Metropolization in China?

Not merely the rapid growth of the metropolitan cities in the Third World but the overconcentration of the political and administrative functions together with the economic, social and cultural activities within the metropolitan regions — in short: the primacy —should be considered as the essential component of the term metropolization.An accurate computation of the metropolitan population growth in China is difficult because of the frequent change of city area delimitations after 1953 in connection with the missing distinction between shiqu-, jiaoqu- and hsien-population in the statistics. Therefore a solid assessment of the Chinese policy to restrict the growth of the metropolitan cities seems to be impossible.Recent data reveal that there is still a strong primacy for the metropolitan cities together with a heavy concentration of this primacy in the historical core regions. The evaluation indicates that the efforts towards balanced regional development and reduction of the regional disparities could not be considered as successful so far.     

Effects of deforestation and afforestation on climate

Forests cover 29% of the continents. Their importance for mankind is not only due to wood production but also by their manyfold influences on the biosphere. The properties of forest stands influence climate, water balance, air constituents and the dynamic of atmosphere. The welfare functions of forests can be observed in the global as well as in the local or microscale. Anthropogenic measures, as deforestation and air pollution, endanger the forests and by that one of the main pillars of nature on earth.     

Recent trends of urban development and town planning in Spain

With the socio-economic change from rural to industrial, Spain has experienced an enormous urbanisation boom during the last 20 years. This has produced a concentration of high-rise apartment blocks not only in the big cities but also in medium-sized towns and even within the medieval town centres. More astonishing, compared with Central Europe, seems however, the spatial distribution of the social classes which, with a centre-periphery gradient, still corresponds to the model of the pre-industrial town. The paper investigates the impact of town planning, house building policy, and behavioural aspects on these structural patterns.