Combinatorial knowledge dynamics,innovative performance,and transition studies

Cross-domain research and development has prevailed in regional transformation and disruptive innovation in the last 15 years. Recently, a new concept, termed combinatorial knowledge bases(CKBs), offers insights into combining knowledge dynamics and is considered a good approach to explore recombinant innovative activities. Here, we review the literature on CKBs in Western economic geography, and we introduce a research agenda for CKBs in China’s economic geography. Concerning the latter, four a...     

自然地理格局对区域发展时空分异影响的评价方法

With the rapid economic development during the last 30 years in China, more and more disparities have emerged among different regions. It has been one of the hot topics in the fields of physical geography and economic geography, and also has been the task for Chinese government to handle. Nevertheless, to quantitatively assess the impacts of physio-geographical patterns （PGP） on the regional development disparity has been ignored for a long time. In this paper, a quantitative method was adopted to assess the marginal effects of the PGP on spatio-temporal disparity using the partial determination coefficients. The paper described the construction of the evaluation model step by step following its key scientific thinking. Total GDP, per capita GDP, primary industrial output value and secondary industrial output value were employed in this study as the indicators to reflect the impacts of PGP on the regional development disparity. Based on the evaluation methods built by researchers, this study firstly analyzed the temporal impacts of the PGP on spatio-temporal disparity of the regional development in China during the past 50 years, and then explained the spatial differences at each development stage. The results show that the spatio-temporal disparity in China is highly related to the PGP, and that the marginal contribution rate could be employed as an effective way to quantitatively assess the impact of the PGP on spatio-temporal disparity of the regional development.     

Economic reform, open-door policy and changes in spatial development patterns in China

1 IntroductionA country's regional development pattern is inevitably shaped by the regional development policies its government adopts. In planned economies like China's, the government's role in determining spatial differences of regional development is particularly great[1]. Since the inception of the economic reform and open-door policy in the late 1970s China has been undergoing an unprecedented transition from a planned to a market-oriented economy and from an agrarian society to an urba…     

中国人文地理综合区划的生成过程与方案（英文）

The comprehensive regionalization of Chinese human geography is based on the rules governing regional differentiation of Chinese physical geographic factors. Based on regional differences and similarities in human factors, this study divides the whole country into two levels of relatively independent, complete and organically linked human geographic units. As a fundamental, comprehensive, cutting-edge, practical and important task, the comprehensive regionalization of human geography highlights the characteristics, regional and sub-regional features, complexity and variety of spatial differences between factors of Chinese human geography. It is capable of promoting the development of human geography based on local conditions, providing basic scientific support to national and local development strategies, such as the Belt and Road Strategy, new urbanization and environmental awareness, and creating a sound geopolitical environment in key areas. Using results from existing physical and human geographic zoning studies, and in accordance with the principles of synthesis, dominant factors, the relative consistency of the natural environment, the relative consistency of social and economic development, the consistency of the regional cultural landscape, the continuity of spatial distribution and the integrity of county-level administrative divisions, and taking as its basis the division of human geography into 10 major factors(nature, economy, population, culture, ethnicity, agriculture, transportation, urbanization, the settlement landscape and administrative divisions), this paper constructs an index system for the comprehensive regionalization of Chinese human geography through a combination of top-down and bottom-up zoning and spatial clustering analysis. In this study, Chinese human geography is divided into eight regions and 66 sub-regions. The eight human geography regions are(Ⅰ) Northeast China,(Ⅱ) North China,(Ⅲ) East China,(Ⅳ) Central China,(Ⅴ) South China,(Ⅵ) Northwest China,(Ⅶ) Southwest China, and(Ⅷ) Qinghai and Tibet. This zoning proposal fills gaps in studies involving the non-comprehensive regionalization of Chinese human geography. Each human geography region and sub-region has different topographical, climatic, ecological, population, urbanization, economic development, settlement landscape, regional cultural and ethno-religious attributes. This proposal on the comprehensive regionalization of Chinese human geography dovetails closely with previous studies on comprehensive regionalization in Chinese physical geography, Chinese economic zoning, and Chinese agricultural zoning. It shows that, under the dual roles of nature and humans, there are certain rules of regional differentiation that govern the comprehensive regionalization of Chinese human geography.     

Perceptions of climate change in China: The research and policy connection

Global climate change has evolved from a scientific problem into an economic and political problem oI worlOwloe rater- est. National perspectives play a crucial role in addressing climate change. Mutual understanding of perspectives is nec- essary to result in rational policies and a consensus among stakeholders with divergent interests. Conceptual frameworks for understanding the problem of climate change in China, the largest developing country and the largest greenhouse gas emitter, are of great significance to national and international efforts to address the problems of climate change. Chinese perceptions of climate change as a sustainable development problem have recently been in tension with an emerging Western perspective that frames climate change as a security issue. This paper explores Chinese perceptions of climate change as expressed in recent governmental policy statements, public opinion surveys, and academic scholarship with a focus on publications in Chinese-language journals, often unfamiliar in the West. It looks at the relationship between Chinese research and policy and finds that the Chinese policy frame of climate change as a sustainable development problem draws from the body of domestic research and is reflective of the perspectives and multidisciplinary approach of Chinese researchers in areas of climate change.     

中国人口地理学的过去、现在和未来——进展、挑战与机遇（英文）

Population geography(Pop Geo), although a sub-discipline of human geography, should have been well developed in China in light of its national population size and unique demographic issues, regional socio-economic development, and biophysical differences. Yet it typically lags behind the development of its parent disciplines, especially demography and geography. Specifically, Pop Geo in Chinese higher education is still at a low level in terms of the three major aspects of disciplinary development: academic majors for higher education, academic conferences, and journals. The research content of Pop Geo in China has focused on the growth, composition, change, distribution, and carrying capacity of population at the meso-and macro-spatial scales. As the most populated country in the world, questions about how and why the population changes, where the population settles and migrates to, its maximum carrying capacity, and how to guide sound development of population matter to society and the economy, are always important topics in the Pop Geo studies in China. In contrast, some new population phenomena such as human space–time behaviors(commuting, remittances, and friends' interaction), popular in the scientific community abroad, are not fully investigated at the micro-level. Presently, Pop Geo in China may face both challenges and opportunities because of the adjustment of fertility policies and implementation of national new urbanization plans at the national level. It is this occasion that calls for a state-of-the-art review of the development of Pop Geo since the 1980 s, the turning point of an increasing number of Pop Geo studies in China. We aim to reveal the current status of PopGeo in China to the world, and shed light on its further study.     

中国交通地理研究进展（英文）

As an important branch of human geography, transportation geography has experienced three periods of evolution: foundation, systematization, and rapid development of the discipline. It has gradually become a relatively mature discipline. During the period 1930– 1980, the development of transportation geography consisted mainly of the publication of theoretical texts. During 1980–2000, it gradually became a systematic discipline. Since the start of the 21 st century, transportation geography has focused mainly on exploring the impacts of transportation on socio-economic development. Currently, studies on transportation geography have led to significant developments in a number of areas, including transportation theory, facility distribution and planning, transportation flows and network analysis, evaluation of transport modes, transportation planning, and simulation and assessment of urban transportation. Such studies have also enriched human geography research, provided a wider geographical overview and elucidated the development mechanism of transportation, as well as helped to understand the impacts of transport development on socio-economic systems. Some findings obtained by geographers have been widely used in transportation geography and related fields, including the four basic laws of transportation generation, the hub–spoke mode of transport organization, the subordinating and guiding functions of transportation on socio-economic development, regional transport dominance measures, accessibility measures, and spatial organization of port systems.     

中国创新型城市的可持续发展——定量评估与创新未来(英文)

Innovative cities not only constitute an important basis for innovation activities, but also play a strategically critical role in constructing an innovative country, producing new forms of urban development, and fostering urban sustainable development. Currently, China is marching toward the goal of establishing an innovative country by 2020, but in the start-up phase of this process of innovative city construction, the fundamental transition from factor-driven development to innovation-driven development is not being realized. As a result,a wide gap currently exists between China's innovative cities and the advanced innovative cities in developed countries. This paper argues that this necessary transition is being constrained by a series of bottlenecks in investment, income, techniques, contributions, and talents. The article takes 287 prefecture-level cities as its object of comprehensive assessment, developing a comprehensive assessment system for innovative cities and devising innovative monitoring system software in order to evaluate the current situation in China's innovative city construction. The analysis addresses four key aspects – namely,independent innovation, industrial innovation, living environmental innovation, and institutional innovation – as well as the spatial heterogeneity of the innovative city construction process. The results demonstrate that the level of innovation in Chinese cities is low, and the paper warns that building an innovation-oriented country will, as a consequence,be difficult. Some 87.8% of the cities studied maintained comprehensive levels of innovation that were lower than the national average. The level of comprehensive innovation in a city was found to have close and positive correlation with economic development. The level of the eastern region of China was, in particular, found to be significantly higher than that of the central and western regions. The levels of urban independent innovation, industrial innovation,environmental innovation, and institutional innovation showed consistent spatial heterogeneity, as did the comprehensive level of innovation in cities. In the future, the authors suggest, China should speed up the construction process in accordance with the basic principles of "independent innovation, breakthroughs in key fields, market-oriented, regional interaction, talent-supported," with the purpose of building up Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai,and Guangzhou as global innovation centers; and Nanjing, Suzhou, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Wuxi,Xi'an, Wuhan, Shenyang, Dalian, Tianjin, Changsha, Qingdao, Chengdu, Changchun, Hefei,and Chongqing as national innovation centers, by 2020. Through this process, China will finally build a national urban innovation network that includes 4 global innovative cities, 16 national innovative cities, 30 regional innovative cities, 55 local innovative cities, and 182innovation-driven development cities, thereby contributing to the establishment of an innovative country by 2020.     

中国城市空气质量时空演化特征及社会经济驱动力（英文）

Air pollution is a serious problem brought by the rapid urbanization and economic development in China, imposing great challenges and threats to population health and the sustainability of the society. Based on the real-time air quality monitoring data obtained for each Chinese city from 2013 to 2014, the spatiotemporal characteristics of air pollution are analyzed using various exploratory spatial data analysis tools. With spatial econometric models, this paper further quantifies the influences of socioeconomic factors on air quality at both the national and regional scales. The results are as follows:(1) From 2013 to 2014, the percentage of days compliance of urban air quality increased but air pollution deteriorated and the worsening situation in regions with poor air quality became more obvious.(2) Changes of air quality show a clear temporal coupling with regional socioeconomic activities, basically "relatively poor at daytime and relatively good at night".(3) Urban air pollution shows a spatial pattern of "heavy in the east and light in the west, and heavy in the north and light in the south".(4) The overall extent and distribution of regional urban air pollution have clearly different characteristics. The formation and evolution of regional air pollution can be basically induced as "the pollution of key cities is aggravated—pollution of those cities spreads— regional overall pollution is aggravated—the key cities lead in pollution governance—regional pollution joint prevention and control is implemented—regional overall pollution is reduced".(5) At the national level, energy consumption, industrialization and technological progress are the major factors in the worsening of urban air quality, economic development is a significant driver for the improvement of that quality.(6) Influenced by resources, environment and the development stage, the socioeconomic factors had strongly variable impacts on air quality, in both direction and intensity in different regions. Based on the conclusion, the regional differentiation and development idea of the relationship between economic development and environmental changes in China are discussed.     

发展地理学视角下中国区域均衡发展

Large regional differences and uneven regional development are fundamental challenges for China. Balanced regional development is an important issue in research on development geography. This study reviews the course of balanced regional development in China and summarizes its characteristics in each period. The results show that inter-regional development in China has undergone successive periods of balanced and unbalanced development. Each period has enhanced social development and contributed to a more balanced regional development. This paper discusses the scientific connotation of balanced regional development, and invokes sustainable development theory to argue that we should pay attention to the differences in resource endowments among regions, and solves the imbalance among the economy, humans, and nature to promote the spatial balance of regional development and green development for better coordination between economy and ecology. The balanced promotion of the well-being of people in each region is the ultimate goal of balanced regional development. We then use concepts from development geography to examine China’s path of balanced regional development from the three perspectives of society, the economy, and ecology. Suggestions are also provided for the balanced development of China’s regions and the improvement of public well-being.     

On the modes of urban-rural networking development in China

1 IntroductionFor nearly half a century, in developed countries, the major problem of development has been lying in cities, but in underdeveloped ones, the problem lies in rural areas as well as in cities. Therefore, the development of both urban and rural areas is the theme of development of developing countries. China has the largest rural population in the world. With a high percentage of rural population, China is a developing country in which the rural social and economic activities take…     

China＇s economic development stage and its spatiotemporal evolution： A prefectural-level analysis

As important mechanisms of regional strategy and policy,prefecture-level regions have played an increasingly significant role in the development of China’s economy.However,little research has grasped the essence of the economic development stage and the spatio-temporal evolution process at the prefecture level;this may lead to biased policies and their ineffective implementations.Based on Chenery’s economic development theory,this paper identifies China’s economic development stages at both national and prefectural levels.Both the Global Moran I index and the Getis-Ord Gi* index are employed to investigate the spatio-temporal evolution of China’s economic development from 1990 to 2010.Major conclusions can be drawn as follows.(1) China’s economic development is generally in the state of agglomeration.It entered the Primary Production Stage in 1990,and the Middle Industrialized Stage in 2010,with a ’balanced-unbalanced-gradually rebalanced’ pattern in the process.(2) China’s rapid economic growth experienced a spatial shift from the coastal areas to the the inland areas.Most advanced cities in mid-western China can be roughly categorized into regional hub cities and resource-dependent cities.(3) Hot spots in China’s economy moved northward and westward.The interactions between cities and prefectures became weaker in Eastern China,while cities and prefectures in Central and Western China were still at the stage of individual development,with limited effect on the surrounding cities.(4) While the overall growth rate of China’s economy has gradually slowed down during the past two decades,the growth rate of cities and prefectures in Central and Western China was much faster than those in coastal areas.(5) Areas rich in resources,such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia,have become the new hot spots of economic growth in recent years.For these regions,however,more attention needs to be paid to their unbalanced industrial structures and the lagging social development against the backdrop of the rapid economic growth,driven predominantly by the exploitation of resources.     

中国在气候变化下碳排放、能源消费与低碳经济领域的研究进展综述（英文）

Accompanying the rapid growth of China's population and economy, energy consumption and carbon emission increased significantly from 1978 to 2012. China is now the largest energy consumer and CO2 emitter of the world, leading to much interest in researches on the nexus between energy consumption, carbon emissions and low-carbon economy. This article presents the domestic Chinese studies on this hotpot issue, and we obtain the following findings. First, most research fields involve geography, ecology and resource economics, and research contents contained some analysis of current situation, factors decomposition, predictive analysis and the introduction of methods and models. Second, there exists an inverted "U-shaped" curve connection between carbon emission, energy consumption and economic development. Energy consumption in China will be in a low-speed growth after 2035 and it is expected to peak between 6.19–12.13 billion TCE in 2050. China's carbon emissions are expected to peak in 2035, or during 2020 to 2045, and the optimal range of carbon emissions is between 2.4–3.3 PgC/year(1 PgC=1 billion tons C) in 2050. Third, future research should be focused on global carbon trading, regional carbon flows, reforming the current energy structure, reducing energy consumption and innovating the low-carbon economic theory, as well as establishing a comprehensive theoretical system of energy consumption, carbon emissions and low-carbon economy.     

长沙城市土地扩张特征及影响因素

This research systematically analyses land-use map of Changsha city in different periods of time. The spatial form and structural evolution was analysed by studying indices such as city land-use structure proportion, expansion intensity, economic flexibility, population flexibility, changing compactness index and so on. The dynamic mechanism of urban land expansion has been discussed by integrating the regional social economy development situation and many aspects such as the physiographical surrounding, population and economic development, traffic infrastructure, planning and regional development tactic and system innovation. The research indicates that the urban land expansion speed and intensity have steadily increased in Changsha from 1949 to 2004. The expansion form has been from a single external expansion to a combination form of external and internal expansion, from a circular or linear continuous form to a blocky or agglomeration shape. Overall, the urban land expansion of Changsha city is a phasic, diversified and complex process. And no matter what the stage is, it is an organic system containing multiple speed, pattern and shape, which are driven by multiple impetuses. The dominant feature at different stages was highlighted be- cause of the balance and fluctuation between different forces, and the existing urban land border and shape have resulted from the joint efforts of these phasic forces.     

环境伦理与区域可持续发展(英文)

The scientific environmental ethics plays a key role in the recognition of the human-environment interactions. Modern environmental ethics is the philosophical re-thinking of modern human race environmental behavior. The development of environmental ethics theory, as well as its application in reality, determines the viewpoints of environmental ethics. Sustainable development implies harmony on human-environment interactions and inter-generation responsibility, with emphasis on a harmonious relationship among population, resources, environment and development, so as to lay a sustainable and healthy foundation of resources and environment for future generations. The harmonious society construction in China that is raised by the Chinese central government should be covered by environmental ethics. The connotation of open environmental ethics includes a respect for nature, care for the individual human race, and respect for the development of future generations, which means giving consideration to natural values, individual and human race benefits and welfare across generations. The role of environmental ethics in regional development consists of cognition, criticism, education, inspiration, adjusting, legislation and promoting environmental regulations. The major problems in regional development are extensive resource exploration, fast population growth, irrational industrial structure, unfair welfare distribution and the twofold effects of science and technology development. The formulation of environmental ethics that aims at regional sustainable development, can not only harmonize the relationship of population, resource, environment and economic development, but also guide behavior selection, push social and political system transformation, strengthen the legal system, and raise environmental awareness of the public.     

资源环境承载力综合评价方法在西藏产业结构调整中的应用

With the degradation of natural resources and environment caused by industrial development in some developing countries,the requirement of implementing a“social ecological”approach to development is imminent.Resource and environment carrying capacity provides a means of assessing regional development potential by measuring regional sustainable development in terms of economy,population and resources&environment.This study develops a conceptual framework for resource and environment carrying capacity estimation to support the co-development planning of industries,population and resources&environment.First,the framework constructs an index system for evaluating importance of industry or influence based on the role of industry played in the local socio-economic system.Then,the framework computes the quantitative relations through the importance of local industry,population size and resource utilization and environment effects,and subsequently estimates the resource and environment carrying capacity of the study area.With a particular attention to its land resources,water resources and environment,the Tibet case study shows that:the non-ferrous metal mining,tourism,liquor and refined tea industries play a pillar role in the Tibet’s socio-economic system;under each industrial structure,land resource carrying capacity is the weakest,and water resources carrying capacity is the strongest;to focus on tourism will improve local resource and environment carrying capacity.The research results provide a solid guide for Tibet government’s co-actions in industrial restructuring,ecological protection,and the pursuit of economic development.This study will contribute to bridge the gap between theoretical research and practical applications of resource and environment carrying capacity,and help local governments plan the regional“socio-ecological”sustainable development.     

中国城市间科学合作网络空间的层级性、集聚性与差异性分析（英文）

The Chinese urban system is currently experiencing a fundamental shift, as it moves from a size-based hierarchy to a network-based system. Contemporary studies of city networks have tended to focus on economic interactions without paying sufficient attention to the issue of knowledge flow. Using data on co-authored papers obtained from China Academic Journal Network Publishing Database(CAJNPD) during 2014–2016, this study explores several features of the scientific collaboration network between Chinese mainland cities. The study concludes that:(1) the spatial organization of scientific cooperation amongst Chinese cities is shifting from a jurisdiction-based hierarchical system to a networked system; and(2) several highly intra-connected city regions were found to exist in the network of knowledge, and such regions had more average internal linkages(14.21) than external linkages(8.69), and higher average internal linkage degrees(14.43) than external linkage degrees(10.43); and(3) differences existed in terms of inter-region connectivity between the Western, Eastern, and Central China regional networks(the average INCD of the three regional networks were 109.65, 95.81, and 71.88). We suggest that China should engage in the development of regional and sub-regional scientific centers to achieve the goal of building an innovative country. Whilst findings reveal a high degree of concentration in those networks – a characteristic which reflects the hierarchical nature of China's urban economic structure – the actual spatial distribution of city networks of knowledge flow was found to be different from that of city networks based on economic outputs or population.     

China＇s geographical regionalization in Chinese secondary school curriculum （1902-2012）

As geographic literacy training is an essential content for Chinese citizens’ literacy education,national geographical education is one of the indispensable key aspects of that training.Because of China’s vast land area and the significance of the regional differences,it is difficult for students to receive a solid education regarding China’s geography.In 1902,the government established the geography curriculum and began to incorporate the concept of geographical regionalization to facilitate the teaching of China’s geography by publishing the first syllabi,which was modified later and put into use in 1904.Since 1904,numerous geography textbooks have attempted to find an appropriate way to present China’s geographical regionalization,as it is important for secondary students to have a clear understanding and appreciation for the different regional characteristics.Accordingly,the geographical regionalization content is divided into four main phases:1902 to 1927;1928 to 1948;1949 to 1986;and 1986 to the present.During these phases,the content related to China’s geographical regionalization in secondary middle school geography textbooks has been gradually simplified and has adopted a more scientific foundation,thus leading to the present time where there are now four geographical regional areas.From this historical study,we find that while China’s geographical regionalization has gradually matured,there are still some problems.For example,dividing the study into four regions to describe the panorama of China is too simplified,and the learning therefore becomes too scattered and haphazard,particularly given the new curriculum reform.     

Analysis on areal relationship between regional environment and socioeconomy—taking the Chinese Yellow Sea coastal zone as a case

Since the reform and open-up,the economy in the Yellow Sea coastal zone has rapidly developed and the regional structure of socio-economy has changed a lot,but meanwhile it has also caused increasingly serious environmental problems. The discussion on relationship between economic development and environment[1-12] has become the focus of research. The present research mainly focuses on the following aspects: first, the study on coordinately development of regional PRED system, including de…     

Spatial pattern of knowledge innovation function among Chinese cities and its influencing factors

Knowledge innovation is a key component of urban innovation function and an important basis for modern urban development. Combining the multidisciplinary research of knowledge innovation, this paper constructs a measurement framework of urban knowledge innovation function from the perspective of urban geography and analyzes its spatial pattern and influencing factors. The conclusions are as follows:(1) The function of urban knowledge innovation refers to the tasks and roles it undertakes in the ...