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Hydropower and photovoltaic power are widely used as clean energy sources around the world. Hydro-Photovoltaic complementary is precisely the use of the regulation performance of hydropower stations and the peak regulation performance of PV electric fields to improve the system's power generation efficiency. The Yalong River basin as one of China's clean energy bases, is rich in water and light resources. And now its midstream Yangfanggou hydropower station has just been completed, and the relevant PV electric field is in the construction planning stage. It is worth studying how to effectively utilize its hydropower and PV output resources. Therefore, Yangfanggou hydropower station and its PV electric field are taken as the research objects in this paper. The possibility of hydro-photovoltaic complementarity is analyzed within the year and day respectively. Then, a short-term scheduling model of hydrophotovoltaic complementarity is constructed according to the principle, and its operation mode and effect are optimized using the genetic algorithm NSGA-II. The results indicate that the annual power generation of the system is increased by about 1.4 billion kWh from the original hydropower through the hydrophotovoltaic complementary, and the annual guaranteed output is also increased with a large increase degree at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The existing literature has been mainly focused on local problems but without an overall framework for studying the top-level planning of intelligent construction from a systematic perspective. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap. Design/methodology/approach: This research adopts a deductive research approach. Findings: This research proposes a reference architecture and related business scenario framework for intelligent construction based on the existing theory and industrial practice. Originality/value: The main contribution of this research is to provide a useful reference to the Chinese government and industry for formulating digital transformation strategies, as well as suggests meaningful future research directions in the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving energy efficiency is an important measure of environmental governance. At present, studies on the impact of high-speed rail on energy efficiency need to be further studied. This paper constructs panel data of 285 cities at prefecture-level and above in China from 2003 to 2017, and uses the difference-in-difference (DID) to study the impact of high-speed railway on urban energy efficiency. Based on the theories of "factor flow," "knowledge spillover," and "center-periphery," this paper discusses the influence mechanism and heterogeneity of high-speed railway on energy efficiency. The empirical results show that high-speed railway can significantly improve energy efficiency, and the conclusion is still valid after parallel trend test, propensity score matching and difference-in-difference (PSM-DID) test, and instrumental variable method. The results remained true after a series of robustness tests. Mechanism analysis shows that high-speed railway can improve energy efficiency by promoting industrial structure upgrading, technological innovation, and market integration. Analysis of heterogeneity shows that the promotion effect of high-speed railway on energy efficiency is greater in central and western cities and core cities. This study provides useful enlightenment for optimizing China's high-speed rail construction planning and seizing the opportunity of high-speed rail development to improve energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its early start in urbanization, Europe has accumulated a wealth of practical experience in urban agriculture (UA), exploring various development models. This paper compares and analyzes the characteristic patterns of UA in Europe and China through theoretical research, academic frontier exploration, and case analysis. In order to investigate and analyze theoretical developments and the current state of academic frontiers in a systematic, accessible, and comprehensive approach, the methodology of bibliometric analysis has been utilized. A bibliometric method is applied to analyze relevant data from the Web of Science (WoS) core collection database and 2230 CNKI publications. The case study section conducts separate field research on nine representative European practices of urban food gardening and urban farming. Additionally, the study scrutinizes UA research development and its implementation in Hangzhou, China. Based on the findings of this study, the authors recommend that European approaches to the development of UA in China's future UA practice be taken into account, in particular their methods and strategies for realizing social and cultural benefits. It is imperative to integrate UA projects into urban green space system planning and to rationalize their construction types. Simultaneously, Chinese scholars are encouraged to explore the socio-cultural functions of UA, with a particular focus on urban agricultural heritage conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To meet the needs of diversified pension services and the construction of aged care institutions is one of the urgent livelihood issues in China. Under the major national needs of pension and care for the elderly, it is necessary to optimize the allocation of pension and care for the elderly resources, and formulate operational coping strategies and optimization plans. It is of great significance to deal with the urgent problem of population aging in a timely and scientific way. Methods: The economic benefits and social costs of aged care institutions are regarded as objective functions. To satisfy the economic benefits, it is necessary to reduce the social costs, and its construction quantity can only be an integer. The multi-objective genetic algorithm is improved with integer programming, and the global optimal solution is achieved after several times of searching. Under the multi-objective optimization model, the improved genetic algorithm was combined with the superior and inferior solution distance method to solve the genetic algorithm, and the corresponding objective function value was obtained after rounding. Finally, Pareto optimal solution set is selected by multi-objective decision, and the result of construction planning is obtained. Results: Based on multi-attribute decision analysis and taking three years as the construction cycle, the planning scheme of aged care institutions construction in each district of Nanjing in the next 15 years was proposed. In addition, considering the intelligent trend of future pension, the proportion of home-based pension is increasing year by year, and the model is promoted to meet the needs of diversified pension services. With the gradual increase of the elderly population in Nanjing, the proportion of intelligent home-based care has been increasing year by year since 2027, and the construction demand of aged care institutions has also increased. The number of construction at all levels rises gradually in each cycle, and the increase is more obvious after 2027. Conclusions: The layout and planning of aged care institutions proposed in this paper not only considers economic and environmental benefits, but also combines the current situation of aged care institutions in various districts of Nanjing. The model is reasonable and effective, and has practical application value. It will help China optimize the allocation of elderly care resources under the target of active aging, and scientifically and comprehensively deal with the problem of population aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the most important urban infrastructure systems, the road network plays a vital role in post-earthquake emergency response. Quantitative evaluation of the emergency response functionality of road network under earthquakes can provide decision support for emergency planning and future construction. In this paper, a novel network performance metric is proposed to consider both the special traffic demand in emergency response and the supply capability of road network. On this basis, an integrated probabilistic assessment framework for post-earthquake network emergency response functionality is presented, considering various uncertainties. In the framework, a penalty-based approach is proposed to consider the impact of partially degraded links on network functionality. At last, the proposed methodology is illustrated on the road network of Tangshan city, China, under different seismic scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tarim River Basin (TRB) is situated in the hinterland of northwest China, which is an extremely arid and fragile ecological zone. In recent years, the region's ecological civilization construction has been facing huge challenges that are exacerbated by climate change and human activities. In order to verify the current ecological status of TRB, this paper explores the spatial and temporal variation in ecosystem service value (ESV) and the impact mechanism based on LUCC data from 2000 to 2020, using the adjusted unit area value equivalent method, the elasticity index method and the geo-probe analysis method. The results show that: (1) the ESV of the TRB has fluctuated since 2000, increasing by CNY 14.02 billion, especially in the Hotan River region. Among the individual ecosystem services, the increase in regulatory services is the largest, rising to CNY 8.842 billion. The growth of ESV mostly occurred in the mountains and oases. (2) The rise in ESV is mainly due to the conversion of barren land to water and grassland; ESV loss is mainly affected by the conversion of water to cropland and barren land and grassland to cropland and barren land. (3) Human activity impact or intensity (HAI) is the key driving factor for the spatial stratified heterogeneity of ESV, followed by elevation (DEM). In the interaction analysis, HAI∩DEM interaction is the primary reason for ESV's spatial differentiation. The study's findings show that the combined effects of human activities, DEM, and hydrothermal conditions underlie the spatial stratified heterogeneity of ESV in the TRB. This conclusion provides a scientific basis for future ecological civilization construction planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of urbanization has changed the original land cover and exacerbated the urban heat island effect, seriously affecting the sustainable development of the ecological environment. Research on urban heat island characteristics and land cover changes in five major urban agglomerations in China to provide a reference for preventing thermal environmental risks and urban agglomeration construction planning. This paper estimates the surface urban heat island intensity (SUHII) of the five major urban agglomerations in China from 2003 to 2019 based on Google Earth Engine (GEE) through the urban–rural dichotomy, analyzes their trends through the Sen + M–K trend analysis method, and combines the detrending rate matrix to analyze the impact of land cover type shift on urban heat island change. Research shows that (1) the land cover types of the five major urban agglomerations in China have changed considerably from 2003 to 2019, and all five major urban agglomerations in China experienced varying degrees of urban expansion. (2) The annual average value of SUHII decreases in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and middle reaches of the urban agglomerations, while the annual average value of SUHII increases in Chengdu-Chongqing and Pearl River Delta urban agglomerations. (3) The spatial composition of land cover types in the five major urban agglomerations in China is highly spatially correlated with urban heat islands, with urban land and bare land urban heat islands being the most pronounced. (4) The land cover type shift has the most significant heat island impact on Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomerations. (5) The land cover change (LCC) with an increasing trend in SUHII is mainly bare land converted to arable land, and water bodies, grassland, forest land, and arable land converted to urban land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In bygone days, the way to deal with traditional villages in developing new cities in China was often to overturn them and replace the original environment with the built-up urban environment, causing constructive destruction to the traditions and cultures. According to the new village transformation requirements, the planning and construction of villages must be shaped with their own cultural and humanistic characteristics of the habitat requirements. It does not favor demolishing large constructions by implementing a different environment. A traditional village is an essential spatial framework to retain the "mark" of the local characteristics of the new city. It can be an essential element in shaping the individual characteristics of the village by realizing the diversity of spatial forms and regional cultural connotations of the new village. Therefore, this paper proposes a new village transformation model based on traditional villages' social, economic, and spatial patterns, combined with a new particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm named multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO). The model transforms the village based on the required optimum resource allocation with the global solution. The experiment shows that the proposed model suits village renovation and modernization. The work is a step toward the advancements and betterment of rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the process of prefabricated construction (PC) and analyze the impacts of rework risk to identify the core tasks for which the rework risk has severe impacts. Design/methodology/approach: The methods consist of a literature review, expert interviews, a questionnaire survey and a rework risk function. The expert interviews and questionnaire survey were administered to experts in the entire process of PC from the dimensions of rework frequency, rework cost and rework time. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyze the data. The rework risk function was based on the loss expectancy method. Findings: There are 13 core tasks that have higher impacts than the average level. The core tasks in the design stage account for 100% of the tasks in the stage, those in the manufacturing stage account for 20% and those in the construction stage account for 23.1%. Compared with the other stages, the design stage is characterized by significantly more frequent rework, higher rework costs and longer rework time. The manufacturing stage is characterized by significantly higher rework costs than the construction stage. The manufacturing stage and construction stage are co-reliant, and both are impacted by the design stage. Practical implications: The findings provide stakeholders with a clear understanding of the core tasks of the PC process and represent a method for identifying core tasks. Stakeholders can learn from this to focus on the core tasks to reduce rework risk and manage the process with the priority of PC rework management based on the following order: design > manufacturing > construction. The approach is suitable for core task identification in other areas. Originality/value: This research provides insight into rework risk management and provides a novel analysis method for rework risk and PC management from the perspective of the construction process. The findings are valuable for supporting stakeholders in making effective construction plans to reduce the impacts of rework risk in PC and provide a reference for future research on process optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's "double carbon" goal continues to advance, logistics as a key area of carbon emissions and low-carbon logistics center site selection are key links in the process. However, existing studies on logistics center location often ignore the impact of demand uncertainty, which leads to a waste of resources in the planning and construction processes. We take logistics cost and carbon emission as the objectives, and the multi-objective site selection model established based on stochastic programming theory takes demand uncertainty as a stochastic constraint. We transform the stochastic constraint model into a 0–1 mixed integer multi-objective planning model by utilizing the idea of equivalence transformation. The Aptenodytes Forsteri Optimization (AFO) algorithm is combined with the Ideal Point Method to solve the model, and the algorithm is compared with the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Differential Evolutionary (DE), Tabu Search (TS), Sparrow Search (SS) algorithms, and the exact solver Linear Interactive and General Optimizer (LINGO). The examples verify the validity of the models and algorithms, with an average reduction of 6.2% and 3.6% in logistics costs and carbon emissions in the case of demand determination, and at the confidence level of 0.9 under demand uncertainty, both logistics costs and carbon emissions are decreased to varying degrees. This study provides a new research idea for the low-carbon logistics location problem under demand uncertainty, which helps to promote the transformation of the logistics industry to low-carbon and high-efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of subway projects in China presents significant safety risks to those involved. Building on the previous empirical research that identified and classified the safety risks of these projects, the aim of this paper is to assess the safety risk management performance in Chinese subway construction projects from a multistakeholder perspective. Questionnaire surveys and semistructured interviews were conducted with three hundred and ninety-nine and eight construction professionals, respectively, who worked on subway construction projects in southeast China. The results indicate that the top five areas of safety risk management performance are related to construction plan development, management of high-risk construction works, hazard identification and communication, government-related factors, and client-related factors. In contrast, the bottom five areas of safety risk management performance are related to engineering consultant-related factors, the site's natural environment and weather conditions, regular tests, machine calibration and maintenance, site construction schedule, and construction preparedness. The relationship between this safety risk management performance and the perceived importance of each risk factor is also reported, identifying priority areas for improvements on these projects. These findings contribute new conceptual insights to the paucity of research on the safety risk management performance of Chinese subway construction projects from a multistakeholder perspective. The results also provide new practical insights for policymakers and project managers to help them develop more effective and focused strategies to further improve the safety performance of these major projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's railways continue to expand into the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, the number of deep-buried long tunnels is increasing. Tunnel-damaging geothermal disasters have become a common problem in underground engineering. Predicting the potential geothermal disaster areas along the Yunnan–Tibet railway project is conducive to its planning and construction and the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—specifically, the industry, innovation and infrastructure goal (SDG 9). In this paper, the Yunnan–Tibet railway project was the study area. Landsat-8 images and other spatial data were used to investigate causes and distributions of geothermal disasters. A collinearity diagnosis of environmental variables was carried out. Twelve environmental variables, such as land surface temperature, were selected to predict potential geothermal disaster areas using four niche models (MaxEnt, Bioclim, Domain and GARP). The prediction results were divided into four levels and had different characteristics. Among them, the area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and kappa values of the MaxEnt model were the highest, at 0.84 and 0.63, respectively. Its prediction accuracy was the highest and the algorithm results are more suitable for the prediction of geothermal disasters. The prediction results show that the geothermal disaster potential is greatest in the Markam-Deqen, Zuogong-Zayu and Baxoi-Zayu regions. Through jack-knife analysis, it was found that the land surface temperature, active faults, water system distribution and Moho depth are the key environmental predictors of potential geothermal disaster areas. The research results provide a reference for the design and construction of the Yunnan–Tibet railway project and associated sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing tension in construction land, more and more old goafs are planned for construction land. In this paper, the ground disturbance of different building positions is simulated and studied in view of the old goaf planning as building land. To determine the scope and characteristic parameters of the overlying strata failure induced by mining in the old goaf, mechanical test was carried out by drilling the core, and obtained the mining effect of overlying strata mechanical properties. Combined with the empirical formula, the scope of the water flowing fracture zone in the goaf was obtained through comprehensive analysis. The mechanical characteristics of the broken gangues with different water contents in the old goaf were obtained by broken gangues compression tests. In order to ensure the rationality of the simulation, the rationality of the parameters is verified by comparing the deformation values of the ground movement monitored by the actual mining with the simulation measured values. Finally, through numerical simulation, the additional deformation of different building locations in the old goaf were obtained. The results of this paper can guide the construction of building groups, provide reference criteria for foundation stability at different locations and can provide a theoretical basis for the reuse of old goafs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban style is the comprehensive expression of the material environment, the associated cultural connotation and social life. Under the influence of globalization and rapid urban expansion, many cities around the world show a global convergence in style, which poses a challenge in terms of satisfying both function and local identity. However, the current insufficiency of research on the quantitative evaluation of urban style makes it hard to have a full grasp on how urban style can instruct land use and landscape planning strategies. In this paper, we propose Suitability, Aesthetics and Vitality as three core dimensions of urban style, and construct a quantitative evaluation framework for urban style evaluation at the street level. Taking a street in Hengyang County, China as an example, the method's operability is demonstrated, and the results show that urban style performance is closely related to building construction periods, trends of urban expansion, and the natural environment. Improvement strategies include harmonizing urban spatial form, increasing the diversity of land use, and moderately improving the quality of building facades. This method can be applied at a greater scale to effectively reflect local characteristics and relevant problems. It can also provide an objective basis for future planning and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As demand for electricity grows in China, the existing power grid is coming under increasing pressure. Expansion of power generation and delivery capacities across the country requires years of planning and construction. In the meantime, to ensure safe operation of the power grid, it is important to coordinate and optimize the demand side usage. In this paper, we report on our experience deploying an artificial intelligence (AI)-empowered demand-side management platform - the Power Intelligent Decision Support (PIDS) platform - in Shandong Province, China. It consists of three main components: 1) short-term power consumption gap prediction, 2) fine-grained Demand Response (DR) with optimal power adjustment planning, and 3) Orderly Power Utilization (OPU) recommendations to ensure stable operation while minimizing power disruptions and improving fair treatment of participating companies. PIDS has been deployed since August 2018. It is helping over 400 companies optimize their power usage through DR, while dynamically managing the OPU process for around 10,000 companies. Compared to the previous system, power outage under PIDS due to forced shutdown has been reduced from 16% to 0.56%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at solving the difficult problem of inconsistent single-method evaluation results in comprehensive disaster risk assessment, this paper presents an evaluation method based on a combination of the ranking value and the evaluation value. First, the seven methods of the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE), the set pair analysis (SPA), the improved grey target analysis (IGT), the fuzzy stochastic simulation (FSS), the grey relational degree analysis (GRA), the extension matter element evaluation (EME), and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) are used to conduct urban comprehensive disaster risk assessment. Second, to ensure the degree of correlation between individual evaluation methods and make full use of more information to achieve the purpose of complementary advantages, the Kendall synergy coefficient, the Spearman rank correlation coefficient, and the comprehensive support coefficient are used as the single-method compatibility consistency test standards. The combined evaluation methods of the cyclic correction model and support model are used to combine the single evaluation results, and the highly coordinated comprehensive disaster risk ranking value and evaluation value are obtained through repeated tests, thus constructing a highly scientific and reasonable dual combination evaluation model. Finally, through analysis and comparison of the final combined ranking and evaluation values of 31 provinces, municipalities directly under the central government and autonomous regions in China under the dual combination mode, it is verified that the dual combination idea can obtain evaluation results with high convergence and credibility, solve the problem of inconsistent evaluation results of multiple methods, provide a new research idea and method for measuring the comprehensive disaster risk of cities, and provide a scientific basis for efficiently serving comprehensive risk prevention management and various urban planning and construction work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban construction in China has changed from "extensional sprawl" to "connotative development". With the accelerating urbanization and improvement of living standards, citizens have had higher and more requirements on urban waterfront spaces. Starting from the history and characteristics of comprehensive river regulation, this paper explored its multiple meanings against the new appeals of urban development. On this basis, design and planning approaches were discussed from 3 perspectives of waterfront space planning control, waterfront space design optimization, and improvement of waterfront landscape, then the planning and design strategies of urban waterfront spaces were explored by studying the comprehensive waterfront space regulation project of the Old Huan River in Hubei, so as to provide references for the comprehensive water system regulation and space planning and construction of urban waterfront spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper, we analyze the climate-related risks of rainstorm floods, droughts and water shortages, high temperatures, and heavy hazes in the Xiongan New Area. A warming and drying trend was seen in Xiongan New Area during 1961–2018, as evidenced by the increase in the number of high-temperature days and the maximum rainfall intensity per hour, a decrease in surface water resources and groundwater levels, a reduction in wind speeds, and weakening of the self-purification capacity of the atmosphere. It is estimated that the areas at high risk of floods and heats will increase by 15.7 and 15.6% in around 2035 relative to 1986–2005, respectively. Although the runoff in the Daqing River Basin will increase, the construction of Xiongan New Area means that the imbalance between the supply and demand of water resources will remain. Climate change adaptation measures should therefore be improved in the planning and construction of Xiongan New Area. Finally, we discuss the approaches to address climate-related risks in this new area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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bstract: As a reflection of the relationship between human and mountainous environment, urban planning has an impact on the mountainous environment by changing the topography, landform and spatial layout. A good urban planning can mitigate and adapt to the mountainous environmental impact. Urban master planning involves the interrelationships and interactions of various components of urban complex systems. Planning Support System (PSS), as a technical means to assist planning decision-making, is mostly based on the construction mode of "user (stakeholder) - system". Its strong professional characteristics are not conducive to the consensus of diverse stakeholders on urban planning. The aim of this paper is therefore to build an augmented planning support system framework that is based on complex adaptive system theory, this framework is ontology-driven, and thus will enable the generation of a planning support prototype system for mountainous urban master planning founded on this framework. The framework fuses the urban planning ontology and the planning support system together, which helps different urban agents to reach a consensus based on a common understanding of urban planning. The defect is that the construction of the urban planning ontology is still manually constructed. The approach advocated here will enable a common understanding of mountainous urban master planning, support efficient and flexible decision in this area, and provide reference framework for future mountainous urban master PSS developments and application. The PSS prototype developed based on augmented planning support system framework has been applied to the urban master planning of Changting County in Fujian Province, China. Through the application of multiscenario analysis, urban agents can deepen their understanding of the current situation and future development of the city, and ultimately helps to promote urban planning decisions and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous advancement of socialist construction in China, our society and various transportation modes have also developed rapidly, and a comprehensive transportation system has been formed gradually. The constant expansion of the expressway network has brought difficulties for expressway traffic management and data statistics. The traditional sampling method can hardly adapt to the prediction of expressway transportation volume which has the characteristics of uncertainty, non-stationary and time-correlated; and it has ultimately resulted in inaccurate prediction results of the transportation volume. This situation has gradually improved with the rise of big data analysis technology. Based on Fruit fly Optimization Algorithm (FOA) and grey neural network, this paper proposes a combined model, analyzes the data of expressway network transportation in a province in China, and uses the model to predict the expressway transportation volume combining with actual situations. The research results show that, in the prediction of regional expressway transportation volume, the combined prediction model and algorithm have the advantages of good operability, excellent stability and high accuracy. The research in this paper can provide data support and decision-making basis for the planning and construction of the national expressway network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuation of human civilization is inseparable from the development and construction of rural areas, and infrastructure is the core of rural development. China has been building large-scale rural infrastructure in recent years. Rural infrastructure building, for example, is huge in both quantity and scope, but it is beset by challenges in its current construction and development, and it urgently requires suitable leadership. Planning assessment, as a technical method, can identify problems in regional development and is a powerful tool for evaluating the impact of planning and construction and promoting the development of complete new areas. This paper is aimed at the planning evaluation of rural construction and the evaluation of rural construction and guides the planning and implementation of the next step of rural construction, to assist China's supervision and inspection of rural construction effect and promote rural construction and development into a good track. In view of the low accuracy and efficiency of the current evaluation model of rural planning and the problem that a single neural network easily produces local extreme value, the neural network method is improved, and the application of LM-BP neural network in the evaluation model of rural planning is proposed. Input sample elements are five factors affecting rural construction, including industrial construction, population distribution, and utilization rate of large-scale facilities, construction of public facilities, and promotion effect of supporting policies. Output sample is the evaluation result. On this foundation, the LM-BP neural network was used to convert the training into a least square problem, and the LM method was used to redefine the number of hidden layer nodes, resulting in the construction of a rural planning evaluation model based on the LM-BP neural network. This approach is used to determine the outcomes of rural planning evaluations. The experimental results show that the designed evaluation model has a small evaluation error, has the advantage of high accuracy compared with similar models, and is a reliable evaluation model for rural planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues of university governance, at both international and national levels have become a popular discussion topic in the last few decades. The paper presents a general picture of modes of university governance in China's public higher education institutions. The paper also focuses on discussing the China way of shifting the modes from conventional paradigm to emerging paradigm in terms of power structure, roles and duties, challenges and reality and future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been nearly 20 years since the Law of the People's Republic of China on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) formally came into effect in 2003. The development of China's EIA system has gone through the stages of exploration, practice and reform. The evaluation objects have expanded from construction projects to planning, and then to policies, forming an EIA system with Chinese characteristics. This paper first draws on the experience of international EIA effectiveness evaluation and puts forward a checklist combined with China's practice. Based on this checklist, the development of China's EIA system is systematically reviewed and analyzed from the perspective of effectiveness evaluation. Finally, this paper proposes keys and priorities for the future effectiveness improvement of China's EIA system, and puts forward policy recommendations of realistic value for EIA to help China achieve high-standard protection and high-quality development. It is found that, as an important means of environmental management, the laws and regulations system, and administration system of China's EIA system play an important role. However, there are still some imperfections. The connotation of Strategic Environmental Assessment in China still needs to be further enriched, and support system such as public participation need to be strengthened. • Establishing a checklist of China's EIA system based on effectiveness evaluation. • A comprehensive review of the development of China's EIA system. • Using EIA-related government documents, reports and practices as evaluation basis. • Four suggestions proposed to improve the effectiveness of EIA system of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nighttime light data play an important role in the research on cities, while the urban centers over a large spatial scale are still far from clearly understood. Aiming at the current challenges in monitoring the spatial structure of cities using nighttime light data, this paper proposes a new method for identifying urban centers for massive cities at the large spatial scale based on the brightness information captured by the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS) sensor. Based on the method for extracting the peak point based on digital elevation model (DEM) data in terrain analysis, the maximum neighborhood and difference algorithms were applied to the NPP-VIIRS data to extract the pixels with the peak nighttime light intensity to identify the potential locations of urban centers. The results show 7239 urban centers in 2200 cities in China in 2017, with an average of 3.3 urban centers per city. Approximately 68% of the cities had significant polycentric structures. The developed method in this paper is useful for identifying the urban centers and can provide the reference to the city planning and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to reasonably evaluate the performance of scientific research activities in universities has attracted people's extensive attention. This study identifies the scientific research activity of Chinese universities as a two-process system with three sub-stages, including technical accumulation and research commercialization processes. Where, the process of technical accumulation includes the production of scientific research and patenting stage, while the process of research commercialization is a separate stage. First, this study proposes a network DEA model with two processes and three sub-stages to evaluate and decompose the performance of scientific research activities in universities. Secondly, taking 61 Chinese universities in the "Double First-Class" initiative (DFIU) as examples, this study evaluates the overall efficiency, stage efficiency and coordination efficiency of scientific research activities in Chinese universities. The final main conclusions are as follows: (1) The average score associated with the transformation efficiency of scientific research achievements based on the internal structures is only 0.2406, lower than the CCR efficiency and merger efficiency, indicating that most universities are still facing problems such as low resource utilization efficiency or unsatisfactory results. (2) The universities in the "First-class Discipline" construction plan (UFDCP) have outstanding performance in the technical accumulation process and the production of scientific research stage. Professional characteristics universities are generally much less efficient than polytechnic universities and comprehensive universities. (3) The universities in the "First-class Discipline" construction plan (UFDCP) are better than the universities in the "First-class Universities" construction plan (UFUCP) in terms of average efficiency values and polytechnic universities are better than other types of universities in terms of average efficiency values. We can find part of the reason for this difference in average efficiency from the evaluation of coordination efficiency. • This paper analyses the internal structure and internal operating mechanisms of research activities in universities. • Constructed a two-process network model with three sub-stages as a method to deal with unique efficiency decompositions. • The coordination efficiency of university scientific research system is calculated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grasslands play a vital role in the global ecosystem. Efficient and reproducible methods for estimating the grassland aboveground biomass (AGB) are crucial for understanding grassland growth, promoting sustainable development, and assessing the carbon cycle. Currently, the available methods are limited by their computational inefficiency, model transfer, and sampling scale. Therefore, in this study, the estimation of grassland AGB over a large area was achieved by coupling the PROSAIL model with the support vector machine regression (SVR) method. The ill-posed inverse problem of the PROSAIL model was mitigated through kernel-based regularization using the SVR model. The Zoigê Plateau was used as the case study area, and the results demonstrated that the estimated biomass accurately reproduced the reference AGB map generated by zooming in on on-site measurements (R2 = 0.64, RMSE = 43.52 g/m2, RRMSE = 15.13%). The estimated AGB map also maintained a high fitting accuracy with field sampling data (R2 = 0.69, RMSE = 44.07 g/m2, RRMSE = 14.21%). Further, the generated time-series profiles of grass AGB for 2022 were consistent with the trends in local grass growth dynamics. The proposed method combines the advantages of the PROSAIL model and the regression algorithm, reduces the dependence on field sampling data, improves the universality and repeatability of grassland AGB estimation, and provides an efficient approach for grassland ecosystem construction and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional landscape ecological risk (LER) assessment is of great significance for coordinating the relationship between land use and ecological environment, and for promoting the rational allocation of resources, and it is the basis and guarantee for achieving sustainable development. By assessing the landscape ecological risk of the Huaihe River ecological and economic zone, it can promote the development of ecological risk assessment theory, provide a scientific basis for the formulation of ecological civilization construction planning and policies, and help to strengthen environmental monitoring, planning and management, and promote the construction of ecological civilization. Based on the remote sensing image data of land use from 1985 to 2020, the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of land use and LER in the Anhui section of the Huaihe River Ecological and Economic Belt in China were explored. The results showed that: (1) The construction land showed an increasing trend, with an increased area of 4753.35 km2, whereas the cultivated land showed a negative growth trend, with a reduced area of 4487.58 km2. (2) During the past 35 years, the ecological risks in the research area showed a decreasing trend as a whole, with medium-low and medium-risk areas ranking as the main; medium-high and high-risk areas are mainly distributed on both sides of the Huaihe River and in the northern-central part of Suzhou City. (3) Moran's I values of LER in each period were showing significant spatial autocorrelation and tending to converge spatially. In the future, the ecological security pattern should be optimized for local high-risk deterioration areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the acceleration of China's urbanization process, in order to meet the needs of new urban users' source-source interaction and multi-energy complementation, this paper proposes a new urban energy interconnection LAN design and construction ideas, from distributed photovoltaic systems, energy storage systems, phase change heat storage. The system and the AC-DC grid interconnection and intercommunication four specific aspects of the design and construction plan, given the electric vehicle charging and discharging interactive operation and phase change heat storage and ground source heat pump combined heating two typical application scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper utilizes an endogenous innovation growth model including high-speed railway (HSR) fares and speeds to explain how HSR affects regional technological innovation. Difference-in-Difference (DID) regression analysis shows that HSR has significantly promoted innovation growth and innovation convergence in China, with the effect value of 14.73% and 5.91% respectively. The conclusion that HSR promotes innovation growth is still valid through endogenous treatment of instrumental variable method. Various robustness analyses show that the more stations or lines connection, the more conducive to promoting innovation growth and innovation convergence. The conclusion is still robust after different time bandwidth is set. Further analysis shows that HSR has significantly promoted the innovation development and innovation convergence within and between the three regions of eastern China, central China and western China. The innovation spillover range of innovation center cities to non-innovation cities is 300 km. In addition, it is found that cities that have not opened HSR can also benefit from the connection of HSR in neighboring cities, thus promoting innovation growth, but the impact on innovation convergence is not as significant as the direct connection of HSR. The policy enlightenment of this paper is that in the face of innovation gap and regional innovation development inequality, in the planning and construction of HSR, it is suggested to coordinate the regional layout of investment in high-speed rail construction, which is not only conducive to promoting the innovation growth of these regions, but also conducive to narrowing the regional innovation development gap. In addition, remote and backward areas should seize the opportunity of opening high-speed railways to promote regional innovative growth, instead of making high-speed railways a channel for factors such as human capital to escape. • From the perspective of knowledge spillover the regional innovation effect of high-speed railway is studied. • The research enriches the literature of high-speed railway construction planning. • Normative and empirical methods enhance the reliability of the conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relief supply warehouses are material warehouses built to cope with natural disasters and guarantee the supply of life necessities. Great earthquakes (with Ms ≥ 7) are overwhelming natural disasters beyond human control. The efficiency in rescuing earthquake victims depends on if the construction preparations of large relief supply warehouses have fully assessed the influence weights of the factors of large earthquake disasters. We innovatively proposes a method for selecting ideal site of relief supply warehouses in terms of seismic evaluation and the quantification of site selection criteria. We assess disaster-affected areas and screen the transport mode of relief supplies based on seismic prediction and remote sensing recognition, quantify and classify the site selection criteria of relief supply warehouses in China, and finally determine the ideal site. Taking a seismically-active region as a study case, we identify seven major disaster-affected areas, estimate the largest safe flight range (255 km) of a helicopter in post-earthquake transport of relief supplies, and pre-selecte 37 candidate sites. We suggest that the spatial distances between candidate sites and essential transport hubs (such as airports, railway stations, and highway entrances/exits) and the construction planning of the city are crucial indicators for the ideal site selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global climate change and the rapid progress of urbanization, the frequent occurrence of flooding disasters and non-point source pollution seriously threaten the sustainable development of modern cities. To alleviate these problems, China started to pilot construction of the "Sponge City" (SPC). Over a decade, it has attracted public attention, supports, and participations. The paper presents a literature review of sponge city construction (SPCC) process (planning, design and construction) as well as the assessment of SPC, including: operation, maintenance, and effectiveness. Research gap and future works are also proposed. The paper offers some tactics for SPCC, including: 1) in the planning and construction stage of SPC, the goals and systematic plans should be formulated according to local water-environmental conditions. The drainage plan should cover the strategy to dispose runoff volumes at sources and the ultimately goal for flood mitigation. The drainage design involves the combination of various green and grey infrastructures; 2) It is important to identify monitoring methods and hydrological models which can be used to assess the performance of a SPC. With adequate field data, all models and methods should be calibrated for not only runoff quantity and quality control but also the alleviation of urban heat island effects, including the base flows and local groundwater table; 3) Based on the regional field data, it is necessary to standardize regional design parameters, construction material specifics, and maintenance scheme and schedule that would significantly affect the facility's infiltrating and filtering processes, therefore, a regular maintenance program should be initiated to monitor the operations of the as-built facilities according to local climate conditions. The paper evaluated several maintenance methods for ten typical facilities to provide a reference for the operation and maintenance of facilities in SPCC. • The sponge city construction (SPCC) and design methods were introduced in detail. • Scientific and reasonable assessment can better guide the SPCCs. • The sponge city (SPC) facilities can be a better way to control stormwater runoff. • Monitoring and simulation method are equally important for assessing SPC effect. • A maintenance program should be initiated to monitor the operations of SPC facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xu, B., 2020. Opinions on organic renewal and construction south of the Yangtze River guided by water resources and elements. In: Hu, C. and Cai, M. (eds.), Geo-informatics and Oceanography. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 105, pp. 199–203. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Key issues in the development of waterfront space south of the Yangtze River are analyzed based on the identification and analysis of traditional elements of regions in southern China, and a concept for renewal and development of regions in southern China is proposed that uses water elements as factors to activate the traditional village–town space. Based on full respect and utilization of the river network, this paper excavates important design elements, builds a planning and construction model for organic renewal of villages and towns south of the Yangtze River, constructs a target frame system from a new perspective that features organic renewal of the countryside guided by water resources and elements, and puts forward a development strategy, implementation approach, and institutional innovation under this integrated target system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chen, L. and Wang, Y., 2020. Study on plant configuration and planning of landscape architecture in coastal cities. In: Bai, X. and Zhou, H. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources, Environmental Protection, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 115, pp. 17-20. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The development and progress of society put forward higher requirements for the development of coastal cities. Strengthening the planning and construction of coastal cities has become an important task and work at present. Plant landscape is the most direct and only landscape that can make people feel the changes of life. Its richness and diversity will have a profound impact on people's life and spirit. It can directly show the beauty of plants, give people a feeling of being close to nature, and can coordinate with the surrounding coastal city environment to change the ecological environment. In this paper, the classification and characteristics of seasonal plants are summarized, and the design principles, common plant configuration forms and plant selection of coastal city landscape gardens are systematically discussed. On this basis, the design points of coastal city planning are put forward in order to promote the continuous improvement of ecological planning and design level of coastal cities in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A method for spatiotemporal coordination of multienergy systems is proposed. • Virtual energy storage gain is calculated based on spectral analysis. • The hydropower regulation ability affects the virtual energy storage gain. • The optimal coordination range between multiple energy sources is obtained. Utilizing the spatial heterogeneity and climate periodicity of various available renewable energy sources can enhance the multienergy complementarity, which will further reduce the energy storage demand and contributes to the "virtual energy storage gain." In this paper, we propose a spatiotemporal coordination method based on spectral analysis for a wind-PV-hydropower system that targets the maximum virtual energy storage gain. The complementary effect of hydropower on wind and PV power can be seen as changes in the regulation ability resulting from the hydropower construction development as well as a decreased variance in the total system production output. This method is used to determine the optimal coordination distance of multiple energy sources that are matched over different periods representing typical climate variation. A case study in the Yalong River basin in China obtains the best range of hydropower bundling surrounding wind power and PV power stations under different hydropower construction planning scenarios, and it reveals that increased regulation capacity of hydropower will reduce the optimal coordination distance but can achieve more energy balance if both actual storage and virtual storage is accounted for. This approach can realize energy delivery with the optimal coordination distance to meet intensive and efficient development needs, which can provide guidance and support for the planning and construction of wind-PV-hydropower storage systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The accessibility of the high-speed railway (HSR) exhibits a "corridor effect". • The impact of HSR on urban economy and population has a certain time lag effect. • The regional gap between cities was further widened by the HSR. • Large cities benefit from HSR, in contrast to small and medium-sized cities. The high-speed railway (HSR) has been generally regarded as a valid enhancement to national accessibility. However, the debate on the impact of HSR on regions has not reached a consensus. Therefore, we create the accessibility model in nine provinces along the Yellow River based on different years, which incorporates urban scale, travel time, and service frequency of HSR, to dynamically analyze the spatial pattern of urban agglomeration. Moreover, we adapt the Difference-in-differences model to explore the impact on the regional and urban economy and population. The results indicate that HSR significantly improves the accessibility level of most cities in the east and south of nine provinces along the Yellow River, showing a significant "corridor effect." In terms of urban development potential, the spatial distribution pattern of "mass-shaped high-value areas in the east and point-shaped high-value areas in the west" is observed. Furthermore, empirical results show a greater agglomeration rather than diffusion, large cities benefit from HSR with economic promotion, however, HSR causes population loss and economic downturn in small and medium-sized cities. The paper highlights that the HSR does not always bring growth opportunities, a coordinated policy should be implemented for more integrated development of future HSR planning and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural communities have long been overlooked since globalization and urbanization struck traditional rural values. Building a sustainable rural community has become a contested issue in academia, especially after implementing the Rural Revival Strategy. This research attempted to establish a participatory planning approach, which considers rural planners as the external impetus and local villagers as an internal driving force, to promote the sustainability of rural communities. Carrying on the theoretical framework of public participation, the researchers carried out a pilot practice in Hongtang Village, Yunan Province, China, where planners tried to reestablish the social relationship in a village by designing and building a rural yard. We do not solely finish the design, but also advocate, communicate, and work with villagers to activate the vitality of the village. The research argues that the focus of rural planning and construction in China is to develop a participatory planning approach, which is human-oriented and place-based. Planners, acting as an external impetus, advocate public participation in the whole planning process, including mapping, designing, constructing, and managing. We try to empower villagers themselves rather than impose. During this participatory planning process, villagers improve the quality of their settlements through continuous dialogue and cooperation, and the social relationships among them become enhanced. Thus, rural communities are restructuring in both environmental and social dimensions to promote rural sustainability. Additionally, participatory planning in rural areas is constantly correcting itself to be more local, scientific, and rational and become a more powerful protector and promoter of public interests in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delimiting ecological space scientifically and making reasonable predictions of the spatial-temporal trend of changes in the dominant ecosystem service functions (ESFs) are the basis of constructing an ecological protection pattern of territorial space, which has important theoretical significance and application value. At present, most research on the identification, functional partitioning and pattern reconstruction of ecological space refers to the current ESFs and their structural information, which ignores the spatial-temporal dynamic nature of the comprehensive and dominant ESFs, and does not seriously consider the change simulation in the dominant ESFs of the future ecological space. This affects the rationality of constructing an ecological space protection pattern to some extent. In this study, we propose an ecological space delimitation method based on the dynamic change characteristics of the ESFs, realize the identification of the ecological space range in Qionglai City and solve the problem of ignoring the spatial-temporal changes of ESFs in current research. On this basis, we also apply the Markov-CA model to integrate the spatial-temporal change characteristics of the dominant ESFs, successfully realize the simulation of the spatial-temporal changes in the dominant ESFs in Qionglai City's ecological space in 2025, find a suitable method for simulating ecological spatial-temporal changes and also provide a basis for constructing a reasonable ecological space protection pattern. This study finds that the comprehensive quantity of ESF and its annual rate of change in Qionglai City show obvious dynamics, which confirms the necessity of considering the dynamic characteristics of ESFs when identifying ecological space. The areas of ecological space in Qionglai city represent 98307 ha by using the ecological space identification method proposed in this study, which is consistent with the ecological spatial distribution in the local ecological civilization construction plan. This confirms the reliability of the ecological space identification method based on the dynamic characteristics of the ESFs. The results also show that the dominant ESFs in Qionglai City represented strong non-stationary characteristics during 2003–2019, which showed that we should fully consider the influence of the dynamics in the dominant ESFs on the future ESF pattern during the process of constructing the ecological spatial protection pattern. The Markov-CA model realized the simulation of spatial-temporal changes in the dominant ESFs with a high precision Kappa coefficient of above 0.95, which illustrated the feasibility of using this model to simulate the future dominant ESF spatial pattern. The simulation results showed that the dominant ESFs in Qionglai will still undergo mutual conversions during 2019–2025 due to the effect of the their non-stationary nature. The ecological space will still maintain the three dominant ESFs of primary product production, climate regulation and hydrological regulation in 2025, but their areas will change to 32793 ha, 52490 ha and 13024 ha, respectively. This study can serve as a scientific reference for the delimitation of the ecological conservation redline, ecological function regionalization and the construction of an ecological spatial protection pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

He, C.; Xiang, X.; Lin, J., and Yu, L., 2020. Study on urban design characteristics of new coastal "reclamation type" town. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 363–367. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The construction of new coastal reclamation areas is an important decision in China, because it is a form of development and construction that must adapt to many problems in coastal areas, including rapid socioeconomic development, rapid population growth, and serious shortage of land resources. China has many coastal provinces, which will be limited by the shortage of land resources. Therefore, in the rapid economic development, coastal cities will be greatly restricted, which will limit the rapid process of urbanization. China has abundant beach resources. Therefore, reclamation and city building have become the main means to alleviate land resource shortages. In recent years, various coastal cities in China have carried out new reclamation-type town design, which has its own unique characteristics. These new city construction plans need to be improved, because the "reclamation type" city is an important part of urban construction planning in the future. This paper analyzes the current situation of the construction of the new coastal reclamation areas, presents the methods, and suggests improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers a geographical interpretation of the evolving technical, political, and economic intricacy of large dams. It incorporates existing hydropolitical scholarship and the notion of the Chinese Water Machine to reframe dams as assemblages built by specific political, financial and technical processes in particular socioenvironmental regions. The paper examines the continuity of hydropolitical relationships through a genealogical inquiry into the formulation and materialisation of Ghana's three dams: the Akosombo and Kpong dams built during the Cold War, backed by Western lenders and engineering companies; and the Bui dam commissioned in the 2010s, with support from China. Based on fieldwork in Ghana and China, as well as documentary evidence, the paper argues that the thinking, planning and building of dams interconnect the host regime and external techno-financial actors with their floating political-economic interests, but in a durable way. Sometimes, even if little concrete is actually poured, the symbolic power of dams endures, transforms, and at certain times and places expands, through events and discourses of national and international interest groups pursuing their own purposes, albeit with the replacement of influential individuals and powerful institutions, and regardless of the involvement of Western, Chinese and/or other actors. Ruptures exist but do not necessarily break the continuity of dam assemblages. The emergence of an opposition assemblage that battles against dams is a more recent complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China is a mountainous country, a large quantity of the population has to live in mountainous areas due to limited living space. Most of them cluster along roads in areas with relatively poor traffic conditions. In view of the spatial-temporal change of complex geological and ecological environment along the roads in the mountains, this paper takes the Dujiangyan- Wenchuan (Du-Wen) Road as the research object, and puts forward a method to evaluate the bearing capacity of regional geological and ecological environment based on the evaluation of quality and spatial coupling of bearing capacity. For the needs of the current research, a total number of 20 indicators from three aspects of geological, ecological, and social attributes were selected to carry out the assessment. Based on the GIS platform and evaluation index system, the weight of each evaluation index factor is determined by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The comprehensive quality of bearing capacity is calculated by the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) algorithm through weighted superposition, which comes to result in the evaluation of geological, ecological, and social environment. Afterward, the bearing capacity of the study area is classified, combining the results of hot spot analysis. The study shows that the spatial distribution of geological, ecological, and socio-economic bearing capacity in this area is highly aggregated, with 31.12% of the area to be classified as suitable construction area, 31.98% as backup reserve area, and 36.79% as unsuitable construction area. The studied triangle area, composed of Yingxiu Town, Xuankou Town, and Dujiangyan City, presents a large area of a high-valued aggregation area, with comprehensive high quality bearing capacity and spatial aggregation, which is better for planning and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to optimize the spatial distribution of terraces in the watershed is an important scientific problem. It was researched through a watershed solid-scale physical model based on the 3D reappearance of a scene under the Cartesian coordinate system, with the lowest point of the watershed as the origin. The results showed that the change of the spatial pattern of terraced fields in the basin had an important impact on the production of runoff and sediment. There was an approximate quadratic-function relationship between the spatial location and the parameters of runoff and confluence. If Rt was terrace-erosion-reduction benefit, it could be defined as the reduction in the watershed-erosion modulus per unit of terrace area. The longitudinal distribution of Rt was upper and middle > lower parts, and the vertical distribution of Rt was high > low place. The erosion reduction was 77.67% of the terraces of the middle and upper, occupying 33% of the watershed area. The change of the Rt was logarithmically related to the relative distance (r) from the center of the terrace. When r was around 0.35, there was an inflection point in Rt growth. The results of this study have important practical significance for the planning and construction of terraces in the watershed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of climate change, the impact of extreme precipitation and its chain effects has intensified in the southeastern coastal region of China, posing a serious threat to the socioeconomic development in the region. This study took tropical cyclones–extreme precipitation–flash floods as an example to carry out a risk assessment of flash floods under climate change in the Yantanxi River Basin, southeastern China. To obtain the flash flood inundation characteristics through hydrologic–hydrodynamic modeling, the study combined representative concentration pathway (RCP) and shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) scenarios to examine the change of flash flood risk and used the geographical detector to explore the driving factors behind the change. The results show that flash flood risk in the Yantanxi River Basin will significantly increase, and that socioeconomic factors and precipitation are the main driving forces. Under the RCP4.5-SSP2 and RCP8.5-SSP5 scenarios, the risk of flash floods is expected to increase by 88.79% and 95.57%, respectively. The main drivers in the case study area are GDP density (q = 0.85), process rainfall (q = 0.74), asset density (q = 0.68), and population density (q = 0.67). The study highlights the influence of socioeconomic factors on the change of flash flood disaster risk in small river basins. Our findings also provide a reference for regional planning and construction of flood control facilities in flash flood-prone areas, which may help to reduce the risk of flash floods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the background of the reconstruction project from Changqing Chenzhuang-Pingyin section of G220 east-deep line in China, a special tunnel structure and construction plan was carried out according to the construction measures of the shallow-buried small spacing tunnel passing underneath cultural relic buildings, and a comprehensive deformation control scheme of "CRD construction method single-arm excavation + surface grouting prereinforcement + advanced large pipe shed presupport" was put forward. The results of numerical simulation and on-site construction monitoring showed that the overall deformation of aqueduct foundation generally increases first, then decreases and increases again, and finally tends to be stable. The effects of surface grouting prereinforcement and advance large pipe shed presupport are obvious. The comprehensive deformation control scheme can ensure the safety of the existing construction and meet the safety prevention and control requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a strategic adjustment to China's national defence, economic and construction policy for military purposes, the 'Third Front' construction programme (1964–1980) had a profound impact on the country's industrial layout and urban-rural relation. The built environment of this era represents the spatial orientation and strategy of China's 'road to socialism' during the Cold War. Through a historical review and field investigation, this study summarises the characteristics of Third Front construction with reference to the 'new socialist industrial mining bases' that emerged from the paradigm shift in China's urban planning. By analyzing spatial patterns and the language of spatial design from a historical perspective, this study sheds light on China's socialist architectural and planning discourse and supplements the existing scholarship on Cold War architectural historiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Accurate assessment of China's ecological environment changes in the past 20 years is important. • We used time-series NDVI data (1998–2018) to evaluate China's ecological environment change. • In one-third of China the ecological environment has improved, and in 10%, the ecological environment has deteriorated. • The Yellow River Basin is an area where the ecological environment has significantly improved. • The main reason for the deterioration in the ecological environment of the eastern coastal areas is urban expansion. The ecological environment is the foundation of human survival and development. China's ecological environment has undergone a historic transition from partial improvement to overall improvement. In this paper, long time series NDVI data (1998–2018) are used to evaluate the ecological environment change and spatiotemporal change that has taken place in China over the last 20 years, at different scales (regional, provincial, county, and grid scales). Combined with typical areas, the causes of ecological environment change are revealed. The results show that in about one-third of China, the ecological environment improved, and in 10%, the ecological environment deteriorated. Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Guizhou, and Guangxi are the provinces in which the improvement of the ecological environment is most pronounced. However, the ecological environments with vegetation as the core in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province have deteriorated significantly. The areas with the fastest improvement in their ecological environment are those with precipitation of 200–600 mm. The Yellow River Basin is an area where the ecological environment has significantly improved. Forestry projects and the development of oasis agriculture effectively promote the improvement of the ecological environment. In the past 20 years, the main reason for the degradation of the ecological environment in eastern coastal areas is urban expansion. China should continue to strengthen its overall layout of forestry projects and improve its ecological environment. When planning its ecological construction, China should fully consider the associated physical and geographical conditions, and adjust measures to local conditions accordingly. China should coordinate the relationship between development and protection and avoid the "pie spread" expansion witnessed in eastern coastal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zigong City, Sichuan Province, is a typical hilly area, and relatively rough land leveling was carried out in the pre-development of its aviation industrial park, which has caused some damage to the ecological environment. In this study, the Delphi method was used to determine the degree of influence of four ecological factors, namely elevation, slope, woodland and surface water, on the site. Based on the comprehensive scoring of various indexes and the superposition analysis of elements such as current buildings and water systems, the analysis of ecological sensitivity and site suitability was obtained, and a more optimal development and construction plan was proposed accordingly. Based on the GIS model, the area with ecological sensitivity index below 4 is identified as about 167.4 hectares, the valley area along the water system has the highest sensitivity and should be avoided for development and construction, and the mildly sensitive area should be developed and constructed with the principle of minimum interference. The unsuitable construction area is about 65.7 hectares, except for the river mostly for the area where the slope of the site is more than 25 %. Combining the topographic features to determine the low-impact road selection and building layout, different design strategies are proposed for hilltops, ridges, valleys and saddles, and the elevation difference of the site is solved by using staircases to carry out the building layout of a high building on high ground and low building on low ground. This study is a development strategy proposed for the ecological damage caused during the construction of the new area in Zigong City, which has been approved and put into practice by the local government to obtain a better overall urban environment and can provide a reference for other urban developments in hilly areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to provide an overview of the current position of the People's Republic of China with its green building action plan and the built buildings in the country that manifested the idea of sustainable design and green architecture. Recognized green building principles and strategies are stated as a guide in proving the sustainability of the buildings in China when compared to their know sustainable features. A descriptive study was conducted with the use of secondary data collection as the methodology which delivers the main purpose of the study in gaining insights and providing an overview of the sustainable design and green architecture in China. Related studies and the literature are verified first by the author s to insure reliability of provided information. As a result, the green building action plan is defined and related to the current five-year action plan of China, example buildings in the country that incorporates sustainability principles and strategies are provided, and the common basis of sustainable design and green architecture are briefly discussed.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]