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In insects, different pigments, such as melanins and pterins, are involved in thermoregulation. The degree of melanisation often varies along geographical gradients, according to the so-called thermal melanism hypothesis, i.e. darker forms are found in colder places because they can warm up more quickly. Similarly, pterins work as heat sinks and thus are expected to be more abundant in colder sites. Cities, which are warmer than surrounding areas (Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect), might also be expected to influence pigmentation, although studies are lacking. Here, we sampled workers of the social paper wasp Polistes dominula (Christ, 1791) (Vespidae) across an urbanisation gradient in an Italian metropolis and used iNaturalist pictures of this species across Italy to study pigmentation patterns at both urban and larger geographical scales. We found a lower yellow intensity of abdominal spots at warmer locations. Scanning Electron Microscopy strongly suggested that yellow colouration is due xanthopterin, known to be the heat sink molecule in other social vespids. Thus, wasps from warmer (i.e., urban) environments are likely to have fewer xanthopterin granules, in line with the lack of need for heat storage due to the local thermal gradient (UHI effect). At the country level, we found that wasps at higher latitudes had smaller yellow spots on the thorax and only two spots instead of four at higher altitudes, in full accordance with the thermal melanism hypothesis. In conclusion, climatic conditions seem to affect insect colour patterns both along urban and wider geographical gradients, although colour changes may affect different body parts and pigments likely according to different needs. • In urban hotter sites, workers show lower intensity of yellow pigmentation (xanthopterin). • Along an urbanisation gradient, there was weak consistence with the thermal melanism hypothesis. • Along the same gradient, there was a likely lack of need for heat storage due to the urban heat island effect. • At country level, latitudinal variations in yellow spots were in accordance with the thermal melanism hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Development of a framework to assess the sustainability of waste management systems • The eco-efficiency index of the systems is assessed using data envelopment analysis • Single MSW management system shows higher efficiency compared to hybrid systems • The amount of food and paper wastes plays an important role in the sustainability • Cogeneration of heat and power system increases sustainability in most scenarios Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management has become a pressing global issue due to population growth, urbanization, and changing consumption patterns, especially in developing countries. This study develops a comprehensive framework to evaluate the sustainability of MSW management systems. Also, the sustainability of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) and landfill systems with/without various Cogeneration of Heat and Power (CHP) technologies in different conditions using the framework in the municipalities of Iran. The eco-efficiency index, which considers environmental and economic aspects, is used to assess the systems sustainability. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method is applied to assess and rank the performance of the systems based on their eco-efficiency indices considering parameters such as energy production, costs, emissions, land occupation, water consumption, and employment. The results indicate that the landfill and AD systems with/without CHP have the highest priority for all provinces when the food, paper, and cardboard wastes entering the systems are at their maximum and minimum amounts. However, the systems without CHP have the lowest efficiency when the share of the wastes is 50%. Although the findings can help decision-makers in improving MSW management, there may be limitations to the research, such as data availability and assumptions made during the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travelers often change their behavior in reaction to adverse weather conditions. This paper seeks to conduct an empirical evaluation of both ordered and unordered discrete outcome frameworks for examining the adaptive behavior decisions of intercity travelers and investigate the varying effects of explanatory factors on different alternatives of adaptive behavior during adverse weather. The data from 754 respondents in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, China are collected by a two-phase survey instrument. To capture the unobserved heterogeneity more effectively, this paper develops three advanced models to investigate the variations in intercity travel behavior during adverse weather. Four alternative adaptive behaviors are determined as outcome variables: maintaining original travel plans, changing only the intercity mode, changing the departure date, and canceling the trip, while potential influencing factors including adverse weather conditions, trip-related characteristics, individual attributes and urban agglomeration attributes are statistically assessed. The results indicate that the unordered models consistently outperform their ordered counterparts, and the incorporation of multilayer heterogeneity enhances the model fit. Furthermore, significant factors and their coefficient values vary across the different adaptive behavior alternatives. Intercity travelers demonstrate a higher probability of changing departure dates or canceling trips during snowy and windy days compared to rainy and foggy days. Trains exhibit higher flexibility and reliability during adverse weather, and access attributes significantly affect intercity travel adaptive behavior. Additionally, the analysis of individual and urban agglomeration attributes uncovers variations in adaptive behavior among individuals and cities. These findings provide profound insights into the complexities and variations of intercity travel behavior during adverse weather, and propose practical strategies to mitigate the detrimental impacts of adverse weather on intercity travelers. • Adaptive behavior of intercity travelers during adverse weather is investigated. • Unordered framework outperforms ordered counterparts in adaptive behavior study. • Multilayer unobserved heterogeneity in the adaptive behavior is accounted for. • The varying effects of explanatory factors on different adaptive alternatives are examined. • Practical strategies are proposed to mitigate negative impacts of adverse weather. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Field experiment in mandatory recycling scheme tests effectiveness of door stepping. • Majority of households in mandatory recycling schemes separates waste correctly. • Minority of households is responsible for most miss sorting. • Door stepping does not influence behavior of households in mandatory schemes. • Door stepping can improve recycling behavior in voluntary recycling schemes. Household organic waste has great potential for closing nutrient cycles in agriculture. This requires proper waste separation by households. Personal communication at the doorstep potentially improves household waste separation behaviour but it is expensive and findings from existing research are mixed. Based on results of previous studies and from a quasi-experiment with non-equivalent groups design in two German municipalities, this paper argues that efficiency of personal communication depends on its context. It can positively influence behaviour when recycling is voluntary and participation rates are low. However, it has no significant effects if recycling is mandatory. One explanation could be different perceptions of recycling in mandatory and voluntary schemes. In voluntary schemes door stepping can activate the intrinsic motivation of households. In mandatory schemes, all households need to participate irrespective of intrinsic motivation. This research shows that this creates a situation in which a small share of households is responsible for almost all contamination. This can be overcome by considering extrinsic factors that affect recycling behaviour. The paper recommends further research to understand which combination of incentives, sanctions and information is efficient in affecting behaviour change in mandatory recycling schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a trending mobility choice, e-scooters have become popular in many cities. A number of authorities have initiated shared e-scooter trial schemes to assess the feasibility of the vehicles prior to enacting official legalisation. This paper aims to provide an evidence review of shared e-scooters and investigate how existing evidence may inform long-term policies. This carries significant relevance for jurisdictions that are in a conflicting position with e-scooters, such as New South Wales (NSW), Australia whose context motivates this study. The evidence review focuses on three themes derived from experience with shared e-scooters within the broader micromobility landscape, namely: safety; where shared e-scooters fit into the modal landscape; and the environmental impacts. Findings confirm that ensuring the safety of shared e-scooters requires complex solutions, which may include a clear regulatory framework for e-scooters, safety education and skill training, innovative data collection and analysis methods, and an approach to safety management that is user-based, location-based, and time-based. In terms of modal fit policymakers should encourage first and last-mile combinations with public transport, with consideration of user characteristics; while climate impact is strongly correlated to the mode replaced by e-scooter trips. The paper provides insights for policymakers on the regulation and positioning of shared e-scooters. • Many jurisdictions are struggling to determine policies for e-scooters. • Existing e-scooter evidence sheds light on possible long-term policies. • Safety management should consider different users, locations, and times. • First and last-mile combinations with public transport should be encouraged. • Climate impact is strongly correlated to the mode replaced by e-scooter trips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We study the specific impact of the digital economy on the upgrading of urban residents' consumption structure and its mechanism of action. • We analyze the heterogeneity at the level of city development. • The development of the digital economy is conducive to promoting the upgrading of urban residents' consumption structure. • Disposable income and industrial structure upgrading are important internal mechanisms. • Compared to first-tier and second-tier cities, the digital economy has contributed more to upgrading residents' consumption structure in third-tier cities. Based on the panel data of Chinese cities from 2011 to 2020, this paper studies the impact of the digital economy on urban residents' upgrading of their consumption structure. The digital economy promotes the upgrading of urban residents' consumption structure. Moreover, the digital economy has a more significant effect on promoting the upgrading of residents' consumption structure in third-tier cities. The mediation effect proves that increasing disposable income and upgrading the industrial structure are crucial mechanisms. Based on pertinent findings and the development levels of various cities, this paper proposes policies to strengthen the digital infrastructure, improve residents' income, optimize industrial structure, and establish differentiated measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization and the release of carbon emission are two significant features of contemporary economic and social progress in China. However, there are few studies that consider how urbanization policy goals affect carbon emission. This paper aims to study the nonlinear effects of urbanization policy goals on carbon emission in 13 cities of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. In this paper, a multi-dimensional spatial disturbance grey model is proposed. Based on matrix perturbation theory, this paper explores the spatial perturbation bounds of the novel model and verifies that the spatial property of the model is consistent with the viewpoint of the First Law of Geography. Then, the novel model is used to predict the urban carbon emission under different urbanization policy goal scenarios. The results showed that the novel model has spatial regional correlation in spatial region prediction. With the development of urbanization level, carbon emissions show a downward trend in more than 50% of cities from 2022 to 2025. In addition, the improvement of urbanization policy goals will promote the carbon peak time of most cities. The carbon emission intensity will exhibit an inverted U-shaped trend distribution in space. The research results are conducive to providing scientific guidance for the formulation of new-type urbanization policies and helping to achieve the dual carbon goals. • A multi-dimensional spatial disturbance grey model is proposed. • The novel grey model is consistent with the viewpoint of the First Law of Geography. • The spatial distribution of carbon intensity showed an inverted U-shaped pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On-demand transit (ODT) has been widely piloted in recent years by many transit agencies in response to changing travel behaviour and preferences among people. Some agencies have adopted ODT to replace underperforming bus routes, as part of a continuous service planning process while others incorporated it within network re-design. All these trends highlight the critical need for transit agencies to have guidance for incorporating ODT into transit network planning both at the strategic, tactical, and service planning levels. Thus, the purpose of this research is to provide a discussion of the key guiding principles to facilitate the development of transit networks with integrated on-demand and scheduled services. To achieve this goal, a thorough review of the states of practice and research was conducted. Findings from the practice review were also reinforced through ODT practitioners' engagement in Canada. This paper provides discussions on the service goals and objectives of an integrated network design and highlights the key planning requirements for developing integrated networks. At the service planning level, the paper provides a discussion on service goals, service design parameters, and scenario development of ODT service. • On-demand transit (ODT) have grown in many cities around the globe, mostly as pilot projects. • Review of the literature and practice shows that planning for ODT is based on best practices , without "built" guidelines. • Principles of planning are discussed within two applications, the network design level, and the service planning level. • Opportunities of integration and mode selection criteria are defined to integrated ODT with existing bus network. • Simulation and analytical tools are useful to complement the principles of planning in the decision-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid advancement of 3D sensors, there is an increasing demand for 3D scene understanding and an increasing number of 3D deep learning algorithms have been proposed. However, a large-scale and richly annotated 3D point cloud dataset is critical to understanding complicated road and urban scenes. Motivated by the need to bridge the gap between the rising demand for 3D urban scene understanding and limited LiDAR point cloud datasets, this paper proposes a richly annotated WHU-Urban3D dataset and an effective method for semantic instance segmentation. WHU-Urban3D stands out from existing datasets due to its distinctive features: (1) extensive coverage of both Airborne Laser Scanning and Mobile Laser Scanning point clouds, along with panoramic images; (2) containing large-scale road and urban scenes in different cities (over 3. 2 × 1 0 6 m 2 area), with richly point-wise semantic instance labels (over 200 million points); (3) inclusion of particular attributes (e.g., reflected intensity, number of returns) in addition to 3D coordinates. This paper also provides the performance of several representative baseline methods and outlines potential future works and challenges for fully exploiting this dataset. The WHU-Urban3D dataset is publicly accessible at https://whu3d.com/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Introduced SWM 4.0 by considering Industry 4.0 technologies in waste management. • Reviewed I4.0 role in waste types, processes, and strategies of waste management. • Developed SWM 4.0 framework through smart factories, cities, businesses, and people. Smart Waste Management (SWM) discusses the waste management process for different types of waste while introducing an intelligent approach to controlling the amount of waste. This paper introduces SWM4.0, which applies Industry4.0 (I4.0) technologies in various related events. First, the paper presents a systematic literature review on the role of I4.0 technologies in SWM activities regarding waste types, waste management processes, and 5R strategies. Then, existing solutions supporting SWM4.0 are extracted to develop a framework for exploring the use of I4.0 technologies. This framework includes sharing the four main pillars that contribute to the success of SWM4.0, namely smart people, smart cities, smart enterprises, and smart factories. Furthermore, this review suggests the possibility of unifying and extending existing solutions and identifying the necessary links and interfaces for researchers. For managerial implications, the framework identifies future strategies to fulfill specific SWM tasks and to foster new technological solutions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of the technical cooperation mode in the field of hydrogen energy is of great importance in guiding technological innovation. Based on the social network analysis (SNA) and spatial network method, this paper constructs the technical cooperation graph of China's industry-university-research (IUR) tripartites in the field of hydrogen technology. Based on the performed graphs, it shows the game and evolution of hydrogen technology innovation in three stages, respectively 2000–2010, 2011–2015 and 2016–2019. Meanwhile, this paper calculates the changes of network indicators and found that: (1) the network density showed a downward trend, from the initial 0.062 to 0.003. (2) The degree centrality of the network decreased from 14.7% to 5.7%. (3) The average path length and clustering coefficient indicate that the internal connections within the network were relatively close from 2000 to 2010, and had small-world characteristics. From 2016 to 2019, although the clustering coefficient increased, the average path length also increased significantly, indicating that the internal connections of the network did not become closer. From the network characteristics, the collaborative innovation network of China's hydrogen energy industry continues to expand in scale and scope, and the cooperation relationship is stable. However, it shows the characteristics of low network density and loose cooperation relationship, gradually developing into a scale-free network. Developed provinces and cities in North and East China occupy core positions in the industry-university-research network, while other regions are gradually expanding their cooperation efficiency; however, the overall cooperation frequency is relatively low in Northeast China, and most provinces and cities in South and Northwest China are in edge positions with poor collaboration capabilities. • Network analysis sheds light on China's hydrogen energy tech cooperation via patent. • Collaborative innovation in hydrogen technology evolves through three stages. • Tight internal connections with small-world properties seen in network (2000–2010). • Network's internal connections didn't become closer (2016–2019). • Network transforms from a stable and expanding structure into a scale-free network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is no secret that decision-making around mass transit infrastructure can be highly political. Transport policy research, however, has tended to view political dynamics mainly as barriers. There is a need to better understand how and under what conditions political interests and institutions can enable mass transit projects, especially in cities which are not yet locked into car-centric transport systems. This paper addresses this gap with new inductive evidence from 32 expert interviews on the politics of bus rapid transit (BRT) in low- and middle-income countries. It develops two novel analytical frameworks, one on the politics of system adoption and another on the politics of system durability. The first framework highlights how BRT proposals often pitch broad but shallow political support against narrow yet deep political opposition. This renders them inherently contentious. Proposals move forward when their implementation generates political benefits for powerful decisionmakers. The second framework challenges the conventional view that BRT systems prove durable when their operations perform well. Instead, it posits that systems endure when their operations mitigate or adapt to adverse political feedback. The paper offers a novel holistic perspective on how to understand the politics of BRT, and presents a critical intervention in the BRT literature which has tended to focus on isolated political dynamics, such as the need for a local champion or resistance from paratransit operators. • Political analysis can strengthen policymaking for mass transit development. • BRT proposals often pitch broad, shallow support against narrow, deep opposition. • Proposals move forwards when they generate political benefits for decisionmakers. • BRT operations, in turn, often suffer from adverse political feedback. • BRT systems prove durable when operations mitigate or adapt to political feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A decision-making system of sponge facility allocation optimization is established; • The runoff coefficient grading of each sub-catchment area is analyzed; • The regression relationships between LID facilities and the control effects are built; • The layout of LID facilities is optimized and gray facilities are connected reasonably. In order to effectively cope with the destruction of natural hydrological cycle mechanism, frequent urban flood, serious water pollution and other problems, which are caused by the rapid urbanization process, the 'sponge city' concept has been widely used in China. This paper mainly focuses on how to rationally arrange the sponge grey and green facilities in built-up urban areas. With background analysis as the premise, model construction as the platform and swarm intelligence optimization as the method, the optimal proportion of sponge green facilities is determined. Furthermore, gray facilities are strengthened for the problem area, and the optimal allocation scenario of sponge facilities with the combination of gray and green is obtained through continuous circulation. The final results show that the optimal layout proportion of rain garden, sunken green space, permeable pavement and green roof are 3.88%, 7.95%, 2.01% and 0.99% respectively, which can meet the 80% runoff control rate and 40% pollution load control rate in the standard. Based on the simulation results of 50a rainfall, regulation and storage facilities are arranged near the severely overloaded node and the diameter of the overloaded pipes are increased. It can be proved that runoff and pollution can be effectively controlled and urban flood can be alleviated with grey facilities by model. The research results of this paper are expected to provide the overall idea and method of layout optimization of grey-green facilities for sponge city construction in built-up urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For freight and servicing movements entering a city, parking provides the access enabling service to customers. This will invariably occur on the street in parking spots or in modern buildings in off-street facilities. In light of changing urban planning priorities and as a result, declining on-street loading zone spaces, this paper explores the provision and challenges of off-street loading docks to support freight and servicing task activity in major urban centres. While it may not be fully appreciated, provisions to adequately accommodate a city's generated freight task is critical to urban planner's broader objectives. As a non-discretionary transport task, freight vehicles will continue to enter cities. If good off-street loading dock facilities are not provided, vehicles will seek out legitimate or illegal on-street parking, and urban planner's place making objectives are likely to be compromised. The paper first considers the planning approaches that govern the provision of loading docks. This paper focuses on Sydney but draws on comparisons primarily to the Borough of City of London. Based on recent observations in Sydney, it then considers various stakeholder perspectives towards loading dock provision and use. Modelling approaches to forecast better requirements that could assist to overcome the planning issues faced are then outlined. The paper concludes with actions taken to address the challenges. • Lack of tools for planning loading docks leads to conflict between developers and government. • Poor provision of loading docks in new developments can compromise urban planning objectives. • Regression and clustering analysis techniques allow the capacity of loading docks and their levels of service to be estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction : In pursuit of sustainability goals, many cities are introducing measures to increase the usage of bicycles as a means of transportation. City planners aim to ensure that this increase does not lead to an increase in crashes, but must make corresponding infrastructure decisions with limited information. Sufficient data to perform a statistical analysis of location-specific crash frequencies is rarely available. For example, only approximately 10% of all bicycle crashes are reported to the police (Shinar et al., 2018). Therefore, urban planners often rely on expert opinion, which may lead to suboptimal prioritization and realization of infrastructure improvements. Method: This paper demonstrates how surveys on bicycle crashes can be used to aid urban planners in making infrastructure decisions. In addition to confirming the location and characteristics of reported crashes, surveys can uncover characteristics of crashes that are not reported to the police, situations in which a crash almost occurred, and locations perceived by cyclists to be dangerous. Surveys also allow urban planners to investigate non-infrastructure related causes of crashes, such as the frequency with which individual cyclists use other modes of transportation. Practical Applications: The usefulness of surveys in the determination of urban cycling safety is demonstrated in this paper through analysis of survey results from the city of Zurich in 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy synergy is a unique way for the government to establish a policy network and a crucial way for cities to expand their carbon reduction channels. Using urban data from China, this paper empirically investigates how environmental governance policy synergy (EGPS) affects carbon emissions. In comparison to non-pilot cities, the environmental information disclosure (EID) policy and low-carbon city (LC) policy play an inhibitory role in carbon emissions. Furthermore, EGPS has a stronger effect and is heterogeneous by region. Through the use of technical advancement and industrial structure optimisation, EGPS lowers carbon emissions, and this effect of EGPS grows over time in tandem with the level of environmental pollution in the cities. Our paper proposes policy implications in order to improve the overall effect of environmental governance policy and help achieve the dual carbon targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, scholars hold two opposite views on the spatial impact (i.e., positive and negative impact) of high-speed rail (HSR) on tourism economy. To better explore the spatial impact of HSR on tourism economy, this paper uses the difference-in-differences (DID) to empirically test the causal effect of HSR and tourism economy, specifically by using the panel data of cities in Northeast China from 2010 to 2018 as research sample. On the whole, empirical results show that HSR has become an important factor in promoting the development of tourism economy. The impact of HSR on tourism economy in different years indicates that with the continuous promotion of HSR, the effect of HSR-driven tourism economy has become increasingly evident. On this basis, this paper classifies cities according to different types and finds that compared with ordinary prefecture-level cities, central cities are more affected by HSR. Compared with cities with high abundance of tourism resources, cities with low abundance of tourism resources are more affected by HSR. Therefore, current article is convinced that while seizing the opportunity of HSR, cities should actively avoid the negative impact brought by the development of HSR and truly promote the balanced development of regional tourism. • We provide a broader understanding of the issue of HSR and tourism economy through detailed data and quantitative evidence. • Taking Northeast China as an example, the positive effect of HSR on tourism economy in underdeveloped regions is verified. • The impact of HSR on the tourism economy in Northeast China is heterogeneous. • The findings provide support for synergistic HSR planning and tourism development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• To solve the forecasting problems of time-lead and nonlinearity in a system, a novel grey multivariable model is proposed. • To reduce the morbidity of the model, the solution of the proposed model is deduced through a derivation method. • The grey prediction evolution algorithm is employed to find the optimal value of parameters. • The validity of the new model was verified by three examples and applied to house price forecasting. Time lags or leads and non-linearity of complex systems are critical to address in accurate scientific prediction. However, few studies have focused on time-lead and nonlinear models with limited information. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a novel grey multivariate model with time-lead operator τ and nonlinear factor r from the perspective of this problem. Next, the solution of the proposed model is deduced through a derivation method to reduce the morbidity of the model. Then, the parameter identification of the model is given on the basis of the least-squares method. The grey prediction evolution algorithm is employed to find the optimal value of parameters τ and r to meet the minimum errors. Finally, house prices of Wuhan, Beijing and Shanghai in China are performed to verify the validity and reliability of the new model. The results demonstrate the model we proposed has satisfactory prediction precision, demonstrating that time-lead and nonlinear factor in the model is reasonable. At the end of the paper, the house prices of these three cities from 2022 to 2028 are also predicted. The average annual growth rate in the three regions is 2.49%, 3.57% and 2.97%, respectively. These results are useful to policy analysis regarding house price correlations. They provide insights for market investors and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deployment of hydrogen refueling stations is vital to the development of fuel cell vehicles. Past studies on the hydrogen refueling stations didn't consider congestion on paths and assumed all flows are on the shortest paths of OD pairs, which is not consistent with travelers' route choice behavior. In this paper, we study flow refueling location allocation based on the user-equilibrium (UE) status, which is consistent with travelers' route choice behavior. We present a flow-capturing location allocation (FCLA) model on UE conditions. We also presented an equilibrium algorithm avoiding cannibalization to solve the model. Based on the transportation network of Anaheim city in California in the US, we compared the results of applying a non-equilibrium method to the FCLA model and applying the equilibrium method to the FCLA model on UE conditions. The results of the two algorithms and models are different. The equilibrium model and algorithm can capture more flow and has a higher flow-capturing ratio. What's more, the equilibrium model and algorithm can fully capture the expected flow in practice since the real transportation network is basically in UE status. The equilibrium model and algorithm presented in this paper is the first study of this kind to locate stations in cities and is useful in the deployment of hydrogen refueling stations. • Study flow refueling location allocation based on the user-equilibrium (UE) status. • A flow capturing location allocation (FCLA) model on UE conditions. • An equilibrium algorithm avoiding cannibalization to solve the model. • Compare between non-equilibrium method and equilibrium method in flow capturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We study the relationship between GVC embedding and carbon emission density. • A mediation effect model was established to test the mechanism. • There is a U-shaped relationship between urban GVC embedding and carbon emission density. To achieve its carbon peak and neutrality plan, whether China's global value chain (GVC) embedding has a carbon emission reduction effect is a question worthy of attention. This paper measures the GVC embedding degree of 218 Chinese cities from 2000 to 2016, and constructs a panel data model to investigate the impact and its mechanism of GVC embedding on carbon emission intensity. This study finds that there is a significant U-shaped relationship between GVC embedding and carbon emission intensity, and a series of robustness test results support this conclusion. Export scale, energy consumption structure and technological innovation play a mediation role in the impact path of GVC embedding on carbon emission intensity. Based on this, this paper proposes that while participating in GVC, China needs to actively utilize the emission reduction effect of GVC, promote the transformation of export mode to high quality, reduce the use and dependence on high-carbon resources such as coal, and encourage companies to innovate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a spatial equilibrium model for a competitive two-city system consisting of a high-income and a low-income city. Using this model, we investigate the effects of intracity and intercity commuting subsidies on such urban performances as spatial structures, residents' utility, and social welfare of cities and the system. The three unilateral subsidy scenarios and two subsidy competition scenarios are investigated individually. Results show that intercity commuting subsidy gives residents incentives to reside in the low-income city and intercity commuting to the high-income city, while intracity commuting subsidies lead to the inflow of population. Subsidy competitions increase residents' utility and mitigate the impacts of unilateral subsidies on the social welfare of the system. A numerical example and case study based on city pairs of Jing-Jin-Ji Urban Agglomeration in China are conducted to examine the proposed model. • Establish a spatial equilibrium model in a competitive two-city system. • Investigate the effects of unilateral intracity and intercity commuting subsidies on urban performances. • Explore the subsidy competitions between cities and compare results with unilateral subsidies scenarios. • Provide a case study based on Jing-Jin-Ji Urban Agglomeration in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airborne hyperspectral images can be used to map the land cover in large urban areas, thanks to their very high spatial and spectral resolutions on a wide spectral domain. While the spectral dimension of hyperspectral images is highly informative of the chemical composition of the land surface, the use of state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms to map the land cover has been dramatically limited by the availability of training data. To cope with the scarcity of annotations, semi-supervised and self-supervised techniques have lately raised a lot of interest in the community. Yet, the publicly available hyperspectral data sets commonly used to benchmark machine learning models are not totally suited to evaluate their generalization performances due to one or several of the following properties: a limited geographical coverage (which does not reflect the spectral diversity in metropolitan areas), a small number of land cover classes and a lack of appropriate standard train/test splits for semi-supervised and self-supervised learning. Therefore, we release in this paper the Toulouse Hyperspectral Data Set that stands out from other data sets in the above-mentioned respects in order to meet key issues in spectral representation learning and classification over large-scale hyperspectral images with very few labeled pixels. Besides, we discuss and experiment self-supervised techniques for spectral representation learning, including the Masked Autoencoder (He et al., 2022), and establish a baseline for pixel-wise classification achieving 85% overall accuracy and 77% F1 score. The Toulouse Hyperspectral Data Set and our code are publicly available at www.toulouse-hyperspectral-data-set.com and www.github.com/Romain3Ch216/tlse-experiments/ , respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Broadband infrastructure significantly boosts urban innovation. • Internet penetration rate and information technology (IT) industry are the two impact channels. • The influence of broadband infrastructure on urban innovation has significant heterogeneity. • Broadband infrastructure has a stronger effect on radical innovation than on incremental innovation. • The impact of broadband infrastructure on urban innovation has spatial spillover effect. Broadband infrastructure plays a key role in supporting innovation. This paper takes the "Broadband China" demonstration policy as a quasi-natural experiment, adopts the data of 284 cities and multi-phase Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach to explore the impact of broadband infrastructure on urban innovation. We find that broadband infrastructure significantly boosts urban innovation, the increase of internet penetration rate and the development of information technology industry are the two influence channels. Heterogeneity tests show that the boosting effect of broadband infrastructure on innovation are stronger in eastern cities, large cities, key cities and cities with better educational resources. We also find that broadband infrastructure plays a stronger role in promoting radical innovation than incremental innovation, and the "Broadband China" demonstration policy produces a positive spillover effect on nearby cities' innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A distribution dynamics approach is employed to examine the converge of TFEE across Chinese PAA level cities. • The findings show a clear convergence in TFEE. • Convergence comes more from efficiency drops in high TFEE cities than from efficiency gains in low TFEE cities. • The environmental protection polices in key cities improved energy efficiency. • Large-sized cities show better performance in energy efficiency than small- and medium-sized cities. Improving energy efficiency is considered the most direct route to reducing carbon emissions on a massive scale. To examine the long-run trend of China's energy efficiency, this paper employs a distribution dynamics approach to analyze the convergence of total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) across 286 Chinese cities between 2002 and 2014. The result suggests the existence of convergence, which comes more from the efficiency declines in the high TFEE cities rather than the efficiency gains in the low TFEE cities. Despite the fact that a few cities have performed well in energy efficiency, the majority of cities have converged to a low-efficiency point. Further analyses show that the inefficiency was attributed to inefficient energy use in small- and medium-sized cities. Our analysis provides strong scientific support for China's ongoing energy conservation and environmental protection policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of significant environmental changes, the urgency of adopting green innovation has become increasingly apparent as a central mechanism for adjusting industrial structures in China. This transition serves not only as a crucial way to address pressing environmental challenges, but also as a fundamental strategy to improve the ecological efficiency of urban areas. Existing research mainly keeps a close eye on the unidirectional relationship between variables such as technological innovation and environmental protection. There is less relevant literature that has researched the cointegration relationship among green innovation, industrial structure, and eco-efficiency of cities. The essential role of green innovation and industrial structure in reaching a higher eco-efficiency of city are discussed in this research and the relationship among these three variables are analyzed by the evidence from cities in China from 2011 to 2019. The fact that the variables are cointegrated in the long run is evidenced by the results for the full sample. The sub-sample results report that in the eastern region, green innovation, industrial structure upgrading, and industrial structure rationalization could improve urban eco-efficiency. However, in Midwest regions where economic development is relatively backward, green innovation's effect on urban eco-efficiency is not in a significant positive way. The results obtained in this paper have implications for different cities in China to formulate corresponding policies on green innovation, industrial structure, and urban eco-efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to improve carbon emission efficiency (CEE) to achieve sustainable economic development has triggered contemplation among society and policy-makers. Previous studies have confirmed that e-commerce development can reduce local carbon emissions, but the impact of e-commerce development on CEE is unclear. This paper investigates the impact of e-commerce development on CEE and its spatial spillover effect using Chinese city-level panel data, taking the National E-commerce Demonstration City (NEDC) policy as a quasi-natural experiment. Results show that the NEDC policy significantly improves local CEE by promoting industrial structure upgrading, green technology innovation, and improving energy efficiency. The influence is more pronounced in regions with inadequate information infrastructure, unfavorable business environment, and limited marketization. However, the NEDC policy has a negative spatial spillover effect, reducing surrounding cities' CEE. The findings unveil the complicated impact of e-commerce development on CEE and offer policy implications for improving inter-regional carbon reduction synergy and low-carbon economic transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blue-green infrastructure (BGI) is an urban planning approach to hydrological issues that recognises the benefits of using urban green space and naturalised water flows. This process falls under the umbrella of "nature-based solutions" (NBS), i.e., the intentional inclusion of natural system processes within the urban fabric to achieve a range of benefits, including ecosystem services, climate adaptation and mitigation. The planning, design and management of BGI is complex, with multidimensional factors and interactions spanning various fields and disciplines. This complexity can present an obstacle to the adoption, implementation and mainstreaming of the approach. One of the emerging issues and challenges is to understand how diverse stakeholders respond to BGI and how decision makers can comprehend and use such responses. A tool supported by a body of theoretical knowledge is proposed to facilitate the research and investigation of unknown fields. Based on an integrative literature review, this paper formulates an attitudinal analytical framework (AAF) for understanding the human-BGI relationship. The established AAF synthesises, into a framework, multidimensional perspectives and integrates subject-, object- and context-related factors that can influence people's attitudes towards BGI. The proposed AAF bridges disciplinary boundaries, embracing the potential symbiosis among humans, BGI and place. This paper contributes to BGI adoption by forming the basis for further inter- and transdisciplinary research and practices of BGI. Its significance lies in establishing a theoretical framework to better our understanding of the human-BGI relationship, which is a prerequisite to the successful implementation of effective BGI, thereby promoting climate-resilient cities. • Establishing an integrative framework for understanding the relationship between humans and blue-green infrastructure (BGI). • Synthesising the factors from multifaceted aspects to understand the human-BGI relationship • Highlighting the relations between subject, object, and their applied context • Contributing to BGI research and practice as a tool to unravel stakeholders' attitudes towards BGI [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reinforcement of the concept of nature-based solutions in urban environments calls for their better introduction and linkage into urban planning. The paper is focused on the relationship between nature-based solutions and spatial realities, based on reciprocity among natural processes and urban patterns, emphasising the recognition of using and mimicking natural processes in urban environments. A classification framework as a form of knowledge aggregation is suggested. A matrix that simultaneously addresses the role of natural processes in nature-based solutions and the ability of such processes to deliver results for improving urban environments is proposed. Accordingly, there are three characteristic groups of solutions suggested, (1) those only using natural processes, (2) those using and mimicking natural processes and (3) those only mimicking natural processes, which implementation potentials are commented against four different types of urban patterns, to show what group of the nature-based solutions may best suit any type of spatial agglomeration. Beside green infrastructure as currently the most often addressed manifestation of nature-based solutions in cities, the paper reflects also on the physical processes as inevitable parts of nature. In relation to urban planning, sites and their characteristics are seen as a crucial aspect of nature-based solutions. The arguments are built upon exhaustive literature and case studies review, resulted in the matrix showing the matching relations among nature-based solutions and societal challenges aiming for better urban environment. Additionally, there are also sets of recommendations for bridging the policy-implementation gaps to bring nature-based solutions closer to urban planning, suggested. • A potential of NBS for urban planning is in understanding of NBS as dynamic processes of both animate and inanimate nature. • NBS should simultaneously consider the role of natural processes in NBS and NBS's ability to improve urban environment. • As a media of urban planning the NBS are to be understood as a system rather than a set of individual solutions. • Closing the NBS policy–implementation gap with a set of recommendations based on urban planning instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flooding is a threatening human/climate-induced hazard and the expected increase in the frequency and severity of floods is challenging cities worldwide. Modern flood risk management advocates the diversification of measures and strategies to face floods. This diversification is endorsed by the risk-based approach that – unlike the standards-based approach – emphasizes the need of addressing both the probability and consequences of floods and stresses the importance of collaboration between spatial planners and water managers in the field of flood risk management. In this paper, the politicized Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework is used as an analytical ordering device to systematically examine the interplay between discursive, institutional, and contextual factors in enabling or hampering the shift toward a risk-based approach in flood management policies for the Metropolitan City of Naples and the Metropolitan City of Milan. Striking similarities across the cases and recurring patterns reveal three main entangled governance issues hampering the shift toward a risk-based approach, namely: poor coordination across levels of government, communities of actors, and policy domains. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for policy-makers on how to address these three governance challenges for successful flood adaptation policy responses. • This research advances our understanding of the poor spatialization of flood risk management strategies. • By drawing on a multiple-case design, flood policies in Naples and Milan are comparatively analyzed. • Institutional, discursive, and contextual factors enable or constrain the shift toward a risk-based approach. • Due to poor multi-level, multi-actor, and multi-sector coordination, this shift has largely failed. • Recommendations on how to enhance vertical and horizontal coordination are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the evidence from listed company microdata and data from 285 cities in China, this paper studies the coordinated development of two-way FDI (CDFDI) in improving green energy efficiency (GEE). In particular, this paper examines the spatial heterogeneity effects of CDFDI on GEE. The results showed that CDFDI had a positive impact on the GEE of local and surrounding cities. Mechanistic examinations show that the effects of CDFDI on GEE are mediated by technological diffusion, nationalization, and environmental regulation. After dividing different city types, the impact of CDFDI is also different. By constructing a spatial decay weight matrix, this paper also finds that the positive spatial spillover effect of CDFDI is limited to 1050 KM. Finally, different investment motive portfolios also has a heterogeneous impact on the local and surrounding cities' GEE. After dividing the time nodes, the effect of this heterogeneity is more prominent. • We use multiple undesired output indicators covering eight pollutants to measure green energy efficiency (GEE). • CDFDI has a significant boost to GEE in local and surrounding cities. • The impact of CDFDI on GEE is moderated by technological diffusion, nationalization, and environmental regulation. • The spatial spillover effects of CDFDI are heterogeneous by city category and geographic distance. • CDFDI with different investment motives has heterogeneous effects on local and surrounding cities' GEE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality innovation is the crucial way to promote corporate sustainable development. This paper explores the effect of fiscal decentralization on corporate innovation quality with hybrid data during 2006–2019. The findings show that fiscal decentralization can promote corporate innovation quality in China. This paper carries out various robustness tests, and the results remain consistent with the previous conclusion. The findings also suggest that fiscal decentralization can do better in promoting corporate innovation quality in higher-administrative-level cities, eastern regions, technology-intensive industries, and large-scale enterprises. Furthermore, this paper reveals that business cycle plays a moderating role in how fiscal decentralization affects corporate innovation quality, and the promotion effect is stronger in booms than in recessions. The findings also indicate that promotion incentive positively moderates the enhancement effect of fiscal decentralization on corporate innovation quality, while market integration negatively moderates this relationship. This study sheds new light on how fiscal decentralization affects corporate innovation quality, which is helpful for the government to promote high-quality innovation and corporate sustainable development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To cope with the severe challenges related to traditional economic-centered urbanization, the Chinese government has proposed a people-oriented new-type urbanization strategy, which focuses on promoting the coordination and sustainable development of the environment, economy, and society. The existing literature has studied the impact of traditional urbanization on energy use but has not yet revealed the mechanisms and effects of the new transformation of urbanization on energy efficiency. Based on socio-economic-natural complex ecosystem theory, this paper systematically explains how new-type urbanization affects energy efficiency. By adopting a newly developed dynamic panel threshold model, the paper examines the complex impact of new-type urbanization on energy efficiency using panel data of 285 cities in China from 2003 to 2017. The results show that new-type urbanization has a significant double-threshold effect on energy efficiency. As the new-type urbanization level increases, the improvement effect of new-type urbanization on energy efficiency presents the change features of "strong-weakened-stronger." The heterogeneity analysis shows that under the constraints of multiple factors, such as new-type urbanization stages, geographic regions, economic development levels, and resource endowment, the impact of new-type urbanization on energy efficiency varies significantly. Targeted and differentiated policy recommendations for promoting new-type urbanization and energy efficiency are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments have implemented many regulations to solve traffic congestion and pollutant emissions. Traffic restriction (TR) policy is the most common and widely used traffic regulation. However, it is difficult to alleviate traffic pollution through TR policies. Only a few studies focus on TR policies in multiple cities. In this paper, we classify traffic restrictions by geographical factors and evaluate the impact of different policies based on PSM-DID first. Then, we classify the mixed restrictions and test their effects on air pollution. The results show that TR policy improves air quality regardless of the season. Moreover, the effect of TR policy is not affected by the superposition of the type of traffic restriction. For cities implementing the same TR policy, geographic factors can lead to different outcomes. This finding provides a reference for governments in reducing air pollution. • Traffic restrictions significantly affected air quality in different regions of China. • Cities implemented traffic restrictions have improved air quality in adjacent cities. • Effect of traffic restrictions does not depend on the number of mixed restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessments of the bike-sharing industry traditionally focus on its effects on other markets, municipalities, or general well-being. This paper deviates from this on how the market is organised. Using information on the aggregate number of firms in cities and greater cities across Europe, we found non-proportional changes in market size with respect to changes in market structure. This is crucial information inferring changes in profits, costs, or degree of product differentiation. To distinguish between these three sources, we utilised additional firm-level data on capacity and type of service provided. Our results suggest that the non-proportional increase in market size after an entry is most likely associated with increased intensity of competition and new forms of offered services, i.e. product differentiation. We did not find evidence that newcomers have been entering with substantially larger capacities per capita compared to incumbents. From a policy perspective, entry into the bike-sharing industry has benefited consumers through market expansion and caused a potential decrease in profits. • A non-proportional market size increase after the entry of the second and third firms. • No association for entry barriers; no entries with larger capacity. • Increases likely associated with differentiation: entrants likely dockless or e-bikes. • Entry and competition benefited consumers through market expansion and may decrease profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a mixed method and comparative case study approach, this paper has analyzed the formulation process of mobility policy strategies and plans and their implementation in four Asian cities. The key findings are: (1) there was some evidence on leadership shown by mayors, governors, public transport administrators and police in all four cities; (2) limited stakeholder engagement in the whole process of policy formation to implementation and some forms of donor influence were observed in three capital cities that resulted in follow-up projects or studies; and (3) the implementation of policies and plans faced many challenges relating to leadership, resources, prioritization, and coordination among various organizations. There was much focus on the formulation of mobility policies and plans and the users could not feel a meaningful improvement to urban mobility services despite the implementation of large urban mobility projects. A comprehensive evaluation framework is proposed and used to evaluate the whole process of improving urban mobility from policy formulation to implementation. There seems to be much preference for large urban transit projects vis-à-vis infrastructure for active mobility and low-cost solutions. The research also indicates the need for meaningful public engagement so that the mobility plans take a citizen-centric approach that reflects the needs of the urban residents, rather than taking a modernistic approach with solutions more suitable for middle-income groups. Delays in the implementation of major projects also suggest that more realistic planning, scheduling, and improvement in project management and coordination is necessary. • Reviews and assesses the whole process of mobility polices and plans in Asian cities. • There was some evidence of leadership shown by mayors, governors, public transport administrators and police. • Limited stakeholder engagement in the process of policy formation to implementation and some donor influence observed. • There was much focus on the formulation of mobility polices and plans and without much improvement to mobility services. • A comprehensive evaluation framework is proposed to evaluate mobility polices and plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to study whether politicians manipulate tax policy to extract private rents. We focus on the local personal income tax in the setting of Italian cities, which is a progressive instrument that allows mayors to set different rates to distinct wage groups. We exploit discontinuities in mayors' salaries, that are based on population thresholds, to study whether mayors apply lower rates to their own tax bracket, thereby distorting tax policy. The main results document large rent-seeking activity in tax policy. First, we show that when mayors's salary is exogenously located in the following tax bracket it receives a significantly lower tax rate than the previous one, compared to the control group. Second, we show that this rent-seeking activity is highly detrimental for the public treasury, with a considerable reduction in fiscal revenues. And finally, we document that the individual gain for rent-seeker politicians is rather limited and that there is no evidence of voters' punishment in the next elections. These results suggest that when tax policy is prone to be manipulated politicians do not hesitate to engage in rent-seeking activities even in case of little returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freedom of Information (FOI) is considered a crown jewel of reforms fostering public administration transparency and accountability. However, FOI's symbolic power alone cannot overcome the organizational barriers and obstacles to its effective implementation. This paper presents the results of a field experiment performed in Italy, a late FOI adopter, where an FOI request was sent to the 307 municipalities with more than 30k inhabitants. The experimental design exploits marginal wording variation in the requests to test whether municipalities discriminate between ordinary citizens and high-profile requesters. The experimental evidence suggests that most Italian municipalities reply to FOI requests. The results show two opposite types of discretionary bias: Northern municipalities tend to favor high-profile requesters, whereas Southern municipalities tend to respond to them with a higher degree of attrition. The study investigates the determinants of this difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Research progress of observation-based ozone formation sensitivity is reviewed. • Threshold values for Photochemical Indicator methods need to be localized. • Reaction mechanisms and monitoring capability need to be improved for OBM. • Ozone formation sensitivity in China presents the gradual shifting tendency. • Dynamic regulation capability for ozone pollution control needs to be built. Observation-based method for O 3 formation sensitivity research is an important tool to analyze the causes of ground-level O 3 pollution, which has broad application potentials in determining the O 3 pollution formation mechanism and developing prevention and control strategies. This paper outlined the development history of research on O 3 formation sensitivity based on observational methods, described the principle and applicability of the methodology, summarized the relative application results in China and provided recommendations on the prevention and control of O 3 pollution in China based on relevant study results, and finally pointed out the shortcomings and future development prospects in this field in China. The overview study showed that the O 3 formation sensitivity in some urban areas in China in recent years presented a gradual shifting tendency from the VOC-limited regime to the transition regime or the NO x -limited regime due to the implementation of the O 3 precursors emission reduction policies; O 3 pollution control strategies and precursor control countermeasures should be formulated based on local conditions and the dynamic control capability of O 3 pollution control measures should be improved. There are still some current deficiencies in the study field in China. Therefore, it is recommended that a stereoscopic monitoring network for atmospheric photochemical components should be further constructed and improved; the atmospheric chemical mechanisms should be vigorously developed, and standardized methods for determining the O 3 formation sensitivity should be established in China in the near future. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work addresses the challenges of implementing shared e-scooter services (SSS) in urban areas. Despite their potential for sustainable mobility, issues like road safety and street cluttering persist. Policy regulation is crucial, and recent efforts have focused on free-floating e-scooter parking legislation. To assist decision-making, this paper proposes an agent-based framework to design SSS parking supply and evaluate its impact. The methodology is applied in Lyon, France, where the SSS is gaining more and more territory. The main outcomes show parking regulation can introduce conflicting objectives, with a reduction of SSS use due to an increase in the access and egress walking distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Receivers and intermediary establishments typical to urban areas have unique freight behaviour and are understudied, particularly in developing countries. This paper uses establishment-based freight survey data to examine their freight generation patterns in the Chennai metropolitan area, India. Three sets of Simple Linear Regression (SLR) models, three single predictor proportional odds logit models, one multiple linear regression model, and one multiple predictor proportional odds logit model with business size (employment, area, and operational age) and indicators of establishment category as regressors are developed each for both freight production and freight attraction. Partial proportional odds logit models are developed in a few cases to overcome the limitations of proportional odds logit models. The best SLR model varied with the establishment category for freight production and attraction. The establishment area model is the best among single predictor proportional odds logit models. The multiple predictor proportional odds logit models marginally improved the fit over single predictor models. The proportional odds logit model results show that the establishment category has a greater impact on freight generation levels than business size variables. Since earlier studies rarely focused on receivers and intermediary establishments, policymakers may benefit from the developed models and study insights while estimating freight demand and developing freight policies. • Receivers and intermediary establishments' freight generation is studied. • Partial Proportional Odds (PO) logit models are developed for freight attraction. • Area model is the best single predictor PO logit model for freight generation. • Establishment type affects freight generation more than business size variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building footprint information is crucial for comprehending global urban development processes. Deep learning algorithms have shown significant potential in building extraction from high spatial resolution imagery. However, the requirement for large-scale annotated data has been a limitation for applying deep learning methods to city-level or national-level building mapping. The dynamic change and distinct landscape variation of cities in different geographic locations further emphasizes the need for automatic building footprint extraction. In this paper, we propose a Self-supervised Knowledge Transfer (SKTrans) framework for extracting building footprints from unlabeled remote sensing images over large areas. To address building tone differences cross regions and time periods, a tone shift mechanism is introduced to reduce the contrast, brightness, and saturation differences between buildings. Furthermore, considering building style diversity across different cities, a knowledge integration module is proposed to develop a comprehensive depiction including tonal differences, multi-scale variance, structural attributes and semantic confusion between roads and buildings. The effectiveness of SKTrans is demonstrated on three public datasets of WHU, Massachusetts, and Inria. To further evaluate the feasibility of large-scale mapping for automatic building footprint, global generalization experiments cross regions and time periods, which is based on imagery from five countries of different continents were implemented. The comprehensive results demonstrate that SKTrans surpasses existing state-of-the-art methods, supporting the time-series city-level building mapping without labeled dataset. Additionally, the architectural landscape pattern changes can be quantitatively analyzed based on the generalization results to facilitate sustainable urban development. Overall, SKTrans provides a new insight to meet the needs of high-precision label-free building mapping and update from large-scale multi-style remote sensing images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Robust infrastructure is essential to enhance urban productivity and support urban development. • Transportation infrastructure enhances urban productivity by promoting economic agglomeration. • Information infrastructure promotes urban productivity through labor mobility and agglomeration effects. • The promotion effect on urban productivity in eastern regions and megacities is more obvious. • Transportation and information infrastructure have positive spatial spillover effects on urban productivity. Improving total factor productivity is an important driving force for achieving high-quality economic development. Based on the panel data of 256 cities in China from 2009 to 2019, this paper investigates the effect of transportation and information infrastructure on urban productivity. The results show that transportation and information infrastructure promote urban productivity, and the effect in eastern regions and megacities is more obvious. The mechanism analysis shows that transportation infrastructure enhances urban productivity by promoting economic agglomeration, and information infrastructure enhances urban productivity by promoting labor mobility, economic agglomeration, financial agglomeration and industrial agglomeration. The spatial spillover effect shows positive spatial autocorrelation of urban productivity. Transportation and information infrastructure have significant positive spatial spillover effects on urban productivity. China should continue to promote the construction of transportation infrastructure, strengthen investment in information infrastructure, and promote the joint construction, sharing, coordination and integration of transportation and information infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The travelling salesman problem (TSP) and its variants have been studied extensively due to its wide range of real-world applications, yet there are challenges in providing efficient algorithms to deal with some of its variants. The multiple travelling salesman problem (MTSP), is the generalization of TSP, which aims to determine m − routes for ' m ' salesmen to cover a set of n − cities exactly once where each route starts and ends at a depot such that the total distance is least. In this, the number of cities in each route of the optimal solution may be distributed disproportionately. This paper presents, a bi-objective MTSP (BMTSP) with the load balancing constraint, where the first objective is to minimize the total travel distance and the second objective minimizes the total time. A metaheuristic based genetic algorithm with tournament selection (GATS) is designed by integrating with mixed strategies, such as flip, swap and scramble in mutation operation to obtain efficient Pareto solution for BMTSP. The computational experiments are carried out on different data sets, which are derived from the TSPLIB. The performance of GATS is compared with different genetic approaches and simulation results show that the proposed GATS obtained improved solutions on some of the benchmark instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Digitalization become a new driving force to improve energy-saving and emission reduction performance (EEP). • The relationship between digitalization and EEP has spatial and temporal heterogeneity. • There is a synergy between digitalization and industrialization. • Some constructive policy suggestions are proposed from the perspective of digital development. In the digital era, enterprises actively use digital technology to enable resource conservation and pollution reduction, which has important practical significance. However, the existing research has not fully clarified the link between digitalization and energy-saving and emission reduction. This paper measures the digital development level and energy-saving and emission reduction performance (EEP) of 271 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2019 and empirically explores the impact of digitalization on EEP. The empirical results are: (1) digitalization can significantly improve EEP in Chinese cities, and become a new driving force to save energy and reduce emissions in the new era. After solving the endogeneity problems and replacing the explained variables, the conclusion remains robust. (2) The relationship between digitalization and EEP has significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Digitalization helps to promote EEP in China's eastern cities, but it has not shown a positive effect in western cities. The positive effect of digitalization began to emerge after 2011. (3) There is a synergy between digitalization and industrialization, which enables cities to save energy and reduce emissions. This study helps clarify the relationship between digitalization and EEP, which provides important insights into how digitalization can empower cities' energy-saving and emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural tourism is a growing type of tourism; tourists visit places where they can practice activities, motivating them to experience the heritage and get involved with the local communities. This paper studies the relationship between the sustainable urban development of heritage sites and cultural tourism. It focuses on the ancient Thebes world heritage site, examines urban sustainability at the city level, then studies the urban context of the newly reopened Sphinx Avenue. The analytical framework of this study emerges from the principles of sustainable urbanism together with UNESCO thematic indicators for culture for 2030 and UNESCO recommendations for urban culture future. Three site visits were held to the city and the avenue in 2022 for urban observation. A questionnaire was distributed among inhabitants and visitors to collect qualitative information concerning the accessibility and visibility of the monuments and the position of Sphinx Avenue in the urban context. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with tourism companies to explore the tourism sector's point of view. The paper questions the relationship between sustainable urban development and cultural tourism. It suggests urban recommendations to achieve a rich user experience and build a sustainable relationship between the heritage sites and the surrounding communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quest for a theory of cities that could offer a quantitative and systematic approach to managing cities represents a top priority. If such a theory is feasible, then its formulation must be in a mathematical way. As a contribution to organizing the mathematical ideas that deal with such a systematic way of understanding urban phenomena, we review the main theoretical models present in the literature that aim at explaining the origin and emergence of urban scaling. We intend to present the models, identify similarities and connections between them, and find situations in which different models lead to the same output. In addition, we report situations where some ideas initially introduced in a particular model can also be introduced in another one, generating more diversification and increasing the scope of the original works. The models treated in this paper explain urban scaling from different premises, i.e. from gravity ideas, densification and cites' geometry to a hierarchical organization and social network properties. We also investigate scenarios in which these different fundamental ideas could be interpreted as similar — where the similarity is likely but not obvious. Furthermore, concerning the gravity model, we propose a general framework that includes all analyzed models as particular cases. We conclude the paper by discussing perspectives of this field and how future research designs and schools of thought can build on the ideas treated here. • We review the mathematical models which explain the emergence of urban scaling. • We identify similarities and connections between these models. • Models consider different premises, e.g. gravity ideas, cities' geometry, and network properties. • Regarding the gravity idea, we propose a general framework [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First Multiple Linear Regression analysis of waste management systems in EU capitals. • Door-to-door bio-waste collection linked to higher overall dry recyclables capture. • On average, dry recyclables sorting doubled in capitals with door-to-door bio-waste collection. • Linkage between door-to-door bio-waste collection and boosted sorting needs further research. • Convenience, communication campaigns and system maturity likely causal factors. • Severe lack of available data hampers evidence-based EU policymaking. The European Union Waste Framework Directive revised in 2018 sets an ambitious target of recycling 55 percent of municipal solid waste by 2025. Separate waste collection is an important prerequisite for achieving this target, but progress is uneven among Member States and has slowed down in recent years. This makes it paramount to identify effective waste management systems to enable higher recycling rates. Waste management systems vary greatly within Member States and are established by municipalities or district authorities, making the city-level the ideal level of analysis. Based on quantitative analysis of data from 28 European Union capitals (pre-Brexit), this paper speaks to debates about the effectiveness of waste management systems more broadly and the role of door-to-door bio-waste collection in particular. Drawing on encouraging findings in literature, we investigate whether door-to-door bio-waste collection contributes to boosting the collection of dry recyclables such as glass, metal, paper and plastic. Employing Multiple Linear Regression, we sequentially test for 13 control variables including six related to different waste management system and seven controls related to urban, economic and political aspects. We find evidence that door-to-door bio-waste collection is associated with greater amounts of separately collected dry recyclables. Cities with door-to-door bio-waste collection, on average, sort 60 kg per capita per year more of dry recyclables. Although the causal mechanisms behind such a relationship need further investigation, this finding indicates that European Union waste management could benefit from a stronger promotion of door-to-door bio-waste collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-speed rail (HSR) is one of the most important, if not the most important, emerging transportation that could exert significant influences in many areas, including economic development, social development, financial development, environmental protection, etc. This paper focuses on examining the impacts of HSR on the development of the industrial structure. Since most of the studies in this area are related to central cities (provincial capitals and municipalities directly under the central government), to fill in the gap in the literature, in this paper, we investigate the impacts of HSR on non-central cities in China. To do so, we use the propensity score matching difference-in-difference (PSM-DID) method to investigate the siphoning, spillover, and moderating effects of the opening of the HSR on the development of the industrial structure in the cities along with or nearby the HSR. In addition, we conclude both the robustness tests and the heterogeneity analysis in our study. We find that the opening of HSR significantly promotes the rationalization of non-central cities' industrial structure, as well as improves the advancement of the industrial structure for non-central cities which are less than 100 km away from the central city. Moreover, the four moderating variables, the urban innovation index, the new urbanization construction level, the nearest distance from the central city, and the medical services insurance coverage rate, make the HSR has a positive impact on the rationalization level of industrial structure. Our findings are useful for both central and local governments and policymakers in accurately formulating policies related to the planning and construction of HSR, city planning, and planning the development of the industrial structure for each city nearby the HSR. • Investigate the impacts of HSR on industrial developments for non-central cities. • Propose five hypotheses in terms of the siphoning, spillover and moderating effects. • Construct econometric models and conduct empirical studies to prove the newly proposed hypotheses are correct. • Provide policy suggestions for both central and local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active thin film electrochromic or thermochromic coatings have been used in smart windows. However, the current cost of active thin film windows is approximately 10 times that of passive film windows. This paper proposes an inexpensive passive thin metal film for all-season energy savings. The proposed passive thin metal film allows heat to flow preferentially in one direction. Thin metal films attached to glass indoor can absorb solar heat and the solar can radiate the heat to a room and to the glass respectively until thermal equilibrium. Because of the heated metal film against the room, as long as the temperature of the film is higher than that of the room, there is no heat flux from the room to the thin metal film which is called perfect thermal insulation. The 960m2 film was installed in an actual hotel in Japan over 10 years and contributed to reducing the energy cost of air conditioning from 54 million yen to 43 million yen, demonstrating an annual energy savings of 11 million yen (US$0.1 million). This paper briefly describes how the proposed economical passive thin metal film will provide all-season energy savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shared micro-mobility services are increasingly becoming popular in many cities. These services can help shape sustainable cities and reduce car dependency. To unlock their full potential, a deep understanding of these services' operation, adoption, and integration within existing mobility systems is required. This paper uses a newly introduced agent-based simulation framework to study the implications of shared bikes and e-scooters in Lyon, France. The paper describes data collection, processing, and input data generation for the simulation of shared bikes and e-scooters. Simulation outcomes evaluate the impact of introducing these services on existing travel modes. The introduction of shared bikes and e-scooters can compete against public transit and walking. The simulation framework can be used to assess various aspects of shared bikes and e-scooters and help policy-makers take advantage of their full potential to improve urban mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]