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Rapid suburbanization in China is dramatically reshaping the daily life of urban residents. In China, long-distance commuting, traffic congestion, spatial mismatch and the low quality of life resulting from residential suburbanization are causing widespread concern. This paper compares the changes in time allocation from a time-use perspective, based on two activity-travel survey datasets collected in suburban Beijing in respectively 2007 and 2017. Travelling time to work has increased substantially between 2007 and 2017 and particularly impacted non-working activities. Working and commuting showed to have the greatest impact on time allocated to non-work activities, both in home and out of home, both maintenance and discretionary activities. Furthermore, residents' allocation of time to non-work activities shows to be influenced too by their socioeconomic attributes, such as gender, marital status and household configuration (e.g. extended family). We found that the space–time constraints imposed by household responsibilities leads to greater gender differences in time allocation. This paper provides insight into how urban residents reallocate their time as a result of increasing suburbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has made remarkable achievements in reducing carbon emissions in recent years. However, there is still much reduction room before achieving carbon neutrality. In Beijing, the capital of China, it is a strategic choice to respond to global climate change by promoting green and low-carbon development. This paper calculates the carbon dioxide emissions of key industries in Beijing and analyzes the temporal evolution trend of carbon emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions in Beijing before 2030 are predicted based on the grey prediction GM (1,1) and BP neural network model. The effects of factors of carbon dioxide emissions are discussed using the threshold regression model under different economic conditions. The results show that energy consumption intensity, GDP per capita, and the ownership of civil cars have a positive impact on carbon dioxide emissions, while the number of permanent residents and urban green space areas have a negative impact on carbon dioxide emissions. These findings of carbon emission prediction and influencing factors contribute to carbon reduction path design. Related policy implications on carbon emission reduction are put forward from the aspects of promoting industrial upgrading, accelerating the construction of advanced economic structures, optimizing transportation structures, and strengthening green building development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mega-events such as the Olympic Games tend to be accompanied by copious media coverage of the negative social impacts of these events, and people in the affected areas are often thought to share similar experiences. The research in this paper, which focused on the Beijing Summer Olympic Games of 2008, unpacks the heterogeneous groups in a particular sector of the housing market to gain a better understanding of how the Games affected different resident groups. The paper critically examines the experience of migrant tenants and Beijing citizens (landlords in particular) in “villages-in-the-city” (known as cheongzhongcun), drawing on their first-hand accounts of the citywide preparations for the Games and the pervasive demolition threats to their neighbourhoods. The paper argues that the Beijing Summer Olympiad produced an uneven, often exclusionary, Games experience for a certain segment of the urban population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Simple Summary: This study addresses the concern of managing and coexisting with community cats in urban areas. The study was conducted in urban China through a survey involving 5382 participants. It explores the residents' perceptions of the general health of community cats and the relationships between humans and these feline inhabitants. The findings show that about 70% of participants considered all or most of the community cats to be in good health, and about 60% reported harmonious or non-conflict coexistence. It was found that residents' relationships with community cats were associated with socio-demographic factors such as education, marital status, and income level. The study highlights the importance of customized approaches to cat management in various cities and communities. This provides useful information for stakeholders to create efficient policies and interventions for the welfare of the community cats and the people who live alongside them. The management and coexistence of community cats in urban areas is a growing concern amid global urbanization. Through a survey-based investigation, we examine the residents' perceptions of the general health of community cats and human-cat relationships in urban China. The data from 5382 participants revealed that approximately 70% of participants perceived community cats as being in good health, and 60% reported harmonious or non-conflict coexistence between residents and these cats. Around 45% of the participants rescued or helped community cats, 38% expressed their intention to adopt, and 18% complained about the issues of community cats to management staff. Linear, logistic, and multilevel-logistic regressions were employed to examine the associations between the types of cities and communities or the participants' socio-demographics and the perceived well-being of community cats or human-cat relationships. The results show that the cats in fourth-tier cities (e.g., county-level cities) had poorer living conditions than in first-tier cities (e.g., Beijing), while the cats in urban village communities (e.g., villages in the city) were less likely to exhibit good health than in ordinary commercial housing communities. The results also show that socio-demographic variables, such as educational attainment, marital status, and income level, predicted participants' relationships with community cats. This study is the first of its kind. It provides valuable insights for stakeholders to develop effective policies and interventions on cat management, emphasizing the need for tailored strategies in diverse urban settings and populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Logistics in China has grown rapidly; in 2015, the freight volume has reached 41 billion ton, increasing by 4.4% year-on-year. At the same time, the pollutant emissions from freight cars account for 70% of total emissions of motor vehicles, which severely affected the air quality. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of logistics on air pollution; we used a new methodology based on vector autoregression of freight turnover, gross domestic product, and urban population. We selected Beijing as our test and created a model using time series data for the period 2000-2014. In this model, permanent residents, freight turnover, and SO emission were used as proxies for population size, logistic services, and degree of air pollution. Our analyses showed that the expansion of logistic services had the biggest effect on air pollution. Moreover, impulse response analysis revealed that logistic growth caused more serious air pollution over a short time, with an ongoing negative effect. GDP growth was only weakly correlated with air pollution, while urban population growth appeared to have little effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk-related information regarding air pollution can help people understand the risk involved and take preventive measures to reduce health loss. However, the health benefits through these protective behaviors and the health threat of information inequality have not been systematically measured. This article reports the health gains and losses caused by the interaction of "air pollution—air pollution information—human", and studies the heterogeneity and impact of this interaction. Based on field investigations and transfer learning algorism, this study compiled the first nationwide city-level risk-related information (ERI) response parameter set in China. Then, we developed a Information-Behavioral Equivalent PM2.5 Exposure Model (I-BEPEM) model to project the health benefits caused by the impact of environmental risk-related information on residents' protective behaviors under different scenarios. The protective behavior led by air pollution risk information reduces 5.7% PM2.5-related premature deaths per year. With a 1% increase in regional ERI reception, PM2.5-related premature mortality decreases by 0.1% on average; If the level of information perception and behavioral protection in all cities is the same as that in Beijing, PM2.5-related premature deaths will decrease by 6.9% annually in China. Further, changing the air quality standard issued by China to the American standard can reduce the overall PM2.5-related premature deaths by 9.9%. Meanwhile, compared with men, other age groups and rural residents, women, older persons, and urban residents are more likely to conceive risk information and adopt protective behaviors to reduce the risk of premature death from air pollution. Air pollution risk information can significantly reduce people's health loss. Changing the real-time air quality monitoring information indicator standard to a more stringent level can quickly and effectively enhance this effect. However, the uneven distribution of this information in regions and populations has resulted in the inequality of health gains and losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Megacities in China are undergoing transformation in urban functional structure brought on by rapid urbanization and spatial expansion, while private motorization connects disparate functional zones with ever-longer journeys. Policies to control growth of the car fleet while investing in mass public transport, in Beijing and in many other cities, have divided city residents into car users and those dependent on public transport. This paper examines these policies from the transport equity perspective by measuring accessibility disparity between public transport and private car. Cumulative accessibility is measured for each of the two transport modes, while an accessibility equity index (AEI) is developed based on numerical and spatial computation. The recent changes in spatial distributions of population and employment in Beijing are analyzed. Accessibility and AEI are measured using network-based Geographical Information System (GIS) and analyzed quantitatively and spatially. Nine scenarios with different employment location strategies are simulated to analyze their impacts on accessibility and AEI, with clear benefits among the scenarios with regard to accessibility equity for suburban populations. Results suggest that reducing the demand for car use and ownership can be supported through employment spatial redistribution policies, which can be used to raise relative accessibility by public transport. Land use policy can form part of a larger set of spatial and transport policies that includes regulation of the car fleet and public transport development. Such integrated approaches are of particular importance for the present and future megacities of China that are expanding rapidly, with relatively high volume flows on limited movement networks. • Proposed a framework for transport equity assessment through measuring modal and spatial disparity. • Developed an accessibility equity index (AEI) based on numerical spatial computation. • Examined the transport equity of Beijing as a case study. • Applied equity assessment to spatial scenario analysis and policy with equity and efficiency improvement was suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines residents' walking and biking patterns for food shopping in China and the influence of neighborhood form and market characteristics on effective walk/bike catchment areas of food markets. Based on 1417 resident surveys at 15 food markets in three neighborhoods in the city of Beijing, we found that residents rarely shop at the nearest food stores and prefer larger farmer's markets and supermarkets instead. And they travel in much shorter distance compared with residents in the western cities. An ordinary least squares regression analysis reveals that, after controlling for the effect of personal socioeconomic and trip characteristics, traditional neighborhoods with dense street networks, mixed land uses and ample tree shades present the largest walk/bike catchment area, followed by enclave neighborhoods and superblock neighborhoods. In addition, markets with larger size, ground-level and adjacency to a park are significantly associated with longer walking and biking distances. • Residents rarely shop at the nearest food stores and prefer farmer's markets and supermarkets. • Traditional neighborhoods present the largest walk/bike catchment area, followed by enclave and superblock neighborhoods. • Markets with larger size, ground-level and adjacency to a park increase the walking and biking distance for food shopping. • Some personal characteristics and trip factors also affect the walking and biking distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Beijing City. Beijing, the capital of China, has a land area of approximately 1368.32km2 with an urban population of about 13.33 million in 2006. Over the past three decades, MSW generation in Beijing City has increased tremendously from 1.04 million tons in 1978 to 4.134 million tons in 2006. The average generation rate of MSW in 2006 was 0.85kg/capita/day. Food waste comprised 63.39%, followed by paper (11.07%), plastics (12.7%) and dust (5.78%). While all other wastes including tiles, textiles, glass, metals and wood accounted for less than 3%. Currently, 90% of MSW generated in Beijing is landfilled, 8% is incinerated and 2% is composted. Source separation collection, as a waste reduction method, has been carried out in a total of 2255 demonstration residential and commercial areas (covering about 4.7 million people) up to the end of 2007. Demonstration districts should be promoted over a wider range instead of demonstration communities. The capacity of transfer stations and treatment plants is an urgent problem as these sites are seriously overloaded. These problems should first be solved by constructing more sites and converting to new treatment technologies. Improvements in legislation, public education and the management of waste pickers are problematic issues which need to be addressed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Residential green spaces and the co-inhabiting bird communities provide critical cultural ecosystem services for urban dwellers, which is critical for citizens' psychological well-being but has largely been overlooked, especially in China. This study attempted to delineate the relationship between human-nature interactions occurring at different scenarios in the health deriving procedure, and identify the key factors influencing urban residents' psychological well-being and the potential critical human-nature connections within their living spaces. Methods: Bird, plant, and social surveys were sequentially conducted. A model selection procedure based on AICc information was used to find the key factors that are responsible for residents' psychological well-being, and logistic regression analysis was conducted to figure out the key drivers for the occurrence of critical within-living-space human-nature connections. Results: Most of the respondents are aware of the neighborhood biodiversity and most of them are fond of it, and respondents who prefer fauna over flora have a considerably lower depression degree. Watching birds is the only critical within-living-space nature-related activity that is responsible for residents' psychological well-being. Both residents' psychological well-being and bird watching activity were simultaneously affected by nature-related activities within and outside the living spaces, while their preference for different aspects of biodiversity and their capability in perceiving them were also important, despite the difference in exact parameters. In addition, personal attributes such as age, financial income, and physical or mental health status also contribute to psychological well-being. Conclusions: This study successfully bridged citizens' minds with health products, and the major contribution was the demonstration of a spatial-scale-oriented circuit for people-nature connections, which contributes to the practical application of nature-based therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Professional Geographer is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Using ethnographic data gathered in Beijing during 2017 and 2018, this article examines numerous urban population displacement events using the concept of spatial governance in order to understand the spatialization of governance in urban China. A particular focus of this article are the Beijing-wide displacements of the so-called "low-end population" that followed a fire in Xinjian Village in 2017. The analysis in this article uses geographic understandings of spatial informality to interrogate how space is made informal and subsequently illegal as a means of population control. The article puts forward the idea that spatial governance is one of the key forms, if not the key form, of governance in urban China. It highlights changes in governance that have resulted in space becoming not just a site for control, but the medium for techniques of control over China's urban population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypertension is reported to be associated with air pollution and physical activity (PA), and they have different or even conflicting effects on blood pressure (BP). The study evaluated the combined effects of PM2.5 exposure duration and physical activity intensity on systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of hypertension. A total of 2613 patients (≥18-year-olds) at baseline who attended surveys from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (2011–2015) in Beijing were selected, as well as the PM2.5 data collected in the same period. The mixed linear effects model and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were used to explore the multiple effects of PM2.5 exposure duration and PA intensity on SBP and DBP, respectively. The correlation results indicated PM2.5 exposure duration (>15 days) occurred more significant correlations with DBP and longer PM2.5 exposures duration (>60 day) with SBP. The mixed linear effects model showed the important random terms of gender, PA levels, and BMI classification for both SBP and DBP. It also indicated the significant fixed effect from age for both SBP and DBP, and the significant fixed effects from PM2.5 and weight, as well as the interaction in DBP. The random effects of PA levels put effects on different weight people for SBP and on different age people for DBP, while the person of SBP exposed to PM2.5 environments may tend to be affected by BMI classification. The model's main effects showed PA and the interaction with gender could put significant effects on BP. The gender effects and the PA level effects were also improved by the MANOVA results. We concluded that the more PM2.5 exposure duration may lead to more significant correlation with higher BP values. The PA levels could lead to the different effects on the health showing the variations in age, gender, and BMI classification. For SBP of people who are exposed to PM2.5 environments, it may tend to be affected by BMI classification, which also may influence the DBP through weight adjusting first and then cause hypertension. The gender difference of BP may be affected by PA showing the higher PA level and the more gender difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessibility to the job market and public facilities in the urban fringe and surrounding rural areas is a vital issue in relation to sustainable land use in large cities. Urban-rural integration initiatives have been addressed in China's land use planning in order to reduce the gap in the quality of life between the urban and rural population. This paper aims to examine urban-rural integration initiatives from the perspective of travel burden in the urban fringe and rural areas by looking at Beijing as a case study. By analysing the data from 76,761 questionnaires, residents' travel burden in the urban, urban fringe and surrounding rural areas is compared quantitatively, and land use characteristics leading to the difference of travel burden are discussed by regression. The results show that there are significant differences in travel burden among residents living in different areas. Travel time and cost in the urban fringe areas are significantly higher than both the urban and rural areas. Fewer employment opportunities and lack of public service facilities in urban fringe areas are the main factors in this difference. In addition, those who live in the urban fringe have a higher proportion of car ownership than urban residents. Thus, there may be a phenomenon of "forced car ownership" among urban fringe residents, as low accessibility to jobs and public services (including public transit services) necessitates owning a car. It seems that the current urban-rural integration initiatives play a limited role in promoting accessibility to the job market and public facilities in the urban fringe. Stronger land use policies are needed to enhance the quality of life in the urban fringe within the context of rapid urban sprawl in China's cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high precision population forecasting and spatial distribution modeling are very important for the theory and application of population sociology, city planning and Geo-Informatics. However, the two problems need to be solved for providing the high precision population information. One is how to improve the population forecasting precision of small area (e.g., street scale); another is how to improve the spatial resolution of urban population distribution model. To solve the two problems, some new methods are proposed in this contribution. (1) To improve the precision of small area population forecasting, a new method is developed based on the fade factor and the slide window. (2) To improve the spatial resolution of urban population distribution model, a new method is proposed based on the land classification, public facility information and the artificial intelligence technology. For validation of the proposed methods, the real population data of 15 streets in Xicheng district, Beijing, China from 2010 to 2016, the remote sensing images and the public facility data are collected and used. A number of experiments are performed. The results show that the spatial resolution of proposed model reaches 30m*30m and the forecasting precision is better than 5% using the proposed method to forecast the population of 15 streets in Xicheng district in the next four years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have explored the relationship between housing prices and environmental characteristics using the hedonic price model (HPM). However, few studies have deeply examined the impact of scene perception near residential units on housing prices. This article used house purchasing records from and open access geolocation data (including massive street view pictures, point of interest (POI) data and road network data) and proposed a framework named “open-access-dataset-based hedonic price modeling (OADB-HPM)” for comprehensive analysis in Beijing and Shanghai, China. A state-of-the-art deep learning framework and massive Baidu street view panoramas were employed to visualize and quantify three major scene perception characteristics (greenery, sky and building view indexes, abbreviated GVI, SVI and BVI, respectively) at the street level. Then, the newly introduced scene perception characteristics were combined with other traditional characteristics in the HPM to calculate marginal prices, and the results for Beijing and Shanghai were explored and compared. The empirical results showed that the greenery and sky perceptual elements at the property level can significantly increase the housing price in Beijing (RMB 39,377 and 6011, respectively) and Shanghai (RMB 21,689 and 2763, respectively), indicating an objectively higher willingness by buyers to pay for houses that provide the ability to perceive natural elements in the surrounding environment. This study developed quantification tools to help decision makers and planners understand and analyze the interaction between residents and urban scene components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The study aims to explore the patterns and changes of active and passive smoking in the elderly population. Methods: Two cross-sectional surveys with representative samples of urban populations, aged between 60 and 95 years old, were conducted in 2001 and 2010 in Beijing. A current smoker was defined as a person who smoked a tobacco product at the time of the survey, and a passive smoker was defined as a person who had been exposed to smoke exhaled by a smoker for more than 15 minutes per day more than once per week. Results: A total of 2,277 participants in 2001 and 2,102 participants in 2010 completed the survey. The current smoking prevalence changed slightly in males (24.7 vs. 21.2%, P = 0.081), while the prevalence in females decreased significantly from 8.8% (95% CI: 7.3–10.3%) in 2001 to 4.1% (95% CI: 3.0–5.2%) in 2010 (P<0.001). The prevalence of passive smoking was 30.5% (95% CI: 28.6–32.4%) in 2001 and 30.0% (95% CI: 28.1–32.0%) in 2010. The main source of secondhand smoke switched from a spouse in 2001 to offspring in 2010. This trend was observed in both sexes. Passive smoking in males from a smoking spouse decreased from 5.7% to 2.4% (P<0.001), while that from smoking offspring increased from 7.3 to 14.5% (P<0.001). Passive smoking in females from a spouse decreased from 30.6 to 17.6%, while that from offspring increased from 5.3 to 15.4% (P<0.001). Conclusion: Offspring became the main source of secondhand smoke for the elderly. Our findings demonstrated the importance of implementing smoking prevention programs, to educate older adults who live with a smoking spouse and/or offspring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Reform Era, Chinese society has witnessed a rise of individualism. The family has transformed from a unit of economic production to a center of emotion. Based on ethnographic research with 24 second-generation Chinese singletons, this essay explores parent-child relations in contemporary Beijing through the memories of young singleton adults. This research identifies two cultural modes of parenting and demonstrates the central role of emotions in both. It also illustrates the psychological dynamics of individuals when confronted with multiple cultural models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]