Carrying out measurements of low-carbon city development levels and exploring their core driving factors are focuses of attention in the field of building sustainable low-carbon cities (LCC). Previous studies have mainly focused on the national or provincial level, ignoring the problem of heterogeneity among different cities, and the consideration of the influencing factors of low-carbon cities has not been comprehensive enough. Given this, the authors of this paper selected 107 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2006 to 2019, constructed a general comprehensive index system for measuring the high-quality development level of low-carbon cities at the prefecture-level city level, and explored the spatial and temporal evolution trends and core drivers of the high-quality development level of low-carbon cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt using the CRITIC–VIKOR method and an ensemble learning algorithm. The empirical results showed that most of the cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt showed an overall upward trend in the level of high-quality development and a certain degree of “central collapse” in the spatial distribution. In addition, this paper further confirms that industrial structure is the most central driver of low-carbon urban development, the importance of urban carbon emissions and the level of science and technology innovation are gradually increasing, and a certain aggregation effect is formed in space that has led to a significant urban “siphon effect”. These results provide new evidence on the spatial and temporal evolution of the high-quality development of low-carbon cities in China and can help authorities formulate more targeted policies and strategic plans to enhance the high-quality development of low-carbon cities.
Using the CRITIC method, comprehensive index evaluation method, VAR model, coupling coordination model and other methods, this paper evaluates the comprehensive development of the population economy and eco-geological environment composite system in the Chengdu-Chongqing twin-city economic circle from 2000 to 2020, verifies the dynamic coupling relationship between subsystems and measures the coupling coordination degree of complex system. Meanwhile, the differences in the development process of each subsystem are discussed and the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and laws of coupling and coordination of the three systems during the research period are analyzed. The results reveal the following: (1) There is a long-term coordinated relationship between population, economy and eco-geological environment in Chengdu-Chongqing region, which have the conditions for emergence and generation. (2) The subsystems of population, economy and eco-geological environment in Chengdu-Chongqing region show an overall upward trend, among which the Sichuan part obviously outperforms the Chongqing part. Besides, the growth rate of the economy subsystem is significantly higher than that of the population, eco-geological environment subsystem. (3) The coupling and coordinated development of the composite system has shown a benign upward development trend, gradually changing from "composite spiral structure" to "two cores outstanding, peripheral collapse, the west superior to the east", while the main coordination state has developed from "Basic synergy - Economic lag" in 2000 to "Basic synergy - Population lag" in 2022. In addition, Cheng-De-Mian and Yuzhong districts with the better level of economic development have shown "Advanced synergy - Ecological lag".
Abstract. According to the written records and scores of grain harvest in the official historical documents of the Qing Dynasty in China, the spatial-temporal distribution of and the impact caused by the 1759 AD drought in Northwest China were reconstructed, and the response of Chinese society to the drought at that time was summarized. In the spring and summer of 1759, vast areas of northern China suffered from drought, of which that experienced in the northwest region was the most serious. Starting from 27 April 1759, droughts covered Zhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces, and the droughts in Gansu and northern Shaanxi provinces lasted until 23 July 1759. This severe drought caused the worst crop failure in Northwest China in 1759 during the period 1730–1900. By implementing a series of disaster relief measures, the Qing government managed to ease the adverse societal impact of the drought in the summer of 1760. Among the relief measures, tax reduction and exemption in disaster-stricken areas, grain storage in the northwest region, and bumper agricultural harvests in Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Anhui provinces in 1759 were the main reasons for the rapid recovery from the drought impacts. With better climatic conditions in the 18th century, China had higher agricultural harvest levels in the 18th century than in the 19th century. Favorable financial conditions increased drought relief efforts, which was the background for the greater societal adaptability to the climate disaster of 1759.
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