Comprehensive concept planning of urban greening based on ecological principles: a case study in Beijing, China

Greenspace is an important part of complex urban ecosystems and provides significant ecosystem services. It benefits urban communities environmentally, esthetically, recreationally and economically. Beijing Province is in north of China, and has a total area of 16,807.8 km² and a population of about 13.8 million. This paper aims to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework for urban greening of Beijing Province based on landscape ecological principles. It attempts to answer how to establish an urban greening plan at the regional, city and neighborhood levels to achieve long-term sustainability. At the regional level, a big natural and semi-natural forest area in the northwest and an ecological buffer belt in the southeast are planned to protect the environmental quality of Beijing and provide habitats for wildlife. At the city level, a green network system of green wedges, parks and green corridors has been proposed. This green network helps to limit future urban expansion, improve urban environmental quality and serve as habitats and migration routes for wildlife. At the neighborhood level, green extensions and connections of riverside greenway, road greenway, parks and vertical greening permeate into the built-up areas. They provide open space close to residential areas and offer places for recreation. This three-level green system constitutes an integrated ecological network for urban sustainable development of Beijing. For future development of Beijing, urban parks, forestry, agriculture, water and infrastructure should be planned and designed in an integrated way. After this greenspace plan is legislated and completely realized, Beijing will develop an interconnected and integrated network of urban greenspaces. It has the prospect of achieving the aim of “Green Olympic City 2008” and the long-term goal of developing Beijing towards an “Eco-City”.     

天津第一热电厂产业建筑遗存改造再利用初探

始建于1937年的天津第一热电厂位于天津市河东区六纬路,处于城市中心区,紧邻海河,是天津市最大的热电联产企业。自上世纪中叶以来,天津第一热电厂为天津市及周边省市的供电、供热做出了巨大贡献。天津第一热电厂记录了天津产业的发展历程,以其独特的文化价值和精神价值构成了天津城市历史的印记。因此,对天津第一热电厂产业建筑遗存改造再利用的研究是非常必要的。通过对第一热电厂的现状进行分析,结合德国鲁尔区、英国泰特艺术馆、纽约苏荷区等进行案例分析;阐明了适合于天津第一热电厂产业建筑遗存改造再利用的开发模式与类型,为今后天津第一热电厂和类似产业建筑遗存改造再利用提供参考。     

基于GIS的广西北流市地质灾害易发性分区评价

以北流市为例,利用地质环境要素对地质灾害易发性进行评价,并通过MapGIS软件实现可视化。选取了地质灾害发育密度、地貌类型、自然斜坡坡度、工程地质岩组、残坡积土层厚度、人类活动强度、多年平均降雨量7个影响地质灾害易发性的地质环境因素,建立了地质灾害易发性评价指标体系和评价方法,并对研究区进行了评价,依据预测分区指标计算,研究区地质灾害高易发区总面积为1185. 37 km~2,占全市总面积的49%;地质灾害中易发区总面积为1027. 76 km~2,占全市总面积的41%地质灾害低易发区总面积为243. 50 km~2,占全市总面积的10%。     

Planning the Outward Growth of Australian Capital Cities: Perth

Over the last twenty years the Perth Metropolitan Region has consistently been one of Australia's fastest growing urban areas. In that twenty years it has diversified its economic base to service the State's growing mineral and agricultural industries as well as capitalising on the growing significance of the tertiary sector. The outcome of this growth has been a modern sprawling city. Perth's central area is dominated by a narrow spine of high rise offices but within a few kilometres low density suburbia predominates. While the suburban areas have been concentrated in a corridor form since the 1970s they remain largely uniform and ‘placeless’ in their physical identity. Perth has been described ‘as a suburb in search of a city’ (Seddon, 1991).     

我国近代博览建筑的起源与发展 # ——以天津为例

近代天津开埠以后,尤其北洋新政的推行,促进了城市博览事业的发展。文章梳理了近代天津自北洋新政至民国政府时期博览建筑的设计与建设,探讨了近代天津博览建筑从沿用传统、效仿西法到走向现代三个不同阶段的特征,揭示了在政权更迭、文化冲击、社会发展等各方面因素影响下近代天津博览建筑的产生与转型。     

City profile: Wrocław

The present profile describes Wrocław, one of the largest Polish cities. Wrocław currently has 636,000 inhabitants and covers an area of 293 km² - forming the most important urban center in the southwest part of Poland. It is also the capital of Lower Silesia and the hub of Wrocław's agglomeration with around 1 million inhabitants. Several socio – economic processes can be perceived in contemporary Wrocław, that are also taking place in other major Polish cities. On the other hand, historical past and several changes in national affiliation affected development of Wrocław's certain distinctive qualities. The authors focused primarily on identifying the major alterations taking place in the city in recent decades, such as: new phenomena in the economy of the city, the transformation of the functional–spatial structure or evolving demographic situation.     

Four decades of the morphological dynamics of the lakes in the Jianghan Plain using Landsat observations

Using four decades of Landsat observations between 1978 and 2014, we documented and studied the long‐term dynamics of the inundation conditions in the Jianghan Plain, Central China. Three morphological factors, including inundation areas, perimeters and shoreline developments (SDs), of the 51 selected lakes were calculated. Significant long‐term morphological changes were found in lakes in the Jianghan Plain. The total area dramatically increased from 838.0 km² in 1978 to 1200.8 km² in 1989, and an overall decreasing trend was observed in the later period. The changing patterns of the perimeters and SDs were different from the inundation areas, especially for the largest lake in this area (Honghu). The inconsistent changes between the inundation area and the other two morphological parameters were likely caused by increasing human activities. This study demonstrated the importance of remote sensing in obtaining multi‐decadal lake changes in terms of both the inundation area and the morphological complexity.     

The planning of late colonial village housing in the tropics: Tema Manhean,Ghana

This paper examines the planning, physical development, and housing in Tema New Town, an appendix of the newly created Tema industrial and harbour city, located on the northeastern part of Accra in the Greater Accra Region in Ghana. The city and its appendage were designed and built during the 1950s, as the country was rapidly approaching political independence. Tema, originally an old Ga-fishing village, became a significant part of a much larger and ambitious scheme, known as the Volta River Project proposed as part of Kwame Nkrumah's domestic policy, embracing multifaceted and multidimensional development projects. These projects were to serve as a symbol of ‘progress’ and were part of Ghana's desire for modernization as it emerged from a colonial past. The related schemes were largely funded as a result of the British Colonial Development and Welfare Acts, and this paper investigates the implementation of this policy and the effect that it had on physical planning and provision of architectural solutions in Ghana.     

The Eco-City as Urban Technology: Perspectives on Caofeidian International Eco-City (China)

Caofeidian International Eco-City, in North-East China, is among several large-scale new eco-city initiatives currently in development across Asia. Built from scratch across an area of 74 km², with an expected population of 800,000 by 2020, the city's plan boasts an abundance of urban sustainability features, from integrated public transport services and advanced water and waste recycling systems, to public parks and an extensive wetland area. This article uses the historical and conceptual perspective of “techno-city” to analyze the city's urban technology features. It highlights the relationship between the city and its hinterland, discusses the focus on science and technology driving the city's concept, and explores the international, modernist design language used. In doing so, the analysis points to several key tensions and contradictions at work, including a disconnect between the city's green technology focus and the high-carbon heavy industry of the surrounding area, and a lack of engagement with the local culture and community. Caofeidian Eco-City exhibits several features of twentieth-century techno-cities, although these are re-cast within the twenty-first-century context of global climate change policy and China's ongoing rapid urbanization processes.     

京津冀都市圈大都市阴影区的GIS界定

大都市阴影区是由于中心城市及其 周边区域因集聚、辐射作用的不同组合关系 而形成的一种发展落差现象。本文介绍了大 都市阴影区的形成和演化机制,并以京津冀 都市圈为例,利用Huff模型、K-means聚类 和空间自相关等方法划分了都市圈的影响圈 层与范围,界定了2012年都市圈的“大都市阴 影区”,总结出了通过GIS的空间分析手段界 定“阴影区”和“半阴影区”的方法。研究发 现：利用GIS空间分析手段可以定量、直观地 界定大都市阴影区和半阴影区;京津冀都市 圈的大都市阴影区主要存在于以北京为中心 的西北和西南两翼,京津冀自然本底条件和 区位差异决定了人口和经济活动布局的空间 不均衡性,国家实施区域不均衡发展战略导 致人口和产业快速向京津等沿海地区集聚, 政策、交通、经济要素和产业结构是造成京 津冀都市圈阴影区形成的主要因素。提出大 都市阴影区的消减对策应依据大都市区中心 城市、外围区域和阴影区三者关系来制定。     

天津拖拉机厂地块更新研究与设计

在指出城市工业地段更新必要性的基础上,系统地阐述城市工业地段更新规划驱动的现实意义,策略方法以及可持续发展设计观,并将其运用到天津拖拉机厂地块规划设计中,然后简要对其设计思想和城市区域特色的营造予以介绍。     

The role of international actors in low-carbon transitions of Shenzhen's International Low Carbon City in China

This study looks into one of the most promising low carbon city planning initiatives in China, namely Shenzhen's International Low Carbon City (ILCC). First as a collaborative project between the Dutch and Chinese partners, the ILCC's international partners have expanded to include other countries, such as Germany, Italy, France, Australia and the US. This paper investigates the influence of these international actors in the development process of the ILCC and their benefits in the long run, through knowledge transfer and accumulation of resource.The paper first highlights a broad understanding of ‘low carbon city’ followed by detailed discussions on discourses of ‘low carbon city’, ‘eco-city’, and ‘low carbon eco-city’ in China. Then it provides insights on knowledge transfer in low carbon city development, and particularly the Sino-Foreign cases of China. The authors then introduce the case of study (ILCC) and highlight its visions, project planning, and partnerships. Using primary and secondary data, it then maps the ILCC's international actors and their roles, and then analyses their behaviours and impacts in the project's planning and development process. Next, the paper summarises the research findings with further updates on the case of ILCC. The authors conclude that the engagement between Chinese and international partners differ in three forms and they are (1) the type of involvement; (2) the level and timeframe of involvement; (3) the level of Influence in the project's multiple stages. The paper concludes that the role played by an international partner evolves as the project proceeds.     

基于信息量法的重庆云阳县(三峡库区)地质灾害易发性评价

云阳县地处重庆市东部,属三峡库区,构造上位于川东弧形构造带东北段,褶皱形态以宽平的屉形向斜和狭窄的高背斜相间排列,组成隔挡式构造。区内地貌以中-高山峡谷地貌为主,第四纪以来一直处于间歇性抬升状态,地形切割强烈,长江河道从境内穿过,河流水系发育,年降雨量大,地质环境条件脆弱,地质灾害发育。论文基于Arcgis平台,运用信息量法全面分析了影响云阳县地质灾害发育的地形条件、地层岩性、地质构造、河流水系、人类工程活动等因素,建立了云阳县地质灾害易发评价指标体系。评价结果表明,高易发区面积576 km²,占比15.8％,中易发区面积1801.68 km²,占比49.41％；评价结果可为云阳县区域地质灾害防治提供依据,也可为三峡库区地质灾害易发性评价提供参考。     

Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall and the invention of the post-modern city

The Royal Concert Hall, designed by Leslie Martin, occupies a pivotal space in central Glasgow. Its opening in 1990 concluded a thirty-year war over modern and post-modern urban form. At the time, Glasgow's city centre looked very different than three decades earlier, and the changes from a modern to a ‘post-modern’ environment were paradigmatic for the shifts in many de-industrialising cities in Europe and North America. In this context the Royal Concert Hall is an example of how a single building catalysed a wide-ranging paradigm change.

This article retraces the design debates on the basis of newspaper articles, interviews and documents, in particular from the City Council and other public agencies. It will show that the struggle that eventually defined the shape and use of Glasgow's largest music venue as well as those of the entire city centre related to Glasgow's post-modern ‘reinvention’. At the same time it shows that the new urban form was not a mandatory consequence of the economic shift but conditioned by several social and cultural specificities.     

Conference Bibliography

This paper looks at Jacques Tati's 1967 film ‘Playtime’ and its constructed city set on the periphery of Paris as an example of the negotiation of urban space and its prescribed ‘instructions for use‘. It explores this city of façades and choreographed subversions in relation to Rem Koolhaas’s ‘Junkspace’. Linked through their interaction with and comment on the changing Parisian landscape of the 1960s the paper then goes on to look at the development of the Centre Pompidou, and the American artist, Gordon Matta-Clark’s intervention on the site of its construction. Tati's film ‘Playtime’ was originally entitled ‘Re-creation’ and the notion of recreation permeates the case studies used, this paper and further research—finding and creating alternative spaces of play, a world apart from the allocated ‘Leisure spaces’ and ‘recreational facilities’ of an expanding Junkspace.     

城市核心区公共空间营造--库哈斯中央电视台新总部大厦的设计思考

文章通过对库哈斯设计的中央电视台新总部大厦的设计理念进行梳理分析,这一设计通过环状建筑形式限定了线和空间,为北京城市CBD地区植入了大尺度的灰空间。由此引出思考,中国现阶段城市核心区建筑更关注自身形式而缺乏营造城市公共空间的分享精神。通过模糊边界,底层架空,竖向连续空间等手法,可以为城市核心高密度区营造出更多充满活力的公共空间。     

Are South Africa’s cities too small?

Are South African cities to small? Given the history of South Africa’s spatial development, one might expect that South African cities might be under-sized, and not over-sized as in many other developing countries. It is found that the rank-size distribution explains the sizes of South Africa’s cities but that Zipf’s Law does not hold for the country’s cities. The so-called q-coefficient was found to be equal to −0.75 for the 123 places with population in excess of 100 000. It was also found that urbanisation in South Africa over the past decade seems to have taken the form of the parallel (slow, 1.04%) growth of five large cities. Finally, calculating the “H-measure” for 19 metropolitan areas in South Africa yields an inverse H-measure of 11.3. This suggests a reasonable degree of dispersal, which would only be consistent with optimal city size if transport costs were low and manufacturing not in need of scale economies; two conditions unlikely to apply to South Africa. Finally, the primacy ratio for South Africa’s largest urban agglomeration was found to be 38%. This suggests that the size of the Johannesburg-East Rand urban agglomeration (the primate city) may be relatively too large, whereas more efficient growth may come from larger harbour cities.     

可持续的天津城市中心结构

近年来,以北京、天津为核心的环渤海经济圈正逐渐发展成长为"中国经济增长第三极"。天津在城市快速发展的同时,一直坚持以可持续发展为目标,在城市建设的多方面进行积极的探索。特别是天津城市中心结构的规划调整,集中体现了城市可持续发展思路,主要包括四个方面:城市中心公共职能的可持续发展、城市特色的可持续体现、城市可持续发展的公共交通保障和城市生态的可持续架构。文章总结了近年来天津在城市可持续发展方面的尝试,为中国特大城市中心结构的发展提供了一定的参考。     

Decentralized water management: rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse in an urban area of Beijing,China

Large-scale centralised wastewater treatment system has often prevailed in industrial countries, and has been regarded as a successful approach during the last century. However, transfer of this highly water-consuming system and so-called ‘end-of-pipe’ technology to developing countries, especially in fast-growing cities with scarce water resources, has been extremely limited. Decentralized water treatment is not a new technology and has been successfully implemented in many rural areas worldwide. However, there are few applications in urban areas. This study at Tianxiu Garden in Beijing, China, investigated the potential and feasibility of water management based on a decentralized approach, but modified for application of greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting in a densely populated semi-urban area. A high degree of drinking water substitution (more than 25%) could not be attained by rainwater harvesting. Recycling of treated greywater for toilet flushing was shown to be an efficient method for minimisation of drinking water consumption, and a more suitable technique than rainwater harvesting for saving water in Beijing, China.     

Harbin: A rust belt city revival from its strategic position

Rust belt cities are a special but important phenomenon in the world's industrialization landscape and city development trajectory. This profile analyses the struggling process and revitalization initiatives of Harbin, which was the first city established after the liberation of China, featuring the largest land area and highest latitude among all Chinese cities. The remarkable history of urban and industrial development once made Harbin the cradle of manufacturing in China, strongly supported by national government with concentration of SOEs. The city however has been suffering during the transition to a market economy. Its transition is painfully challenged by the strong socialist legacies of SOEs. This paper emphasizes that the new initiatives of Harbin, based on local endowments, cold climate condition and geolocation, demonstrate great potential for successful revitalization. Such strategic choices provide experiences and alternatives for other rust belt cities.