Suchergebnisse

This article calls for a re-examination, from a Relational Contract Theory perspective, of the 'copyleft' agreement, which mandates the source code of publicly released software to be perpetually shared with the public. It deals with standard-form copyleft licences such as the GNU General Public Licence, whose legal enforceability has often been a subject of debate. From the viewpoint of classical contract law, these licences would lack affirmatively expressed consent from the licensees and would thus be unlikely to be legally binding. There are two alternatives to this classical contractual view. The first is the neoclassical contract approach as represented in Easterbrook's ruling in ProCD v Zeidenberg, which attempts to re-engineer the legitimisation of standard-form information product licensing schemes with the goal of maximising individual utility gains. The second alternative is a (Ian) Macneilian relational approach, which is endorsed by this article but has remained conspicuously absent from the existing legal literature.

Urban growth boundaries (UGBs) are commonly used for governance of urban growth. For demarcation of UGBs, the prediction models are prized for their automation and high efficiency in spatial data processing. However, public intentions, which cannot be predicted by prediction models, are ignored. This ignorance affects the performance of UGBs and urban development. From the perspective of regulatory tools, this article proposes public intentions and predicted trend as the two decisive elements for demarcation of UGBs. Following this thought, the study develops a method for coordination of their conflicts by providing a decision criteria for policy makers based on estimation of the cost to intervene predicted trend. This method is incorporated into a process of demarcation of UGBs and applied in the case of Tianjin, China. Results show that firstly, policy makers of UGBs should consider conflicts between public intentions and predicted trend and coordinate them for land development. Secondly, in the method for coordination, the decision criteria based on intervention costs can be used to make choice between public intentions and predicted trend and to choose suitable strategies for two types of conflicts. Thirdly, combined with the method for coordination, the process of demarcation is improved with multiple perspectives and methods for providing sufficient reference. Lastly in the case of Tianjin, China, it is verified that the decisions of land development and UGBs are made differently from the considerations of individual or public interests. To optimize the UGBs based on the method for coordination, four categories of strategies are matched with those conflict areas, and supporting measures are proposed correspondingly.

Indicator-based evaluation systems are critical for guiding and monitoring cities' sustainable development. Zhangjiakou city is the national renewable energy demonstration zone in China, and is gaining more attention (being the co-host city of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games). It needs to seize the opportunities for its long-term sustainable development. An indicator system was developed to monitor the city's sustainability. Local governance was integrated into an extended three-pillar evaluation model as the fourth dimension through the involvement of over 30 local government departments. Based on the interpretation of local demands, 118 assessment tools were reviewed and an international indicator inventory of 224 indicators was established. By analyzing the local relevance, 95 indicators were selected and categorized into eight modules (energy and carbon emission, resources and environment, harmony and well-being, economics and inclusion, key industries, innovation and smart, governance and efficiency, and internationalization). However, only 67 indicators were confirmed for value assignments after applicability assessment. Basic performance values (BPVs) were given as achievable goals during the 14th Five-Year Plan (FYP), and the excellent performance values (EPVs) were given towards carbon neutrality. All of the values were peer-reviewed and agreed by the local government while discrepancy still exists on carbon emission.