Public participation in infrastructure and construction projects in China: From an EIA-based to a whole-cycle process

Many governments world-wide are increasingly encouraging the involvement of interested individuals, groups and organisations in their public infrastructure and construction (PIC) projects as a means of improving the openness, transparency and accountability of the decision-making process and help improve the projects’ long-term viability and benefits to the community. In China, however, the current participatory mechanism at the project level exists only as part of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. With an increasing demand for PIC projects and social equality in China, this suggests a need to bring the participatory process into line with international practice.The aim of this paper, therefore, is to identify the weaknesses of EIA-based public participation in China and the means by which it may be improved for the whole lifecycle of PIC schemes. To do this, the results of a series of interviews with a diverse group of experts is reported which analyse the nature and extent of existing problems of public participation in EIA and suggestions for improvement. These indicate that the current level of participation in PIC projects is quite limited, particularly in the crucial earlier stages, primarily due to traditional culture and values, uneven progress in the adoption of participatory mechanisms, the risk of not meeting targets and lack of confidence in public competence. Finally, a process flowchart is proposed to guide construction practitioners and the community in general.     

The negative effects of construction boom on urban planning and environment in Turkey: Unraveling the role of the public sector

Construction sector is usually accepted as the engine that triggers economic growth due to its strong backward and forward linkages with other sectors. On the other hand, it is also argued that increased construction activity could end up with negative economic, social and environmental impacts. The literature emphasizes the role of public sector, especially the national governments in minimizing the negative impacts of construction activity. The related arguments mostly postulate that public sector is well aware of the environmental challenges caused by construction activity and devoted to the understanding of how to improve the sustainability performance of private developers. Yet the case of Turkey provides significant evidences to question these assumptions. In this respect, this paper elaborates on the negative impacts of increased construction activity in Turkey and argues the role of public sector in intensification of the negative environmental effects through deregulation on urban planning and housing production by public agencies. The findings of the research highlight the importance of sustainable construction and verify the need for mainstreaming of sustainable construction into public policy-making at national and local levels, especially in developing countries, where most, if not all, of the future urban population growth will take place.     

Chilling out in ‘cosmopolitan country’: Urban/rural hybridity and the construction of Daylesford as a ‘lesbian and gay rural idyll’

This paper advances scholarship on ‘lesbian and gay rural idylls’. A growing literature examines how ‘lesbian and gay rural idylls’ are not only produced in opposition to the urban, but are themselves urban constructs. We extend these contentions by exploring the processes of idyllisation suffusing lesbian and gay festival tourism in Daylesford, a town in non-metropolitan Victoria, Australia. We find that Daylesford’s idyllisation by the lesbian and gay tourism industry blurs the urban/rural binary, and instead hybridises rurality and urbanity in the tourism images and practices of ‘cosmopolitan country’ associated with the town. Research findings from Daylesford are analysed to examine how the dynamics of tourism marketing and festival attendance help produce and articulate this hybrid variant of the ‘lesbian and gay rural idyll’. We utilise two sets of mostly qualitative data for this inquiry: travel commentaries in the news media, and a survey conducted in Daylesford at the 2006 ChillOut Festival, Australia’s largest lesbian and gay rural festival.     

Examination of the relationship between urban form and urban eco-efficiency in china

The present study aims at exploring whether aspects of urban form are associated with urban eco-efficiency in China. Quantitative indicators relating to urban form (form, compactness ratio, elongation ratio and population density) and urban eco-efficiency (resource efficiency, environmental efficiency and overall eco-efficiency) were selected and quantified using remote sensing and data envelopment analysis methods. The urban form aspects of form and compactness ratios were positively correlated with urban eco-efficiency and resource efficiency. Conversely, the urban elongation ratio exhibited negative correlations with urban eco-efficiency and resource efficiency. Regarding environmental efficiency, no significant correlation is found with compactness though a negative correlation is found with population density. These results indicate that, within China, designing cities to be compact may be lead to increases in eco-efficiency and resource efficiency, but if the population density is too high the increased pollution costs will result in a decrease in environmental efficiency.     

我国生育政策城乡一体化方案与配套支持

我国生育政策城乡一体化是人口转变与社会发展之必然。一方面,城乡二元的生育政策很难体现城乡公平,用生育政策的优惠来弥补社会保障功能的匮乏这一做法已越来越不符合社会发展趋势;另一方面,二元生育政策本身的复杂性增加了政策执行过程中的成本与困难。生育政策城乡一体化应以城市与农村均实行一孩半政策作为既简化又稳妥的改革方案。生育政策城乡一体化还应配备配套措施,完善生育政策的评估指标,将少生与不生纳入评估范畴,促进城乡医疗、养老、教育等公共服务机会均等化、户籍管理动态化,还要正确理解人口老龄化,为生育政策城乡一体化提供良好的执行环境。     

城乡一体化过程中上海农村社会事业发展对策研究

城乡一体化是经济社会发展的一般规律,是传统农业社会向现代工业社会演变的必然过程,也是现代化的组成部分。城乡一体化的核心是城乡居民的地位一体化、机会一体化、保障一体化。必须从制度上建立一套保障城乡一体化的系统,其中,推进农村社会事业发展更是至关重要。农村教育、卫生、文化、体育、社会保障、社会服务等社会事业的发展水平,某种程度上可以用来衡量一个国家或地区经济社会的发展水平。因此,加强上海农村社会事业发展不仅与广大农民群众的切身利益和农村、农业的发展需要密切相关,而且对于破除城乡二元结构、加快城乡一体化进程、建设现代化国际大都市,实现＂四个率先＂,以及对于探索转型期农村公共产品供给制度的创新、建立与完善农村公共产品和服务供给模式等,具有重要的战略意义、理论意义和应用价值。     

Assessing the transportation consequences of land use transformation in urban China

This paper assesses the accessibility and mobility consequences of urban land transformation in expanding Chinese cities. It defines transportation–land use connections in China's context and analyzes the accessibility and mobility uncertainties associated with current urban development themes, including the formulation of CBD, the development of satellite communities, and the evolution toward multi-center layout. This article points out that appropriate accessibility and mobility objectives are not well considered in land development, and current development themes tend to lengthen trips and lead to increased congestion in the context of growth and motorization. A strong national leadership is needed to help city governments integrate accessibility and mobility objectives into urban development.     

Quality self-control and co-supervision mechanism of construction agent in public investment project in China

Public investment project (PIP) plays an important role in the China economy. In order to improve the project management performance of public projects, the government is searching for a scientific system to build a construction management supervision mode. This paper introduces the policy background and connotation of Agent Construction System (ACS). As a public investment construction management model, ACS, is gradually being incorporated into the legal framework, it is necessary to improve the construction agent supervision mechanism. This article analyzes the supervision mechanism of construction agent quality management under the principle of two-stage agent mode and establishes an agent quality self-control system and a government co-supervision system. These systems take the contract management as the core and the project quality objective as the guidance. These systems also consist of a two-dimensional framework of vertical self-control and horizontal supervision, which form a quality supervision mechanism. Based on Rough Set theory, the article proposes the idea of building an agent quality self-control and government co-supervision model, and illustrates it with a flow chart for building the model, which paves the way of quantitative research for the future.     

上海“十二五”城市建设方针和重点领域探讨

改革开放以来,上海城市建设的重心一直在中心城区。世博会后,城市建设的重心必将逐步转移至城郊地区。同时,上海已进入工业化后期阶段,只有统筹城郊发展,加快郊区建设步伐,才能在新起点上实现新飞跃。“十二五”时期上海城市建设方针应是“郊区为主,聚焦新城;生态优先,宜居为重;城乡统筹,协调发展”,聚焦综合性新城、农村基础设施等重点领域的投资建设。     

加快完善上海城乡基本社会保障机制研究

本文以促进上海城乡社会保障协调发展、提高上海社会保障效力为目标,研究完善上海社会保障机制的方法和策略,在对上海现行城乡社会保障机制进行现状评估的基础上,重点从三个方面进行突破：一是对上海社会保险项目重新进行目标定位、对覆盖的人群进行重新界定,进而对上海社会保障体系进行“顸层设计”,提出完善的上海城乡社会保险制度体系及内容;二是着重探讨上海社会保障城乡待遇的合理梯度和各基本社会保险项目之间的衔接机制,以探寻实现社会保障目标模式的路径及其手段;三是提出“十二五”时期上海市城乡社会保障机制建设的主要目标、任务,以及实现目标任务的时间表和保障措施,以期为政府决策提供咨询和参考。     

关于加大统筹上海城乡发展力度的若干思考

上海最有基础最有条件按照“两个趋向”的要求,在统筹城乡发展、破除城乡二元结构方面先行先试。本文结合上海实际,提出统筹城乡发展是加快上海经济发展方式转变的客观需要,加快新城和城镇化建设是统筹城乡发展的重要途径,推进农村集体建设用地有偿使用和流转是统筹城乡发展的突破口,着力破除城乡二元结构是统筹城乡发展的根本要求,加强党对“三农”工作的领导是统筹城乡发展的组织保障。     

Micro-entrepreneurship,new media technologies,and the reproduction and reconfiguration of gender in rural China

This article explores the connections between micro-entrepreneurship, new media technologies, and gender in rural China. Based on fieldwork among diverse individuals engaged in agricultural and non-agricultural micro-entrepreneurship, I examine how uses of technology in economic production become the site for the reproduction and/or reconfiguration of gender hierarchies. Grounding my analysis in feminist and critical theories of technology, I investigate the gendered uses and discourses of new media technologies that emerge from three types of entrepreneurial spaces: physical places where micro-entrepreneurship is based on new media technologies, such as internet cafés and mobile phone shops; virtual realms where new media technologies potentially facilitate entrepreneurship, including text messaging and various websites; and virtual spaces where informal learning and sharing take place via mediated networks formed around common occupations. I argue that in the context of entrepreneurship, even among women and men who are young and have migration experience, deeply entrenched gendered power differentials produce unequal access to capital and social networks, and hence uses and understandings of technology. Although engagement with technology has opened up new spaces for economic enhancement and the rearrangement of conventional gender norms, such engagement does not overcome – indeed, in many cases reproduces – gendered power relations.     

Indigenous land rights and dynamics of the land market in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

This paper raises a number of important issues relating to legal and economic development concepts. It concentrates on the supply constraints affecting land development decisions of both private and public landowners in releasing land for development purposes. With reference to the indigenous land rights in Kuala Lumpur, this paper focuses on the restrictions in interest, which may limit the land from being transferred in the open market. With a limited market, the indigenous land achieves a lower value in the market place because transactions are limited within a particular group of people only. As a result, the market forces are restricted and the land development process for urban regeneration often comes to a halt. In examining the role of the indigenous land market in the redevelopment process of Kuala Lumpur, the study uses an institutional analysis to show the way in which these restrictions in interest affect landowners’ decisions and, thus, restrict the supply of land to real estate redevelopment. In conclusion, the paper shows various causes for land supply constraints and ways to improve these with the aim to undertake urban redevelopment initiatives considering pressure for more land in the market.     

Assessing the effects of land use and land cover patterns on thermal conditions using landscape metrics in city of Indianapolis,United States

Direct applications of remote sensing thermal infrared (TIR) data in landscape ecological research are rare due to limitations in the sensors, calibration, and difficulty in interpretation. Currently there is a general lack of methodology for examining the relationship between land surface temperatures (LST) derived from TIR data and landscape patterns extracted from optical sensors. A separation of landscapes into values directly related to their scale and signature is a key step. In this study, a Landsat ETM+ image of Indianapolis, Unites States, acquired on June 22, 2000, was spectrally unmixed (using spectral mixture analysis, SMA) into fraction endmembers of green vegetation, soil, high albedo, and low albedo. Impervious surface was then computed from the high and low albedo images. A hybrid classification procedure was developed to classify the fraction images into seven land use and land cover (LULC) classes. Using the fractional images, the landscape composition and pattern were examined. Next, pixel-based LST measurements were correlated with the landscape fractional components to investigate LULC based relationships between LST and impervious surface and green vegetation fractions. An examination of the relationship between the LULC and LST maps with landscape metrics was finally conducted to deepen understanding of their interactions. Results indicate that SMA-derived fraction images were effective for quantifying the urban morphology and for providing reliable measurements of biophysical variables. LST was found to be positively correlated with impervious surface fraction but negatively correlated with green vegetation fraction. Each temperature zone was associated with a dominant LULC category. Further research should be directed to the theoretical and applied implications of describing such relationships between LULC patterns and urban thermal conditions.

对我国城市化健康发展的理论思考——城乡统筹发展的视角

本文简要回顾了我国近10年来城市化快速发展的理论和政策背景,指出快速城市化进程中存在土地、能源等自然资源过渡消耗和浪费问题,也存在重城轻乡等突出社会问题;采用人口供需平衡的方法,分析评价了我国人口城市化水平同经济发展水平、工业化水平和土地城市化的关系;对城市化加速理论进行剖析,认为我国当前工业化技术体系不适用于机器技术体系下城市化加速的经验规律,应该结合我国新型工业化的要求走资源节约型的新型城市化道路;建议适当降低城市化发展目标与速度,纠正城市化过程中＂城市偏向＂和＂以物为本＂的做法,体现国家赋予城市化带动农村发展的重任,实现城乡统筹发展。     

中国各省份城乡统筹发展水平测算——基于ANP模型

通过回顾国内有关城乡统筹研究的文献,在分析现有AHP方法、聚类分析、主因子分析方法的优点和缺点的基础上,构建了符合全面性、代表性、可比性、科学性等原则的城乡统筹发展水平评价体系并以此测算出中国大陆29省份2000—2011年的城乡统筹发展水平,最终根据测算结果进行分析并提出针对性的对策建议。     

Othering the rural: About the construction of rural masculinities and the unspoken urban hegemonic ideal in Swedish media

Studies within the field of rural geography have lately to a noticeable extent enriched the theme of the creation of masculinities and femininities focussing on social constructions of the rural, as well as social constructions of gender. In this study I aim to discuss some expressed discourses of the rural in order to illuminate the power relation between the urban and the rural and the spatial implications of the construction of masculinities and femininities.Taking three Swedish television productions as a point of departure, I will argue that an urban hegemony exists and that the programmes reveal how rural masculinities are constructed. The aim is firstly to add a spatial dimension to the constructions of masculinities, and secondly to show how media builds up and emphasises a gap between the rural and the urban in these constructions. Cutting-edge media is of interest, as it is active in reproducing certain practices and also in identifying who is following the norm and who is deviating from it. The three television productions highlight the construction of rural masculinities in terms of seeking help and being ‘backward’; that rural men are unequal and traditional as well as deviating and out of place.     

地方高校中国古建筑模型实验室的建设与应用

主要介绍了廊坊师范学院为培养创新型人才进行的中国古建筑模型室的建设及在相关课程中的应用。该古建模型实验室为学院中国古建筑工程技术专业的学生提供了实践基地,同时让土木类其它相关专业学生了解并亲身感受了到中国古建筑的精妙。     

The regional distribution of skill premia in urban China: Implications for growth and inequality

Based on urban household survey data, the authors find that skill premia increased significantly across all regions of China between 1995 and 2002, but only in coastal regions between 2002 and 2007. By then, these regions also displayed much wider wage inequality and thus contributed more to overall urban wage inequality than non‐coastal regions. While privatization was the main driver of skill premia in 1995–2002, China's (regionally uneven) integration into the global economy became the dominant influence in 2002–07. Reducing skill premia and inequality, the authors argue, calls for reform of the Hukou registration system which impedes skilled labour mobility and possibly also growth.     

Gendered Self-Improvement: Autonomous Personhood and the Marriage Predicament of Young Women in Urban China

How does gender shape the experience and imaginaries of self-realisation? This article explores practices of self-improvement among young women in China, namely workshops for interpersonal skills. These practices direct participants to express themselves as autonomous persons, disembedded from social hierarchies and familial responsibilities. Unmarried women who attend workshops conceive of marriage as an unavoidable impediment to their self-realisation. This is due to a prevailing gender inequality in marriage, as well as the ongoing expansion of an ideal of individual autonomy in China through economic reforms. In this article, I do not centre my analysis on a cultural clash between this ideal and local cultural practices. Instead, it is the possibility of this ideal, which is always shaped and restricted by socio-economic imperatives, that induces women’s frustration with their local culture. The fact that this ideal promises universal attainment highlights for women the gender roles that limit their autonomy.