Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies

A general consensus has been developed to proactively address climate change and promote green and low-carbon development in the international community. China, as a responsible major developing country, takes green and low-carbon development not only as its due international obligation to tackle global climate change, but also a priority in the implementation of the “Five Key Concepts for Development” (http://keywords.china.org.cn/2016-03/01/content_37907679.htm) and the realization of the “Two Centenary Goals” (http://www.china.org.cn/china/china_key_words/2014-11/18/content_34158771.htm). In this paper, the author reviews the major progress in tackling climate change worldwide in recent years, explores the nature of climate change based on the experiences of developed countries and China’s choice of development path, and analyzes China’s achievements and future development potential in green and low-carbon development.

The past decade has witnessed the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in public service innovation. As the technical characteristics of IoT technologies are rather identical around the globe, one might wonder whether the location still matters for their adoptions. Smart public bike sharing (PBS) scheme is one of the world’s most widespread public IoT applications. Prior studies of smart PBS schemes find the positive effects on the host city’s image and sustainable mobility. However, less attention has been paid to the impact of the host city’s context on the evolution of their service characteristics. The paper proposes a model that explicitly includes the contextual dynamics of public service innovations that utilize IoT. Then the model is used to analyze two empirical cases from Sweden and China, respectively. The results reveal that public motives, user preferences, and governance can impact the evolution of the service characteristics of smart PBS schemes, which is important for smart PBS planners, operators, and policymakers to consider. The best PBS scheme is the one that adapts to the characters of the host city and the changing needs of the users. Moreover, the study reflects the new complexities that arise for digital public services, such as the protection of data and privacy.

Wavelet coherence of time series provides valuable information about dynamic correlation and its impact on time scales. Here, the authors analyze the wavelet coherence of major real estate markets data, and take the USA, Hong Kong of China, Canada, Japan, and Developed Europe real estate market prices as time series. The wavelet coherence results show relationships among these markets, the correlations between the two and three markets (by multiple wavelet coherence) and how these relationships vary in the time-frequency space. These relationships allow the authors to build VARMA models of real estate data which produce forecasts with small errors.

The paper analyzes the role of information–knowledge for making farming environmentally friendly, using eutrophication of the main drinking water reservoir of Tianjin, China as a case. The analysis considers information and instruction sources used by farmers in relation to their farming and environmental issues, in particular application of fertilizers, and on this basis it discusses governance and policy measures. The study is interdisciplinary, covering both natural and social sciences, and it is based on quantitative methodology, employing descriptive and multivariate statistical methods. The main findings are: (i) farmers make use of a broad range of information and instruction sources, thereby confirming the claim that eutrophication and hence good farming practices are a “wicked” problem; (ii) the young and the members of the Communist Party are more active than others in using a broad range of information and instruction sources; (iii) different categories of farmers give priority to different information and instruction sources, providing a basis for tailor-made disseminations; (iv) the majority of farmers report receiving clear instructions for using fertilizers, yet half of them conceive using fertilizers correctly as difficult; (v) receiving instructions from other farmers and suppliers cater for high scores on clear instructions; and (vi) farmers are best seen as muddling through different pressures from above and different knowledge bases, and not just willy-nilly responding to top-down policy instructions.

The heat of the earth is provided by solar radiation. A change in the angle of solar radiation and the surface of the earth causes changes in the ambient temperature. Sometimes, these changes reduce climatic comfort of human beings. Climatic comfort is established when there is a balance between excreted and absorbed temperatures of the skin of the body. Orientation and extension rates of physics of squares relative to the geographical north influence the amount of received direct sunlight in different months. Relevant studies show that the squares of the city of Yazd reduce the climatic comfort of its citizens; moreover, the physics of Yazd's squares apply various extension rates, which led to high building costs to citizens and relevant organizations. This study, by using the correlation method and R software, measures different orientation and extension rates of physics of squares in Yazd. It analyzes two models with orientation and physical extension as variables and evaluates the shade and sunlight in the space. The results reveal significant differences between desirable and undesirable options. Considering the climatic comfort of space users and residents at the same time, a rectangle with an extension ratio of one to several and the north-south orientation, making the lowest facade face the south, is the most appropriate physic for city squares.

The Paris Agreement recognizes that countries may be affected not only by climate change, but also by impacts of measures taken in response to it.  The Agreement also requires parties to address the adverse implications arising from the use of response measures, particularly on developing countries. Parties' tool-kit of response measures to meet their pre-2020 actions and post-2020 intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) could include trade measures such as carbon taxes, cap-and-trade schemes and related offsets, carbon border tax adjustments, carbon standards and labelling, and subsidies for low carbon goods. Aside from parties, international organizations are also developing response measures such as the ISO's carbon footprint standards (CFPs). These measures could have economic and trade implications and may possibly modify the conditions of competition in various sectors. Depending on how these measures are designed and applied, they can also be incompatible with WTO law. The inter-linkages between trade and climate response measures will become more pronounced as parties implement their pre-2020 climate actions and post-2020 INDCs. Trade disputes are more likely in a world of uncoordinated and conflicting national responses to climate challenge. What should be done to foster coherence between the WTO and UNFCCC regimes, and prevent legal inconsistencies from arising? This calls for the governance of response measures — the need for pre-emptive cooperation at the national and international levels supplemented by ex-ante and ex-post transparency and guided by parameters to foster coherence between the trade and climate regimes. While this paper discusses response measures and their implications from the trade-climate lens, the approach adopted in the paper would also be applicable in the interaction of response measures with other policy areas such as economic diversification, just transition in the workforce and development issues.  In sum, as the paper highlights, from the perspective of the Paris Agreement's mandate that climate protection should be enhanced in the context of sustainable development, and response measures must also colored, textured and shaded in sustainable development.

The development of low-carbon willingness is one of the inherent conditions for the construction of low-carbon cities. This paper focuses on a case study of the embedded settlement of She immigrants from Muchen Reservoir (in Zhejiang Province) and inhabitants of immigration areas. Based on a survey sampling of the above-mentioned She emigrants and inhabitants, the author conducts an experimental study, which divides research subjects into four groups: A1 of Han ethnic group settling in single-Han communities in immigration areas; A2 of Han ethnic group settling with She immigrants in immigration areas; B1 of She immigrants settling in single-She communities after migration; B2 of She immigrants settling with Han ethnic group after migration. A1 and B1 are reference groups, while A2 and B2 are experimental groups. The study analyzes and compares the low-carbon awareness of Han ethnic group and She minority in different modes of living (single-ethnic settlement and embedded settlement) in the immigrant area after the reservoir resettlement, so as to identify whether embedded settlement helps foster low-carbon awareness. The results show that Han ethnic group settling with She immigrants consumed less luxuries and is better at applying traditional local knowledge compared with its reference group; meanwhile, She minority settling with Han ethnic group has more low-carbon knowledge and stronger low-carbon willingness. The study proves that when an ethnic minority migrates from a single-ethnicity community to one featuring embedded settlement of different ethnic groups, the communication among them helps to spread and strengthen low-carbon awareness; besides, traditional local knowledge of ethnic minorities contributes to the low-carbon development of the immigration areas.