Kevin Lo

Measuring sustainable urbanization in China: a case study of the coastal Liaoning area

The global urbanization process poses a serious challenge to achieving sustainable development. The significance of sustainable urbanization has been increasingly appreciated, yet, very little empirical evidence has been provided for this prospect. In this paper, we use the Human Development Index and the ecological footprint to measure the sustainability of the coastal Liaoning area. We then use the quadrant map approach to determine the relationship between sustainability and urbanization. The results show that the coastal area has made progress in sustainable urbanization in the social dimension. Improvement in the environmental dimension has been dynamic. Our results indicate that sustainable urbanization is a dynamic, multi-dimensional progress that requires regular monitoring and reevaluation. This paper also highlights the importance of choosing more complete indicators for measuring the sustainability of urbanization, as no single model or measurement is sufficient for quantifying the different dimensions of sustainability.

Urban carbon governance and the transition toward low-carbon urbanism: review of a global phenomenon

This paper reviews the literature on urban carbon governance, which has become a burgeoning area of research. Since the early 1990s, the field has grown and diversified geographically, theoretically and methodologically, and now encompasses a wide range of topics, including governing techniques, limitations and challenges, central-local relations, municipal networks, network governance and grassroots initiatives. Given the increasingly global nature of low-carbon urbanism and governance, these studies have expanded our knowledge on the complexity and plurality of the role of cities in addressing climate change. This review serves as a consolidated guide for researchers, policymakers and students in this field.

Campus Sustainability in Chinese Higher Education Institutions: Focuses, Motivations and Challenges.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the focuses, motivations and challenges of achieving campus sustainability in Chinese higher education institutions (HEIs). Design/methodology/approach – A multisite case study was conducted in Changchun City, Jilin, where eight HEIs of various types were examined. Structured interviews with school managers, students and government officials were accompanied with analysis of relevant documents. Findings – The focuses of sustainability among the studied HEIs were on water and energy conservation and on non-technical initiatives. The focuses can be explained by motivations and challenges. The HEIs are motivated by government and financial pressures and face challenges in limited accessibility to funding. The reliance of non-technical initiatives has negatively impacted student welfare and has become unpopular among students. Practical implications – The government is advised to increase funding to HEIs in relation to sustainability and to make the funding mo...

Conceptualizing and measuring economic resilience of resource-based cities: Case study of Northeast China

This paper develops a conceptual model and an indicator system for measuring economic resilience of resource-based cities based on the theory of evolutionary resilience and the related concepts of persistence, adaptation, and transformation. Nineteen resource- based cities in Northeast China were analyzed using the indicator system. The results showed that Liaoning and Jilin provinces had higher economic resilience than Heilongjiang Province. Panjin, Benxi, and Anshan in Liaoning Province were the top three cities, while Shuangyashan and other coal-based cities in Heilongjiang Province ranked last. Metals- and petroleum-based cities had significantly higher resilience than coal-based cities. The differences in persistence, adaptability, transformation, and resilience among resource-based cities decreased since the introduction of the Northeast Revitalization Strategy in 2003. Forestry-based cities improved the most in terms of resilience, followed by metals-based and multiple-resource cities; however, resilience dropped for coal-based cities, and petroleum-based cities falling the most. The findings illustrate the importance and the way to develop a differentiated approach to improve resilience among resource-based cities.

Age-differentiated impact of land appropriation and resettlement on landless farmers: a case study of Xinghua village, China

Land appropriation and subsequent resettlement of rural inhabitants are central to urbanisation in China. Often, the result is the impoverishment of landless farmers, who are a principal source of social unrest in the country. In the literature, landless farmers are often wrongly assumed to be a homogeneous group. In contrast, this paper presents the age-differentiated experiences of land appropriation and resettlement among farmers. Using the case study of Xinghua village in China, and by reference to data collected via surveys and interviews, we show that even within a single community, there can be significant age-related differences in terms of compensation, livelihood changes, income, living conditions, and satisfaction. Older farmers tend to receive more compensation, and the negative impact of land appropriation is felt most acutely by middle-aged farmers. Viewed from a broader theoretical perspective, this study demonstrates the importance of understanding the impact of land appropriation and resettlement and shows how this impact is distributed unevenly across the affected communities.

Deliberating on the energy cap in China: the key to a low-carbon future?

During a State Council meeting in January 2013, the subject of capping China’s annual energy consumption in 2015 at 4 billion tons of coal equivalent (tce) was resurrected. The energy cap was first proposed in 2011 to the slow growth in energy use. There were many reasons to control energy consumption, including to reduce carbon emissions, reduce rising dependency on imported fuel and maintain a cleaner environment. However, the drafting of the energy cap was placed on hold due to concerns over its potential negative impacts on China’s economy, which is energy and carbon intensive. Arguments against the energy cap typically take the following form: China is undergoing rapid industrialization, which necessarily results in higher energy consumption; therefore, a restrictive energy cap would be detrimental to China’s industrialization progress and, ultimately, its economic development. From a geographic perspective, this argument against the energy cap is overly simplistic. Not all areas of China are industrializing, as coastal industries are beginning to move inland. Therefore, the energy cap will affect the industrializing and comparatively poor inland provinces much more than the wealthy but deindustrializing coastal provinces. Despite its impact on inland development, the energy cap is necessary to prevent the inland provinces from committing to carbon-intensive investments – an act that will lock China into highcarbon growth for the coming decades. The present article argues that the industrial relocation represents a golden opportunity for low-carbon development in inland China, and that the conflict between inland development and carbon management can be resolved by increasing central government investment in renewable energy and exempting renewable energy from the energy cap.

Spatial patterns of car sales and their socio-economic attributes in China

Using data from the Economic Advisory Center of the State Information Center (SIC), we examined the spatial patterns of car sales in China at the prefectural level in 2012. We first analyzed the spatial distributions of car sales of different kinds of automakers (foreign automakers, Sino-foreign joint automakers, and Chinese automakers), and then identified spatial clusters using the local Moran’s indexes. Location quotient analysis was applied to examine the relative advantage of each type of automaker in the local markets. To explain the variations of car sales across cities, we collected several socioeconomic variables and conducted regression analyses. Further, factor analysis was used to extract independent variables to avoid the problem of multicollinearity. By incorporating a spatial lag or spatial error in the models, we calibrated our spatial regression models to address the spatial dependence problem. The analytical results show that car sales varied significantly across cities in China, and most of the cities with higher car sales were the developed cities. Different automakers exhibit diverse spatial patterns in terms of car sales volume, spatial clusters, and location quotients. The scale and incomes factor were extracted and verified as the two most significant and positive factors that shape the spatial distributions of car sales, and together with the spatial effect, explained most of the variations of car sales across cities.

Relationship between built environment, socio-economic factors and carbon emissions from shopping trip in Shenyang City, China

Promoting active travel behavior and decreasing transport-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have become a priority in many Chinese cities experiencing rapid urban sprawl and greater automobile dependence. However, there are few studies that holistically examine the physical and social factors associated with travel CO2 emissions. Using a survey of 1525 shoppers conducted in Shenyang, China, this study estimated shopping-related travel CO2 emissions and examined how the built environment and individual socioeconomic characteristics contribute to shopping travel behavior and associated CO2 emissions. We found that, firstly, private car trips generate nearly eight times more carbon emissions than shopping trips using public transport, on average. Second, there was significant spatial autocorrelation with CO2 emissions per trip, and the highest carbon emissions were clustered in the inner suburbs and between the first and second circumferential roads. Third, shopping travel CO2 emissions per trip were negatively correlated with several built environment features including population density, the quantity of public transport stations, road density, and shop density. They were also found to be significantly related to the individual socio-economic characteristics of car ownership, employment status, and education level using a multinomial logistic regression model. These empirical findings have important policy implications, assisting in the development of measures that contribute to the sustainability of urban transportation and meet carbon mitigation targets.

Energy-Related Carbon Emissions of China’s Model Environmental Cities

This paper identifies three types of model environmental cities in China and examines their levels of energy-related carbon emissions using a bottom-up accounting system. Model environmental cities are identified as those that have been recently awarded official recognition from the central government for their efforts in environmental protection. The findings show that, on average, the Low-Carbon Cities have lower annual carbon emissions, carbon intensities, and per capita emissions than the Eco-Garden Cities and the Environmental Protection Cities. Compared internationally, the Eco-Garden Cities and the Environmental Protection Cities have per capita emissions that are similar to those of American cities whereas per capita emissions from the Low-Carbon Cities are similar to those of European cities. The result indicates that addressing climate change is not a priority for some model environmental cities. Policy changes are needed to prioritize climate mitigation in these cities, considering that climate change is a cross-cutting environmental issue with wide-ranging impact.

Approaching Neighborhood Democracy from a Longitudinal Perspective: An Eighteen-Year Case Study of a Homeowner Association in Beijing

Neighborhood democracy was introduced into urban China in the early 1990s as a way to manage the social conflicts associated with the housing reform. Based on a case study of Dragon Villas, Beijing, this paper explores the causes, processes, and consequences of neighborhood democracy at the microlevel from a longitudinal perspective. Three insights are particularly noteworthy. First, the decrease in rental revenue and occupancy rate and the arrival of Chinese owner-occupiers contributed to the emergence of neighborhood democracy in Dragon Villas. Second, the establishment of a homeowner association, far from ending in the conclusion of neighborhood democratization, was only a first step. Furthermore, conflicts between the developer and the homeowners, and among homeowners, played a crucial role in lengthening the process of neighborhood democratization. Third, democratic self-governance resulted in improved governance, a more diverse built form that articulates individuation through consumption, and changes that reflect the importance of privacy and exclusivity.