Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Research Articles

Low-carbon scheduling research of integrated energy system based on Stackelberg game under sharing mode

To achieve a win-win situation among multiple stakeholders within the integrated energy system, this paper proposes a low-carbon scheduling research of integrated energy system based on Stackelberg game under sharing mode. Firstly, an operation framework of integrated energy system based on leader-follower game was established, and a model of integrated energy system operator and user coalition was established considering carbon trading mechanism. Secondly, bi-directional long short-term memory is used to predict the travel data of electric vehicles, and a schedulable capacity model for electric vehicle cluster as shared energy storage was established. Then, an energy trading optimization model based on leader-follower game was constructed for integrated energy system operator and user coalition, and an improved Shapley value is adopted to realize cost allocation within user coalition. Finally, based on the demonstration project of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City is selected as the research object to make example analysis. The calculation results show this paper can achieve a reasonable benefit allocation among multiple participants, reduce carbon emissions of integrated energy system, and increase renewable energy accommodation capacity. The relevant achievements are a preliminary exploration for an effective mode of sharing economy in integrated energy system.

Study on the spatial distribution of urban carbon emissions at the micro level based on multisource data.

Global warming is currently an area of concern. Human activities are the leading cause of urban greenhouse gas intensification. Inversing the spatial distribution of carbon emissions at microscopic scales such as communities or controlling detailed planning plots can capture the critical emission areas of carbon emissions, thus providing scientific guidance for intracity low-carbon development planning. Using the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city as an example, this paper uses night-light images and statistical yearbooks to perform linear fitting within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city-county region and then uses fine-scale data such as points of interest, road networks, and mobile signaling data to construct spatial characteristic indicators of carbon emissions distribution and assign weights to each indicator through the analytic hierarchy process. As a result, the spatial distribution of carbon emissions based on detailed control planning plots is calculated. The results show that among the selected indicators, the population distribution significantly influences carbon emissions, with a weight of 0.384. The spatial distribution of carbon emissions is relatively distinctive. The primary carbon emissions are from the Sino-Singapore Cooperation Zone due to its rapid urban construction and development. In contrast, carbon emissions from other areas are sparse, as there is mostly unused land under construction.

Micro-scale habitability evaluation of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city based on multi-source data

Quantitative assessment of livability within a city facilitates the identification of urban problems and targeted improvements to the environment. Available studies are mostly limited to static analysis of a particular phase. It is difficult to reveal the dynamic development state of cities at the micro level. Taking Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city as an example, we established an evaluation index system for the livability of the eco-city from five dimensions, including environmental health, transportation convenience, urban security, facility convenience, and economic prosperity. Multi-source data from 2016 to 2020, including the remote sensing images, points of interest, and planning data, combined with the entropy method and the TOPSIS method were used to dynamically monitor the livability of the eco-city in a long-term series. The results showed that during the study period, the livability levels of different areas in the eco-city had strong spatial and temporal variations. Spatially, with the southern part of the Sino-Singapore Eco-city Cooperation Zone as the core, the overall livability was characterized by a high center and a low edge. The convenience of facilities, traffic convenience, and economic prosperity were characterized by a high center and a low edge. Urban security and environmental health showed the characteristics of low center and high edge. From 2016 to 2020, the livability improvement rate of the eco-city had gradually accelerated, with the the most obvious improvement in the southern part of the China-Singapore Cooperation Zone.

Analysis and Assessment of Urban Green Space Coverage Using Remote Sensing Spatial Imagery

With the development of urbanization and the health of city residents, it is necessary to evaluate and analysis the urban green space. Based on the principle of NDVI index, the green space of Sino-Singapore Eco-city was estimated. It is obtained by comparing the building data measured in the field reflect the population number and distribution. By overlapping green space of different levels, the specific condition that residents occupying different levels of green space can be obtained. In this case, the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city was studied and suggested as a city with good and suitable environment for residents.

Governing people, governing places: advancing the Protean environmental state in China

ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, the unprecedented rate of economic change in China has created a series of critical policy challenges for both central and subnational states. How these policy challenges are conceived will determine how and when they can be solved. There is a growing interest, in particular, in the problematic issues of welfare, resource management and environmental pollution and how those are managed by the local state. In this study, we analyse the ongoing development of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City (SSTEC) using the lens of the ‘Protean Environmental State.’ This multi-faceted perspective on development is one that we have further progressed after more than a decade’s research on China’s multi-level environmental governance. In this paper, we concentrate on regulatory and enhancement activities. Our work draws upon fieldwork in and around the SSTEC and highlights the problematic nature of reforms to the environmental state. Ultimately, we explore the inherent and ever-shifting tensions between economic and environmental imperatives in relation to the emerging governance of people and of economic development in present-day China.

The relational co-production of “success” and “failure,” or the politics of anxiety of exporting urban “models” elsewhere

ABSTRACT This paper critically examines the case of the much-vaunted Singapore “model” and its export via the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (SSTEC), a megaproject jointly developed by the Singaporean and Chinese states in northeastern China. It revolves around the central question of why, for some Singaporean officials, this export was thought to have “failed” in spite of the model’s acclaimed success globally. To address this, the paper historicizes the Singapore model, tracing undercurrents of (geo)political existentialism through Singaporean state meta-narratives that are enacted through thehistorical politics of anxiety and the practitioner politics of anxiety. It argues that categories of policy “success” and “failure” are relationally co-produced through a politics of anxiety, wherein their stakes are amplified in ways distinctive to small postcolonial city-states. Collectively, the paper emphasizes the enduring significance of (inter)state actors and structures for transnational urban policy mobilization and the limits to assumptions of post-failure policy learning.

Fine-Grained Air Pollution Inference with Mobile Sensing Systems

Air pollution is a global health threat. Except static official air quality stations, mobile sensing systems are deployed for urban air pollution monitoring to achieve larger sensing coverage and greater sampling granularity. However, the data sparsity and irregularity also bring great challenges for pollution map recovery. To address these problems, we propose a deep autoencoder framework based inference algorithm. Under the framework, a partially observed pollution map formed by the irregular samples are input into the model, then an encoder and a decoder work together to recover the entire pollution map. Inside the decoder, we adopt a convolutional long short-term memory (ConvLSTM) model by revealing its physical interpretation with an atmospheric dispersion model, and further present a weather-related ConvLSTM to enable quasi real-time applications. To evaluate our algorithm, a half-year data collection was deployed with a real-world system on a coastal area including the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city in north China. With the resolution of 500 m x 500 m x 1 h, our offline method is proved to have high robustness against low sampling coverage and accidental sensor errors, obtaining 14.9% performance improvement over existing methods. Our quasi real-time model better captures the spatiotemporal dependencies in the pollution map with unevenly distributed samples than other real-time approaches, obtaining 4.2% error reduction.

Urban Entrepreneurialism and Sustainable Development: A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Eco-Developments

ABSTRACTIn recent years, state entrepreneurialism and the notion of (urban) sustainability have become ever more closely intertwined in China and there has been a proliferation of eco-/low-carbon and other similar sustainability-themed urban initiatives that have helped local states to achieve a favorable position in city competitions. Nevertheless, existing studies do not explain why Chinese sustainability projects are planned/implemented with divergent emphases and different development trajectories. Through three Chinese flagship projects, the real-estate-centric Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City (SSTEC), the environmental-construction-led Chongming Eco-Islands (CEIs), and the industrial development-focused Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City (ILCC), we argue that the formulation and implementation of urban sustainable developments are subject to local particularities and different extra-local political-economic contexts. We highlight how both vertical administrative governance and horizontal coordination between territorial jurisdictions underlie the Chinese entrepreneurial planning system, which results in different types of urban entrepreneurships: (1) scalable startup urban entrepreneurship (SSTEC); (2) asset-replacement urban entrepreneurship (CEIs); and (3) urban expansion entrepreneurship (ILCC). This study also reveals that all three cases experience a development paradox as they strive to reconcile mutually competing economic and environmental imperatives.

Data Model Analysis and Integration Technology Based on Electric Power

Based on the construction of the smart grid in Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city as the background, the data model between the electric power system and the other industries is studied in this paper. Through the analysis of the source and characteristics of the multivariate energy data in Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, it is put forward that the data model analysis problem should be modeled into the multi attribute negotiation problem. In addition, the multi attribute negotiation utility function that can reflect the degree of association between different attributes is provided. The data model analysis and integration technology study based on the electric power is implemented by using the MATLAB, and the analysis on several sets of numerical examples is carried out. The experimental results show that valuable data attribute values can be obtained by using the data model analysis and the integration technology.

Promoting green residential buildings by increasing homebuyers’ willingness to pay: Evidence from Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city in China

Abstract Increasing willingness to pay (WTP) is critical to promote green residential buildings (GRBs), but residents' WTP for GRBs has not yet been well studied. To examine residents' WTP for GRBs and its determinants, a survey was conducted among 511 current GRB occupants living in Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city in China, and latent class regression was used to analyze the heterogeneity of their preferences. Four factors of residential satisfaction were identified—operation and maintenance, comfort and health, architectural and construction quality, and accessibility of GRBs—and these determinants of WTP had different effects on different groups of residents. The mean WTP of the majority (64.5%) of residents was 374 CNY/m2 (about 54 USD), accounting for only 2.2% of the housing price. Four segments of residents with heterogeneous preferences were identified. The dominant segment (accounting for 64.5%) was “Indifferent residents with low WTP”. The second largest segment (accounting for 18.9%) was “Critical residents with 1000 + WTP”, followed by the third largest segment (13.3%) — “High WTP residents driven by comfort and health”, while the smallest segment (3.3%) was “Operation and maintenance-sensitive residents”. The policy implications are that stakeholders should work to enhance the operational performance of GRBs, thereby improving residents’ satisfaction and increasing their WTP.

Promoting Green Residential Buildings in China: Bridging the Gap between Design and Operation to Improve Occupants’ Residential Satisfaction

While many studies have examined the supply of green residential buildings (GRBs), few have focused on the demand and living experience of them. This paper explores the antecedents of existing residents’ repurchase intention and the effect of their residential satisfaction through a questionnaire survey in Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, China. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the role of proposed determinants. Multi-group analysis tested the moderating role of residential satisfaction. Results show that residents’ satisfaction with respect to their homes in GRBs was heterogeneous with dissatisfied residents account for 55%. Residents’ knowledge about GRBs, their environmental attitudes and perceived usefulness of GRB were key determinants of repurchase intentions but trust in relevant institutions was not. Residential satisfaction played a moderating role in predicting repurchase intentions. This study enlightens practitioners in both private and public sectors to improve occupancy experiences of existing residents and to understand the repurchase behaviors of existing customers, by bridging the gap between strong green design and construction and weak operation and maintenance of GRBs.

Funding Sustainable Cities: A Comparative Study of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City and Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City

China has gone through a rapid process of urbanization, but this has come along with serious environmental problems. Therefore, it has started to develop various eco-cities, low-carbon cities, and other types of sustainable cities. The massive launch of these sustainable initiatives, as well as the higher cost of these projects, requires the Chinese government to invest large sums of money. What financial toolkits can be employed to fund this construction has become a critical issue. Against this backdrop, the authors have selected Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (SSTEC) and Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City (ILCC) and compared how they finance their construction. Both are thus far considered to be successful cases. The results show that the two cases differ from each other in two key aspects. First, ILCC has developed a model with less financial and other supports from the Chinese central government and foreign governments than SSTEC, and, hence, may be more valuable as a source of inspiration for other similar projects for which political support at the national level is not always available. Second, by issuing bonds in the international capital market, SSTEC singles itself out among various sustainable initiatives in China, while planning the village area as a whole and the metro plus property model are distinct practices in ILCC. In the end, the authors present a generic financing model that considers not only economic returns but also social and environmental impacts to facilitate future initiatives to finance in more structural ways.

Antecedents of Residents’ Repurchase Intention of Green Residential Building: Case Study of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Ecocity

Green Residential buildings (GRB) emerge but haven’t been widely accepted among residents in China. Therefore, motivating repurchase behaviours is of strategic importance. However, previous literature is inadequate to explain residents’ repurchase intention of GRB. In the present study, a survey is conducted among residents in Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, where all housings have been certified as green buildings. Structural equation model (SEM) is used to to explore the antecedents of residents’ repurchase intention. Results show: 1) Eco-city residents’ trust in GB certification parties is found to have ineligible impact on repurchase intention. 2) The mean of overall satisfaction score (3.38) indicates a low satisfaction level in general sense. Residents mainly complain about bad service of property management companies, inconvenience of living, and poor construction and facility quality. Findings imply that as existing customers of GRB hence key stakeholders for GRB promoting, Eco-city residents’ roles are not valued, and green operation deserve more attention. Suggestions are given to launch information and publicity programs and taking initiatives to fill the gap between green design and weak operation.

Eco-City Comparison: West versus East

Abstract Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (SSTEC) in northeast China is described by Zhan and de Jong as “the best-known” of all eco-cities.1 As a newly created urban area, it was constructed with t...

Relationship between phytoplankton community and environmental factors in landscape water with high salinity in a coastal city of China.

Relationship between phytoplankton community and environmental variables was explored in three landscape water bodies (namely Jiyun River Oxbow (JRO), Qingjing Lake (QL), and Jiyun River (JR)) with high salinity, located in Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city of China, using redundancy analysis (RDA). A total of 48 species of phytoplankton were identified during the study period, in which Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta accounted for 35.42 and 31.25%, respectively. The most dominant species of the studied water bodies were Cyclotella meneghiniana (Bacillariophyta) and Aphanocapsa elachista (Cyanophyta). The diversity index ranged from 0.56 to 1.42, with an average of 1.11, reflecting low biodiversity in the phytoplankton community. Moreover, the average density of phytoplankton was 42.39 × 106cells/L, indicating that those landscape water bodies belonged to moderate eutrophication. The results of RDA revealed that the most significant environmental factors influencing phytoplankton community were water temperature (WT), dissolved total phosphorus (DTP), salinity, and total nitrogen (TN) (p< 0.05, Monte Carlo permutation test). Meanwhile, Aphanocapsa elachista was positively correlated with WT, TN, and salinity, while Cyclotella meneghiniana was positively related to salinity and negatively related to TP. The results suggested that salinity was a non-negligible key factor affecting the phytoplankton community of the water body with high salinity.

Green infrastructure for sustainable urban water management: Practices of five forerunner cities

In the search for both immediate solutions and long-term transitions towards sustainability, green infrastructures (GI) are increasingly linked to urban water management. In this study, the GI-based urban water management practices of five cities famous for their progressive approach to water management were investigated. Based on reviews of open-source city plans and strategies, supplemented with information obtained directly from city managers, the purpose was to share best practices for the transition to sustainable urban water management and to gain insight into the role, if any, of GI in urban water management. An analytical frame based on transition theory was adopted. All five cities represented states of transition at the near end of a sustainable urban water management scale. Despite some overlap in challenges concerning water supply, environmental protection, and flood risk management, the development target of each city was unique, as were their solutions. GI has been applied as a way to reduce water footprints in Singapore and Berlin, to protect the environment in Philadelphia, and to help save potable water for consumption in Melbourne and Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city. Despite differences in scale, GI was, in all cases, applied as a supplement to the conventional water infrastructure. All five cities reveal a strong top-down approach towards sustainable urban water management and a strong mindset on GI's role for future development. However, all five cities point to similar challenges for GI implementation, including space and cost constrains as well as barriers for inter-sectorial and stakeholder collaboration, which limit the speed of city-wide upscaling of GI solutions and full realization of GI benefits. The study indicates a need for a simultaneous change in the cognitive, normative, and regulative conditions of the urban water management regime for sustainability transition. Such a change requires a better balance between top-down and bottom-up planning to overcome barriers and foster innovation. The five cities jointly contribute to a noteworthy list of green solutions, city-wide strategies and guidelines, pilot project programs, regulations, and incentive programs, which may serve as inspiration for other cities' transition plans.

Building a Harmonious Society through Greening: Ecological Civilization and Aesthetic Governmentality in China

This article interrogates the shifting governmental logics and planning epistemologies that frame ecological civilization projects in China. The article argues how ecological urban projects such as the eco-city are undergirded by a form of aesthetic governmentality that has been deployed to promote a harmonious society in contemporary China by fusing bourgeois forms of aesthetic environmentalism with world-class urban aesthetics. Drawing on the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (SSTEC) flagship project, the article first highlights how eco-city construction in China problematizes and targets the urban environment as a legitimate domain of governmental action and argues how the emergence of an eco-aesthetic governmentality signals the shift from a dominant techno-scientific foundation of planning for sustainable cities toward an eco-aesthetic normativity that perpetuates the aestheticization of urban environmental politics in China. To this extent, the article sketches out the emerging contours of the Chinese (eco) aesthetic urban regime that increasingly incorporates aesthetic principles into governmental practices and city planning as a way to manage the problem of urban growth and to promote normative visions of a sustainable urban future in China. Key Words: aesthetics, China, eco-city, governmentality, urban sustainability.

The sino-singapore tianjin eco-city: A case study of Chinese experimental regulatory and institutional development

The sino-singapore tianjin eco-city: A case study of Chinese experimental regulatory and institutional development

Social sustainability and residents' experiences in a new chinese eco-city

The article argues for a “humanizing” research agenda on newly-built forms of eco-urbanism, such as eco-cities. Taking the example of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, China, the article focuses on urban social sustainability with a specific focus on the lived experiences of new residents of the newly-built eco-city. Drawing on Jane Jacobs' work on the spaces of the city, the article's focus on residents' experiences underlines the key importance of social sustainability when analysing new flagship urban projects, and highlights the need to consider the relational networks of lived experiences of the city as well as the visions and techno-social designs of planners, policymakers and corporate actors in the development of eco-city projects.

Financing Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City: What Lessons Can Be Drawn for Other Large-Scale Sustainable City-Projects?

Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City (SSTEC) is currently the best-known and arguably the most successful large-scale sustainable new town development project in China; as such, experiences gathered there are of significant importance for the development of other eco-cities in China and elsewhere. This article focuses on a thus far relatively understudied aspect of SSTEC, the financial vehicles used to fund SSTEC. The authors find that highly structured and intense collaboration at the national level between China and Singapore plays a catalytic role in attracting many other players to the project by giving them confidence that it is too big to fail. It encourages various preferential policies from lower governmental bodies, broad involvement of the private sector, a market-based operation model and the issuing of bonds in Singapore, which all contribute significantly to Tianjin eco-city’s financial viability. The broad involvement of the private sector relieves part of the financial burden from local governments, while the bonds issued in international markets lower the interest rate for master developers. However, the Sino-Singaporean collaboration at the national level is far less likely to be replicated to other eco-cities, since this requires an enormous willingness on the part of other countries to invest manpower, money, and other resources into the construction of eco-cities in China.