Suchergebnisse

According to the 2014 revision of the World Urbanization Prospects by UN DESA, urbanization could add another 2.5 billion people to urban population by 2050, with close to 90 percent of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa. This unprecedented increase in urban population not only poses challenges to providing jobs, housing, and infrastructure, but also exerts an increased pressure on urban land and sustainability. As land is a vital yet limited resource, sustainable management of urban land to cater the needs of this growing urban population is seen as one of the key challenges for achieving an economically efficient, socially equitable, and environmentally safe society. A key tenet for sustainable economic development and smart growth is promoting equitable sustainable urban land development and mitigating land use conflicts. While a large body of literature has dealt with both land use and sustainable development, the study of the interactive effects of these two remains limited. We need more sophisticated empirical studies examining processes, mechanisms, institutions, equity, and sustainability of urban land use. This book is based on a Special Issue published in Sustainability, and examines patterns, structure, and dynamics of urban land development and sustainability from multiple perspectives, in various contexts and at multiple dimensions (economic, social, political, developmental, and environmental, etc.). The research articles examine urban land development and sustainability arising from globalization, urbanization and institutional change. We have drawn papers from both developed and developing countries, with a focus on China due to the rapid rate of urbanization and change there. This book includes 14 articles, with various research emphases, methodologies and study areas, reflecting the inter-disciplinarily that characterizes urban and land use studies. The book has examined patterns and processes of urban land expansion and sprawl, and also studies new dimensions of urban space, including social media. These papers can provide us insights into the underlying structure and mechanisms of urban land expansion, and open new frontiers on the effects of urban land development on both the natural and human environments. We hope that this book will contribute to the understanding of urban land use patterns and processes, and their implications for sustainable development.

Research on regional inequality in China has generated controversial findings. This paper reveals that the trend for the last four and a half decades shows no clear divergent, convergent, or inverted-U patterns. The author argues that regional inequality in China is sensitive to geographical scale and influenced by multiple mechanisms, and that the global and domestic contexts for China's regional development have changed dramatically. In particular, China's triple transitions - decentralization, marketization, and globalization - have fundamentally changed the mechanisms underlying regional development. Changes require new thinking on regional development strategies in China, which should emphasize developing non-state sectors, fully utilizing human resources, enhancing geographical targeting, and reforming urban and regional planning institutions. (J Contemp China/DÜI)

Fiscal & investment reforms are important components of the People's Republic of China's economic reforms & have exerted tremendous impact on uneven regional development in China. This paper shows that dramatic changes have taken place in Jiangsu's fiscal systems & investment patterns. Reforms have stimulated local revenue growth, but Jiangsu's revenue submitted to the central government has also been large. Consequently, the provincial budget was squeezed, & different localities have used local strategies to create extrabudgetary revenues for local spending. Bargaining & local protection have been intense. Meanwhile, with the declining control of the central government over investment, localities & the nonstate sector have emerged as major agents financing regional development in Jiangsu. Regions are able to channel investment into more profitable sectors, especially township & village enterprises (TVEs). Fiscal & investment reforms have stimulated economic growth, but have also contributed to rising interregional & rural intercounty inequalities. However, central cities struggled with fiscal control & problematic state-owned enterprises (SOEs), leading to the decline of overall intercounty inequality in Jiangsu. 6 Tables, 3 Figures, 2 Maps. Adapted from the source document.