City Policy Research Articles

Does new energy demonstration city policy curb air pollution? Evidence from Chinese cities

China has embarked on realizing a green-oriented energy structure transition with a series of policy tools. In 2014, the National Energy Administration launched a new energy demonstration city (NEDC) policy, but its effect on air pollution mitigation has not been fully examined. By employing the Difference-in-difference strategy, this study examines the effect of the NEDC policy on air pollution mitigation with Chinese prefecture-level city data. The results reveal that the NEDC policy can significantly lead to a 0.13-unit drop in SO2 emissions. The NEDC policy curbs pollution by stimulating green investments, promoting green technology innovation, advancing resource allocation efficiency, and reducing energy consumption. The effect of the NEDC policy appears to be heterogeneous under different conditions. Furthermore, this phenomenon is more conspicuous in prefectures led by older officials, where the age incentives nearing the promotion golden age threshold amplify the effects of air pollution mitigation, while those nearing retirement years exacerbate such effects. Notably, the interaction effect between environmental regulations and the NEDC policy on air pollution mitigation is elucidated. Moreover, positive spatial spillover effects extending to neighboring regions are identified, underscoring the imperative of regional collaboration and technological diffusion. Based on the findings above, several policy implications are proposed.

Carbon emissions from the perspective of regional competition: evidence from China’s low-carbon city policy

Carbon emissions from the perspective of regional competition: evidence from China’s low-carbon city policy

AS MEDIAÇÕES DA EFETIVAÇÃO DA POLÍTICA EDUCACIONAL NO ENSINO MÉDIO EM MUNICÍPIOS DO ESTADO DO PARÁ

This paper aims at inquiring the role played by education policy and high school in cities across the Lower Tocantins and Acará Valley regions, in Pará state, Brazil. Those very territories under scrutiny present peculiarities which allow one to understand how such policies are materialized in Pará state reality. Through bibliographical research an official data about schools situated in said cities, it was identified that historically actions targeting the Basic Education last stage were based on factors such as philanthropy, delays, fragmentation and impromptu acts. Regarding 2015 to 2021, it is visible how those elements had impacted in municipal indexes, as they had been altered at a rather slow pace and had not demonstrated a public action continuity capable of making schools attractive and of guaranteeing proper structures, so that the youth enrolled in High School could have had actual chances of access and permanence.

Urban innovation, heterogeneous environmental regulations and haze reduction effects–evidence from pilot policies of innovative cities

Innovation-driven development strategies have injected new momentum into haze management. In addition to its core innovation-driven role, innovative city pilot policy is significant for environmental enhancement and should not be overlooked. To assess the performance of the pilot policy in decreasing haze, a multiperiod double difference model was employed, and a spatial econometric model was used to empirically examine the potential spatial spillover effect of haze management as a regional synergistic concept between 2006 and 2020. Panel data from 282 prefecture-level cities were selected. To investigate and empirically examine the territorial spillover effect of haze reduction as a regional synergistic notion, a spatial econometric model was applied. Based on the study, the pilot construction significantly reduced haze pollution. In China’s eastern and central regions, small cities, and newer industrial bases, the inhibitory effect of pilot policies on haze pollution was more pronounced, according to heterogeneity analysis. Moreover, analysis of the heterogeneous environmental regulations revealed that the enforcement of policies would increase the sense of urgency of local governments, strengthen the concern and responsibility of the government for the environment, and further awaken the public’s concern for the environment, in addition to forcing enterprises to practice clean and sustainable production, thus achieving the effect of accelerated haze reduction. From the spatial perspective, innovative pilot cities have certain spatial spillover effects and thus can increase the effects of policy for neighboring regions, similar economic regions and local transportation regions.

Smart Cities and Greener Futures: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China’s Smart City Construction

As the digital economy becomes the new engine of economic growth, China has introduced a series of smart city policies aimed at promoting high-quality and sustainable urban development. This paper aims to evaluate the green development effects of China’s “Smart City Pilot” policy and to explore the heterogeneity of policy effects across different types of cities. Using panel data from 283 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2020, this study examines the relationship between smart city construction policy and urban green development efficiency using the green total factor productivity (GTFP). We employ the Causal Forest and mediation effect models to estimate the impact of smart city pilot policy on GTFP and explore the underlying mechanisms. The main results are: (1) The smart city pilot policy significantly enhances urban GTFP, a finding consistent across diverse policy evaluation approaches. (2) The influence of the policy on green development varies among cities, and such heterogeneity is effectively captured by the Causal Forest. (3) This varied impact primarily stems from urban location factors and inherent characteristics. Notably, the policy effect in Eastern China outpaces that in other regions. The policy yields greater green benefits with financial development and medical capital rises, but excessive government public expenditure curtails its positive influence. (4) The mediation mechanisms through which the smart city pilot policy promotes green development exhibit certain differences between the “high-effect group” and the “low-effect group”. The former predominantly leverages innovation-driven and agglomeration effects, while the latter chiefly relies on industrial structural advancement and rationalization.

Research on the incentive effect of the policy combination of carbon-reduction pilot cities

This paper investigates the impact of policy combinations on the process of urban carbon reduction using panel data from 284 pilot cities in China. We analyze the incentive process of pilot city policies under three dimensions of the administrative subcontract and verify the impact of different policy combinations on carbon emissions. Our findings suggest that the policy combinations of dual pilot cities significantly reduced carbon intensity and had a complementary effect. In heterogeneity analysis, the policy combinations of dual pilot cities significantly reduced carbon intensity in central and western cities but did not affect eastern cities. We also find that the policy path dependence formed by becoming a “low-carbon city” first and then a “demonstration city” had a better carbon reduction incentive effect than becoming a “demonstration city” first and then a “low-carbon city”. The study results show that the order of policy combinations will bring different policy effects, and paying attention to the incentive mechanism differences of different policy combinations will help improve policy implementation effects. Our research highlights the importance of policy combinations in promoting urban carbon reduction and provides policy implications for governments to design effective carbon reduction policies.

Systematic Review of the Use of the Walk-Along Interview Method to Assess Factors, Facilitators and Barriers Related to Perceived Neighborhood Environment and Walking Activity in Healthy Older Adults

Background: Based on findings from a recent systematic review of the methodological aspects related to data collection for the walk-along interview (WAI) method applied to healthy older adults, complementary questions emerged, among them, what are the main outcomes of studies that have used the WAI? Objective: The aim of this systematic review is to identify the outcomes of published studies that have used the WAI method to identify correlates of the perceived neighborhood environment on walking activity in healthy older adults. Methods: In accordance with the PRISMA guidelines, a date-unrestricted search spanning four databases was performed. Of the 164 articles identified in the initial search, 31 articles published between 2012 and 2022 met the inclusion criteria. Results: The extracted outcomes were classified into two categories: (1) the relationship between the physical characteristics of the environment and walking among healthy older adults (e.g., pedestrian infrastructure, safety, access to facilities, aesthetics and environmental conditions) and (2) the facilitators and barriers to walking, based on the dimensions of the socioecological model. Conclusions: This review provides a valuable resource for researchers, students and professionals who wish to work with the WAI method, working on aging and age-friendly cities policies.

What can urban transport policy achieve? How transport-policy-invariant characteristics relate to city-level car ownership and car use

Most case and comparative studies discuss urban characteristics that can hardly be influenced by urban transport policies. However, these studies do not quantify the impact of the so-called contextual factors on car ownership and car use. This paper focuses on these contextual factors and their associations with car ownership and car use. Regression models show that contextual factors - such as city size, the share of households with children and the jobs-housing balance - explain a substantial part of the variance in car ownership and car trips in 44 German cities. Residual analyses reveal that neglecting contextual factors leads to biases in comparative studies and consequently in the evaluation of urban transport policies. Thus, there is a risk that cities with favourable contextual factors may be mistakenly viewed as successful examples of transport policy, whereas successful policies in cities with less favourable contextual factors may be overlooked.

Urban Intellectual Property Strategy and University Innovation: A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on the Intellectual Property Model City of China

Colleges and universities play a crucial role in fostering innovation, making it essential to explore effective strategies for promoting innovation at the institutional policy level. This paper focuses on the establishment of intellectual property model cities as a starting point and conducts an empirical analysis using innovation data from 234 cities and 942 colleges and universities between 2007 and 2017. By constructing a multi-temporal double-difference model, this study reveals that the establishment of intellectual property model cities effectively fosters innovation in colleges and universities. Further analysis demonstrates that this promotional effect is particularly significant in the western region, key cities, and key colleges and universities, as well as in the fields of invention and utility model patents. These conclusions withstand a series of robustness tests, confirming their validity. This study reveals that the national intellectual property pilot city policy has a significant influence on university innovation. It achieves this by encouraging investment in research and development and enhancing collaboration in innovation. The findings of this study provide important policy suggestions for maximizing the innovation potential of the intellectual property model city policy. This, in turn, can contribute to economic transformation, upgrading, and the promotion of innovation development in China.

Identifying factors influencing local governments' adoption of comprehensive smoke-free policies: an event history analysis based on panel data from 36 key cities in China (2013-2021).

The issue of tobacco control remains a significant concern for public health worldwide. In recent years, remarkable progress has been made toward adopting smoke-free measures in indoor public places. Although China has yet to introduce a national regulation, specifically for smoke-free public places, more than a dozen cities have successively approved and implemented comprehensive smoke-free regulations. Different cities in China have diverse attitudes and behaviors toward smoke-free policies; however, the reasons for these policy differences and the influencing factors have not received sufficient attention and research. On the basis of the multiple streams framework, this study selects 36 key Chinese cities as research samples and uses a directed dyad-year event history analysis method to analyze the factors influencing the implementation of comprehensive smoke-free policies in cities. Results show that the adoption of such policies is positively influenced by scientific evidence, focal events, media coverage, institutional foundations, economic comparisons, and the influence of health departments and of tobacco control groups. By contrast, policy adoption is negatively affected by the differences in administrative levels, central policy signals, and the influence of the tobacco industry. This study contributes to understanding the internal logic behind local governments' adoption of comprehensive smoke-free policies, offering insights for further advocacy at the city and national levels in China and providing experiences that can promote the global tobacco control movement.

Distributive policies in cities: legislative behavior of city councilors in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba

RESUMO Introdução: Analisamos o efeito das variáveis territoriais e da capacidade fiscal municipal nas proposições legislativas e na destinação das políticas distributivas pelas Câmaras dos Vereadores de quatro municípios selecionados da Região Metropolitana de Curitiba. Perguntamo-nos se há associação entre proposições legislativas de caráter distributivo de iniciativa de vereadores e características socioeconômicas, demográficas e fiscais dos municípios estudados. Materiais e métodos: Foram analisadas proposições legislativas de diferentes tipos tais como indicações, requerimentos e projetos de lei de iniciativa de vereadores. Classificamos essas proposições entre distributivas e não distributivas. Foram analisados também dados geográfico-territoriais, demográficos, socioeconômicos e fiscais de Mandirituba, São José dos Pinhais, Fazenda Rio Grande e Campo Largo. Empregamos estudo de casos comparados, estatística descritiva e análise de correlação para estimar a relação entre as variáveis dos municípios e as variáveis legislativas no período entre 2012-2019. Resultados: Os resultados demonstraram que a capacidade fiscal e as características territoriais municipais são fatores que podem orientar o comportamento político e a produção legislativa municipal, sendo que vereadores do município de Mandirituba, menos urbanizado, com piores indicadores socioeconômicos e menor capacidade fiscal produziram mais políticas distributivas comparativamente aos municípios de São José dos Pinhais, Fazenda Rio Grande e Campo Largo, mais urbanizados, com melhores indicadores e mais capazes fiscalmente. Discussão: Os achados apontam para uma explicação complementar às encontradas na literatura para as variações da proposição de políticas distributivas. Para além da conexão eleitoral, a destinação dessas políticas pode estar relacionada ao desenvolvimento socioeconômico e fiscal, às características demográficas e às necessidades desiguais e demandas específicas dos municípios. O estudo corrobora a literatura sobre a importância da incorporação do território nas análises da política e dos resultados das políticas públicas.

Spaces of Memory: Historical Cemeteries of Ural Cities in the Context of Cultural Politics

This article examines historical burials and memorial ensembles included in the lists of cultural heritage sites in cemeteries of the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Perm regions. The role of the cemetery is considered as an important socio-cultural urban space that preserves the memory of key historical events, significant historical figures, as well as crafts characteristic of specific territories, such as Kasli casting. It is shown that the way in which cemeteries and burials are included in the lists of cultural heritage sites varies from region to region. Thus, in the Chelyabinsk Region the most significant group of “necropolitan” cultural heritage objects is formed by many burials from the Civil War; at the same time, in the Perm Region, more often than in the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk Regions, the graves of outstanding historical figures of the region were included in the lists of these objects. The article identifies the potential for the development of cemeteries as a kind of open-air museums, an important resource for the cultural economy of cities. The author substantiates the need to include these “lieux de mémoire” (using the concept proposed by P. Nora) in the cultural policy of cities, and in particular to create guides to the Ural necropolises, continuing the traditions of pre-revolutionary reference publications on the one hand, and rethinking cemeteries as platforms that participate in the formation and consolidation in the collective memory of narratives about local identity and the era as a whole, uniting the individual and the public. It is proposed that cemeteries and memorials, as objects of cultural policy, require special accounting and the development of a special system of management and conservation due to their specific qualities.

Green industry: how to make production eco-friendly

The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that green industry is a new area of the economy aimed at preserving the well-being of society through the efficient use of Earth resources. The development of humankind is impossible without the impact on the environment and the use of natural resources: factories are built, waste is incinerated, minerals are mined, forests are cut, and smoking factories are launched. Almost all human actions affect the ecosystem of the Earth; hence, the article discusses whether it is possible to make this impact less harmful. Studies are given on the harm caused by large-scale production to the environment and how to reduce it; how the environmental policy of cities is changing and enterprises are transformed; what is a ‘green industry’ and how to organize production according to its principles. The empirical basis of the study is the research report of the World Health Organization; American scientists and experts of the Swiss company IQAir, the data of the rating of the US Blacksmith Institute (Pure Earth NGO) for the study of the toxic cities, as well as Eric Hobsbawm’s scientific works. The practical significance of the research is aimed at the rational use and organization of work with natural resources, their economical consumption, the use of environmentally friendly technologies in production and in life, and the creation of sustainable conditions for investment in such projects not only by the government authorities, but also by the private sector.

C-ITS Services in Urban Environments: European State of Practice

This paper addresses the state of practice of C-ITS implementation in several cities throughout Europe, and it was carried out under the scope of the C-Roads Platforms. Its goal is to produce an overview of the general scenario of C-ITS development across European urban environments, aiming to better understand the challenges, technological preferences and policy strategies during C-ITS urban deployment. With that purpose, 27 cities were sought through a questionnaire to provide information regarding several aspects, such as city identification and characterization, specifications followed, communication plans and stage of development. In addition to that, the cities were asked to assess the importance and expectations concerning the benefits that would come from the implementation of the C-ITS policies. Results showed that the cities are strongly diverse in terms of road network design, and technological infrastructure and, consequently, experience different policy goals and C-ITS stages of maturity. The outcomes from this paper may support further research studies concerning the strategy behind C-ITS urban deployment and its relation to the city policy goals as well as the benefits of C-ITS systems.

State-society relations and government technology: a survey of public awareness and communication in Hong Kong

Abstract A survey of Hong Kong residents finds that public support for government technology, as understood through the concept of smart cities, is associated with concept-awareness and official communications. The statistical analysis identifies moderating effects attributable to personal social media use and controls for personal ideological views about scope of government intervention and perceived political legitimacy of smart city policies. The study builds on a growing body of empirical scholarship about public support for government technology, while also addressing a practical trend in urban governance: the growing sophistication of technologies like artificial intelligence and their use in strengthening government capacities. The Hong Kong case exemplifies ambitious investments in technology by governments and, at the time of the survey, relatively high freedom of political expression. The study’s findings help refine theories about state-society relations in the rapidly evolving context of technology for public sector use.

A quasi-dynamic location equilibrium model for urban policymaking as autonomous cars increase mobility

The growing utilization of autonomous cars may affect people's residential location choice behavior and change the population distribution in a city, contrary to compact city policy. This paper proposes a model to estimate the time-series impacts of autonomous cars on population distribution in a city. The model basically consists of the primary factors cohort method and a housing land location equilibrium model. The location equilibrium model considers the residential location choice behavior of individuals, while prior models have been based on the behavior of households. We applied the model to Niigata City, Japan and analyzed the impact of permission to utilize autonomous cars (an increase in car availability to non-drivers) in the whole area of the city and only in the suburbs. Results indicated that permission to utilize autonomous cars only in the suburbs may lead to urban sprawl.

Towards a Sustainable City Policy for Managing Shared Dockless E-Scooters

Based on the anonymized dataset of one million shared scooter rides collected by the Tel Aviv municipality, we investigate the behavior of the shared e-scooter users in Tel Aviv and the resulting dynamics of the scooters’ spatio-temporal patterns. The users’ choice of the shared e-scooters as a transportation mode follows fast and frugal heuristics: the user who activated the shared scooter’s application continues with the ride when the closest available scooter is close enough, at up to 50-100 meters from her. Riders strongly prefer bike paths for riding and essentially deviate from the shortest path between the origin and destination and choose the routes with the higher percentage of bike paths. The longer the route, the higher the fraction of the bike paths in the rider’s route and the difference between the shortest and chosen paths. We also demonstrate that the operators fail to match the supply to the demand and the scooters are oversupplied in the central part of the city, where the demand is high, and undersupplied in the rest of the city, where the demand is essentially lower. Based on the analysis we propose a new policy of spatial adjustment between the demand and supply.

Enlightenment of Hong Kong's Real Estate Regulation to the Mainland

At present, the domestic housing price is rising, and the housing problem is gradually exposed, especially for the middle and low income groups, which is difficult to solve the housing problem. It has affected the process of urbanization and has become a problem that the domestic government has to solve. This paper needs to study how to solve the existing contradictions under the current domestic housing system and can put forward plans for the future development of the housing market. Since the 1950s, in order to achieve the goal of "home ownership", Hong Kong has explored and gradually formed a public housing policy system of "leasing first and selling only second". Many problems have also been exposed in the process of achieving results. This paper sorts out the three stages and regulation policies of the Hong Kong government on the property market, analyzes the gains and losses of the Hong Kong government on the housing market in recent years, summarizes the success and shortcomings of the Hong Kong public housing policy, and provides inspiration and reference for the formulation of public housing policies in mainland cities.

Local Leadership in Implementing Public Digital Transformation towards Deli Serdang Smart City

One of the challenges in encouraging digital transformation within local government is the commitment to developing a comprehensive digital ecosystem. This study aims to see how local leadership can integrate Smart City Policy in transforming regional government governance to be more efficient and fairer. This research is qualitative based with a descriptive approach. The research results show that digital transformation in the Deli Serdang Regency Government has yet to impact the smart city's main goals. The Smart City concept is no longer limited to just ICT diffusion, city leaders must innovate in core service areas in implementing the Smart City concept. However, there is still a silo mentality in regional apparatus organizations, which is shown by the resistance and rejection of e-gov, which is triggered by a lack of awareness and appreciation for e-gov, and unwillingness to share data and information, thus causing inefficient information flow to support public service performance. There is a need to incorporate knowledge of social values and unique institutional arrangements by encouraging partnership synergy in utilizing local leaders' resources and capacities in smart city implementation. Local leaders must restructure and act in line with core public values and combine the values of digitalization with a democratic context to achieve a prosperous society that prioritizes equality and participation.

주민 중심 지역문화축제와 주체성 변천과정 연구

In 2014, the Korean government and parliament enacted the Local Culture Promotion Act, creating a law to systematically promote local culture beyond the existing piecemeal laws on culture and arts. The purpose of the Act is to enhance the cultural enjoyment rights of local residents through voluntary cultural activities, thereby forming a modern community and creating added value for local competitiveness by using local culture as a resource.
 Even statutory cultural city policies based on the voluntary and original local culture of local residents have been introduced, but even now, there is a strong movement to try cultural policies and projects as economic value creation tools such as tourism and experience products from the perspective of individual leisure and welfare or art and industry. Either way, it is based on the premise that residents are passive and passive objects from the perspective of the administration or producers and suppliers, which misses the basic point that local culture is a way of life formed and shared by local members, and eventually turns into a state that claims to be a cultural city but goes against it. Not only does it not fulfill the purpose of the Local Culture Promotion Act and local self-governance, but it is also distorted into an adverse effect that harms the possibility that it could have been formed naturally due to unilateral and unreasonable intervention.
 In this study, we will analyze local cultural contents in the process of discovering and sharing local unique cultural resources with the community as a mediator as the main actors of local culture at the urban community level, and local festivals, which are the most commonly encountered, as a case study. Currently, most festivals are organized by a few people, such as the local government or an expert or agency working on their behalf, to mobilize residents to participate in the festival. In contrast to this phenomenon, this study examines the evolution of the Ulsan Residents' Representative Festival, which, until relatively recently, was organized by the residents themselves as a community feast. This study will shed light on how the festival, which was organized by the residents of Ulsan, a newly formed region in the modern era, was able to create regional harmony and unique values in the same context as the previous traditional festivals.
 This study examines the 57-year evolution of the newly created Ulsan Residents' Representative Festival in the modern era and the changes in the position of residents by system in relation to the management of the festival. By examining how residents have created a relationship with the new area, we hope to draw out what the changes in residents' identity and agency mean for Korean society and the festival today. A community and organization starts with one person, and the character of a community depends on what kind of people it consists of, so as part of communication and integration, we need to think together about how local festivals should be created and why and how residents should be reintroduced as subjects. This is because local cultural contents are rooted in local culture, and this uniqueness is accumulated and shared over time by voluntary actors.