On the confluence of city living,energy saving behaviours and direct residential energy consumption

The purpose of this study is to shed light on the connection between income, dwelling type, tenure type and city living, in terms of both a household’s energy saving behaviours and direct residential energy consumption. This study employs data from the Household Energy Consumption Survey, Australia. Using a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) system of equations the results reveal some key mechanisms which may allow householders to realise lower levels of energy consumption and hence lower carbon emissions. The results indicate that there are characteristics unique to living in a city that are linked to higher levels of direct residential energy consumption. On a number of measures (e.g. household income, tenure type and dwelling type), the results point to a lower likelihood of engaging in energy saving behaviours in cities. Also, depending on the number of energy saving behaviours, these actions have the potential to more than offset higher direct residential energy consumption of householders residing in separate houses. Coupled with these findings renters, a more vulnerable social group, are found to be significantly disadvantaged, suffering from a much lower adaptive capacity. Specifically, householders who rent their home are 77% less likely to have solar electricity. A result which may reflect differences in access to opportunity. Further, householders who rent are less likely to engage in energy saving actions. A finding which may reflect difference in ontological security and the greater psychological burden associated with undertaking energy saving behaviours (a barrier) borne by renters not shared with home owners.     

The water vulnerability of metro and megacities: An investigation of structural determinants

Urban areas are becoming increasingly subject to and vulnerable to water‐related natural disasters. Urban areas are a kind of socio‐ecological system wherein the human development dynamics co‐evolve with the natural dynamics. Most of the literature is focused on the impact of natural disasters on human development; we evaluate the impacts of human development on natural disasters and present an analysis of this phenomenon in the context of megacities. The approach is exploratory and begins with the construction of a database on the 595 existing megacities in the world. Multifactor analysis is then used to determine the main characteristics of these megacities. Finally, three structural components (maturity, anthropization and centrality) are identified and then correlated with data on water‐related hazards, distinguishing groups of cities according to their structure and factors of vulnerability to water‐related risks.     

Making cities resilient to climate change: identifying “win–win” interventions

Urbanisation is truly a global phenomenon. Starting at 39% in 1980, the urbanisation level rose to 52% in 2011. Ongoing rapid urbanisation has led to increase in urban greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Urban climate change risks have also increased with increase in climate-induced extreme weather events and more low-income urban dwellers living in climate sensitive locations. Despite increased emissions, including GHGs and heightened climate change vulnerability, climate mitigation and adaptation actions are rare in the cities of developing countries. Cities are overwhelmed with worsening congestion, air pollution, crime, waste management, and unemployment problems. Lack of resources and capacity constraints are other factors that discourage cities from embarking on climate change mitigation and adaptation pathways. Given the multitude of problems faced, there is simply no appetite for stand-alone urban climate change mitigation and adaptation policies and programmes. Urban mitigation and adaptation goals will have to be achieved as co-benefits of interventions targeted at solving pressing urban problems and challenges. The paper identifies administratively simple urban interventions that can help cities solve some of their pressing service delivery and urban environmental problems, while simultaneously mitigating rising urban GHG emissions and vulnerability to climate change.     

Interaction Between the Environment and Animals in Urban Settings: Integrated and Participatory Planning

In urban ecosystems, the ecological system has become completely unbalanced; this, in turn, has led to an increase in well-known problems such as air pollution, ground pollution, and water pollution. This imbalance has also led to the growth and spread of pathogens harmful to man, animals, and plants. Urban sustainability indicators, both global and local, also “indicate” the percentage of population, but these refer only to the human population, not the animal population. Cities need good waste, water, and air management, effective traffic planning, and good zoning of businesses, crafts, and services; over and above these activities, cities also need for planning to take into account the existence of pets (dogs, cats, and etc.) and nonpet animals (insects, birds, mice, etc.). Cities tend to be designed around humans and “on a human scale,” without taking into account the fact that a huge animal population is living side by side with people. That explains why overcrowding tends to go hand in hand with urbanization; all these populations, including humans, need to adapt to new spaces and often need to drastically change their behavior. This is a fact that must be included when drafting sustainable city plans. The supposed strategy is that of “integrated-participatory” control of the interactions between the environment and animals in the cities. Strategy will focus on the development of integrated approaches and tools for environment and animal management in the context of urban settings. This will require such specific methods as ecological balance sheets and ecoplans for the planning, management, and control of the interrelation among environment, animal, and public health. The objective is to develop a better understanding of urban biodiversity and of urban ecosystem functioning, in order to understand and minimize the negative impacts of human activities on them. The research will focus on assessing and forecasting changes in urban biodiversity, structure, function, and dynamics of urban ecosystems, with relationships among society, economy, biodiversity, and habitats.     

Scientist and policy-maker response types and times in suburban watersheds

Differences between scientist and policy-maker response types and times, or the “how” and “when” of action, constrain effective water resource management in suburbanizing watersheds. Policy-makers are often rushed to find a single policy that can be applied across an entire, homogeneous, geopolitical region, whereas scientists undertake multiyear research projects to appreciate the complex interactions occurring within heterogeneous catchments. As a result, watershed management is often practiced with science and policy out of synch. Meanwhile, development pressures in suburban watersheds create changes in the social and physical fabric and pose a moving target for science and policy. Recent and anticipated advances in the scientific understanding of urbanized catchment hydrology and pollutant transport suggest that management should become increasingly sensitive to spatial heterogeneities in watershed features, such as soil types, terrain slopes, and seasonal watertable profiles. Toward this end, policy-makers should encourage funding scientific research that characterizes the impacts of these watershed heterogeneities within a geopolitical zoning and development framework.     

我国工业减废降碳协同增效路径探索——以食品制造业为例

减污降碳协同增效是实现美丽中国建设和“双碳”目标的必然选择,固体废物污染防治是实现减污降碳协同增效的重要治理途径之一。但在现有制度框架下,对减废降碳协同推进的理解与认识仍较为有限,减废降碳协同增效路径尚处于探索阶段。本研究以深圳市食品制造业为例,从生命周期视角量化该行业及其分行业全链条的碳排放,并基于SWOT分析,对该行业减废降碳协同增效路径进行初步探索。研究结果显示,2012—2020年深圳市食品制造业碳排放总量和强度均显著下降,10类分行业全链条碳排放范围为0.19~10.86 tCO₂e·t⁻¹产品,其中,碳排放最高的为糕点、面包制造分行业,最低的为蜜饯制造分行业。此外,SWOT分析结果显示食品制造业减废降碳协同增效可以通过资源循环利用、优化供应链管理实现,但目前存在行业供应链分散、企业积极性不高和植物基蛋白技术体系不完善等问题,需要抓住“双碳”目标和“无废城市”建设的机遇,加快做好顶层设计,构建行业减废降碳协同增效政策体系,推动关键技术绿色低碳转型,多措并举实现食品制造行业减废降碳协同增效。该研究不仅为食品制造业实现“双碳”目标提供理论依据,同时为工业减废降碳协同增效路径的探索提供方法指导。     

Adaptive evolution in urban ecosystems

Urban ecologists have demonstrated that cities are functioning ecosystems. It follows then that species living in these contexts should participate in and experience the same suite of biological processes, including evolution, that have occupied scientists for centuries in more “natural” contexts. In fact, urban ecosystems with myriad novel contexts, pressures, and species rosters provide unprecedentedly potent evolutionary stimuli. Here, we present the case for studying adaptive evolution in urban settings. We then review and synthesize techniques into a coherent approach for studying adaptive evolution in urban settings that combines observations of phenotypic divergence, measurements of fitness benefits of novel genetically based phenotypes, and experimental manipulations of potential drivers of adaptation. We believe that studying evolution in urban contexts can provide insights into fundamental evolutionary biology questions on rate, direction, and repeatability of evolution, and may inform species and ecosystem service conservation efforts.     

沈阳郊区城镇的环境质量特点--浅析新城子区的环境特点

我国北方有众多中小城镇 ,其环境质量大都有一定特点。本文根据多年的环境监测资料 ,以沈阳郊区新城子区年 ,季间的环境质量变化 ,研究其污染特性和特点 ,分析不同时空变化的环境质量。争取中小城镇的环境综合治理提供技术依据。大气污染主要集中在冬季 ,燃煤污染仍然是主要污染来源 ;水环境污染以城镇生活污水为主 ,而且环境水的缺少又给环境带来了巨大的压力     

Urban sustainability science: prospects for innovations through a system’s perspective,relational and transformations’ approaches: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Urbanization

In this perspective, we present how three initial landmark papers on urban sustainability research contributed to the larger sustainability science scholarship and paved the way for the continued development of urban sustainability research. Based on this, we propose three conceptual innovation pathways to trace the progression of urban sustainability science: First, urban sustainability from a system’s perspective, meaning that urban sustainability requires integrative solutions to work in the tripled social-ecological-technological system setting. Second, urban sustainability from a (people and place) relational perspective, meaning urban sustainability is a contested and dynamic social-ecological contract of cities. As a governance mission, urban sustainability requires evidence from research that can inform coordinated action to bridge people, places, meanings, visions and ecosystems. Third, urban sustainability from a transformative science perspective, meaning that for urban sustainability to be achieved and progressed, deep transformations are required in systems, relations, policies and governance approaches. Our proposal for the future of urban sustainability science centres on emphasizing the relevance and policy applicability of systems’ thinking, value and place thinking and transitions/transformations thinking as fundamental to how knowledge is co-produced by research science, policy and society and becomes actionable.     

城市危险化学品事故统计分析与对策

通过对2002-2004年发生在中国内地12个主要城市的435起非爆炸品类危险化学品事故统计分析,发现:(1)危险化学品事故总体呈进一步发展趋势;(2)处于城市生活区的化工企业发生危险化学品事故对城市的影响最大;(3)危险化学品在运输阶段,发生事故的比例最高;(4)民用燃气是造成使用阶段危险化学品事故的主要危险源,而人为失误和违规操作是民用燃气类危险化学品事故的主要原因.在统计分析基础上提出了相应的对策.