In 2007, China surpassed the USA to become the largest carbon emitter in the world. China has promised a 60%-65% reduction in carbon emissions per unit GDP by 2030, compared to the baseline of 2005. Therefore, it is important to obtain accurate dynamic information on the spatial and temporal patterns of carbon emissions and carbon footprints to support formulating effective national carbon emission reduction policies. This study attempts to build a carbon emission panel data model that simulates carbon emissions in China from 2000-2013 using nighttime lighting data and carbon emission statistics data. By applying the Exploratory Spatial-Temporal Data Analysis (ESTDA) framework, this study conducted an analysis on the spatial patterns and dynamic spatial-temporal interactions of carbon footprints from 2001-2013. The improved Tapio decoupling model was adopted to investigate the levels of coupling or decoupling between the carbon emission load and economic growth in 336 prefecture-level units. The results show that, firstly, high accuracy was achieved by the model in simulating carbon emissions. Secondly, the total carbon footprints and carbon deficits across China increased with average annual growth rates of 4.82% and 5.72%, respectively. The overall carbon footprints and carbon deficits were larger in the North than that in the South. There were extremely significant spatial autocorrelation features in the carbon footprints of prefecture-level units. Thirdly, the relative lengths of the Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) time paths were longer in the North than that in the South, and they increased from the coastal to the central and western regions. Lastly, the overall decoupling index was mainly a weak decoupling type, but the number of cities with this weak decoupling continued to decrease. The unsustainable development trend of China's economic growth and carbon emission load will continue for some time.
Spatial planning is a public policy arrangement for land use allocation and spatial structure regulation. As a method used by the public sector to influence the spatial distribution of future activities, spatial planning has become an important method and basis for the Chinese government to perform its duties. In the process of its long-term development, China has formed a unique spatial planning system. Based on the perspective of evolution and comparison, this paper systematically reviews the evolution of China’s spatial planning system from “multi-plan division” to “multi-plan integration” under the inheritance of departments. The findings are as follows. ① China’s spatial planning has long presented a pattern of separate management by multiple departments, such as development and reform, construction, land, and environmental protection. The emergence and development of various types of planning is a necessary spatial governance tool for specific national conditions and major issues of land space development and protection in China. ② In the evolution process of more than half a century, the planning of various departments has gradually established, inherited, and continuously changed their own planning systems and control content; thus, China’s spatial planning has undergone a process of “planning absence–planning division–planning integration”. ③ The brand-new territorial spatial plan inherits the “three types” of control space, including land utilization master planning, urban and rural master planning, and ecological environment planning, and forms a set of binding index systems, which have become the decision-making basis for the current territorial space resource allocation. ④ In the future, China’s spatial planning system should be further optimized and improved in aspects such as the coordination mechanism of “soft” and “hard” spatial planning, the spatial resource allocation system that places equal emphasis on legality and efficiency, and the spatial layout system from “major function-oriented zoning” to “space use zoning”. Insight into the evolution of China’s spatial planning system can provide historical and logical support for the improvement of China’s spatial governance thinking and the continuous improvement of the efficiency of land space resource allocation in the future and provide a certain reference value for the comparative study of the planning systems of different countries in the world.
In the 21st century, the tension between economic growth, resources and the environment in countries around the world is increasing, and the sustainable development of the economy and society is under great pressure. Green development has become the only way for countries to promote sustainable development. Generally, capitalist countries achieve their green development goals through increasingly strict environmental protection regulations, technological upgrading, industrial upgrading and global transfer based on market mechanisms and legal environments. Evidently, this green development strategy relies on the core position of Western countries in the global technological leadership and the global division of labor. However, limited in terms of their economic strength and by technical barriers, how can developing countries, led by China, in the marginal position in the global market competition, carry out green development transformation? In line with the “high-quality development” strategy, governments at all levels in China are actively exploring green development strategies with their own characteristics. Based on the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research and the face-to-face interview method, this paper summarizes a new strategy of systematic government-driven green development combining internal and external factors in the underdeveloped areas of inland China, which has gradually formed in the Xining metropolitan area (XMA) in the past 20 years. This strategy has the following characteristics: Firstly, during the period of rapid growth, the XMA areas have promoted each other through new urbanization and new industrialization and jointly promoted the formation of a green development turn in the new era. Secondly, the government is the core actor and driving force of China’s regional green development and has gradually formulated and implemented a series of policy systems during this development. Restricted by local economic backwardness and low industrial profits, the implementation of green government policies tends to be mandatory. The majority of urban residents and rural people support this transformation because they have benefited from the transformation process. Thirdly, this green development strategy is reflected in many aspects, such as industry, ecology, the environment, space and transportation, and is part of a systematic, green-oriented transformation. Fourthly, the advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics are the guarantee of the green development strategy. It is noteworthy that this kind of green development transformation requires a large amount of “additional” investment and the “rapid” upgrade of the industry. Therefore, it requires more time and the understanding and assistance of all sectors of society.
Uni-cities which are located adjacent to each other are the leading regions implementing integration strategy for urban agglomerations development. The aim of this paper is to explore the problems and corresponding governance countermeasures of uni-cities during their formation and development in China, which is of great significance for getting an overall view of urban integration, understanding its rules as well as optimizing urban development pattern in China. This paper uses Qualitative Metasynthesis method to proposes the general spatial distribution pattern of uni-cities which shows a "17+8+8+4" structure firstly. The paper then systematically analyses the main problems of the uni-cities in China, and the results show that the identification standard is lacking, land resource is utilized extensively, and the collaboration is limited, which specifically comprises of limitations of collaborative content, region, and coordinating approach, so the identification standard, development quality and top layer designs are required to be improved and upgraded. Some policy countermeasures and suggestions for the construction of uni-cities are put forward in the end to ensure their sustainable development as well as healthy and orderly evolution to urban agglomerations.
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