Analysis of Several Problems in the Construction of Sponge City

Sponge city refers to a new urban construction concept used to solve urban flood disasters and water ecological problems. It is important for the construction of ecological civilization. It plays an important role in the green development and livability of the city. In the construction of a sponge city, it is necessary to make special urban planning and improve the top-level design. In recent years, China has developed a number of sponge city pilot projects. The numerous experiments act as important references for the urban construction in China. This paper mainly analyzes the requirements for the construction of sponge city and discusses several problems as well as solutions in the construction.

V2G Pilot Projects

Electric vehicles (EVs) are not only a viable energy efficient mode of transport, but they have considerable capacity of providing flexible and quick responding storage alternative based on vehicle-to-grid (V2G) scheme. V2G technology facilitates bidirectional flow of energy to and from the vehicle by a power converter. However, there is skepticism regarding the economic profitability of the V2G scheme. Despite the aforementioned challenges, the V2G technology is explored in matured markets. A number of V2G pilot projects across the world have investigated different aspects of V2G integration such as technological readiness, economic feasibility, social benefits, and challenges of V2G. This work aims to review the existing pilot projects on V2G functionality.

Practical Implementation of Integrative Bilingual Teaching/Learning at a Technical University

The value and importance of the integrative bilingual teaching/learning foreign language and engineering is building bridges between cognition and communication, finding ways for establishing a dynamic balance between them in the mind of an engineering student. This explains the choice of study exercises and activities, related to mental operations and psychological patterns. The chapter discusses the peculiarities of solving problems, other active exercises, and gives some practical recommendations. Here also is the eternal problem of CLIL-like integrative education: How much language? How much content? Concerning language material, it is determined by some basic volume, demand driven by professional duties and interests. All the suggested ideas were tested at a Russian technical university for years. The difficulties, findings, and results of the pilot projects for bachelors and masters are discussed.

SmartDest

The Azores are an increasingly attractive tourist destination. The excellence of endogenous resources has allowed it to consolidate its position as nature and adventure destination. Consequently, the regional strategy seeks to base this sector's growth on the principles of sustainable development. The potential granted by the new technologies is combined in an excellent opportunity to pursue this objective and convert the Azores into a smart tourist destination. Thus, according to this vision, a conversion plan was elaborated that can guide the performance of the destination management bodies and other stakeholders. In methodological terms, different techniques were applied, including the identification of good local practices and case studies for benchmarking, a self-diagnosis, interviews with stakeholders, and a SWOT analysis. The plan was concluded with the definition of measures, actions, and pilot projects to be implemented in the region following a structure based on the smart destinations development axes proposed in 2015 by Segittur.

Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Digitalization Process

This chapter will initially introduce the concept of intangible cultural heritage. After establishing the relationship between intangible cultural heritage and tourism, changes in intangible cultural heritage components will be expressed through the digitization and COVID-19 processes. “Digital intangible cultural heritage,” “digital cultural heritage,” “digital safeguarding” concepts will be described because they attracted great attention during this time. Additionally, the other aspect of the research is the use of digital applications to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage. In the final part, the pilot projects concerning the safeguarding and promoting the intangible cultural heritage implemented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey will be discussed.

Environmental and Economic Prerequisites for Russiaʼs Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy

Introduction. Environmental and climatic problems of the Russian Federation have attracted considerable attention from scientists, politicians, as well as the general public. Human activities are a major cause of pollution and global warming, which necessitates the search for a new way of economic development reducing the adverse impact on the environment. The authors consider a low-carbon economy aimed at simultaneously solving economic, environmental, and climatic problems as such a guideline. Based on the research conducted the article identifies the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in which pilot projects for the transition of enterprises and cities to low-carbon development are most expedient to implement. The gained experience should be applied in other regions of the country in the future. Materials and Methods. Data from the Federal State Statistics Service and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation on 20 most populated constituent entities of the country were analyzed. In order to identify the regions with the largest volumes of various types of pollution, the data ranking method was applied. The authors have also carried out an analysis of relative indicators of natural resource intensity associated with emission into the atmosphere, discharges of polluted wastewater, and production of municipal solid waste. Results. The performed analysis has shown the heterogeneity of the environmental and economic development of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. It has been concluded that among the regions considered, it is most expedient to implement pilot projects for low-carbon development in cities and in “polluting” industries located in the Kemerovo, Sverdlovsk, and Chelyabinsk Regions, as well as in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Discussion and Conclusion. The results of the study can be used in the development of environmental programs, as well as in the development of directions for mitigating the environmental impact in the most polluted regions of the country and in industries with high natural resource intensity.

Green Infrastructure Development in Urban Areas: Case Studies of Samutsakhon, Krathumbaen and Banphaeo Municipalities in Samut Sakhon Province

Though the development of green infrastructure in parks in Samut Sakhon province has been continuously implemented, there are still no research studies that have explicitly demonstrated the parks’ potential, nor any public opinions toward the development of urban green infrastructure in the parks that would be productive for the planning to efficiently improve and provide urban green infrastructure. As a result, this study had the following objectives: 1) To analyze the potential and networks of urban green infrastructure in parks in Samut Sakhon province, 2) To analyze the satisfaction of using the services and requirements of the urban green infrastructure development in the parks in Samut Sakhon province, and 3) To propose development guidelines in urban green infrastructure for the parks of Samut Sakhon province. The research instruments comprised a questionnaire, and the data were analyzed by using a scalogram. The results found that high-potential parks were not large in size, but they had all the complete components, as well as green infrastructure featured in the attributes of patch, matrix, and mosaic. Nevertheless, the green infrastructure development featured in the attribute of the corridor had disappeared in several sites of the green infrastructure in the parks. Likewise, the green networks of the parks, specifically those in the high-potential category, were not successive by walking. For this reason, the people were mostly satisfied with the convenient accessibility of the parks, but there were the requirements of paving the footpath, improving the landscape, and adding a variety of activities in the parks. Therefore, the development guidelines of urban green infrastructure in the parks should formulate more areas in the attribute of the corridor at the riverside and on the streets, conserve and increase the park areas by allowing public participation in the management, as well as apply urban planning measures to obtain the park area. In addition, a footpath and bike lane should be safely constructed in the high-potential parks. Simultaneously, the landscape should be adjusted in the low- and moderate-potential parks by launching pilot projects in the parks of the governmental agencies.

Systemic Governance of Mountains, Rivers, Forests, Farmlands, Lakes and Grasslands: Theoretical Framework and Approaches

The life community of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes and grasslands (MRFFLG) and its systemic governance are key components to build ecological civilization in China. It comprises diverse connotations in value, scientific and economic dimensions. Epistemologically, it comes from the Chinese traditional philosophy of harmonious coexistence of heaven, earth and man, and conforms to the Western ecological ethics, complex system science and environmental value theory. Methodologically, as a complex socio-ecological system in which man and nature interact and coexist, the life community of the MRFFLG should be governed coordinately from both narrow and broad views. At the policy level, from the perspectives of narrow synergy among ecological subsystems and broad synergy among the complex socio-ecological system, this paper evaluates the performance indicators of 16 pilot projects of the MRFFLG, and points out that the design of most pilot projects well reflects the narrow synergy of multiple ecological elements, but is short of attention to the broad synergy of green development and ecological civilization. There are two practical ways to promote the systemic governance of the MRFFLG. First, it needs to focus on the coordinated governance of watershed and ecological environment restoration against the background of global climate and environmental change. The goal is to restore and improve the service functions of ecological subsystems and enhance their climate adaptability. Second, in the context of new urbanization and green development transition, it requires a collaborative planning focusing on natural capital and green infrastructure investment, which is aimed at cultivating ecological dividends and realizing ecological economy.

Grant support as an option for private sector solutions and systemic issues in the work of NPOs

This article examines the existing practice of participation by non-profit organizations (NPOs) in solving social policy problems, both in the West and in Russia, and makes a comparative analysis of Russian and foreign experience in this area. A separate section of the work is devoted to the study of the grant support system of NPIs in Russia. Systemic and private problems have been identified. Conclusions are drawn about imperfections of the emerging system of interaction between the State and NCBs, including in the area of project financing; and also about the need to create conditions for the replication of successful pilot projects of individual NCBs on the territory of the whole of Russia.