统环境退化现状。在此基础上，提出了岷江上游退化山地生态系统恢复与重建的对策，即加强资源和环境的合理利用和保护，提高全民环境保护意识；分区分类治理；不同区城不同退化亚系统采取不同的技术方法。同时，就恢复与重建过程中应注意的几个问题出提出了解决的思路和方法。     

武汉城市圈水资源及水环境承载力分析

水资源及水环境承载力是衡量区域可持续发展的一项重要指标,对区域经济的发展规划具有重要的指导意义。以可承载的人口数量和GDP作为承载力的表征指标,分别运用单位GDP综合用水量评判法和河流一维水质模型及湖库均匀混合模型计算武汉城市圈不同水平年的水资源及水环境承载力,并用承载度来评价水资源及水环境的承载状态。结果表明:2012、2020和2030年武汉城市圈水资源承载力都处于合理承载状态,但是其水环境承载力处于轻度超载状态。可见,水环境承载力对武汉城市圈的用水限制更为严格。随着社会经济的发展及污水处理技术的进步,水环境状况虽然会有所好转,但与水资源数量这一因素相比,水环境仍是制约武汉城市圈经济社会发展的关键因素。     

以多联产为支撑点的"合成气城市"规划 --煤炭城市的可持续发展

目前,中国煤炭城市普遍面临城市产业结构迫切需要转型、城市生态环境问题严重、城市人口就业形势严重等挑战。在低价高硫煤资源丰富、石油和天然气资源缺乏、经济发展水平适中、产业结构亟待调整的典型地区实施以多联产为支撑点的“合成气城市”规划,是这类煤炭城市实现经济、社会、环境、资源相互协调的可持续发展之路。本文初步探讨了“合成气城市”规划研究的内容,并以山东省济宁市是为例分析了实施“合成气城市规划”的收益。     

全球化背景下长江三角洲巨型工程建设研究

全球化是影响城市和区域发展的重要因素。长江三角洲地区既是中国社会经济资源最密集的地区,又是中国在全球化过程中较早融入世界经济的重要区域。在全球化进程不断加速的背景下,长江三角洲地区必须通过区域整合发展提升其在全球竞争体系中的地位。巨型工程作为全球化和区域一体化的支撑体系,越来越多地出现在长江三角洲地区,已经成为城市和区域建设的重要内容。在介绍巨型工程概念的基础上,从实证分析的角度出发,总结分析长三角地区城市开发、形象塑造等巨型工程的发展以及包括机场、港口、快速轨道和高速公路的综合交通体系的建设布局,并提出了部分规划设想。最后,集中探讨了巨型工程对长江三角洲地区全球化进程的重要影响。     

基于创新合作联系的城市网络格局分析——以长江经济带为例

现有城市地理研究主要基于重力模型、客货流网络和连锁模型等方法刻画城市网络。这些方法或是仅仅基于假设而可能与事实不符,或是数据难以获取,或是过于强调城市间的等级关系。通过引入合作专利数据,探索更加真实、平等的城市网络衡量方法。基于对长江经济带城市间创新联系的实证分析,发现目前城市间的创新联系以公司间(尤其是总部-分支机构间)合作为主;城市间创新联系存在非对称性和空间差异;实际创新联系与重力模型估算的创新联系存在正相关关系,但是相关系数不高;城市间创新联系的规模-位序符合Zipf定律,且存在两个无标度区;城市间创新联系受空间距离、行政级别、产业结构相似程度等影响,反映了距离衰减定律、行政区经济和产业链分工等规律对城市创新联系的解释力。     

Income and distance-decay effects on willingness to pay estimated by the contingent valuation method

This study suggests a methodology for enhancing accuracy in evaluating amenity by the contingent valuation method when household's willingness to pay (WTP) is dependent to its income and the distance between a respondent's residence and the location of a target facility. Using a linear city model, this study demonstrates the influences of income and distance-decay effects on WTP. Simulations are performed to check the validity of the model, as well as to predict consequences when income and distance-decay effects are not properly treated. Finally, the suggested methodology is applied to two real cases. The estimation results from a structural model show that the calculated total benefit varies largely when income and distance-decay effects exist and are ignored. Also, an ad hoc model generates significantly different estimates from the utility difference model this study adopted. The difference in estimates suggests that the total benefit has to be estimated by a structural model.     

Testing and Improving Temperature Thresholds for Snow and Rain Prediction in the Western United States

The phase of precipitation at the land surface is critical to determine the timing and amount of water available for hydrological and ecological systems. However, there are few techniques to directly observe the precipitation phase and many prediction tools apply a single temperature threshold (e.g., 0°C) to determine phase. In this paper, we asked two questions: (1) what is the accuracy of default and station optimized daily temperature thresholds for predicting precipitation phase and (2) what are the regions and conditions in which typical temperature‐based precipitation phase predictions are most suited. We developed a ground truth dataset of rain vs. snow using an expert decision‐making system based on precipitation, snow depth, and snow water equivalent observations. This dataset was used to evaluate the accuracy of three temperature‐threshold‐based techniques of phase classification. Optimizing the temperature threshold improved the prediction of precipitation phase by 34% compared to using 0°C threshold. Developing a temperature threshold based on station elevation improved the error by 12% compared with using the 0°C temperature threshold. We also found the probability of snow as a function of temperature differed among ecoregions, which suggests a varied response to future climate change. These results highlight a current weakness in our ability to predict the effects of regional warming that could have uneven impacts on water and ecological resources.