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In 2012, China's urbanization rate reached 52.57% and cities entered into the crucial period of overall transformation, meanwhile, new changes and patterns emerged in urban scientific development. First, even though the pace of economic development in eastern cities slowed down, the livelihood security, ecological environment and city supporting capacity improved significantly, which means the strategy of transformation and restructuring got some achievements. Second, gradient features of city development still remained obviously among provinces. Third, small and medium-sized cities had outstanding performance, which contributed to improvement in urban scientific development. However, the imbalance among different kinds of cities was still serious. Faced with the complex domestic and international development environment, how to keep the main line with development mode transformation and further promote the economic, social and ecological transformation will be a great challenge to China.

During China’s rapid urbanization, cities are threatened by ever more severe meteorological disasters. Urban meteorological disasters are characterized by massive destruction, high diffusion, and extensive social impact, which further complicate prevention and control. Therefore, non-engineering countermeasures are given a more prominent role in the process. China has primarily established a system of non-engineering countermeasures against urban meteorological disasters. However, this system does have its problems and flaws. The authors propose that disaster prevention should be technology-based and carried out in a scientific manner. A well-rounded disaster prevention institution should be established, and social participation must be raised. Urban meteorological monitoring, forecasting, and early warning abilities should be enhanced, prevention and control plans improved, relative legislation and administration completed, and social participation promoted so as to strengthen China’s non-engineering response to meteorological disasters.

Promoting low-carbon development (LCD) is one of the basic requirements of building new-type urbanization with Chinese characteristics. Research on the formulation of low-carbon city development roadmap (hereinafter referred to as the “Roadmap”) is a necessity for systematic control of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and the construction of low-carbon cities. Based on the actual conditions of cities as well as the regional and national development strategies, the Roadmap panoramically describes the strategic objectives, development plans, and key sectors' initiatives for the transformation of city development through planning techniques and solutions. Generally, the formulation of a low-carbon roadmap involves six steps: understanding the present situation of GHG emissions; analyzing the future emission scenarios; setting LCD targets; developing action plans for key sectors; assessing mitigation potential of low-carbon technologies/projects; and proposing measures for implementation. This paper, based on the practical experience in low-carbon city roadmap development and the needs of divisional management, establishes an analytical structure of GHG inventory for seven sectors, so as to link the key sectors for LCD, namely the seven major sectors for emissions reduction proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Moreover, this paper integrates sectorial (industrial) low-carbon technology needs assessment (TNA) into the formulation of the Roadmap. It also provides several recommendations for better incorporating the two methods into the Roadmap: firstly, to strengthen the core function of GHG inventory by enhanced accounting quality and scientific and systematic analysis of the temporal and sectorial distribution of GHG emissions so as to serve the Roadmap formulation and decision-making. Secondly, to reinforce the derivative function of GHG inventory that serves the LCD planning, assessment, and decision-making by improving the quality and continuity of GHG inventory. Thirdly, to develop the derivative function of GHG inventory by integrating the improved GHG inventory and TNA into the formulation of the Roadmap.

This paper evaluates the low-carbon development of 176 Chinese cities in 2018 using the Low-carbon City Evaluation Indicator System developed by Research Institute for Eco-civilization, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The evaluation shows an overall improvement of low-carbon development of cities in China, with 10 cities scoring 90 points and above, and 106 cities scoring 80–89 points. From the perspective of city category, the low-carbon development scores present an order as follows: service-oriented $\mathrm{\text{cities}}>\mathrm{\text{comprehensive cities}}>\mathrm{\text{ecology}}$-prioritized $\mathrm{\text{cities}}>\mathrm{\text{industrial}}$ cities. Geologically speaking, eastern cites perform best, western cities come second and central cities come last. Of the three batches of low-carbon city pilots, the scores follow the pattern of Batch $1>\mathrm{\text{Batch}}2>\mathrm{\text{Batch}}$ 3. Most cities are characterized by high carbon consumption and reduced efforts in low-carbon management and capital investment. Finally, this paper proposes to attach more importance to low-carbon development and strengthen capacity building for low-carbon governance; intensify efforts for constructing low-carbon pilots in order to help achieve the goal of carbon emission peak during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period; and to improve the Low-carbon City Evaluation Indicator System.