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The Chinese Communist Party and its supporters are increasingly using social media platforms to shape China's public image. This online image is a means of strengthening domestic nationalism and of projecting "soft power" abroad. This paper examines various forms of anti-Westernism that are central to this image-making. It analyzes several recent topics—the Belt and Road Initiative, climate change, the COVID-19 vaccine, the Beijing Olympics, and the conflict in Ukraine—on the r/Sino subreddit page of Reddit and compares them with two online news outlets, the South China Morning Post and China Daily. The paper focuses on how these media frame the contest between a rising China and a failing West, so creating a discourse that competes with the negative portrayals of China outside the country. The paper contrasts the aggressive strengthening of China's image against the West on social media with more sober accounts of the same topics in China's official media and in commercial news outlets. The contribution of the paper is to document an emerging online anti-Westernism that is playing an increasing role in the changing geopolitical landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Carbon neutrality is an important policy in the current global response to climate change and has been widely recognized by various industries. In the process of promoting carbon neutrality, new energy plays a pivotal role. In this study, the definition and connotation of new energy and its role and specific operation in the energy transition of carbon neutrality are firstly explained. Promoting new energy development requires significant green and low-carbon investments. Taking China as an example, this paper analyzes the opportunities brought by the carbon neutral process to the field of green finance and analyzes the main features and development trends of green finance in China at present. Then this paper proposes policy recommendations to strengthen the development of green finance in China in terms of improving the green financial policy system, enhancing the supply capacity of green financial services, and optimizing the supporting environment for green financial development. Finally, this paper analyzes the measures and experiences of the United States in promoting low-carbon development and proposes countermeasures for China's low-carbon development on the basis of the five major relationships that need attention in China's carbon-neutral process. That is, strengthen the top-level design and improve the regulatory policy system; optimize the energy structure and increase the proportion of clean energy; optimize the industrial structure and reduce energy consumption in key industries; build a complete low-carbon technology system and promote low-carbon technology research and development and demonstration applications, and encourage local conditions to explore low-carbon development paths. The development of green finance can contribute to the advancement of new energy technologies, thus contributing to the achievement of carbon neutrality goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas mediate climate transformations and generate new forms of climate urbanism. Looking at climate action in the twelve fastest-growing cities in China with under one million people, this paper proposes a perspective on urban climate politics 'from elsewhere' that foregrounds the potential role of smaller urban areas in mediating climate transformations. The analysis reveals three climate action strategies that reflect practical, institutional, and personal spheres of climate transformations. Planning action in the personal sphere provides opportunities for urban transformations. A perspective 'from elsewhere' calls for greater attention to planning for diverse change strategies for climate transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's largest carbon emitter, China is under great pressure to cut down carbon emissions. Understanding the evolution of carbon emissions across Chinese cities is important for policymakers when allocating carbon emission quota among these cities. This paper draws upon the Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO2 to calculate city-level per capita carbon emissions in China from 2001 to 2016. Overall, we find that per capita carbon emissions of Chinese cities have been generally on the rise during the 2001–2016 period. However, there has been on average a modest decline in per capita carbon emissions of cities in China's Yangtze River Delta region and Pearl River Delta region from 2011 to 2016, after a remarkable increase during the 2001–2011 period. Besides, the average north-south gap has been enlarged, with northern cities having a relatively higher level of per capita carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the large-scale investments of both China and the EU in climate-change mitigation and renewable-energy promotion, the prevailing view on China-EU relations is one of conflict rather than cooperation. In order to evaluate the prospects of cooperation between China and the EU in these policy fields, empirical research has to go beyond simplistic narratives. This paper suggests a conceptual apparatus that will help researchers better understand the complexities of the real world. The relevant actors operate at different levels and in the public and private sectors. The main message of the paper is that combining the multilevel governance and value-chain approaches helps clarify the multiple relationships between these actors [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the interplay between the rise of China and India in the world economy and the global climate emergency. It considers alternative growth scenarios for China and India. The results show that, to meet their respective global climate obligations, both China and India need to accept much slower economic growth rates and possibly economic stagnation in the coming decades. This clearly indicates that both China and India need to revise their growth-oriented model of development. Only a new development strategy focused on social and environmental progress, rather than economic growth, can be compatible with climate stabilization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper outlines how the evolution of China's policy and study of the environment are reflected in the scholarly literature, paying special attention to the impact of the country's environmental developments on international relations. In particular, it examines accounts of how China has moved from an isolated national scientific and environmental control infrastructure into the centre of international environmental debates as its society has opened and the geographical scale of ecological problems has expanded. The paper also identifies the continuing inhibitors to China's ability to control environmental degradation - including lack of transparency, elite manipulation, and bureaucratic weaknesses - despite the opening of China's system to limited participation of civil society in its environmental debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's political environment offers limited space for critical debates on domestic politics. In such a constrained environment, people tend to represent and articulate climate change issues without explicitly addressing their political aspects. The aim of this paper is to examine this political ambiguity in climate change discourses. Q methodology was employed to elicit the subjective positions of forty-five young and educated Chinese individuals. Three discourses were extracted: namely, prosaic environmentalism, co-operative economic optimism and actor scepticism. These discourses do not indicate critical intent and deep engagement in the political arguments regarding climate change. This raises concern about the growth of climate citizenship within the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a modern research framework for establishing a grounded theory perspective on regional development initiatives along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Grounded theory is a well-known research approach that uses comparative analysis to generate hypotheses from analyzed data. Thematic event analysis exposes the transitions between domains throughout CPEC project design and execution, including political, economic, social, technical, legal, and environmental elements. The Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project's axial coding highlights contextual variables such as problematic agreements, circumvention of regulations, lack of preparation, public indignation, heritage demolition, tree cutting, and regional tensions. These elements, coupled with China-Pakistan relations, the CPEC framework, infrastructural conditions, and other considerations, impact top-down planning, bureaucratic difficulties, and mismanagement of government plans. Consequently, these techniques cause project delays, unsustainable subsidies, historical damage, and environmental implications, raising questions about accountability and political regime change. This chapter focuses on data collection by using the Grounded Theory Method. These ramifications go beyond the CPEC project, emphasizing the significance of consulting key parties and selecting projects based on scientific and technological criteria. Institutional strengthening, climate change policies, and a focus on sustainable development are all critical. Policy consequences include open and accountable resource allocation, enhanced planning and risk assessment, cost-cutting techniques, cultural heritage preservation, specialized courts, and investment in education and healthcare. It is also critical to strengthen democratic institutions and reduce the environmental dangers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

California's cap-and-trade programme under the Assembly Bill 32 is a key element in California's comprehensive plan for reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. In China, separate local cap-and-trade pilot schemes are being developed to explore a market-based solution for addressing the country's increasing GHG emissions. The Californian cap-and-trade scheme and China's local pilots are similar in that both have been developed in the absence of a national emissions trading scheme. This paper reviews the Californian scheme and draws insights for China's pilots from various perspectives including the legal basis, institutional arrangement, programme structure, market design, the implementation process, and mechanisms for ensuring compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on planning literature which include approaches to empirical work in regional economics, understanding the barriers to social adaptation, and management of large city regions.

China is undergoing modernization at a scale and speed the world has never witnessed. As climate change increasingly dominates the global agenda, China faces the challenge of shaping a new growth path in a climate-constrained world. The paper argues that China's current climate and energy policy is, at best, a "repackaging" of existing energy and environmental strategies with co-benefits for the mitigation of climate change. Nevertheless, even though policies are not climate-change driven, the quick (rhetorical) endorsement of low-carbon development and the strong momentum of green technologies indicate that political ambitions are in favour of finding a more sustainable development pathway. A new growth path would, however, require a fundamental shift, with development and energy strategies being set within climate security constraints. The eventual success of this new path remains uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents abstracts of papers on city planning published from 2007 to 2008, including "Streets, Sounds and Identity in Inter-war Harlem," by Clare Corbould, "(Re)making the Other, Heterosexualising Everyday Space," by Kath Browne, and "Rankings and Reactivity: How Public Measures Recreate Social Worlds," by Wendy Nelson Espeland and Michael Sauder.

In the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, China agreed to slash its carbon intensity (carbon dioxide emissions/GDP) by 40% to 45% from the 2005 level by 2020. We assess whether China can achieve the target under the business-as-usual scenario by forecasting its emissions from energy consumption. Our preferred model shows that China's carbon intensity is projected to decline by only 33%. The results imply that China needs additional mitigation effort to comply with the Copenhagen commitment. The emission growth is more than triple the emission reductions that the European Union and the United States have committed to in the same period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article undertakes a systematic study of press articles on climate change in the rich West (Norway), the emerging East (China) and the developing South (Ghana) to explore the cognitive basis for collective climate policy action. Newspapers depict Ghana moving out of a climate-victimhood towards a more active climate policy for development; China figures as spearheading energy efficiency and clean technologies for growth; while Norway is described as exporting its climate action. Our analysis finds little common ground for climate mitigation through binding climate emission limits and carbon pricing. A pluralistic 'green growth' strategy would have greater chances of success. The article also highlights differences in sources and story types: Norway features much enterprising journalism, and academics are the dominant source. In China and Ghana most articles are routinized, with politicians and public officials dominating in China, whilst the press makes heavy use of international sources in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to the proposition that learning to live in the Anthropocene involves learning how to die, this article problematises the modes of world-making upheld in some of the contemporary proposals for the global reorganisation of societies towards just, socio-ecological transitions beyond the techno-fixes of geoengineering, green growth, and their attendant ideals of progress. Specifically, it critically examines one such proposal that, inspired by process philosophy, has proven deeply influential in China's recent shift in ecological (geo)politics: the idea of an 'ecological civilisation' based on principles of ontological relationality, democratic responsibility, and a new alliance between the sciences and the humanities. The article argues that while such a project rejects the substantive values of modern progress, its regulative notion of civilisation retains the modern story of progress as a mode of valuation and therefore reinscribes imperial, colonial values at the heart of ecology. In response, the article suggests that learning to die in the wake of ecological devastation requires making life outside the modern coordinates of progress, which is to say living without the ideal of civilisation. Seeking to expand the political imagination at a time of socio-ecological transformations, it calls for 'ecological uncivilisation' as a permanent experimentation with improbable forms of world-making and methodologies of life that are envisaged thanks to ongoing histories of decolonisation and not in spite of them; that strive to live and die well but not always better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the effect of human capital on CO2 emissions using the Chinese provincial panel over the period 1997-2016. Allowing for cross-sectional dependence and structural breaks, we find a negative association between human capital and CO2 emissions in the long run and attribute it to the influences from younger workers and workers with advanced human capital. In particular, our results suggest that a one-year increase in average schooling reduces CO2 emissions by 12 per cent. Using disaggregated emission dataset by energy sources and end emitters, we demonstrate this negative association is likely to manifest through technology effect and the improvement in energy efficiency. These manifestations are limited to production sector. Our finding suggests a promising avenue for abating greenhouse gases without impeding economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on topics related to history and planning including attitudes towards menstruation in Elizabethan England, sexual fantasy in modern America, and feminism.

This article examines the prospects of, and politics and practices around, solar energy in China. It examines two different solar energy technologies, namely, solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar water heaters (SWHs), to understand how different pathways for low-carbon innovation are supported and constrained by (the lack of) political support at the national and local level, the interactions between state and nonstate actors, as well as how they relate to changing practices among consumers. This article also discusses obstacles and trade-offs. We find two very different approaches to solar energy. The solar PV industry in China is experiencing increased domestic growth, after many years of being mainly export-oriented. Prices declined rapidly in recent years, and solar PV also enjoys much political and financial support from the central government and local governments. However, there are high bureaucratic and technical hurdles to get grid connected and access the feed-in-tariff, particularly for individual users. SWHs on the other side are a “homegrown” Chinese technology that is ubiquitous in China, particularly in rural areas; that is easy to install and use; and that has developed from the grassroots levels to mass products with relatively little government support. Although being largely neglected by high-level discussions and plans, SWHs could contribute much to low-carbon transitions that are driven at the local level in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the possible implications of the withdrawal of the U.S. from the COP21 Paris Climate Change. It mentions that the U.S. has joined the COP21 United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2015 with other countries as they aim to limit the increase in the global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius. It cites that the decision for the U.S. to withdraw from the agreement has made a lot of countries hostile towards the agreement.

China has become the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world. However, the Chinese public's willingness to pay (WTP) for climate change mitigation is, at best, under-researched. This study draws upon a large national survey of Chinese public cognition and attitude towards climate change and analyzes the determinants of consumers' WTP for energy-efficient and environment-friendly products. Eighty-five percent of respondents indicate that they are willing to pay at least 10 percent more than the market price for these products. The econometric analysis indicates that income, education, age and gender, as well as public awareness and concerns about climate change are significant factors influencing WTP. Respondents who are more knowledgeable and more concerned about the adverse effect of climate change show higher WTP. In comparison, income elasticity is small. The results are robust to different model specifications and estimation techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. I explore the use in undergraduate classes of active learning situations (ALSs) that model the structure of common pool resources. I respond to critiques of the usefulness of ALSs for use in classrooms by reviewing their ability to convey important concepts and theories and to facilitate student acquisition of policy details.Aim. I examine how learning efficiency is enhanced by choosing the right form of ALS – ranging from abstract games to detailed simulations. The learning efficiency of using games or simulations in the classroom, or something in between, likely depends on the instructor’s purposes – conveying general theories applicable to many cases or the details and dynamics of particular policies.Method. I discuss use of a hybrid example of a common pool resource ALS to illustrate use of the ALS to help achieve the purposes of a course on the Rise and Decline of Human Civilizations.Conclusion. Descriptions of the content of debriefing sessions for six courses taught in the US and China provide support for the usefulness of this ALS in achieving purposes that focus on conveying knowledge about abstract features of common pool resource challenges confronting past societies, the climate change problem confronting contemporary global society, and how to avoid tragic outcomes in each case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates about how to respond to climate change have largely focused on the difficulties in agreeing on national targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. By assuming that the main obstacle to emissions reduction lies in the inability to reach agreement internationally, the current debate underplays the challenges of building the state capacity that will be needed to ensure mitigation takes place. The implementation of mitigation strategies is far from straightforward. It requires careful balancing of competing priorities and deliberate strategies to bring different interest groups on board. We analyze the way this balancing act has been carried out in promoting energy efficiency measures in China and India. The balancing act has been done differently as each country has tailored its approach to the specific context of competing priorities and differing state capacity. We encapsulate these differences by referring to China’s approach as “state-signaling” and India’s approach as a “market-plus” approach. China’s approach is more explicitly statist than India’s, but in both countries, the state plays a central role in building the support base for its policies through processes that we describe as the bundling of policies and interests. These bundling strategies are used to help build informal coalitions in favor of energy efficiency measures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Climate protection issues are receiving more attention in China. Responding to this survey, 133 environmental and climate protection experts indicated that the government is a key factor in raising awareness of climate protection in China. Experts participating in the survey also referred to the role of the media - in particular social media - NGOs and educational institutions in spreading climate protection awareness. Additionally, interviews were carried out with 40 of the experts, who were grouped into different categories to discover whether there were any striking differences of opinion between experts of different backgrounds. Their assessments revealed few statistically relevant differences, though some are worth noting: Chinese researchers, project managers and representatives of NGOs were more positive than international experts regarding the impact of the Rio+20 conference on climate change discourse in China. Also, the youngest experts with the least international experience evaluated the potential of green volunteer work highest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on various topics which include social life and civic education in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the political aspect of neighborhood football clubs in Santiago, Chile and the legacy of urban renewal in Southwest Washington, D.C.

According to the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report, global emissions of carbon dioxide have to be reduced by about 80 per cent by 2050 in order to stabilise the increase in global temperature at 2 to 2.4°C by 2100 compared with its pre-industrial level. An increase of only 2°C would bring about "acceptable" negative impacts on the eco-systems and the world economy. Without a reduction in CO2 emissions in China, however, it will be hard to achieve this goal. Currently, China is already responsible for about 50 per cent of the worldwide increase in CO2 emissions recorded over the past ten years. On the other hand, it is the industrialised countries that are mainly responsible for the greenhouse-gas emissions of earlier years. Taking the challenges of China's economic growth, its impact on future CO2 emissions and the development of China's climate policy into account, this article develops a new post- Kyoto regime based on cumulative per-capita emission rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on city planning-related topics, including visions of waterfront development in postindustrial Philadelphia, the construction of a town planning perception of Colombo, and city planning and the U.S. census.

The article presents abstracts on planning-related topics which include an examination of the popularity of dancing in New Zealand during the 1920s and 1930s, an examination of how religious diversity in community affects church membership in a period of high growth and social change and an examination of child labor in urban industries in the Dutch Republic.

The article presents abstracts on land use planning topics, including "Historical Amnesia: New Urbanism and the City of Tomorrow," "More Than Sector Theory: Homer Hoyt's Contributions to Planning Knowledge" and "Methodology for the Survival Analysis of Urban Building Stocks."

The article presents abstracts of planning. They include "The Fall and Rise of the Local Community: A Comparative and Historical Perspective," by Hellmut Wollman, "The Compact Versus the Dispersed City: History of Planning Ideas on Sofia's Urban Form," by Sonia Hirt, and "A Paradigm for Practice," by Ronald D. Brunner.

Presents several abstracts featured in various journals as of August 2006. "Creating the Public Domain: Nineteenth-Century Local State Formation in Britain and the U.S.," by Alan Digaetano; "The Significance of Color Declines: A Re-Analysis of Skin Tone Differentials in Post-Civil Rights America," by Aaron Gullickson; "Deconstructing the City of Culture: The Long-Term Cultural Legacies of Glasgow 1990," by Beatriz García.

Presents abstracts of environmental planning research. They include "Integrating a performance-based approach into practice: A case study," "Local commitment to state-mandated planning in coastal North Carolina" and "Fiscal consequences of concentrated poverty in a metropolitan region."