The plan of rehabilitation and reconstruction is an important foundation for the advancement of restaration and reconstruction in disaster affected areas. It is of great significance for the promotion of the capability of disaster prevention, restoration and reconstruction and the continuous improvement of the theory and methods for restaoration and reconstruction. Through a great plenty of literatures and materials published by international organizations, this study analyzes and summarizes the developed concept and ideas as well as the implementations of restoration and reconstruction in the areas affected respectively by the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, the Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004, and the Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Finally, this study points out that in the process of restoration and reconstruction in China, more efforts should be made in two aspects, which are attention/reflection of publics’desire and construction of intangible environment.
Migration spatial structure refers to the distribution patterns of migration in space, including magnitude, direction, mode and spatial distribution of the origin-destination of migration. It plays a significant role in the evolvement of the regional spatial structure and population projection. Based on the dissimilarity of the fundamental theories on migration, this paper systematically analyses the evolvement of the western classical models on migration via 3 aspects: spatial physics, spatial sociology and spatial economy, and evaluates their advantages and shortages scientifically. Spatial physics models are based on the law of gravity in physics. These series models underwent a process from simpleness to complexity. The theory basis is simple and therefore can be easily used in metric analysis. Differential variables have been added to the models, such as unemployment and wage or migration stock. However, spatial physics theory limits the cause of migration to macroscopical economy, not considering that the migration is the outcome of individuals' decision. Spatial sociology theory is distinguished by its concern with the attributes of individuals and focus on the migratory behavior of individuals. It includes push-pull model, intervening opportunities models, cost-benefit model, and expected earnings models. This kind of models well explains the cause mechanism of migration, however, a lack of spatial factor and unsuitable assumption to the developing countries are their limitations. The spatial economy theory combines geographic space and economy elements to describe complicated migration phenomenon, which is a landmark process. The spatial information such as the cost of job commuting with certain distance from job location to inhabitancy, the ground rent with certain distance from CBD, and the transportation cost was taken into account while modeling. By systematically unscrambling past studies on the methodologies of spatial structure of migration, this paper generalizes three major methodologies and techniques widely used in this field: (1) Mathematical model. It was widely used in the previous studies on migration spatial structure; all of the models mentioned above can be applied directly or being modified through mathematical means. (2) GIS spatial analysis. Firstly it makes the geo-simulation and visualization of migration possible; then some spatial variables related to location or distance can be estimated and ameliorated, for instance the rational expression of distance and spatialization of variable elements affecting migration. (3)MAS/CA. It is one of the key technologies that simulation model matches the real process of migration, integrating the modeling method of multi-anent system with cellular automata. Whereas the application to migration is not so prevalent due to the complexity of the transition rule. Based on summarizing the classical models and research methodologies, the paper ended with the authors’ personal constructive suggestions to Chinese migration spatial structure studies in the future.
Population agglomeration and dispersion are the most direct and the most concentrated expression of population spatial distribution pattern. The research on population agglomeration and dispersion spatial pattern and its formation mechanisms in a specific region will not only help to reveal the population agglomeration and dispersion in the region of the inherent law itself, but also benefit the study of the overall regional population spatial pattern, and even further, the study of regional economy agglomeration and urbanization. With the largest population and significant difference in regional natural condition and economy, China’s population agglomeration and dispersion, in terms of not only the size but also complexity, are not comparable in the world. Thereby, research on the spatial pattern of China’s population agglomeration and dispersion, which will contribute to grasping the essence of China’s population spatial distribution pattern, is of great significance in both academy and practice. The article chose the classification evaluation of population agglomeration, which classified China into many population agglomeration types of different levels according to their population centralization index, and then, discussed them in each type. Based on this and the comprehensive consideration on the spatial distribution pattern of China’s population, natural conditions, human environment suitability and economic development, the article generalized the spatial pattern of China’s population agglomeration and dispersion .
Taking the Wei River Basin (mainstream) as a case, a dynamic model of man-land areal system has been established using SD method and Vensim PLE software and taking utilization of water resources as the main clues. Through adjustment of water utilization and pollution index, four scenarios of the simulations during 2005-2025 have been established, which are the high-speed economic development mode, the water-lack feedback mode, the water-lack and environment-pollution feedback mode, and the water diversion coupling mode. The results show that, firstly, system dynamic model is a very useful tool for simulating the man-land relationship in a river basin. It is quite easy to reflect the characters of nonlinear relations, feedback and changeability of the system. Secondly, based on the analysis of the four scenarios, it can be concluded that the economic development is the fastest in the high-speed economic development mode, however, the burden of ecological environment will aggravate, as well as the water, social and economic conditions will get worse sharply. Social and economic developing speed can be regulated by water resources bearing capacity in the water-lack feed back mode, but in some degree economic development will be limited. The water resource limitation and environment pollution are considered in the water-stortage and environment-pollution feedback mode, in which the social and environment development is the slowest. This mode can improve the conditions of water stortage and environmental pollution in a short time, while the slow economic development will suppress the capital accumulation, and will also aggravate the man-land contradiction. The water-lack feedback mode and the water-lack and environment- pollution feedback mode are the supplement of the high-speed economic development mode. The water diversion coupling model diverts water resources into the Wei River Basin, by which the situation of water shortage can be improved, also the economic development can keep increasing at a sustainable high speed, and it is an effective way to balance the man-land relationship in the Wei River Basin. Therefore, in order to make decisions more reasonably, it is important for the government to consider the overall development of economy, resource and environment in decision making.
This article analyzes the spatial cognitive distortion of Beijing residents, and emphatically discusses the systematic distortion and the characteristics of it, in the way of BR and standard deviational ellipse. Three conclusions were obtained as follows: Firstly, the cognition of the informants in the investigated places is clockwise centripetal convergency, presenting the magnet effect, the urban spatial cognition of Beijing residents is clear; the cognitive distortion in the center is smaller than the outlying areas. This can be well explained by urban central attraction of reward hypothesis. Tian'anmen has the core effect of organizing urban spatial cognition of Beijing. Secondly, the systematic distortion in Beijing urban space is smaller, and the regular annular traffic makes the residents’cognition datum lines, leading to a high similarity of topological structure and a distortion effect with small deflection angles, and reflecting the distinct characteristic of Beijing urban spatial structure. Thirdly, in the investigated places of Beijing city, the difference of location cognition is significant. The convergency of outlying areas is smaller than that of the town center, and the convergency in places far away from annular traffic is smaller than that near the annular traffic. The suburbs are more obvious than the town center, suggesting that the places near the annular traffic have more obvious convergency.
The economic stimulus package with large-scale urban construction investment, launched by the government in 2008, will not only play a significant role in promoting the economic development, but also lead to the excessive urban spatial expansion. Due to the scarcity of arable land resources in China, the excessive expansion of urban space will be a threat to the national long-term interests. This paper analyzes the relationship between urban construction investment and urban spatial expansion by establishing an AC-D model, and taking Wuxi as an example, and verifies the role of urban construction investment in promoting urban spatial expansion. By entering the data of urban spatial expansion and statistics of Wuxi (1991, 1998, 2001, 2005, and 2008) into AC-D model, this paper calculates the effects of urban construction investment on urban expansion, and finds a significant role of urban construction investment in promoting urban spatial expansion. The elasticity coefficient (α) between total urban construction investment and urban spatial expansion reaches 0.619. Furthermore, the paper calculates the contribution rates of urban construction investment in different directions to urban spatial expansion in Wuxi, and the result shows that investment in different fields will cause different degrees of expansion of urban space. On the basis of these studies，this paper builds up an urban construction investment structure optimization GA model based on genetic algorithm, which is under the constraints of GDP, urban area and population. The results show that a moderate amount of investment in the five areas with significant impacts on urban spatial expansion of Wuxi is about 277.6 billion Yuan in 2009 and 2010. Investment in excess of this size will cause excessive urban spatial expansion. The investment required for manufacturing, transportation, warehousing and postal industries, real estate investment and construction should be properly controlled, and the investment in water conservancy, environment, education, health, social security and social welfare industries to protect and improve people's livelihood should be increased. So this paper provides a scientific ground for urban construction investment and sustainable development.
Industrial agglomeration has become the mainstream form of world economic development. In recent years, the planning and construction of industrial agglomeration areas in China appear in succession, and gain rapid development. However, there is still lack of basic theoretical guidance. Therefore, this paper selects urban industrial agglomeration as the research object, reviews and studies on its dynamic mechanisms and patterns, and explores the general research approach in order to provide a scientific basis for the planning and construction of urban industrial agglomeration areas and the rational development of urban industrial economy. Based on the reviews of the studies on the dynamic mechanism and patterns of industrial agglomeration and analysis of the interaction between industrial agglomeration and urban development, this paper proposes the general research approach of the dynamic mechanism and pattern of urban industrial agglomeration. This approach emphasizes the foundation role that the research on the dynamic mechanism and pattern and the interaction between industrial agglomeration and urban development plays. With the application of system theory, the urban industrial agglomeration system is divided into inner system and regulative system. This paper emphasizes that the selection of the development pattern of urban industrial agglomeration should be based on the analysis of its dynamic mechanism in order to ensure the development pattern scientific and rational.
Sustainable city construction has become a fundamental guarantee for the sustainable development of human society. This paper systematically analyzed the sustainable city concept and its developing course, and presented an overview of the contemporary ideologies, trend of practices, methodologies，future discourses and key factors associated with sustainable city. It was required for the sustainable city construction to actively address the effectiveness of urban dimensions (form, structure and function), ecology, community and economic welfare sustainability. Meanwhile, building up the capacity of local government combining with political renovation, consciousness towards sustainable city and engagement of citizens had been identified as crucial factors for the successful implementation of local sustainability policies.
Spatial accessibility measurement can be applied to assess the rationality of public service facilities distribution, and can be used to compare the merits and drawbacks of related planning schemes. As for spatial accessibility measurement to public service facilities, the primary issue is to select corresponding accessibility evaluation factors according to specific spatial distribution targets of various facilities presumed by facilities features and service demands, and the next is to apply appropriate accessibility measurement approaches according to the evaluation factors and to achieve the accessibility calculation. However, it is unlucky that the present literature on such thematic studies is scarce. On the one hand, we analyze the classification to public service facilities from the perspectives of service urgency, acceptability, quantity (single or various) and hierarchic rank, and then we discuss how to presume spatial distribution targets and select corresponding accessibility evaluation factors of different facilities. On the other hand, we introduce the main measurement approaches including the methods based on supply (provider) versus demand (population), the shortest travel impedance (time or distance), opportunities to be accumulated, and spatial interaction, and furthermore we compare the applications as well as the merits and drawbacks of various approaches, and discuss how to measure spatial accessibility of public service facilities based on potential model and two-step floating catchment area method. Finally, based on the above review and summary, we point out that the following research topics should be devoted more attention to: the spatial accessibility measurement to hierarchical facilities, comprehensive examination of the spatial accessibility measurement from the point of view of demanders activities, integrated spatial accessibility measurement to multiple facilities in the study area, and the integration between complicated measure approaches and GIS.
Based on the pole-axis spatial system theory and growth pole theory, 11 main economic indicators' data obtained from all the cities at prefecture level and above in 2008 were analyzed by employing principal component analysis to calculate the urban comprehensive score. Among all the cities, 100 top cities were selected as the primary cities. By choosing the sampled 100 cities as geographical centres, their economic impacting areas were determined by applying the spatial interaction theory, and meanwhile the urban economic influential radiuses were also explored, through buffer zone analysis in GIS. Taking the main railway lines, the main water distribution systems and the coastal boundaries as references, the average values of the radiuses of the primary cities which these axes running through were regarded as the economic influential radiuses to conduct the buffer zone analysis in GIS, and the top 10 primary axis impacting areas in China were named. Based on this, the primary economy axes in China were positioned through axes least-square method analysis. The results showed that cities located in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan economic zone, the peninsula of Shandong economic zone, and Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta economic regions have developed to an advanced city cluster development phase, the central-eastern part of China has stepped into a pole-axis web shaped development phase, while the western China has not yet formed the primary axis. By combining the actual situations in China and the results obtained through this research, suggestions for improving the Chinese primary axes were also proposed, and the levels of growth poles on the primary axes were categorized. Based on the improvement of the primary axis, the cities for future development were selected from the axes. Finally, the micro regional economic policies were discussed.
The existence of a relationship between short-term fluctuations or economic volatility and economic growth has essential macroeconomic and regional development policy implications, as it suggests the possibility that policies designed to stabilize short-term fluctuations might also have effects on the long-term performance of the economy. Depending mainly on whether this relationship is negative or positive, there is the presumption that successful stabilization would also entail either an improvement or deterioration in growth prospects. This paper aims to provide the general empirical evidences on regional economic volatility’s impact on regional economic growth in China. Based on the panel data set of 28 provinces in Chinese mainland over the period from 1978 to 2007 and on the cross-sectional data, using the corresponding econometric methods, we find that: (1) There is a robust negative relationship between regional economic volatility and regional economic growth in both temporal and spatial dimensions, although the magnitude of this negative effect is decreasing with the deepening of China’s reform and opening-up. Specifically, during 1978-1993, one percent increase of economic volatility would lead to the decrease of economic growth rate by 0.024%, while it only led to the decrease of 0.020% between 1994-2007 in our one way fixed effect panel data models. (2) The advancing process of financial and market-oriented development alleviates the negative effect imposed by economic volatility on long-term growth and the heterogeneous effect of volatility on growth in different regions caused by different levels of regional financial development and market-oriented development differs only in magnitude. This also shows the robust negative relationship between economic volatility and the growth in the spatial dimension. (3) In the Schumpeterian Waves analysis, we find strong evidence to reject the hypothesis that economic volatility is exogenous, and we use the fixed effect two stage least square method proposed by Keane and Runkle to capture the true impact of economic volatility on economic growth. Once we account for simultaneous and reverse causation in the economic volatility-growth relationship, the negative effect is magnified to a large extent. As a matter of fact, in the financial models, without considering the nonlinear effect of financial development, one percent increase of economic volatility will decrease the economic growth rate by 0.125%. Therefore, implementation of stable macroeconomic and regional development policies is beneficial to the long-term economic growth, especially in China.
Urban development is closely related to transport accessibility. To analyze their relationship and effecting mechanism is beneficial to the deep understanding of regional development. In this paper, based on the data about the urban system and highway networks during recent 30 years in Xinjiang, the growth theory of neoclassicism is used to establish a regression model, and the special analysis methods of GIS are applied to analyze the changes of cities and transport accessibility and their relationship after reform and opening in Xinjiang. The study is important for us to grasp the law of interrelation，to promote the dynamic optimization between the urban system and highway networks, to promote the level and efficiency of the resource sharing, and to expedite regional development. The results indicate that urban development has an obvious regional character. The urban development in Northern Xinjiang is better than that in the Southern Xinjiang, and that of the east is better than that of the west. The year 1997 was the dividing point on the development of transport accessibility, and there was a sharp increasing development after the slow growth before 1997. The spatial pattern of transport accessibility is that the north-south slopes of Tianshan have the best transport accessibility, and then it decreases to the periphery. There are some relationships between transport accessibility and urban development. The first is that urban development is seriously restricted by its transport accessibility, and the changes of transport accessibility will diminish the marginal effects of urban development. The second is that urban development has a positive effect on transport accessibility. Faster speed or bigger comprehensive strength of urban development will promote the development of transport accessibility.
Based on Kernel density estimates and Markov Chains methods, by introducing spatial factors into the analysis framework, China’s provincial internal and inbound tourism development (1999-2008) dynamics are studied. The results from temporal dynamics suggest that there is the evidence of club convergence. Majority of low-income areas of tourism and a small number of high-income areas of tourism coexist for a long time. From the spatial perspective, we find that both internal and inbound tourism regional income are partly influenced by proximity effects and there is a trend towards the development level of neighbors. But the dynamic trends of the internal and inbound tourism are not always the same.
Waterfront areas in the urban and the town areas provide easy opportunities to have access to the public space of good qualities for residents and visitors who are keen on a variety of recreational activities. The objective of this study is to offer a structural equation modeling which helps to identify the structural relationship among waterfront areas about ecological benefits-based management (EBBM). The structural equation model is invented to reliably and validly measure predictive relationships between the constructs of Activity, Setting, Experience, Benefits and Ecological Features. This approach represents a significant departure from the traditional planning model of waterfront areas. The findings indicate that the comprehensive uses of Activity, Setting, Experience, Benefits and Ecological features are applicable in waterfront areas. The EBBM approach recognizes the ecological benefits that waterfront areas contribute to the overall qualities of life in the community, and it contributes to help policymakers take new and emergent findings into account when designing recreation and activity services and initiatives for the 21st century. Waterfront areas perform valuable functions such as providing groundwater recharge areas, wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, and filtering pollutants from storm water run-off and sediment control. The ecological benefits-based model acknowledges that there are multiple providers of waterfront areas. The most important benefits are to protect the natural surroundings and to have access to water and public lands. Data are collected by using a combination of on-site interview and questionnaires completed by 304 inhabitants and tourists of Dandong. The survey indicates that waterfront areas are needed in the urban and the town areas. The survey also requires respondents to rate the public benefits of waterfront areas. The fit indices show that the model fits the data accurately.
Tourism development in minority areas has achieved a qualitative leap in west China since comprehensively implementing development strategies of west China. The authors also discovered that the research literatures about tourism development in minority areas had became a stable research direction in the field of tourism theories in China. However, the practices of tourism development in minority areas in China indicated that tourism development level was one of the important roles for weighing the tourism sustainable development in minority areas of western China. Therefore, evaluation should be conducted scientifically of the tourism development in various minority counties, and the strategies for sustainable tourism development in various minority areas should be formulated with clear goals. This article established a comprehensive evaluation index system for the county tourism development in minority regions of western China. At the same time, it used factor analysis (FA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) to analyze quantitatively and evaluate comprehensively the tourism development of 16 minority counties in the Miao and Dong minorities' Autonomous Prefecture of southeast Guizhou. The results indicated that the overall evaluation score for the county with a developed tourism (Kaili) was 1.510. Counties with better tourism (Leishan, Zhenyuan, Shibing, Liping, Congjiang and Rongjiang) developed comparatively quickly and gradually grew up as the core tourism counties. Counties with moderately developed tourism (Jinping, Taijiang, Jianhe, Huangping, Majiang and Danzhai) had a large development potential. Counties with undeveloped tourism (Cengong, Sansui and Tianzhu) developed comparatively slowly. Above conclusions revealed the characteristic and regular pattern of tourism development of minority counties in order to provide the conference foundations on tourism sustainable development of minority counties..
At present, China’s cruise tourism is still at an early stage of development. The basic development model is to construct ports and related facilities to attract international cruise tourists. Many of our coastal cities have taken cruise tourism as a new focus. Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao, Dalian, Ningbo, Xiamen, Shenzhen and other cities have put forward the ideas of building cruise home ports, and sped up the cruise terminal and infrastructure planning and construction, and actively created the conditions for the development of cruise economy. In this paper we established an index system to evaluate the development potential of China's cruise industry. We evaluated it from several aspects, including tourism resources, cruise business performance, tourism enterprises operating capacity, financial and insurance service capabilities, transportation security capability, city support and so on. Based on the index system, we took China’s eight major cruise cities as cases and did the evaluation using factor analysis method. From the evaluation results, we divided the eight cities into three levels, according to their advantages for cruise tourism development. We proposed that China’s cruise tourism would form a spatial pattern with two regional markets in the north and the south respectively, taking Shanghai as the homeport and Shenzhen, Tianjin as the regional central port.
