Suchergebnisse

China&rsquo ; s substantial economic growth and rapid urbanization has brought about some negative effects, one of which is spatial imbalance. Spatial imbalance has attracted considerable attention from both the government and researchers, since it has severely hindered regional sustainable development. This study, from the perspective of the matching relationship between spatial supply capacity and development demand intensity, evaluates the spatial balance of 290 prefecture-level cities in China by establishing an index system that considers the economy, society, resources, and the environment. The findings of this study have demonstrated that the strategies and measures of China in the last few years have brought about a spatial imbalance in regional development while rapidly boosting economic growth. The results reveal that there is not a corresponding relationship between spatial supply capacity and development demand intensity in China&rsquo ; s regional development, indicating that most cities in China are in an imbalanced state regarding regional development. Only a few cities have reached spatial balance, while overexploitation is a common phenomenon. This study displays an overall perspective on the state of spatial balance in China, providing a sound basis for implementing pertinent governance measures in different regions.

Climate Change poses a wide range of potentially very severe threats in China. This aggravates the existing vulnerability of China and is one of the big challenges faced by the Chinese government. Adaptation programmes and projects are being developed and implemented at national and local level. As China is engaged in heavy investment in infrastructure development as a consequence of the rapid process of development and urbanization, mainstreaming adaptation into such development process is a priority for China. China has also made positive contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through participations in the CDM under the Kyoto Protocol framework. Although mitigation is not a priority at national or local level, it has been integrated into national and local development plans explicitly. This paper addresses the following questions: What is the policy space for climate change mitigation and adaptation policy at national and local level and what is already being done? The three case studies at local level - Beijing, Guangdong and Shanghai – presented here, highlight the local benefits in terms of local pollution of integrating mitigation policies into local development. However, financial constraints usually prevent such a positive policy integration. National policies and international cooperation aiming at bridging the financial gap and promoting technology transfer would help in integrating local pollution control and mitigation efforts in China today.

The present research recruited participants from China, which is suffering from serious air pollution, and examined whether air pollution would be associated with moral judgment and immoral behavioral intention. Study 1 (n = 145) used the objective Air Quality Index to indicate the level of air pollution and found that it predicted harsh judgment on others&rsquo ; moral violations but did not predict judgment on others&rsquo ; non-moral negative behaviors or their own immoral behavioral intentions. Study 2 (n = 90) asked participants either to recall a past experience of being exposed to air pollution or to recall a neutral experience and consistently found that air pollution only influenced judgment on moral violations. The findings also ruled out the feeling of threat or the trust of government as possible mediators in the relationship between air pollution and harsh moral judgment.