The importance of context for effective public engagement: learning from the governance of waste

This paper takes a new look at the importance of context – institutional and political – in effective public engagement processes. It does so through a rare comparative opportunity to examine the effectiveness of processes of public engagement in two UK waste authorities, where the same waste company was involved as both the primary contractor for the delivery of the waste management service (including new energy-from-waste facilities) and, furthermore, the same staff delivered the public engagement. Interrogating these cases affords the opportunity to place flesh on the bones of the sometimes ‘abstract’ skeleton of context. While engagement processes support effective local governance in an era of partnerships and deliberative democracy, the paper identifies that the methods adopted cannot be played out devoid of detailed understanding and response to local context, including the strength of partnership working between the public and private sector, the degree of political support for engagement, and the extent to which a traditional institutional paternalism still dominates.     

工业污染治理投资完成状况分析研究——以我国沿海省市为例

运用多元统计中的主成分分析法和系统聚类法对我国东部地区工业污染的治理投资完成情况进行了分析。根据主成分分析结果,对选取的11个省市进行分类,并在此基础上提出加强各区域环境污染治理的几点建议。     

Managing the Three-Rivers Headwater Region, China: From Ecological Engineering to Social Engineering

The three-rivers headwater region (THRHR) of Qinghai province, China plays a key role as source of fresh water and ecosystem services for central and eastern China. Global warming and human activities in the THRHR have threatened the ecosystem since the 1980s. Therefore, the Chinese government has included managing of the THRHR in the national strategy since 2003. The State Integrated Test and Demonstration Region of the THRHR highlights the connection with social engineering (focus on improving people’s livelihood and well-being) in managing nature reserves. Based on this program, this perspective attempts a holistic analysis of the strategic role of the THRHR, requirements for change, indices of change, and approaches to change. Long-term success of managing nature reserves requires effective combination of ecological conservation, economic development, and social progress. Thus, the philosophy of social engineering should be employed as a strategy to manage the THRHR.     

试论宜居性城市绿地的规划与建设

在生态城市、可持续发展等社会思潮的推动下,宜居性城市已逐渐成为新的城市发展观。我国的城市绿地建设也由过去的点缀性工作上升为城市基础设施建设的重点内容。但从城市的宜居性角度分析,我国城市绿地的规划与建设主要存在定位比较模糊,重综合公园和专类公园绿地、轻社区绿地,重绿地美化亮化效果、轻绿地生态效益,重整体性评价指标、轻宜居性指标等问题。立足于城市绿地规划的宜居性导向,提出了合理定位、绿地工程与主体工程“四同时”, 按自然规律进行城市绿地的建设与管理,突出社区性绿地,推行“绿径＋缀块”的绿地网络布局,强调绿地的“可达性＋开放性＋复合性”,以及适度兼顾绿地规模等宜居性城市绿地规划与建设的策略。     

真实大空间建筑物火灾场模拟研究

根据一真实火灾调查报告设定了真实大空间建筑物开口情况和材料燃烧性能参数,建立了FDS(Fire Dy-namics Simulator)物理模型。计算了火灾释热速率以及着火大空间烟气的温度场和一氧化碳浓度场的变化。研究结果表明:火灾短时间发生轰燃,随后发生回燃。轰燃是导致大量人员死亡的1个重要原因;回燃没有引起各点烟气的温度和一氧化碳浓度显著的提高,但对各点烟气的温度和一氧化碳浓度的保持起到较大作用。     

有限空间作业人员生理状态监测设备研制

为监测有限空间作业人员异常生理状况,进而保障有限空间作业安全与作业人员生命健康,在分析手腕处6个测量位置信号质量的基础上,获得最佳信号采集位置,并结合事故成因,从光电容积脉搏波(PPG)信号中提取心率、脉搏周期、振幅等生理参数作为评价指标,研制一款针对有限空间特殊作业人群的手腕处脉动生理信息监测设备;并进行系统稳定性测...     

Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China1

Wang, Jinxia, Jikun Huang, Lijuan Zhang, Qiuqiong Huang, and Scott Rozelle, 2010. Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(4): 665-685. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00439.x Abstract: In recent years China has attempted to reform water management by decentralizing water management responsibilities. The overall goal of our paper is to better understand the emergence of water user associations (WUAs) in China and assess if they are adhering to the practices spelled out by the Five Principles, a set of recommended practices that are supposed to lead to successful WUA operation. Using four sets of different types of villages to examine implementation and performance, we find that World Bank-supported WUA villages (“Bank villages”) can be thought of as operating mostly according to the Five Principles. For example, the Bank villages were endowed with a more reliable water supply; were set up and were operating with a relatively high degree of farmer participation; and leaders were more consultative and the process more formal. When WUAs are run according to the Five Principals, we show that WUAs increase water use efficiency. The study also provides evidence that there is a perception in the Bank villages that water management is improving in general and that there is less conflict both within the village and among villages. Perhaps more importantly, we find that the Bank’s effort to promote WUAs extended beyond their own project villages. The openness, consultative nature, and transparency found in the Bank WUAs are also found (albeit at a somewhat lower level) in the non-Bank WUA villages.     

Spatial Variation and Space Optimization of the Development of China＇s Circular Economy

China＇s circular economy is still at the initial stage, whose development has many difficulties and problems requir- ing immediate resolution theoretically and practically. Due to the differences of re...     

中国转型期水环境治理中的政府责任研究

水环境问题已成为制约我国长期可持续发展的主要瓶颈.如何有效治理水环境问题已引起全社会的普遍关注.本文在全面分析水环境公共物品属性以及水环境问题的客观现实的基础上,论证了政府承担治理水环境责任的必要性.进而对现阶段政府承担的水环境治理责任进行研究,归纳出其环境治理责任主要有财政责任、制度责任、监管责任和社会整合责任.然后对水环境治理中政府责任存在的现实问题进行深入分析,揭示其问题主要表现为:责任主体边界模糊、责任分布以“行政”为主导、责任履行中“越位”与“缺位”并存、责任种类中重直接投入轻间接引导.最后,提出水环境治理中的政府责任应该在坚持财权与事权统一、政府主导与责任分担统一、制度设计、监管与实施合理分离、政府引导与社会参与相结合的原则基础上,按照分类、分项、分级来构建转型期水环境治理中政府的应然责任框架体系.     

Perspectives on utilising Community Land Trusts as a vehicle for affordable housing provision

With lack of affordable housing being clearly identified as a social and economic exclusion issue for most communities, innovative ways of addressing this deficiency should be considered. Increasingly local communities are engaging with the possibility of direct provision themselves and discussion around this notion has profound implications for community cohesion. One community-based solution gaining popular support within communities, and with government ministers, is the Community Land Trust mechanism. This involves control and ownership of land to help ensure affordable housing is built and remains affordable in perpetuity for the community. The language and difficulties with definition of terms, together with the complexity of engaging relevant stakeholders in a changing policy and legislative framework can be problematic. This may lead to apparent lack of consensus within communities on the way forward. Perceptions of local housing issues and ways to address them are sometimes vague, sometimes diverse but rarely apathetic. This paper includes data from two case studies in North East England, which are examined using interviews with key players, as a means of seeking some practical solutions.