Public participation in China’s green communities: Mobilizing memories and structuring incentives

In recent years, there has been heightened interest in creating more environmentally sustainable forms of urban development in China. Central in these greening initiatives has been increased attention on promoting public participation in community-based environmental activities. Focusing on China’s green community initiatives, we examine the production and effects of participation in a state-led development program. Our analysis considers how incentives for program organizers and participants are structured by broader political and economic imperatives facing Chinese cities. We also consider what influence China’s history of neighborhood-based mobilization campaigns had on the meanings and methods of participation in green communities. To understand how urban development processes and memories of mobilization influence participation at the local level, we present two examples of the community greening process from the city of Guangzhou, comparing policy outcomes between a new and older neighborhood. This article seeks to demonstrate that the participatory processes associated with such an urban environmental initiative cannot be adequately understood without reference to earlier participatory practices and broader policy priorities guiding development in Chinese cities.     

Changes in carbon intensity of China’s energy-intensive industries: a combined decomposition and attribution analysis

There has been growing interest among researchers in factors influencing carbon emissions of energy-intensive industries in China due to the important roles they play. Such studies mainly focused on evaluating carbon emissions and identifying the contributing factors separately for each energy-intensive industry. Regarding energy-intensive industries as a whole and investigating the contribution of each industry to changes in carbon intensity have not yet been sufficiently addressed and quantified. In order to deeply understand this issue, this study employed the LMDI decomposition analysis to study driving forces (e.g., emission coefficient, energy intensity, and industrial structure) of carbon intensity of energy-intensive industries. Then, attribution analysis was further used to study the contribution of each energy-intensive industry to the percent change in carbon intensity through each impact factor. The results showed that the carbon intensity of energy-intensive industries dropped by 31.83% from 1996 to 2014. The energy intensity effect was largely responsible for this decrease, of which, five industries were the contributors except for the fuel-processing industry. The industrial structure effect also contributed to the decrease, and non-metallic industry and fuel-processing industry played important roles. However, the emission coefficient effect showed a slight impact on increasing carbon intensity, which principally due to chemical industry and power generation industry. The findings suggested that the adaptability and sensitivity of different energy-intensive industries to the implemented policies were various. Based on the results, differentiated and feasible policies related to energy intensity, industrial structure, and energy structure for energy-intensive industries were provided to further mitigate carbon intensity.     

Informality and the state’s ambivalence in the regulation of street vending in transforming Guangzhou,China

Street vending faces uncertain state responses in contemporary Chinese cities, though it plays an important role in sustaining the livelihood of urban migrants. Building on the critical perspective that understands informality as a production of the state, this paper explores the nature of the regulation of street vending in Guangzhou since 1949. The state’s regulatory practices are characterized by what we call historical ambivalence and geographical ambivalence, which refer to the inconsistency in policies, which fluctuate between soft and hard approaches over time, and the mix of contradictory regulatory measures applied in different urban spaces, respectively. Ambivalence is generated because the state addresses street vending in ways that attain the overarching objective of urban policies. In particular, the exclusion of street vendors in present-day China is not historically natural but driven and sustained by the government’s pursuit of a good city image favorable for attracting capital in the context of intensifying inter-urban competition. The definition of informality is not a neutral classification. Rather, declaring when and to what extent an informal practice is tolerable depends on what the state desires in a specific historical circumstance.     

State power and environmental initiatives in China: Analyzing China’s green building program through an ecological modernization perspective

This paper applies the ecological modernization (EM) framework to analyze China’s green building program. EM focuses on the effective institutionalization of environmental objectives into respective political and economic systems, and thus provides valuable insights into the roles of the state and other stake holders in environmental regulation. Since the mid-2000s, the Chinese government has advanced an aggressive green building campaign, which is distinguished by its speed, scale, and evolution from one of voluntary participation to a top-down implementation through administrative hierarchies. While this has resulted in a remarkable growth of green building projects, questions remain about the effectiveness and sustainability of such a state-centered approach. Though interviews with officials, planners, architects, real estate developers, and property managers in several Chinese cities, data analysis of the green building stock, and surveys of architects, this paper analyzes Chinese green building patterns and situates such patterns among the contradictory motivations of different levels of government and their relationships to different stake holders. This research finds that the top-down state apparatus is not sufficient to overcome these contradictions and the profit motives of the property developers. However, many under-developed opportunities exist to leverage property developers, building professionals, and the public to engage in green building practices. In the end, I argue that the state must embrace reform to build flexible and collaborative movements with other parties with strong public participation. China’s ecological modernization process may feature a stronger state and faster changes, but it is not exempted from the need of political modernization.     

Sustaining China’s large rivers: River development policy,impacts, institutional issues and strategies for future improvement

The sustainable management of China’s rivers is very important to the well-being of both the environment and its people. Yet the country’s rivers are now facing imminent threats from river overexploitation. The deteriorating condition serves as a stark reminder that relevant policies must be revised to ensure their wiser stewardship. In this short critical review, we first briefly stated river development history and various impacts arising from river overexploitation. We then elaborated the issues in river management, which connived numerous behaviors neglecting river degradation happened at all institutional levels. Based on the weakness, we proposed some policy recommendations to sustain China’s rivers and balance river development and conservation. The article concludes by proposing the development of a national river protection law to reinforce integrated river management, improve the implementation of environment impact assessments, and fulfill long-term goals for river conservation and sustainable development.     

Energy policy,market environment and the economic benefits of enterprises: evidence from China’s petrochemical enterprises

Natural Hazards - This paper studies the external impact of China’s energy policy and market environment changes and the internal impact of internal control and management on the economic...     

Desalination,space and power: The ramifications of Israel’s changing water geography

Desalination alters a basic premise of water geography – fresh water flows from the sea inward, rather than the other way around. But, is this observation important? To address this question it is necessary to identify the potential ramifications of the changes in the water geography brought about by desalination. Israel is used as a basis for identifying these ramifications as it has recently embarked on a large-scale desalination program. The direct readily observable implications of the three main attributes of desalination, the reversal of flow direction, the continuity of water production, regardless of weather and climate vagrancies, and its cost are first spelled out. Then the potential ramifications for internal power structures, pricing and transboundary water agreements are discussed for the Israeli and Israeli–Arab scene. It is shown that the spatial flexibility introduced by desalination may undermine existing power relations within the water sector, which were based on the previous water geography. In the Israeli case these changes may be used to undermine the monopoly power of the national water company and of its organized labor, thereby advancing a neoliberal agenda. Desalination may have also significant distributional implications, as a function of the pricing effects it may have. Finally, the new water geography raises new issues in the Israeli–Arab water scene. The general insights gained from the Israeli case are then spelled out.     

Global,regional and local: new firm formation and spatial restructuring in China’s apparel industry

The rise of China as the ‘world factory’ has been attributed to the export-oriented industrialization largely driven by some fundamental transformations unfolding in China’s economic, political and cultural arenas, since the Reform and Opening-Up policies. As production costs and competitive pressures both rise, the flexible business environment that export-led production used to embed in has undergone dramatic restructuring and this has further pushed forward new rounds of spatial restructuring and industrial relocation, especially in China’s highly export-oriented apparel industry. Using a large firm-level dataset on new firm formation, we show the articulation of global, regional and local factors are shaping the new firm formation pattern and industrial relocation in interactional and collective ways. The econometric estimations also indicate the ways in which and the extents to which these factors affect firm location choice are highly determined by firm-specific capability.     

Tourism dynamos: Selective commodification and developmental conservation in China’s protected areas

At scenic sites across China, rural officials compelled to maximize revenue use local state authority over protected areas to foster “tourism dynamos”. Local states set up infrastructure and institutions around rural attractions that channel the circulation of tourists, churning out revenues that meet quotas and fund further expansion of attractions and towns. To make these dynamos turn, local authorities have displaced resident-led tourism operations they had previously helped set up. Residents are reincorporated in varying ways and often retain land use rights. Meanwhile, as revenues stream out of attractions, what little is invested in environmental protection goes to maintaining scenery. Local governments also accomplish spatial transformations, within each park intensifying surplus generation in areas zoned for tourism while reserving other areas from use, and beyond park boundaries linking attractions together on tourism circuits radiating from central towns. This state-driven transformations depend on how the reservation of land from commodity exchange within protected areas comes together with specific state capacities to enable tourism intensification. These processes, which I label “developmental conservation,” call attention to selective commodifications and the mediating role of the state in protected area governance in China and beyond.     

Using LMDI method to analyze the influencing factors of carbon emissions in China’s petrochemical industries

China’s petrochemical industries are playing an important role in China’s economic development. However, the industries consume large amounts of energy and have become primary sources of carbon emission. In this paper, the change in carbon emissions from China’s petrochemical industries between 2000 and 2010 was quantitatively analyzed with the Log-Mean Divisia Index method, which was decomposed into economic output effect, industrial structural effect and technical effect. The results show that economic output effect is the most important factor driving carbon emission growth in China’s petrochemical industries; industrial structural effect has certain decrement effect on carbon emissions; adjustment of industrial structure by developing low-carbon emission industrial sectors may be a better choice for reducing carbon emissions; and the impact of technical effect varies considerably without showing any clear decrement effect trend over the period of year 2000–2010. The biggest challenge is how to make use of these factors to balance the relationship between economic development and carbon emissions. This study will promote a more comprehensive understanding of the inter-relationships of economic development, industrial structural shift, technical effect and carbon emissions in China’s petrochemical industries and is helpful for exploration of relevant strategies to reduce carbon emissions.

     

Using LMDI method to analyze the influencing factors of carbon emissions in China’s petrochemical industries

China’s petrochemical industries are playing an important role in China’s economic development. However, the industries consume large amounts of energy and have become primary sources of carbon emission. In this paper, the change in carbon emissions from China’s petrochemical industries between 2000 and 2010 was quantitatively analyzed with the Log-Mean Divisia Index method, which was decomposed into economic output effect, industrial structural effect and technical effect. The results show that economic output effect is the most important factor driving carbon emission growth in China’s petrochemical industries; industrial structural effect has certain decrement effect on carbon emissions; adjustment of industrial structure by developing low-carbon emission industrial sectors may be a better choice for reducing carbon emissions; and the impact of technical effect varies considerably without showing any clear decrement effect trend over the period of year 2000–2010. The biggest challenge is how to make use of these factors to balance the relationship between economic development and carbon emissions. This study will promote a more comprehensive understanding of the inter-relationships of economic development, industrial structural shift, technical effect and carbon emissions in China’s petrochemical industries and is helpful for exploration of relevant strategies to reduce carbon emissions.     

Status of China’s Geological Survey and Geological Environments in 2013

正With the approach of the 45th World Earth Day,China’s Ministry of Land and Resources issued the status of the Chinese geological survey and environments on 22nd April 2013.Regional geological survey in 2013 achieved new results—(why was oceanic in twice?)polar and oceanic expedition were fully completed,a national census of geography was begun,and     

Political memories of conflict,economic land concessions,and political landscapes in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Political memories—which are crucial for establishing and maintaining ‘political capital’, based on individual and group positioning during past conflict and wars, but also in relation to presentday politics—are important when considering varied outcomes from negotiations and other interactions that occur in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in relation to large-scale economic land concessions. This paper continues to expand on the idea of political memories of past conflicts and wars by considering the concept in relation to the theoretical framework proposed by Hall et al. (2011) in their book Powers of Exclusion, which stresses the importance of interactions between regulation, force, the market and legitimation for understanding different types of exclusionary processes, especially those linked to land access. I argue that political memories are particularly relevant when it comes to legitimation, but that expanding the concept so as to include political memories is important. In relation to large-scale plantation, mining and hydropower dam concessions, I also stress the importance of political memories in (re)shaping understandings of landscapes, thus creating particular varieties of memory laden political landscapes, which too are constituted by the past but are also politically mobilized in the present.     

Environmental geochemistry and ecological risk of vanadium pollution in Panzhihua mining and smelting area, Sichuan, China

1 Introduction Vanadium (V) is a relatively abundant elemenwhich is widely distributed in nature; howeverworkable V deposits are very rare (World HealthOrganization, 2001). Vanadium is a trace elementwhich may be beneficial and possibly essential fohuman…     

Decoupling and decomposing analysis of construction industry’s energy consumption in China

Natural Hazards - The construction industry is one of the key industries for driving energy conservation in China. Decoupling of the construction industry development from energy consumption has...     

Origin and recharge estimates of groundwater in the ordos plateau,People’s Republic of China

Groundwater is a valuable resource in the semiarid Ordos Plateau region where abundant mineral resources, such as coal, natural gas, and halite, are present. With resources development, groundwater demand will increase dramatically. The origin identification and recharge estimates of groundwater are significant components of sustainable groundwater development in the Ordos Plateau. Groundwater and precipitation samples were taken and the isotopic compositions δ²H, δ¹⁸O, and chloride were analyzed to identify groundwater origins and to estimate recharge rates. The δ²H and δ¹⁸O of the groundwater show that the groundwater recharge is of meteoric origin. The chloride mass balance (CMB) method was used to quantify recharge rates of groundwater in the Ordos Plateau, which varies from 2.93 to 22.11% of the effective annual rainfall. Recharge rates estimated by CMB were compared with values obtained from other methods and were found to be in good agreement. This study can be used to develop effective programs for groundwater management and development.     

Women and strategic urban planning in Tehran: channeling women’s social capacity to prepare city development strategies

GeoJournal - City development strategy (CDS) is an urban strategic planning approach that has already been implemented in over 200 cities worldwide. Nevertheless, its preparation process is...