Pingyu Zhang

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.

Measuring social vulnerability to natural hazards in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China

Social vulnerability in this study represents the differences between the capacity to cope with natural hazards and disaster losses suffered within and between places. The assessment of social vulnerability has been recognized as a critical step in understanding natural hazard risks and enhancing effective response capabilities. This article presents an initial study of the social vulnerability of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (B-T-H) Region in China. The goal is to replicate and test the applicability of the United States Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) method in a Chinese cultural context. Thirty-nine variables adapted from the SoVI were collected in relation to two aspects: socioeconomic vulnerability and built environment vulnerability. Using factor analysis, seven factors were extracted from the variable set: the structure of social development, the level of economic and government financial strength, social justice and poverty, family structure, the intensity of space development, the status of residential housing and transportation, and building structure. Factor scores were summed to get the final SoVI scores and the most and least vulnerable units were identified and mapped. The highest social vulnerability is concentrated in the northwest of the study area. The least socially vulnerable areas are mainly distributed in the Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang core urban peripheral and central city areas of the prefecture-level cities. The results show that this method is a useful tool for revealing places that have a high level of vulnerability, in other words, areas which are more likely to face significant challenges in coping with a large-scale event. These findings could provide a scientific basis for policy making and the implementation of disaster prevention and mitigation in China.

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.

Measuring the sustainable urbanization potential of cities in Northeast China

Sustainable urbanization is not only an important research topic in the field of urbanization, but also the development direction of new-type urbanization. In this paper, we construct an index system to evaluate sustainable urbanization potential with the entropy method. Results show that potential values of sustainable urbanization in most cities are not high. Cities with higher sustainable urbanization potential values are mainly located in the central part of Northeast China. Environmental potential of sustainable urbanization is the main contributor to sustainable urbanization potential in Northeast China. There is no absolute relationship between city size and potential value, large city does not always mean greater potential. Correlation analysis shows that urbanization rate cannot reflect the sustainable urbanization potential of a region. Population urbanization is not the ultimate goal of sustainable urbanization. Unilateral pursue urbanization rate cannot improve the potential of sustainable urbanization. Towards sustainable urbanization, governments in Northeast China should revitalize local economy, pay more attention to the rural areas and develop low-carbon economy or ecological economy. Finally, this paper highlights the importance of choosing more integrated methodology or new models for measuring sustainable urbanization potential in view of the shortcomings of one method.

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.

Shopping mobility and travel carbon emissions among suburban residents: lessons from Shenyang city, China

Abstract This research examined the link between shopping mobility and travel CO2 emissions among suburban residents in Shenyang, China. We found suburban residents travelled 14.33 km and produced 1111.32 g of CO2 per shopping trip. The high emitters are mostly located at the urban fringe, travelling long distances and having a stronger dependency on cars. Furthermore, we used a binary logistic regression model to discover the main factors statistically significant in explaining private car usage. Evidence from this research indicates the need to formulate sustainable transport policies and reduce carbon emissions through compact urban forms and transit-oriented development.

Analyzing Industrial Structure Evolution of Old Industrial Cities Using Evolutionary Resilience Theory: A Case Study in Shenyang of China

The recession and revitalization of old industrial cities concerns urban industrial evolution and its characteristics. Based on the theory of evolutionary resilience, we developed an analytical framework for the industrial structure evolution of old industrial cities, and applied the framework to a case study in Shenyang. The following conclusions are drawn. First, since 1978, Shenyang’s industrial growth capacity has shown fluctuation between ‘contraction-expansion’. As the secondary industry has a much stronger expansionary and contractionary capacity for growth, this results in lacking stability leading to industrial structure transformation. Second, since 1999, the orientation towards a high-end manufacturing industry in Shenyang has weakened, and the evolution of the new and old growth path is characterized by low-end orientation. Third, since 2007, Shenyang’s industrial innovation output capacity has dropped sharply which has been significantly affected by scientific and technological personnel and enterprise-owed science and technology institutions and to a less extent by R&D expenditure. We applied the resilience theory to study the industrial evolution of an old industrial city, explored new study perspectives on industrial evolution and verified the applicability of the resilience theory. This paper provides a scientific reference for understanding the recent deceleration in economic growth in the Northeast old industrial base, and for exploring new paths toward revitalization.

Spatiotemporal Variations and Influencing Factors Analysis of PM2.5 Concentrations in Jilin Province, Northeast China

High PM2.5 concentrations and frequent air pollution episodes during late autumn and winter in Jilin Province have attracted attention in recent years. To describe the spatial and temporal variations of PM2.5 concentrations and identify the decisive influencing factors, a large amount of continuous daily PM2.5 concentration data collected from 33 monitoring stations over 2-year period from 2015 to 2016 were analyzed. Meanwhile, the relationships were investigated between PM2.5 concentrations and the land cover, socioeconomic and meteorological factors from the macroscopic perspective using multiple linear regressions (MLR) approach. PM2.5 concentrations across Jilin Province averaged 49 μg/m3, nearly 1.5 times of the Chinese annual average standard, and exhibited seasonal patterns with generally higher levels during late autumn and over the long winter than the other seasons. Jilin Province could be divided into three kinds of sub-regions according to 2-year average PM2.5 concentration of each city. Most of the spatial variation in PM2.5 levels could be explained by forest land area, cultivated land area, urban greening rate, coal consumption and soot emissions of cement manufacturing. In addition, daily PM2.5 concentrations had negative correlation with daily precipitation and positive correlation with air pressure for each city, and the spread and dilution effect of wind speed on PM2.5 was more obvious at mountainous area in Jilin Province. These results indicated that coal consumption, cement manufacturing and straw burning were the most important emission sources for the high PM2.5 levels, while afforestation and urban greening could mitigate particulate air pollution. Meanwhile, the individual meteorological factors such as precipitation, air pressure, wind speed and temperature could influence local PM2.5 concentration indirectly.