World Expo Research Articles

Beyond feeding the city: The multifunctionality of urban farming in Vancouver, BC

This article explores the development of municipal policy and planning processes related to urban agriculture, and more specifically to urban farming in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We examine the extent to which Vancouver's food and sustainability-related policies align with the commitments of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, a set of commitments and action framework that emerged as a key legacy from the 2015 World Expo: Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life. The article highlights the challenges and policy constraints of urban farming as a market-based food security and sustainability mechanism through a comparison of four urban farming organizations in Vancouver. This study contributes to the development of emerging value frameworks that move beyond market-based and supply-oriented rural replacement models for urban farming. We conclude by calling attention to issues of food literacy, equity, and inclusion within municipal food system policy and planning, and the opportunity to frame support for urban farming as a mechanism to orient urban citizens towards issues of peri-urban and rural food production.

Research on the Reading Application of Smart TV

With the development of Chinese economy, the quality of population has generally improved. More and more people pay attention to the concept of sustainable development of family education. The two-way parenting theory is more suitable for modern social requirements. Here two-way parenting theory is the breakthrough parenting theory. The people who hold the theory argue against the fragmentation of knowledge. The theory provides a nurturing system that responds to each other. It combines ideas, specifications, and methods perfectly. Based on the breakthrough parenting theory which is full of love, all family members constructed a new educational bookstore together. At present we mainly discuss the application model of interactive design of electronic reading on TV. First, based on the desire for a better life, all the people are looking forward to a better education. For example, we construct a virtual chat environment for interactive reading of artistic education in the future through the application of television reading about the theme of tea culture. Secondly, a new sense of immersion in the interior environment was created. At this time the concept of low-carbon life will be formed in the brains of the people though the artistic information resources. Thirdly, it will promote the interdisciplinary research of art and design education. More families will have their own family library through interactive television reading. In the future we will stay at home to visit the Digital World Expo, or the Digital Museum. Family-style reading will enter a new era. More families with high quality parenting education can get into the era of interactive primary school education through this platform.

Imagining Futures of Energy

The future of energy is crucial for human mobility and well-being on a finite planet. What energy types are available to cover global needs? To what extent can they be produced and consumed safely? How can the negative effects of global warming, climate change, and environmental degradation be avoided? Who will benefit, and who will be at risk? Faced with such urgent questions, it was timely that the World Expo 2017 was dedicated to the theme of “Future Energy.” Held from June to September in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, a total of 115 countries, 22 international organizations, and several transnational corporations set up their own pavilions and exhibition spaces. Close to four million people visited the three-month-long expo, including an estimated five hundred thousand from abroad.

瀬戸市南東部,海上の森の地形・地質と湿地生態系 : 万博アセスの批判的検討( アセスにおける生態系の評価:万博アセスが欠落させたもの)

瀬戸市南東部,海上の森の地形・地質と湿地生態系 : 万博アセスの批判的検討( アセスにおける生態系の評価:万博アセスが欠落させたもの)

Evolutionary Governance for Mega-Event Projects (Meps): A Case Study of the World Expo 2010 in China

A mega-event is an open socioeconomic system characterized by massive budget demands and multiple types of subprojects and their complex interrelationships. Although a mega-event is an opportunity for a country to show its international reputation, management capacity, and societal strength, it demands a long preparation time; an enormous amount of investment; and massive resource mobilization, with far-reaching effects on both the economic and social development of a country. Mega-event projects (MEPs) face remarkable challenges in terms of overrun costs, delayed schedules, and political issues, indicating that the research on such mega-events is still insufficient and that there is a lack of effective theories to support the management and governance of MEPs. Existing studies have also ignored the dynamic evolution and adaptation of governance in a changing environment, particularly in relation to the success of MEPs. To fill this research gap, this study aims to examine the dynamic governance of MEPs on the basis of a new theory—evolutionary governance theory (EGT)—which combines institutional economics, systems theory, and project governance. The study was conducted in three main steps: (1) studying the case of the evolutionary governance of the World Expo 2010 in China during its life cycle stage, including planning, construction, operation, and post-event development; (2) discussing the impact of the hierarchical and cross-functional governance structure of the Expo; and (3) summarizing the theories and best practices of dynamic governance mechanisms for MEPs. The result of the study can deepen understanding of the multi-level governance of mega-events during the life cycle process and can also support the evolution of governance transition over the different stages.

The evolution of Chinese public diplomacy and the rise of think tanks

The evolution and change of Chinese public diplomacy can be seen from panda diplomacy, the Confucius Institutes, Chinese mass media’s “going out” strategy as well as various international events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. Some substantial studies have found that these Chinese public diplomacies could not help much in terms of improving China’s image or enhancing Western understanding of China. This article aims at examining the latest Chinese policy instrument—think tanks—to see if they can boost Chinese soft power. In addition, this article illustrates the Chinese think tanks from an institutional perspective by studying their contribution in the One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative through the case studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China (RDCY). The Chinese think tanks have played an important role in targeting foreign publics and working on track II diplomacy. However, there is still room for improvement. The major sources of this article are derived from published materials, websites of Chinese institutions and interviews.

The Milan World Expo 2015: Hospitality operating performance and seasonality effects

This paper explores the effects generated by the Milan Expo 2015 on local hotels, with a particular focus on seasonality and operating performance. Four different seasonal periods are considered and ten hypotheses formulated. The analysis adopts a longitudinal approach based on STR data.The findings support an overall significant reduction of seasonality. The main effects relate to weak seasonal periods, when demand is predominately centered around only one segment. Concerning operating performance, occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR registered higher values in 2015, demonstrating significant growth when compared to previous years. RevPAR increased in all four periods, especially during the lowest seasonality (112%), triggered by occupancy (50%) and rate (41%). The case study also establishes a qualitative benefit, in that, within the three seasonalities, rates increased more than occupancy, thus improving financial margins. Finally, the Expo reduced the performance gaps between the four seasonal periods.

Strategic adaptation to environmental jolts: an analysis of corporate resilience in the property development sector in Dubai

This paper contributes to the literature on the contingent nature of strategic adaptation to environmental jolts in the context of the real estate industry in UAE. We selected the representative case of Emaar Properties to estimate how the evolving dynamics in the UAE real estate sector over the 2000-2015 period affect the exercise of managerial discretion and the development of corporate resilience. The emphasis was placed on two external discontinuities, namely the 2008-2009 financial crisis and the 2013 announcement of Dubai as the host city of World Expo 2020. By altering its portfolio of investments across countries and industry segments, the company mitigated the impact of the global recession and benefited from the market improvement triggered by the World Expo 2020 news. The strategic choices of the top management reflect how, in times of environmental turbulence, Emaar was geared toward achieving tighter external alignment to balance its risks and opportunities.

인도 차산업의 형성과 발전 연구

This paper discuss on the forming and development of the Indian tea industry, and the characteristics of the distinctive tea culture of the India. The Indian tea industry was started by the United Kingdom. The main reason to grow tea in their colony India was to prevent the monopoly of Chinese tea. As tea consumption grew steadily, Britain conducted an experimental study on the formation of a tea industry in India.
 Workers sincere spirit was a major factor in the Indian tea industry.
 India s tea industry has greatly developed thanks to Britain s national policy.
 These active policies and the launching of the World Expo have led to success in India s tea industry. Since then, steadily researched the production of high-quality tea by gradually spreading the production area.
 Indian workers also played a role as producers of tea, as well as consumers, using low-graded teas that could not be commodities. They created new tea called ‘Chai’ that made from Indian spices and milk. and formed Indian tea culture. Now developing Chai Tea bags, which are easily consumed by many tea companies around the world.
 The massive production of tea in India led to a decline of tea prices and the activation of tea consumption, which contributed to the consumption of cheap tea by consumers. This not only became a real factor in the spread of the Indian tea industry, but also affected exports, which led to the development of Indian tea industry worldwide.

Sociolinguistic Interpretation of William Sumner Appleton's Building Conservation Concept in Contemporary Architectural Planning

Many of the original buildings have gradually declined because of the development of society and the adjustment of industrial structure. Protecting the classical architecture and restoring the original luster of a building to maintain its own youth has become a hot issue in the current architectural planning. In this paper, the performance of the core idea of building conservation in the specific design and planning was discussed through the in-depth understanding of William Sumner Appleton's architectural concept in building protection planning area. Moreover, the profound influence of the idea of building conservation in building conservation was summarized. The current pace of urbanization development process is rapid, thus, many of the original buildings are severely damaged because of many factors. The concept and thought of William Sumner Appleton were re-interpreted based on the design and planning method of World Expo industrial clusters in Shanghai. This study is of great significance for the promotion of historical building protection and concrete practice in our country.

The Image of the 2010 World Expo: Residents’ Perspective

Cities are now playing an increasingly important role in today’s world. The concept of city branding is widely promoted and exploited now. Organizing and hosting mega-events has been one of the most effective means for city branding. In recently years, many Chinese cities are competing to hold an array of large-scale international events in order to improve the image of the city and expand the city’s international reputation. This paper uses the 2010 Shanghai World Expo to exemplify how mega-events affect city branding and urban marketing. It also explores how mega-events impact on residents’ perception of their city through analyzing statistical data from questionnaires and how the public think of the Shanghai World Expo concept via studying statistical data of the mean, variance, coefficient of variation, which further demonstrates the establishment of a structural equation model and an index system of how mega events affect the urban culture, environment, economy, science and technology. The results of the study illustrate that hosting the World Expo causes positive impacts on developing a multicultural city, improving the urban environment, enhancing economic strength as well as innovating science and technology. It also proves that the Shanghai World Expo has played a positive role in the city marketing and city branding of Shanghai. But it is difficult to say that mega-events can impact on the city's competitiveness and urban influence, which has not been validated by the Structural Equation Model. And such key issues as the urban-rural disparity, social relations more concerned by Chinese government are difficult to be resolved through one-time mega-event. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.28.2.3048

The 'mental topography' of the Shanghai city brand: A netnographic approach to formulating city brand positioning strategies

Abstract Research has documented that social media facilitated word-of-mouth has become the most influential city brand communication channel. This online ethnography of the the Shanghai city brand experience applies a predetermined, 16-dimensional construct as the heuristic strategy for data gathering and analysis. It identifies the person-to-person encounters dimension as the most salient. Dimensions such as environmentalism, which in other studies has been identified as significant for the Shanghai city brand, appears to occupy a relatively low priority in the online discourse relating to Shanghai. These insights can be can be leveraged for the purpose of formulating a realistic brand positioning strategy for Shanghai, centered around the items constituting the encounters dimension. Further this study identifies that while the city branding associated with the World Expo in 2010 appears to be disconnected from the salience of the encounters dimensions, the Shanghai city branding campaign launched in 2015 is more congruent with the findings of this study as it draws on the historical uniqueness of Shanghai as being a space for inter-cultural encounters between East and West.

Environmental impacts and certification: evidence from the Milan World Expo 2015

PurposeThis study aims to examine residents’ perceptions of environmental impacts and certification for the Milan World Expo 2015 as well as their overall attitude toward the mega-event.Design/methodology/approachA survey of Milan residents based on a convenience sample led to 221 useable questionnaires.FindingsResidents perceived that the Expo will have minimal negative and positive environmental impacts. A minority of residents were aware of the environmental certification of the event. The less agreeable residents were with the perceived negative environmental impacts of the event, the more agreeable they were that a certification of event sustainability should limit the damage to the natural environment. Residents’ perceptions of the certification were positively related to their overall attitude toward the event.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings cannot be generalized to other mega-events but have several managerial implications in relation to the need for information provision to residents and better communication of the certification by event organizers and planners.Originality/valueDespite rising concerns about environmental issues related to hosting mega-events, there is no research on perceptions of a certification of event sustainability by residents.

Domicide, social suffering and symbolic violence in contemporary Shanghai, China

ABSTRACTArguing from a Bourdieusian perspective, this paper reconstructs the notion domicide in order to maintain its critical edge and configure it as an important field of study. Through this, it explores the ways through which local residents in Shanghai lost their homes to the World Expo 2010 and unravels the material and symbolic violence involved in shaping the experiences of unmaking and remaking a home. In doing so, this paper challenges the category of “happy” or “willing” displacees that deliberately, or unintendedly, conceals the perversity of displacement and legitimatizes it as natural or even politically and morally good. It joins the urgent call for treating displacees with greater respect and dignity and for reconsidering our political responsibility given the belated nature of domicide effects.

Family or Money? The False Dilemma in Property Dispossession in Shanghai

AbstractThis article examines the lived experiences of property dispossession caused by the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Specifically, it examines the category of the family, which is overlooked in the existing literature, and probes into the political production of family conflicts and breakdowns. It characterizes the prevailing regime of dispossession in contemporary China as decentralized legal authoritarianism and argues that the organization of the Expo‐induced dispossession deviated from this because of the distinctive state structures involved. For this reason, tensions within the state apparatus were temporarily suspended, leading to reduced opportunity for resistance. The state's monopoly of symbolic production rendered contesting claims to property ownership illegitimate and made monetary compensation the only option. This turned confrontation with the state into domestic disputes. Organized as a state‐led project, dispossession also exploited displacees' past experiences of a ‘caring' state or state terror, giving rise to different attitudes towards displacement and thus causing more family disputes. Moreover, mobilization of the entire state apparatus also permitted the use of coercive and violent means without legal and moral concerns. Tactics that manipulated, and in some cases completely severed, relations within and beyond the displaced families are explored in depth. The article concludes with a call to change the ways that dispossession has been conceived and conducted in practice.

Pile Foundations of Mega Projects: New Railway Station and LRT in Problematical Soil Ground of Astana

The article considers the project a new railway station on problematical soils of Astana, as well as light rail LRT Project.This article includes a summary of dynamic and static tests of driven and bored piles. Also, it is given the methodology for determining the bearing capacity of piles. As an example of these methods, the results of the dynamic, static and new PDA (Pile Dynamic Analyzer) test of teamwork and piles of soil carried out on the construction site “The new railway station in Astana” and Project light railway LRT (Light Railway Transport) planned to build in time for the World Expo in Astana EXPO-2017.This paper presented a short description of changes to the concept of Kazakhstan pile foundation design and to use PDA and DLT and SLT pile load tests. By georadar survey was funded the areas which reported a hard rock at a depth of 16 meters and other soil layers.

Sustainable World Expo? The Governing Function of Spectacle in Shanghai and Beyond

This paper explores the Shanghai 2010 World Expo to show how spectacle serves a governing function of the Chinese developmental state. I introduce soil exegesis as a method to excavate sedimented power relations of spectacle, undergirding the expo’s presentation. This approach investigates how spectacle is a state-territorializing project and pedagogical venture that relies on and denies the state socialist-era’s waste, to produce a ‘new nature’ and perform socio-technical management of crisis and crowds. Dynamic rearrangement of soil quality and composition facilitated the urban redevelopment zone of sustainable futures, while interactive-technocratic environments inserted visitor bodies into expo surveillance systems and infrastructure without reference to the embedded political ecology of the mass event within Shanghai and beyond. The article concludes by considering ethical legacies of the event and the ways ‘sustainable spectacle’ operates through waste administration and environmental performance that ‘greenwash’ the socialist past and obstruct other governing arrangements.

Thirst in the global brandscape: Water, milk and Coke at the Shanghai World Expo

This article draws on ethnographic fieldwork at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. It examines the socio-material life of three brands of refreshments featured at the 2010 World Expo: the local Chinese water purification company Litree, the Inner-Mongolian dairy manufacturer Yili and the soft-drink multinational Coca-Cola. Whereas international events nowadays play a key role in the intensification of the circulation of information, this article pays attention rather to the carnal dimension of the Expo and to the importance of the sensuous experience of the event in the promotion of these brands. It shows that close attention to the materiality of branding practices and the varieties of a brand’s existence can unveil a universe of constant tensions, uncertainties and immanent adjustments, even in the pacified and sanitized ecology of the World Expo.

Back to the future: The politics of culture at the Shanghai Expo

Mega-events such as the Olympics and international expositions have long been understood as staging platforms upon which host countries offer displays of nation-state splendor. This article examines representations at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a largely state- and corporate-funded mega-event, to consider contemporary China’s particular narrative of the nation as it emerges as a global power in the 21st century. Through an analysis of Expo films, displays, and architecture, this article argues that the Shanghai Expo offered a model for the future that linked future progress to past glory, wedding traditional Chinese practices and belief systems to contemporary economic growth and technological advancement. While recognizing that the representations at the Expo were largely aspirational, the article demonstrates that studying such idealized forms of national identity can reveal much about China’s attempts to position itself as a prototype for global futures.

Data-Driven Crowd Understanding: A Baseline for a Large-Scale Crowd Dataset

Crowd understanding has drawn increasing attention from the computer vision community, and its progress is driven by the availability of public crowd datasets. In this paper, we contribute a large-scale benchmark dataset collected from the Shanghai 2010 World Expo. It includes 2630 annotated video sequences captured by 245 surveillance cameras, far larger than any public dataset. It covers a large number of different scenes and is suitable for evaluating the performance of crowd segmentation and estimation of crowd density, collectiveness, and cohesiveness, all of which are universal properties of crowd systems. In total, 53 637 crowd segments are manually annotated with the three crowd properties. This dataset is released to the public to advance research on crowd understanding. The largescale annotated dataset enables using data-driven approaches for crowd understanding. In this paper, a data-driven approach is proposed as a baseline of crowd segmentation and estimation of crowd properties for the proposed dataset. Novel global and local crowd features are designed to retrieve similar training scenes and to match spatio-temporal crowd patches so that the labels of the training scenes can be accurately transferred to the query image. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art approaches for crowd understanding.