Downtown Retailing Development Under Suburbanization —— A Case Study of Beijing

The role of retailing has diminished in the center of cities of Western countries since its heyday in the 1920s. This trend was caused by violent transformations in the economic, social and locational contexts which involve resi- dential suburbanization, as well as new forms of commercial development out of town. As far as transforming China is concerned, the downtown retailing center has also come to turning point of development in the context of suburbaniza- tion. Based on the survey of Beijing residents’ shopping behavior, the present research tends to making clear the actual change and development problem of downtown retailing center. Combining with the macro retailing environment, re- lated influencing factors are further discussed too. Study results show that downtown retailing still plays an important part in resident’s shopping activity. However, with rapid urban sprawl, retailing in urban center has been greatly threatened by booming out-of-town commerce. In the course of such spatial change, the suburbanization of resident, the prevalence of new commercial forms and the change of consumers’ life style all have exerted their own pressure on downtown retailing. But for the special socioeconomic background of development and the support of government policy, it will still keep its vitality of retailing for a long period of time.     

Urban redevelopment,gentrification and gentrifiers in post-reform inland China: A case study of Chengdu,China

Since its process evolved in recent years, the definition of gentrification has expanded to cover different forms of social upgrading, new spaces and new actors around the world. Studies on gentrification in Chinese cities began to take off in the 2000 s. However, they all mainly focused on the newly emerging global cities and there has been a lack of investigation on provincial cities. Furthermore, discussions on gentrifiers′ profiles and their motivations for housing choice are absent from literature on Chinese gentrification. Therefore, this paper aims to assess the relevance of the broad definition of gentrification in provincial Chinese cities through empirical research on urban redevelopment projects in Chengdu, and to examine the characteristics of gentrifiers(as new incoming residents) in it. The results show the rationality of gentrification processes as urban redevelopment in Chengdu, and reveal original outcomes on the corresponding gentrifiers′ profiles and the motivations behind their housing choice, which are different from the general features of gentrifiers in standard Western gentrification research.     

Telecentres in mountain regions — A Peruvian case study of the impact of information and communication technologies on remoteness and exclusion

Communities in developing country mountain areas, in part due to their remoteness, find themselves excluded from social, political and economic systems; and excluded from access to resources. This paper aims to study the impact of information and communication technologies （ICTs） on remoteness and exclusion. It utilises two models - the resource movement framework, and the ＂information chain＂ - to analyse a telecentre in one district of mountainous Huancavelica, Peru＇s poorest region, set in the high Andes. It finds ICTs enabling new and positive resource flows for the two key user groups： teenaged school students and young farmers. These help to maintain social networks. They also support information searches that have improved agricultural practice where other information chain resources have been available. But non-use and ineffective use of the telecentre are found where information chain resources are lacking. ICTs have some impacts on intangible elements of remoteness. In this particular example, they also offer access to some previously-excluded resources. But they have not really addressed the systematic exclusions faced by mountain communities. And they so far appear to be a technology of inequality; favouring those residents who begin with better resource endowments. The paper concludes by offering some recommendations for mountain ICT project practice.     

Evolution process of urban spatial pattern in Hubei Province based on DMSP/OLS nighttime light data

This paper intends to investigate the urban spatial patterns of Hubei Province and its evolution from three different perspectives: urban nodes, urban connections and urban clusters. The research adopts nighttime light imagery of cities in Hubei Province, the viewpoint of ′point-axis-area′ in the ′point-axis system′ theory, and employs light index model, gravity model and social network analysis. The findings are as follows: 1) In terms of urban nodes, the urbanization process of Hubei has been carried out mainly on the basis of external expansion rather than internal increasing. The polarization trend of urban connection network is strengthening. 2) As for urban connections, the estimation of urban connections using light index model is capable of containing various actual flow, and the connections are getting increasingly closer. 3) In regard to urban groups, seven urban groups of varying sizes have formed. On that basis, three stable and relatively independent urban groups as the centers, namely Wuchang, Yichang and Xiangyang emerge as well. But the structures of ′Wuhan Metropolitan Area′, ′Yichang-Jingzhou-Jingmen City Group′ and ′Xiangyang-Shiyen-Suizhou City Group′, which are defined by local development strategy in Hubei Province, are different from the above three urban groups.     

Spatio-temporal dynamic of quality of life of residents,Northeast China

Quality of life(QOL) is a hotspot issue that has attracted increasing attention from the Chinese Government and scholars, it is also a vital issue that should be addressed during the cause of ′establishing overall well-off society′. Northeast China is one of the most import old industrial bases in China, however, the industrial structure of heavy chemical industry and the development mode of ′production first, living last′ have leaded to series of social problems, which have also become a serious bottleneck to social stability and economic sustainable development. Through applying the methods of BP neural network, exploratory spatial data analysis(ESDA) and spatial regression model, this paper examines the space-time dynamics of QOL of the residents in Northeast China. We first investigate the indexes of QOL of the residents and then use ESDA methods to visualize its space-time relationship. We have found a spatial agglomeration of QOL of the residents in middle-southern Liaoning Province, central Jilin Province and Harbin-Qiqihar-Daqing area of Heilongjiang Province. Two third of the counties are low-low spatial correlation, and the correlative type of about 60% of the prefecture level areas keeps stable, indicating QOL of the residents in Northeast China shows a certain character of path dependence or spatial locked. We have also found that economic strength and development levels of service industry have positive and obvious effect on QOL of the residents, while the effect of such indexes as the social service level and the proportion of the tertiary industries are less.     

CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS：CHINA‘S URBAN GOVERNANCE

Chinaˊs urban reforms have brought social progress and development,but a comprehensive national system of social welfare(for example,unemployment insurance,pensions,medical care and public housing)for new migrants from rural areas is lacking.One of the most remarkable changes in Chinese cities in the last decade was a change in so-cial“equality“,with the rise of new poverty both in individual communities and some social groups in urban society.Howev-er,there is little social assistance and public infrastructure for the migrants.Governments or communities or individual should pay attention to the control of new urban poverty and new slums.This paper consider that it is necessary to launch a successful policy,which include mainly:1)accommodating urban growth through low-cost investment projects;2)ur-ban economy depends heavily on successful macroeconomic policy;3)to broaden the three channels linking adjustment to the incidence of urban poverty;4)to restructure urban economic based on the high or new technology;5)to coordi-nate relationship between urban economic growth and environment management for sustainable development of Beijingˊs metropolitan fringe.     

Spatial Pattern of Long-term Residence in the Urban Floating Population of China and its Influencing Factors

Exploring long-term residence among the urban floating population is crucial to understanding urban growth in China, particularly since the 2008 financial crisis. By using China Migrants Dynamic Survey data for 2012–2014, China Labor-force Dynamics Survey data for 2014–2016, and macroscale urban matched data, we analyzed the spatial pattern of long-term residential behavior in China's urban floating population in 2012–2016 and developed an urban spatial utility equilibrium model containing ‘macro' urban factors and‘micro' individual and household factors to explain the pattern. The results first revealed that long-term residence is defined as ≥ 6 yr for the urban floating population in China. Second, members of this population are more likely to be long-term residents of the megacities in the three urban agglomerations in eastern China as well as of small and medium-sized cities in western and northeastern China, whereas short-term residence is more likely in cities in central China and near the three urban agglomerations. Third, urban population density and housing prices, both have a significant U-shaped effect, are main factors affecting the spatial pattern of long-term residence.     

Influencing factors for formation of urban and rural spatial structure in metropolis fringe area—Taking Shuangliu County of Chengdu in China as a case

With rapid urbanization process, the pace of urban sprawl has been quickened and most metropolises have experienced expansions in leaps and bounds in suburbanization, which has greatly changed the urban and rural spatial structure of the metropolis fringe area. In this paper, Shuangliu County is taken as a case, since it is a typical fringe area of Chengdu Metropolis. Based on Landsat TM images of Chengdu City and Shuangliu County obtained in 1985, 2000 and 2004, characteristics of urban and rural spatial structure in Shuangliu County were analyzed, such as core-periphery spatial structure and some obvious integration trends. Then the influencing factors for the formation of urban and rural spatial structure were identified, including some natural, social, economic and political factors. According to the discussion of this paper, Shuangliu County is undergoing a key transition and reform period. Its formation of urban and rural spatial structure was affected not only by such common factors as the location, natural background, industrial transition, migration, etc., but also by some unique factors such as city planning and policy guidance, which played an important role in accelerating its uneven spatial structure. The understanding of the role of the influencing factors would be useful for carrying out spatial management and development planning of metropolis fringe area.     

SPATIAL STRUCTURE EVOLUTION OF SYSTEM OF RECREATION BUSINESS DISTRICT ——A Case of Suzhou City

The growing attention on urban tourism was very widespread. There are two angles to study urban tourism: supply-side and demand-side. And the supply-side of the tourism remains very important. The RBD (Recreation Business District) is a useful framework to understand the components of urban tourism and how they fit together. The paper begins with a review on the RBD and the spatial structure of tourism in urban areas and then attempts to develop a more general understanding of the spatial structure evolution of RBDs in a tourist-historic city—Suzhou. The spatial structures and functions of the RBDs in Suzhou are examined, based on field observations, interviews with city officials and industry leaders, and a review of available documents. The urban tourism of Suzhou has developed in a range of contexts, that various types of RBDs have emerged as a result of different urban development strategies. The spatial structure has evolved from the past “Single-cored Structure“ to “Double-cored Structure“ at present, and then to “Chain Structure“ in the future. The spatial form and evolution of RBD in Suzhou are closely relative with its urban spatial expansion. Urban area dispersal is the prerequisite of the emergence of the RBD. Planning and constructing the RBD becomes a new impetus to urban growth or renewal. Finally, a number of strategies for planning and developing the RBD in Suzhou are suggested. The different RBDs should adopt different strategies.Intensification can be the possible strategy for the RBDs in the ancient city. Accreting with the urban theme park or engrafting on the Jinji Lake is suggested respectively for the RBD in the Suzhou New District and the Suzhou Indus-trial Park.     

Changing spatial and structural patterns of non-agricultural activities in outward-moving Beijing urban fringe

As responses to metropolitan suburbanization and rural urbanization,the formation and evolution of urban fringes should be understood against the background of overall economic development and spatial reconstruction of entire metropolises.At the same time,however,endogenous interactions between industrial structure and spatial patterns of non-agricultural activities are also worthy of scholarly attention.Since the 1980s,studies on urban fringes in China have been restricted by the lack of micro-level data.This paper investigates the spatial expansion and structural evolution of the urban fringe by taking the case of Beijing and uses systematic firm-level data in 1996 and 2001 from the National Census of Basic Units.The diversity of distribution patterns across industrial sectors brings about two interrelated results.On the one hand,structural adjustment of non-agricultural industries promotes the expansion and spatial evolution of the urban fringe.On the other hand,the stability and dynamics of industrial structure coexist in the moving urban fringe.This study also reveals that the outward-moving urban fringe is the optimal location for manufacturing,especially heavy manufacturing,as well as traditional producer and consumer services.However,industries with spatial stickiness such as tourism and sports have not moved with the fringe.Most advanced services remain concentrated in the city center.The authors argue that it is essential for understanding and managing urban fringes to take into account spatial evolution and industrial structural adjustment together with their interaction with each other.     

Travel Behaviours of Sharing Bicycles in the Central Urban Area Based on Geographically Weighted Regression: The Case of Guangzhou,China

Mobile information and communication technologies(MICTs) have fully penetrated everyday life in smart societies;this has greatly compressed time, space, and distance, and consequently, reshaped residents’ travel behaviour patterns. As a new mode of shared mobility, the sharing bicycle offers a variety of options for the daily travel of urban residents. Extant studies have mainly examined the travel characteristics and influencing factors of public bicycles with piles, while the travel patterns for sharing bicycles and their driving mechanisms have been largely ignored. Using one week’s travel data for Mobike, this study investigated the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of sharing bicycle travel behaviours in the central urban area of Guangzhou, China;furthermore, it identified the influences of built environment density factors on sharing bicycle travel behaviours based on the geographically weighted regression method. Obvious morning and evening peaks were observed in the sharing bicycle travel patterns for both weekdays and weekends. The old urban area, which had a high degree of mixed function, dense road networks, and cycling-friendly built environments, was the main travel area that attracted sharing bicycles on both weekdays and weekends. Furthermore, factors including the point of interest(POI) for the density of public transport stations, the functional mixing degree, and the density of residential POIs significantly affected residents’ travel behaviours. These findings could enrich discourse regarding shared mobility with a Chinese case characterised by rapidly developing MICTs and also provide references to local authorities for improving slow traffic environments.     

RESIDENTS＇ ATTITUDES TO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN ANCIENT VILLAGE RESORTS——Case Study of World Cultural Heritage of Xidi and Hong Villages

Tourism development surely has social, economic and environmental impacts on tourist destinations.The study on resorts residents‘ attitudes can help understand the nature of tourism development and the extent to which it may influence on tourist destinations. By now, researches on residents‘ perception and attitudes are plenteous in the international circle and achievements are great, yet few are found in developing countries. As a most representative cultural tourist destination, World Cultural Heritage-Xidi and Hong villages in Yi County of Anhui Province, are drawing the attention of both tourists and academic circles. This article, taking Xidi and Hong villages as examples, seeks to analyze ancient village residents‘ attitudes towards tourism impacts and then tries further to explore the connection between tourism development and residents‘ attitudes. Both qualitative and quantitative surveys are applied in the exploratory investigation into local residents‘ attitudes of tourism impacts. Based on abundant face-to-face interviews with the local households, tourism enterprises concerned, local government and tourists from July to August of 2002, we are able to have a better understanding of local residents‘ attitudes to community life, and perception of tourism impacts on society, economy and environment. By this we can promote domestic study on resorts residents‘ attitudes, and provide some theoretical grounds for establishing tourism development planning and perfect community participation system at tourist destinations.     

GIS-BASED ANALYSIS OF URBAN LAND-USE CHANGES—A Case Study of Haizhu District of Guangzhou City, China

This paper describes a GIS-based spatial analysis method that combines qualitative analysis and quantita-tive analysis to characterize land-use patterns and predict the trend of future land-use changes in Halzhu District ofGuangzhou City, China. Spatial technique is introduced to manage land-use data and derive information of land-usechanges. Through the case study for the selected area, it is demonstrated that the method and technique introduced in thepaper can be effectively utilized for the analysis of urban land-use changes. Based upon this analysis, the paper also pro-vides discussions and recommendation on urban land-use planning, urban planning and land management. Both land-usemaps of Haizhu District of Guangzhou in 1995 and 1997 and the remote sensing images of 1999 are utilized in the cur-rent research. It is convenient to get various statistic data and to combine attribute data with spatial data so as to analyzeland-use changes in a geographic context, which is especially suitable for the need of urban construction department, ur-ban management department and urban planning department.     

EVOLUTION OF URBAN SYSTEM IN NEW ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES AND PLANNING COUNTERMEASURES

As one kind of organizational relation of regional space, in essence, urban system is the spatial reflection of the deep social economic movement.(HERZOG,1991). Since the 1980s, by means of the globalization of economy and high technology and the particular spatial effect, the evolution of urban system has taken on one brand-new landscape different from the traditional one, which also raise new concepts and requirements for urban system planning. Meanwhile, it′s no doubt that active plannin…     

Review of studies on land use and land cover change in Nepal

Land use and land cover(LULC) in Nepal has undergone constant change over the past few decades due to major changes caused by anthropogenic and natural factors and their impacts on the national and regional environment and climate.This comprehensive review of past and present studies of land use and land cover change(LUCC) in Nepal concentrates on cropland, grassland, forest, snow/glacier cover and urban areas. While most small area studies have gathered data from different sources and research over a short period, across large areas most historical studies have been based on aerial photographs such as the Land Resource Mapping Project in 1986. The recent trend in studies in Nepal is to focus on new concepts and techniques to analyze LULC status on the basis of satellite imagery, with the help of geographic information system and remote sensing tools. Studies based on historical documents, and historical and recent spatial data on LULC, have clearly shown an increase in cropland areas in Nepal,and present results indicating different rates and magnitudes. A decrease in forest and snow/glacier coverage is reported in most studies. Little information is available on grassland and urban areas from past research. The unprecedented rate of urbanization in Nepal has led to significant urban land changes over the past 30 years. Meanwhile, long term historical LUCC research in Nepal is required for extensive work on spatially explicit reconstructions on the basis of historical and primary data collection, including LULC archives and drivers for future change.     

Evolution of Jobs-housing Spatial Relationship in Beijing Metropolitan Area:A Job Accessibility Perspective

With the urban expansion and economic restructuring, the jobs-housing relationship has become an important issue in studies on urban spatial structure. This paper employed a job accessibility model, which is an evaluation instrument to measure the jobs-housing relationship in Beijing Metropolitan Area from a job accessibility perspective. The results indicate that the population in the central city is declining, whereas the population in the suburbs is consistently growing and forming new population centers. However, the distribution pattern of employment is still highly centralized. Job accessibility varies in different locations, but the inner-city areas(within the Third Ring road) have seen improved job accessibility over time while job accessibility in the suburbs(especially outside the Fourth Ring road) has decreased, and this has led it to become a primary area of residential and employment mismatch. At the same time, the new towns in the outer suburbs have not yet demonstrated great potential to attract more jobs. In addition we find that, to some extent, urban planning changes the jobs-housing relationship, but a polycentric urban spatial structure is not yet evident. The floating population and related housing policy also affect the jobs-housing relationship. We propose some measures to resolve the spatial mismatch as well as some future research directions.     

ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF URBAN LIFE IN CHINA

The quality of life is considered as the distributed degree of social resources with significance to the urban residents as a whole. There are three features about the study of the quality of life by means of objective method. First, objective methid is based on the government publication of statistics from which the information of social environment influencing people's life can be obtained by systematic analysis. Second, as a result of social policy and planning development, the quality of life studied by objective method can provide scieatific basis for regulating and making policy. Third, the objective method emphasize that the improvement of the quality of life mainly depends on the effort from the government so as to set up a coordinatly developed environment of community.On the basis of relevant data from the 1991 Yearbook of Urban Statirtics of China published by Statistics Press of China, and using spss, the quality of urban life in China is evaluated. Seventy four cities are selected from 467     

Spatiotemporal evolution of urban land uses in modern urbanization of China

Taking social statistic data as basic data,this paper extended the meaning of urban land uses,highlighted the meaning of urban land uses in modern urbanization,which includes direct,indirect and induced land uses,quantitatively simulated the indirect and induced land uses by the substitution method of agricultural consumption and urban carbon emission and then,analyzed the spatiotemporal evolution of urban land uses in China during 1952–2005 by spatial analysis tool of Geographic Information System. The results indicate that the area of urban land use in China had been increasing since 1952,showing an inversed pyramid structure,i.e.,the directthe indirectthe induced. Specifically,Chinese urban land use has changed from concentrated distribution in Northwest China to balanced spatial distribution,and the eastern coastal area is under great pressure. Moreover,the northeastern region has moved into the induced dominant stage,while the western region remains at the indirect dominant stage. Finally,it is proposed that in order to guarantee the future demand of urban land use in China,ensuring the induced land use in the eastern region should be taken as a priority goal of Chinese developing policy.     

Applicability and prospect of China’s development zone model in Africa

Development zones have been an important spatial approach to promoting economic development since China's reform and opening-up. They have also been major contributors to the processes of China's industrialization and urbanization. Along with improvements in the worldwide industrial division of labor and the gradual implementation of China's development zones' Go Global strategy, it is necessary for Africa, a hot spot of global industrialization in recent years, to learn from China's development zone model. By attracting China's capital, technology and enterprises to Africa via Sino-African co-built development zones, a pattern of high complementarity and mutual development between China and Africa can be formed which does favor further improvement of the global industrial division of labor. In order to study the applicability and prospect of China's development zone model in Africa as per the above-mentioned international situation, this paper first sorts out the development course of China's development zones and discusses their roles in China's industrialization and urbanization. Subsequently, this paper analyzes the status quo of industrial development in Africa as a whole and the differences in industrial development between China and Africa, aiming to justify the timing of industrial transfer from China to Africa by constructing Sino-African co-built development zones. Lastly, this paper analyzes the current situation of six Sino-African co-built development zones by focusing on their operation modes, industry types and investment promotion models. In the authors' view, Sino-African co-built development zones can function as a new window of China-African cooperation, a new carrier of African industrialization, and a new engine of global industrial restructuring. China should adhere to the general principles of ‘Sino-African Integration, Multi-Cooperation, Mutual Benefit, Scientific Location, Systematic Planning, Cluster Growth and Open Development' in the planning and construction of development zones in Africa, effectively promoting Africa as the very important part of the global industry system.     

ASSESSMENT OF THE SFIM ALGORITHM

Fusion of images with different spatial and spectral resolutions can improve the visualization of the images. Many fusion techniques have been developed to improve the spectral fidelity and/or spatial texture quality of fused imagery. Of them, a recently proposed algorithm, the SF1M (Smoothing Filter-based Intensity Modulation), is known for its high spectral fidelity and simplicity. However, the study and evaluation of the algorithm were only based on spectral and spatial criteria. Therefore, this paper aims to further study the classification accuracy of the SFIM-fused imagery. Three other simple fusion algorithms, High-Pass Filter (HPF), Multiplication (MLT), and Modified Brovey (MB), have been employed for further evaluation of the SFIM. The study is based on a Landsat-7 ETM sub-scene covering the urban fringe of southeastern Fuzhou City of China.The effectiveness of the algorithm has been evaluated on the basis of spectral fidelity, high spatial frequency information absorption, and classification accuracy.The study reveals that the difference in smoothing filter kernel sizes used in producing the SFIM-fused images can affect the classification accuracy. Compared with three other algorithms, the SFIM transform is the best method in retaining spectral information of the original image and in getting best classification resuhs.