Sustainable Urban Development Policies Research Articles

NDVI indicated characteristics of vegetation cover change in China’s metropolises over the last three decades

How urban vegetation was influenced by three decades of intensive urbanization in China is of great interest but rarely studied. In this paper, we used satellite derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and socioeconomic data to evaluate effects of urbanization on vegetation cover in China's 117 metropolises over the last three decades. Our results suggest that current urbanization has caused deterioration of urban vegetation across most cities in China, particularly in East China. At the national scale, average urban area NDVI (NDVI(u)) significantly decreased during the last three decades (P < 0.01), and two distinct periods with different trends can be identified, 1982-1990 and 1990-2006. NDVI(u) did not show statistically significant trend before 1990 but decrease remarkably after 1990 (P < 0.01). Different regions also showed difference in the timing of NDVI(u) turning point. The year when NDVI(u) started to decline significantly for Central China and East China was 1987 and 1990, respectively, while NDVI(u) in West China remained relatively constant until 1998. NDVI(u) changes in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, two regions which has been undergoing the most rapid urbanization in China, also show different characteristics. The Pearl River Delta experienced a rapid decline in NDVI(u) from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s; while in the Yangtze River Delta, NDVI(u) did not decline significantly until the early 1990s. Such different patterns of NDVI(u) changes are closely linked with policy-oriented difference in urbanization dynamics of these regions, which highlights the importance of implementing a sustainable urban development policy.

Neue Einsicht in alte Notwendigkeiten

Abstract A sustainable urban development policy must correspond to very complex requirements in respect of urban forms of living. Paradoxically, this results in an expectation that compresses this complexity into a few parameters. However, this is not enough—especially as the climate and energy problematic needs relevant, interdisciplinary approaches. A critical stock-taking still comes to an unsatisfactory conclusion. For example, the criteria and procedures do not smoothly interlock at the various planning benchmark levels. There are hardly any sustainable approaches for determining and realising the relation of density, city size, environmental and living quality. There is still the central problem of the insatiable tendency always to start again from the beginning. The future use of what is available physically and mentally was and is never very popular in grand visions. We are still a long way from a recycling economy for residential estates and buildings—up to a “take-back obligation” for new buildi...

Urban environmental performance in China: a sustainability divide?

AbstractThis paper explores a sustainability divide in urban environmental protection in China with its 72 Model Cities, 113 key cities, and 43 most polluted cities. It investigates factors that help understand such a divide, the applicability of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), and policies for sustainable urban development. Geographic information systems (GIS) and statistical analyses used data derived from documents, statistical records, publications, on‐site inspections and field research. The key cities were divided into seven groups based on eight environmental indicators. The research found a sustainability gap between eastern and western cities, or between Model Cities and other key cities. Oddly, environmental spending was not found to be an explanation. The paper argues that sustainability studies needs to move beyond the EKC to consider the role of nature. Chinese policy makers should not use the Model Cities to support the ‘grow first and clean up later’ approach. Instead they should promote sustainability in all parts of China. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

An Integrated Evaluation Method of Accessibility, Quality of Life, and Social Interaction

Since accessibility is an essential factor in land-use and transport planning, several methods have been developed to evaluate it. Nevertheless, it has seldom been an essential part of performance measures for policy evaluation from the viewpoint of individuals' quality of life (QoL). The objective of this study is to develop an integrated evaluation method of accessibility, QoL, and social interaction which contributes to the evaluation of land-use and transport policies for livable and sustainable urban development. In this paper, based on quantification of the weights of multielements of QoL, we develop a QoL-based accessibility measure and a QoL performance measure to address appropriate policies of land-use transport coordination and integration by disentangling the mismatch between real urban structures and people's demand for QoL. Furthermore, we explore embryonic ideas for the development of a generalised framework of QoL evaluation, incorporating social interactions and institutional design which link the QoL concept with quality of space and quality of procedure.

Arrested growth and urban sustainability in the Asia Pacific

City managers throughout the Asia Pacific region are turning to the concept of sustainability in order to guide urban growth. This research note reviews the dominant contemporary urban and regional planning concepts promoted during the last few decades, shows how the financial crises challenged this mode of thinking and led to the adoption of sustainable urban development policies.