Group items tagged

Thématique 4 [ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Alana Bolanda, Jiangang Zhu Paru dans : Geoforum, Volume 43, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 147-157 Abstract 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. Highlights ► Emergence of green communities in China is related to broader urban transformations. ► Participatory programming reflects aspects of China's earlier mobilization campaigns. ► Even in highly structured settings, participation can produce new social dynamics. ► Cautions against reading participation solely through binary of failure or success. ► Contributes to literatures on sustainable cities and participatory development.

Scientific development is an invaluable asset to a country. Policies and development modes should be carried out based on scientific findings not only in industry, but also in transportation infrastructure construction. Building an integrated transportation system, which is in line with the national requirements of China and supports sustainable socio-economic development, is a key strategic issue related to building a moderately prosperous society and achieving realistic goals of a medium-level developed country. Based on a systematic review of the advances in China's transportation infrastructure over the last 60 years, this paper explores the main drivers of transportation development, including national policy, transportation structure, investment efficiency, and technological innovation. Analysis shows that China's comprehensive transportation infrastructure construction since 1949 can be divided into five stages initiated by these drivers, which correspond to four transition modes: policy transition, structural transition, efficiency transition, and technology transition. The transition path of China's transportation development shows that the dominant factors have changed, and the interval for each transition has shortened. With the implementation of the '12th Five-Year Plan', China's transportation infrastructure construction is showing some new characteristics and facing a new development transition. Finally, this paper analyzes the trends in transportation development in China and concludes that technological innovation will be the main driving force to increase the transportation supply and service area in the future.

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Adolf K.Y. Ng, James J. Wang Paru dans : Research in Transportation Economics, Volume 35, Issue 1, Pages 1-66 (May 2012) Editorial 1. Introduction Globalization has brought China ever close to the rest of the world not only through its trade and transport networks, but also many transport-related issues that seem to be in common among other countries, while simultaneously with special causes deep-rooted from its unique pathway of development especially in the past several decades. The major fundamental difference of China's development from other countries lies in its economy in general, while the transport sector, in particular, lies in the role of the government. Indeed, since the global financial crisis in 2008, advanced economies, such as the US and several EU countries, have intensified on how to redefine and strengthen the role of the state within respective economies. On the contrary, the Chinese situation is exactly the other way round: the debate is about how to reduce interferences from the very strong hands of the government towards a real regulated market. In this respect, the transport sector typifies this ongoing marketization process. On one extreme, the mode of highway transportation is fully marketized: private investors may construct toll expressways in almost any provinces, either as joint ventures partnering with state-owned firms or just as fully private developers. On the other side of the continuum, after more than three decades of 'reforms', railway infrastructures, as well as their operation, are still fully and tightly controlled by the Ministry of Railways (MOR) through its subsidiary's monopoly. In-between the highways and railways are air and maritime transportation, both of which being characterized by oligopolies with two to three state-owned listed companies taking up more than 80% of the market share. Given such situation, there is a clear interest for further understanding and re

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : James J. Wang, Chaohe Rong, Jiang Xu, Sui Wai Oscar Or Paru dans : Research in Transportation Economics, Volume 35, Issue 1, May 2012, Pages 26-33, Transport Development in China Abstract Transport networks are hierarchal in essence. In this paper, we explore the relationship between the financing structure and the hierarchal evolution of railway network development, using the case of China. Although privatization and corporatization in transport provision have been trends in some parts of the world, the national government is still the main body responsible for railway development in many countries. Among these countries, China and India are the only two that include the Ministry of Railways (MOR). In India, the entire country's railways are clearly defined as public services provided and managed by the MOR. In China, railways have been corporatized; yet, the MOR and the National Railway Corporation are still widely regarded as a single body that has monopolistic power over almost all railway systems at the national and regional levels in both infrastructure development and operation. We argue that when multi-level railway networks are evolved from a single-level (national) network due to market growth in countries such as China, where different levels of government are responsible for infrastructure planning and development, the state's monopolistic control of operation and its corresponding financing structure may not fit the operation of new multi-level networks. However, the suitable institutional set-up for the new networks may be delayed or never established for many reasons, some of which, as demonstrated in this paper, are place-specific and path-dependent. The case study of Chinese railway systems in comparison with the situations of other Asian countries (i.e. India and Japan) will shed some light on a better understanding of various financing models and development paths of multi-level transpo

Abstract It has been widely observed that China is under-urbanized. The central government has tried to use various policies to promote urbanization. In this paper, we evaluate one of these policies - count-to-city upgrading. Under China's hierarchical governance structure, a city status can only be determined and awarded by the central government. In the 1980s and 1990s, China adopted a formula-based county-to-city upgrading policy. Based on a large panel dataset covering all counties in China, we find that the formula was not strictly enforced in the practice. Moreover, jurisdictions that were upgraded to cities prior to 1998 do not perform better than their counterparts that remained county status in terms of both economic growth and providing public services. Largely because of these problems, this policy was called off in 1997. Given the strong need for urbanization, more indigenous institutional innovations are needed to find a viable way of creating cities, which would also provide compatible incentives to local governments. Highlights ► We examine a failed county-to-city upgrading policy in China. ► The newly awarded cities had a lackluster performance because the upgrading process was irreversible. ► After the policy was called off, China has adopted more indigenous institutional innovations in creating cities.

This paper describes the structure and challenges facing the domestic Chinese hotel industry at the start of the second decade of the twenty-first century. It notes the progress that has been made and the increasing internationalization of the industry and Chinese chains as they commence to raise capital overseas and begin a period of mergers and acquisitions of foreign based chains. An analysis of the balance between demand and supply is provided for different cities throughout China. The challenges facing the Chinese domestic industry and for foreign chains operating in China are classified and a commentary is provided for each of these categorisations.

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Zhang Xianchun, Shan Zhuoran Paru dans : Energy Procedia Volume 16, Part A, 2012, Pages 353-358 2012 International Conference on Future Energy, Environment, and Materials Abstract The urbanization level of china will exceed fifty percent in 2011. At the present stage, the urban-rural dual structure is more and more prominent. Due to the urban-rural dual management,many problems were found in the joint of urban and rural in the process of urbanization. This article summarizes the related achievements of land-use and management of Chinese joint of urban and rural for the last two decades. It introduces case-study in three aspects of cognitive, methodology and space planning, and discourses the achievements of different land-use types in the points of construction land, non-construction land.At the same time, this article elaborates the researches in landmanagement and points out the current excellent processes and the main problems.Finally, this article proposes the anticipation and prospect of study in the future.

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Shenggen Fan, Lixing Li [et al.] Paru dans : Journal of Comparative Economics, Available online 10 January 2012, In Press, Corrected Proof Abstract It has been widely observed that China is under-urbanized. The central government has tried to use various policies to promote urbanization. In this paper, we evaluate one of these policies - count-to-city upgrading. Under China's hierarchical governance structure, a city status can only be determined and awarded by the central government. In the 1980s and 1990s, China adopted a formula-based county-to-city upgrading policy. Based on a large panel dataset covering all counties in China, we find that the formula was not strictly enforced in the practice. Moreover, jurisdictions that were upgraded to cities prior to 1998 do not perform better than their counterparts that remained county status in terms of both economic growth and providing public services. Largely because of these problems, this policy was called off in 1997. Given the strong need for urbanization, more indigenous institutional innovations are needed to find a viable way of creating cities, which would also provide compatible incentives to local governments. Highlights ► We examine a failed county-to-city upgrading policy in China. ► The newly awarded cities had a lackluster performance because the upgrading process was irreversible. ► After the policy was called off, China has adopted more indigenous institutional innovations in creating cities.

Université de Montréal (Faculté des arts et des sciences) Résumé: L'équilibre économique mondial repose sur une asymétrie structurelle dont les pôles antagonistes principaux sont les États-Unis et l'Asie orientale. À la base de cet axe de tension géographique se trouve la question de la représentation mondiale de la richesse. La domination du dollar permet aux États-Unis un accès disproportionné aux ressources planétaires. Les pays créanciers, dont fait partie la Chine, hésitent à laisser flotter leur monnaie et attaquer l'hégémonie du dollar. Entre temps, les déséquilibres s'intensifient, tout comme les tensions politiques, par l'effet de ce système monétaire qui participe au maintien d'un monde unipolaire. Le système monétaire actuel n'offre aucune perspective endogène quant à la résolution des déséquilibres que son équilibre requiert. Ce mémoire cherche à identifier les stratégies géoéconomiques de la Chine pour se soustraire de l'emprise du dollar. Present world economic stability rests on a structural asymmetry whose main antagonists are the United States and East Asia. Inducing the very existence of this axis is the question of the worldwide representation of value. The dollar's domination in this matter allows the United States a disproportionate access to planetary resources. The creditor countries, among which China, hesitate to adopt a floating exchange rate and challenge this peculiar dimension of hegemony directly through the foreign exchange market. As time goes by the global imbalances intensify along with the corresponding political tensions. In effect, the dollarized global monetary system acts as a pillar of a unipolar world. The present international monetary system does not offer, by itself, a resolution to this polarisation process its existence generates. This mémoire offers a perspective on China's geoeconomic strategies destined to extract itself from the dollar system. This is don

In Invisible Cities, the novel by the great Italian writer Italo Calvino, Marco Polo dazzles the emperor of China, Kublai Khan, with 55 stories of cities he has visited, places where "the buildings have spiral staircases encrusted with spiral seashells," a city of "zigzag" where the inhabitants "are spared the boredom of following the same streets every day," and another with the option to "sleep, make tools, cook, accumulate gold, disrobe, reign, sell, question oracles." The trick, it turns out, is that Polo's Venice is so richly textured and dense that all his stories are about just one city. A modern European ruler listening to a visitor from China describe the country's fabled rise would be better served with the opposite approach: As the traveler exits a train station, a woman hawks instant noodles and packaged chicken feet from a dingy metal cart, in front of concrete steps emptying out into a square flanked by ramshackle hotels and massed with peasants sitting on artificial cobblestones and chewing watermelon seeds. The air smells of coal. Then the buildings appear: Boxlike structures, so gray as to appear colorless, line the road. If the city is poor, the Bank of China tower will be made with hideous blue glass; if it's wealthy, our traveler will marvel at monstrous prestige projects of glass and copper. The station bisects Shanghai Road or Peace Avenue, which then leads to Yat-sen Street, named for the Republic of China's first president, eventually intersecting with Ancient Building Avenue. Our traveler does not know whether he is in Changsha, Xiamen, or Hefei -- he is in the city Calvino describes as so unremarkable that "only the name of the airport changes." Or, as China's vice minister of construction, Qiu Baoxing, lamented in 2007, "It's like a thousand cities having the same appearance." Why are Chinese cities so monolithic? The answer lies in the country's fractured history. In the 1930s, China was a failed state: Warlords controlled large swath

Abstract: Threatened by the huge pressure caused by climate change, low-carbon cities have become an inevitable part of urban evolution. It is essential to evaluate urban low-carbon development levels to smoothly promote the construction of low-carbon cities. This paper proposes an evaluation index system for urban low-carbon development from the points of view of economic development and social progress, energy structure and usage efficiency, living consumption, and development surroundings. A weighted sum model was also established. Selecting 12 typical Chinese cities as cases studies, an integrated evaluation was conducted based on the index system and the assessment model. The development speed and limiting factors of different cities were also analyzed. The 12 cities were ultimately classified into three groups in terms of their low-carbon development patterns by integrating all of the analysis results. Furthermore, suitable regulation and management for different patterns were suggested. This study both aids in assessing the executive effect of low-carbon city construction and helps to determine existing problems and suggest effective solutions.

Abstract This paper investigates the process of tourism-driven urbanization as a local strategy of town development in China. Existing literature has highlighted the role of industrialization in the urbanization process of China's small towns, but here it is suggested that tourism - a development initiative based on the creation of space for consumption, rather than production - can also foster significant expansion of urbanized built environment and remarkable transformation of local socio-economic structures. The case study suggests that, in contrast to the recent process of industrialization-based urbanization in China's small towns, tourism urbanization in Zhapo Town, Guangdong Province has been a highly localized development initiative characterized by the absence of foreign capital investment. Tourism-driven urbanization in Zhapo has involved several processes whose joint effect has reproduced the local socio-spatial organization: the rapid of expansion of urbanized built environment; a unique pattern of land use and land development; the booming of tertiary economic sectors; and the emergence of a flexible regime of labor force. In the meantime, the research also contests Mullins' (1991) classical theorization of tourism urbanization, and suggests that recent tourism-driven urbanization process in Zhapo Town is not the product of the post-modernization of urban cultural manifestations, but is situated within the context-specific space of China's modernity and is based on relatively standardized provision of tourism-related service and the mass consumption of nature. Highlights ► The research investigates town development in China with the perspective of tourism urbanization. ► Tourism in Zhapo town has triggered significant changes in urbanized built environment. ► Tourism urbanization is accompanied with local socio-economic restructuring. ► Tourism urbanization in Zhapo is situated within the space of China's modernization.

Abstract In 2011, China announced that it has reached an urbanisation rate of 50%. If we take rapid urbanisation as a given and that it is already well underway, it is still widely unclear what research needs to be conducted and policy changes made to support municipalities of fast transforming cities and to avoid repeating the development mistakes that have occurred in industrialised nations, i.e. driving urban growth with high consumption patterns without fully considering the environmental and social needs and occupants' behaviour and aspirations. The scale and pace of change requires a solid systems approach of urban development. The purpose of this paper is to explore the rapid urbanisation of Chinese cities with a focus on the plans for a new, on-going urban sub-centre in the north-west of Shanghai: Zhenru urban sub-centre. Information-rich urbanisation is a defining feature of the 21st century, reshaping cities and communities in China and in developing countries around the world. The paper compares two cases of urban development patterns for new sub-centres for polycentric city structures: it relates to new urban sub-centres in Berlin (Germany) and Shanghai (China), and the relationship of these sub-centres to 'Network City' theory. Network theory is useful in this context as the 'network' metaphor and concepts of decentralisation seem to have replaced the 'machine' metaphor which was based on efficiency based on the availability of cheap fossil fuels. The question to be addressed is how Chinese cities can be better steered towards more sustainable models of development. As cities aim to move towards more resilient urban ecosystems and polycentric systems, the case of Potsdamer Platz Berlin, compared to Zhenru sub-centre in Shanghai, is discussed. Both are transport-oriented developments promoting mixed-use density and less car-dependency. According to documentation of the Shanghai municipality, Zhenru urban centre, which is currently

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Steffen Lehmann Paru dans : Habitat International, Available online 4 January 2012 Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explore the rapid urbanization of Chinese cities with a focus on the plans for a new, ongoing urban sub-centre in the north-west of Shanghai: Zhenru Urban Sub-Centre. Information-rich urbanization is a defining feature of the 21st century, reshaping cities and communities in China and in developing countries around the world. The scale and pace of change requires a solid systems approach of urban development. In 2011, China announced that it has reached an urbanization rate of 50%. If we take rapid urbanization as a given and that it is already well underway, it is still widely unclear what research needs to be conducted and policy changes made to support municipalities of fast transforming cities and to avoid repeating the development mistakes that have occurred in industrialized nations, i.e. driving urban growth with high consumption patterns without fully considering the environmental and social needs and occupants' behaviour and aspirations. This paper compares two cases of urban development patterns for new sub-centres for polycentric city structures: It relates to new urban sub-centres in Berlin (Germany) and Shanghai (China), and the relationship of these sub-centres to 'Network City' theory. Network theory is useful in this context as the 'network' metaphor and concepts of decentralization seem to have replaced the 'machine' metaphor which was based on efficiency based on the availability of cheap fossil fuels. As cities aim to move towards more resilient urban ecosystems and polycentric systems, the case of Potsdamer Platz Berlin, compared to Zhenru Sub-Centre in Shanghai, is discussed. Both are transport-oriented developments promoting mixed-use density and less car-dependency. According to documentation of the Shanghai municipality, Zhenru urban centre, which is cur

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Steffen Lehmann Paru dans : Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 3, July 2012, Pages 1-12 Abstract In 2011, China announced that it has reached an urbanisation rate of 50%. If we take rapid urbanisation as a given and that it is already well underway, it is still widely unclear what research needs to be conducted and policy changes made to support municipalities of fast transforming cities and to avoid repeating the development mistakes that have occurred in industrialised nations, i.e. driving urban growth with high consumption patterns without fully considering the environmental and social needs and occupants' behaviour and aspirations. The scale and pace of change requires a solid systems approach of urban development. The purpose of this paper is to explore the rapid urbanisation of Chinese cities with a focus on the plans for a new, on-going urban sub-centre in the north-west of Shanghai: Zhenru urban sub-centre. Information-rich urbanisation is a defining feature of the 21st century, reshaping cities and communities in China and in developing countries around the world. The paper compares two cases of urban development patterns for new sub-centres for polycentric city structures: it relates to new urban sub-centres in Berlin (Germany) and Shanghai (China), and the relationship of these sub-centres to 'Network City' theory. Network theory is useful in this context as the 'network' metaphor and concepts of decentralisation seem to have replaced the 'machine' metaphor which was based on efficiency based on the availability of cheap fossil fuels. The question to be addressed is how Chinese cities can be better steered towards more sustainable models of development. As cities aim to move towards more resilient urban ecosystems and polycentric systems, the case of Potsdamer Platz Berlin, compared to Zhenru sub-centre in Shanghai, is discussed. Both are transport-oriented developments promoti

[Sur ScienceDirect via Biblio-SHS] Auteurs : Yan Songa, Yves Zenou Publié dans : Regional Science and Urban Economics, Volume 42, Issue 3, May 2012, Pages 495-505 Abstract The presence of urban villages is a unique product of China's urbanization. In this article, we explore the effects of urban villages on the formal housing market. For this purpose, we develop a hedonic housing price model to investigate whether the proximity to urban villages affects the selling price of urban housing units. Controlling for the structure and other characteristics of urban housing units, we find that housing prices are lower the closer the buildings are from urban villages. We then carry out a survey of households living nearby and explore how they are affected by urban villages. The results indicate that there are both positive and negative effects associated with these villages. Highlights ► In this article, we explore the effects of urban villages on the formal housing market in China. ► Propose a theoretical urban model of urban villages. ► We test the model and find that housing prices are lower the closer the buildings are from urban villages. ► Households declare that they are both positive and negative effects associated with these villages.

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteurs : Ying Xu, Bo-sin Tang, Edwin H.W. Chan Paru dans : Habitat International, Volume 35, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 57-65 Abstract Since the implementation of economic reforms in 1978, Chinese cities have undergone unprecedented urban expansion. The suburban landscape of these cities has changed dramatically - from traditionally agricultural to rapidly urbanizing. This paper sheds light on the urbanization process that rural villages have undergone through state-led land requisition. It identifies two physical manifestations of the Chinese countryside during the urbanization process: semi-urbanized villages and urban resettlement housing districts. Based on a case study of the suburban districts of Shanghai, it argues that these two emerging forms of suburban landscape differ not only in terms of their physical form and land-use structure, but also in many of the social, economic, cultural and organizational characteristics of these ex-rural communities. Through analysis of public data and observation from personal interview, the study concludes that state-led land requisition has been a dominant force in expediting the urbanization of the suburban areas of Chinese cities and that the complex interplay between state and market impetuses has led to the multi-faceted transformation of rural communities and to a complicated countryside profile.

The Urban China Initiative aims to be the source of the best and most innovative solutions to urban development issues in China. To achieve this goal, UCI conducts a grant program to support research concerning China's urban development and sustainability. UCI accepts research applications on an annual basis for grants up to RMB 100,000. It also provides assistance and guidance during the research process and facilitates the publication of working papers and implementation through city pilots (Click here for more supports UCI GRANTS provide). The Initiative supports research on the effectiveness of programs and technologies related to urban development; emerging domestic and global best practices in project design, development, and execution; and paths to successful structural adjustment in China's cities. Grant-supported research focuses on sustainable urbanization (Click here for detailed requirements). Candidates are required to submit an application package which includes a detailed research proposal and CV (download application form and proposal template) to grant@urbanchinainitiative.org. The deadline for the upcoming round of funding is December 20, 2012. Research for the grants is expected to be completed within a year. For inquiry, please contact us via contact@urbanchinainitiative.org or +86(10)-8525-5245.