Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies

Nature, especially organic lives within it, is capable of self-regulation and regeneration from damages. However, if the rate of human exploitation surpasses that of natural regeneration, problems such as environmental pollution, ecological destruction and resource degradation will occur. The author argues that nature needs compensation in a certain form and ratio for its production. Eco-compensation is a form of reimbursement in the name of protection to owners of eco-properties, but not to nature’s production. The true compensation should give nature a break by substituting natural products with manufacturing artifacts and utilizing social outcomes to restore ecosystem, cope with emergencies and preserve nature. The bottom line of maintaining the simple reproduction of life members in the ecosystem is the minimum standard of nature participating in distribution, namely the ecological red line. The sustainable development paradigm of ecological civilization requires that nature shares a certain proportion of the outcome of natural and social production so as to build a long-term mechanism for ecological security.

The main purpose of the research is to provide a better basis for programs seeking to promote responsible citizen participation in urban development plans and projects. The research is based on a survey of 400 citizens in Anzali, a city with a population of approximately 116,000. In the spring of 2014, data collection was carried out in seven streets functioning as geographical clusters. Survey respondents were selected using convenience sampling. This study is an applied and descriptive survey research. However, the researchers are not satisfied with mere expression of the opinions, demands and suggestions of citizens. They go further to interpret the data and explain and justify them. In order to do that, they provide a convincing argument through searching among the literature and theoretical discussions and make conclusions. The research reveals that if users are properly consulted about municipal decisions, plans and activities, they can make specific and meaningful suggestions for improving the quality of the spaces. On the other hand, the status quo must be changed in order to provide opportunities for place management. In this regard, people should be trained to nurture a sense of responsibility towards the place so that they can become managers of the place.

In recent years, as the international community pays increasing attention to disaster prevention and reduction, study on vulnerability has become a new focus in the science of disaster, and it gradually becomes a consideration in strategy-making for sustainable social development. Understanding of vulnerability has become a prerequisite for grasping the nature of disasters, and it is also an area where humans can make a difference in disaster prevention and mitigation. Based on historical disasters and the concepts of vulnerability, this study applies the CCR model, one of the most basic Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models, to analyze the pattern of variation regarding agricultural vulnerability to floods in Shanghai suburban areas. The results prove the following: chronologically, the overall vulnerability degrees of Shanghai suburbs listed in the descending order are $1991>1983>1984>1981>1985>1979>1986>1990>1980>1989>1987>1988$; spatially, based on the averages recorded in 2013, the vulnerability levels of Shanghai suburban districts are Nanhui $>$ Jinshan $>$ Songjiang $>$ Baoshan $>$ Qingpu $>$ Pudong $>$ Jiading $>$ Fengxian. The results are basically consistent with the fact. Based on the characteristics of each district’s vulnerability to floods, some suggestions for flood prevention and mitigation are provided. The assessment models of flood vulnerability are simple and can be used for vulnerability analysis of natural disasters at regional or national levels. The assessment method adopted in this paper contributes to a deeper understanding of agricultural vulnerability to floods in Shanghai and provides a scientific base for the decision-making of related departments.

This paper empirically examines the relationship between carbon emissions and economic growth by applying the co-integration analysis and Granger causality test to the time series data of carbon emissions and gross domestic product (GDP) of the world’s top 20 emitters from 1990 to 2015. Co-integration analysis shows that there is a long-term equilibrium relationship between carbon emissions and economic growth in most countries; Granger causality test verifies a one-way causal link between carbon emissions and economic growth in most major emitters. In developed countries, economic growth is the Granger cause of carbon emissions, while the opposite is true in developing countries. The results reflect different characteristics regarding carbon emission reduction in developed and developing countries as they are at different developing stages. Carbon emission reduction exerts much greater adverse effects on the economic growth of developing countries than it does on that of developed countries. Based on the results of the Granger causal analysis, it is found that the requirements for developing countries to substantially reduce emissions are not in line with the characteristics in their current developing stage and therefore may pose obstructions. Developed countries should take the lead in carrying out emission reductions due to their accountability for historical emissions as well as their development stages and capabilities. In addition, they should aid developing countries in their efforts for transforming and upgrading development and reducing dependence of economic growth on carbon emissions. International climate governance should take into account the needs and characteristics of different countries for future development, and build a mechanism for international cooperation to achieve synergy between social economic development and global climate governance.

The extent of urban specialization is closely related to urban development level. This paper distinguishes relative specialization and absolute specialization in terms of their connotations and measurement methods, and examines functional specialization in general. Using data on prefecture-and-above cities in China, this paper also reviews the characteristics of indicators of urban specialization in China. The findings are as follows. There exists a $U$-shaped relationship between the relative specialization index and city size and income level; the absolute specialization index shows a significant negative correlation with city size and a significant positive correlation with income level. Functional specialization coefficient and city size manifest a significant positive correlation; there is clear division of functions among city clusters, and functional specialization coefficient is significantly related to administrative level of cities. Finally, from the perspective of functional division and specialization of cities (city clusters), this paper makes the proposition of coordinating the spatial, scale and industrial structures of Chinese cities.

The cities of the Yangtze River Delta are densely populated with large amounts of wealth, for which reason they are faced with greater disaster risks brought by climate change. As a major research tool on climate change policies, vulnerability assessment provides reference for adaptive management. Based on literature review and case study, the paper first constructs the overall vulnerability assessment model for cities of the Yangtze River Delta by utilizing the indices of sensitivity and adaptability. Then, it assesses 16 typical cities of this region through factor analysis, an objective evaluation method, analyzes the driving factors of climate vulnerability in each city and conducts group comparisons according to their sensitivity and adaptability. Finally, it points out the importance of cities’ adaptability to climate change under multiple pressures of climate change, population growth and urbanization in the future, and gives some suggestions, such as strengthening risk assessment on climate change, including climate-proofing measures in urban development planning, protecting climatically vulnerable groups in cities, enhancing comprehensive capacities for disaster management in cities and encouraging the R&D and innovation on adaptation technologies.

In the post financial crisis era, the contagion of a financial crisis remains an important issue. Drawing upon the idea of absolute physical space in classical cartography, this paper attempts to construct the space of political and economic systems for the contagion of financial crisis through a decomposition and re-synthesis of Index of Economic Freedom. It then utilizes the Spatial Autocorrelation Model to analyze the characteristics of the spatial distribution, structure, and interactions of the contagion. The empirical findings show that the contagion of international financial crisis has dependence on both geographical space and space of economic systems, and the spatial dependence on the latter is more significant and intense than that on the former. These findings verify the pure contagion of a financial crisis, that is, similar political and economic systems rather than geographical proximity among countries are more likely to lead to the contagion of a financial crisis.

The importance of the public finance in tackling climate change has been widely recognized by the global communities. As the operating entity of the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, the $10.3 billion Green Climate Fund (GCF) holds a potential to be the champion in the international climate finance architecture. Within two and a half years, the GCF approved 76 projects worthy of $3.7 billion and has established partnership with 59 accredited entities. Integrating different concerns into its governance and operational modalities, the GCF maintains an inclusive participation and has profound implication for the international climate change cooperation. While with these achievements, the GCF still faces financial and policy challenges going forward. If the current pace of the project approval continues, the GCF will soon exhaust its resource. The existing policy gaps will also jeopardize GCF meeting its climate goals. To ensure a sustainable and bright future, the GCF needs to take advantage of its opportunities and address the challenges in a wise and strategic way. Given the real scarcity of the public resources available, a top-down combined with bottom-up replenishment modality may be worth exploring.