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Abstract: It is important to understand the settlement morphology and its transition process in the rapid urbanization cities of developing countries. It is equally important to learn about the relationships between transport energy consumption and the transition of settlement morphology and its underlying processes. Finally, if the existing transportation technologies are already adequately meeting the environmental challenges of that sector then urban policies can serve as a guide to the transition of settlement morphology, especially for developing countries. Through the application of an integrated land use and transportation modeling system, TRANUS, the paper demonstrates that this transition will bring great changes to the urban spatial distribution of population, jobs and land use, and to residents'' travel patterns, thus resulting in different transportation energy consumption and CO2 emission levels, but that these changes can be managed through appropriate public policies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Yangtze River Delta (YRD), one of China’s most developed, dynamic, densely populated and concentrated industrial area, is growing into an influential world-class metropolitan area and playing an important role in China’s economic and social development. The formation and the urbanization process of YRD are inseparable from climate change. This paper explores such interrelationship from two perspectives. On one hand, using historic data, we summarized the urbanization process in the YRD, and concluded that climate change has been shaping the Delta and its socioeconomic development. On the other hand, the urbanization process of the Delta has shaped its geography and built environment, which, however, are not adaptable to future climate change. Potential disruptive effects include large flooded land area, flood disasters, production and energy inefficiency, and other environmental threats. It is imperative to adopt policies and programs to mitigate and adapt to climate change in the fast urbanization process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]