An Investigation on the Urban Form Transformations in Contemporary Chinese Cities

2011 ◽  
Vol 368-373 ◽  
pp. 3525-3528
Author(s):  
Ze Li ◽  
Tian Jie Zhang

The paper investigates the urban form transformations of Chinese cities in the past three decades. Through literature review, it explores the forces of these urban form transformations. The research identifies that despite the substantial body of literature that sheds light on China’s economic reform and urban development, understanding of the development process remains vague.

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (9) ◽  
pp. 1545-1569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence J C Ma

Through a review of the literature, the author identifies the achievements as well as the deficiencies in the study of China's urbanization and urbanism in the second half of the 20th century. A number of issues that merit scholarly research are suggested and the need for theorization is emphasized. During the last half century, Chinese cities underwent dramatic transformations as a consequence of two major systemic changes. During the first three decades after the socialist revolution of 1949, sustained low levels of urbanization and a brief episode of antiurbanism accompanied centralized planning and city-based industrialization. Since the economic reforms of 1978 Chinese cities have witnessed major economic and spatial shifts away from the socialist patterns. Among the many facets of urban transformation since 1978 are a more heterogeneous urban population, rural – urban migration, spatial reorganization through urban land-use change, new housing development, globalization, suburbanization, polycentric restructuring of urban form, and changes in the spatial/administrative systems of cities. It is argued that, as the Chinese economy is inherently political, political economy perspectives should be foregrounded to enrich our understanding of the complexity of China's economic and urban transformation. In this regard, the continuously powerful and multiple roles of the Party-state as the ultimate decisionmaker, regulator, and participant in the urban economy should be emphasized, despite globalization and decentralization of administrative and fiscal powers from the central to local levels. The Chinese trajectory of urban development is seen as more different from than similar to the experiences of other economies undergoing structural change away from socialism, and context-based country-specific theorization of urban change is called for. More general theories of urban transformation which are applicable to a number of former socialist nations, and which transcend the idiosyncrasies of individual countries, should be developed where possible. A closer engagement among scholars working on the urban development of China and those working on other former socialist countries is necessary if ‘the socialist city’ is to become a firm typology of cities.


Author(s):  
Dilavar Karimli

This study aims to reveal the development of strategy and strategic management thinking, which has become even more important in today's intensely competitive environment, and the direction of current research issues in strategic management issues. In this framework, a literature review has been made to make comments and reach new syntheses by examining the subject with a broad and deep perspective in our study. It has been ensured that the sources related to the subject of the article are reviewed, opinions, attitudes, and descriptions are found. In this article, the pioneers of strategic management thought and philosophy from the past to the present and the historical development process, the strategic management schools and research issues that have emerged until today, have been tried to be revealed through a literature review. In our study, the progress and developments provided by strategic management thinking have been examined.


2011 ◽  
Vol 71-78 ◽  
pp. 1782-1786
Author(s):  
Quan Zhang ◽  
Gang Chen ◽  
Xiao Rui Zhang

UNESCO has put forward explicitly the concept of the eco-city in the "Man and the Biosphere Program (MBA)" for the first time. Over the past 30 years and more, all the countries in the world have established the eco-city as the goal of urban development. In the practice, some regions of China have also put forward the eco-city construction proposals; however, due to divergence of understanding of the eco-city theories and incorrect knowledge of the actual local conditions, there have been some misunderstandings in eco-city construction, resulting in the so-called “pseudo–ecology”. This essay is started from study of the basic theories of the eco-city. Based on analysis of the current conditions and problems, it probes into methods and measures of eco-city construction in China, with a view to promote the Chinese cities’ ecological development and eco-city construction.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shenhao Wang ◽  
Jinhua Zhao

The urbanization and motorization of Chinese cities follow divergent trajectories. However, how the diversity occurred, particularly within the small and medium cities, is understudied. Using panel data from 287 cities from 2001 to 2014 and a time-series clustering method, this study identified representative trajectories along which Chinese cities were urbanized and motorized. Urbanization was measured by scale, wealth, urban form, and infrastructure; motorization by automobile, taxi, bus numbers, and subway lines. Chinese cities were classified into four clusters: 23 Cluster-1 cities were the large cities with heavy rails; 41 Cluster-2 cities were the low-density wealthy cities with auto-oriented mobility; 134 Cluster-3 cities were the low-density medium-wealth cities with moderate mobility levels; and 89 Cluster-4 cities were the high-density poor cities with lowest mobility levels. Comparing to the traditional three-tier structure, exclusively based on political tiers, the four-cluster structure respects the multi-dimensional nature of cities and reflects the essential diversities among the medium and small cities. While political tiers remain critical, other features including scale, density, infrastructure, and mobility patterns are also important: scale differentiates Cluster-1 from others; low density characterizes Clusters 2 and 3; heavy rail and auto-oriented mobility respectively identify Clusters 1 and 2. We contribute to China’s urban development literature by explicitly examining the temporal dimension, analyzing both urbanization and motorization, and incorporating all the medium and small cities in China. The distinct patterns of Clusters 2, 3, and 4 are evident, and the variation within them were as important as that between them and large cities.


1962 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
pp. 137-143
Author(s):  
M. Schwarzschild

It is perhaps one of the most important characteristics of the past decade in astronomy that the evolution of some major classes of astronomical objects has become accessible to detailed research. The theory of the evolution of individual stars has developed into a substantial body of quantitative investigations. The evolution of galaxies, particularly of our own, has clearly become a subject for serious research. Even the history of the solar system, this close-by intriguing puzzle, may soon make the transition from being a subject of speculation to being a subject of detailed study in view of the fast flow of new data obtained with new techniques, including space-craft.


2019 ◽  
pp. 121-143
Author(s):  
Riccardo Resciniti ◽  
Federica De Vanna

The rise of e-commerce has brought considerable changes to the relationship between firms and consumers, especially within international business. Hence, understanding the use of such means for entering foreign markets has become critical for companies. However, the research on this issue is new and so it is important to evaluate what has been studied in the past. In this study, we conduct a systematic review of e-commerce and internationalisation studies to explicate how firms use e-commerce to enter new markets and to export. The studies are classified by theories and methods used in the literature. Moreover, we draw upon the internationalisation decision process (antecedents-modalities-consequences) to propose an integrative framework for understanding the role of e-commerce in internationalisation


2016 ◽  
Vol 167 (4) ◽  
pp. 221-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Zabel ◽  
Eva Lieberherr

Advancement of the Swiss Forest Policy 2020 from stakeholders' perspectives In light of the ending of the Swiss “ Forest Policy 2020”, this article assesses the goals, challenges and concerns of Swiss forest stakeholders in relation to forest policy post 2020. The data were collected through expert interviews and an online survey. The results show that securing an economically sustainable forest management and economically viable silvicultural businesses are key concerns for many stakeholders. Apart from these issues, several further and sometimes conflicting interests were mentioned. The study concludes that a debate on an adjustment of the weights given to goals in the Swiss Forest Policy 2020 may be commendable. However, there does not appear to be need for a complete change of course in order to address the stakeholders' needs and concerns. In terms of policy process, most stakeholders positively evaluated the past planning and development process of the Swiss Forest Policy 2020, but also provided suggestions for improvements. Finally, a network analysis revealed that the Swiss Federal Agency for the Environment, the Swiss Forest Owners Association and the Conference of Cantonal Foresters played a central role in the amendment of the Swiss Federal Forest Act. The analysis also showed that more stakeholders find each other as important than actually work together in a legislative process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3339
Author(s):  
Madhavi Venkatesan ◽  
Fenner Dreyfuss-Wells ◽  
Anjali Nair ◽  
Astrid Pedersen ◽  
Vishnu Prasad

This paper is the outcome of a course project for Economics of Sustainability (Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts). Facilitated and under the direction of the instructor, course participants designed a survey instrument where questions and responses were developed to be indicators of behavioral bias related to the environment. The consumer good targeted in the survey was convenience-based coffee consumption, and convenience was defined by the use of single-use disposable coffee cups. The discussion highlights the survey development process including literature review-based expectations specific to each question. The paper concludes with next steps, which involve the administration of the instrument and evaluation of the survey results.


Urban Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Ayyoob Sharifi ◽  
Maryam Roosta ◽  
Masoud Javadpoor

As cities are exposed to a portfolio of risks, the concept of resilience has risen to prominence over the past two decades. Consequently, a large volume of research has been published on different aspects of urban resilience. However, urban form resilience is still relatively understudied. As a step toward filling this gap, this study examines resilience of nine selected neighborhoods from Shiraz, an old Iranian city. The selected cases represent three different urban form patterns, namely, traditional, semi-planned, and planned. Different indicators related to the physical configuration of lots, blocks, open and green spaces, and street networks are used to examine resilience of each neighborhood to three major stressors, namely, earthquakes, extreme heat events, and floods. Additionally, a combination of Shannon entropy and the VIKOR (VlseKriterijumska Optimizcija I Kaompromisno Resenje in Serbian) method is used to rank the resilience of each neighborhood to each of the three stressors. Results show that, overall, the physical form of the planned neighborhoods is more conducive to urban resilience. In contrast, the urban form of traditional neighborhoods was found to be less resilient. There were, however, some variations depending on the type of stressor considered. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need to consider social and economic factors in future studies of urban form resilience.


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