Tag Archives: urban environment

Realising China’s urbanisation dream

Aurélia Martin

Chargée de communications et des médias pour l'UMR Chine Corée Japon (CNRS)

Chinese metropolises’ air quality management performance assessment report

The “Performance Assessment Report – Air Quality Management of Metropolises in China” was drawn up by Professor Song Guojun and Professor Ma Zhong. This report examines the status of air quality and its patterns of evolution (2005-2010) in 281 Chinese cities (above prefecture level).

Results show that, generally, cities seen to have good air quality accounted for 10.67% of the total; those with poor air quality accounted for 75.80%. There were 13.52% of the 281 cities that had air of extremely poor quality. Yangjiang (阳江), Huangshan (黄山) and Maoming (茂名) are examples of cities with good air quality; these cities normally have a low level of economic development. In terms of GDP these three cities are ranked 136, 159 and 144 out of the 218 cities. Cities with poor air quality include Liaoyuan, Lanzhou, Wuhan, Urumqi, Beijing, Nanjing, Xi’an, etc.

The report also included a questionnaire asking resident about their opinion of the air quality. The result shows that 46.02% of the respondents are dissatisfied with their current air quality, but there are also 71.26% of the respondents who think that air quality has improved significantly in comparison to previous years.

More details of this report can be found in the “China Environmental Economics Database”(http://www.3edata.com), where it can be consulted and downloaded.

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

Urban Environmental Pollution 2013 – Asian Edition

Urban Environmental Pollution 2013 Asian Edition : Creating Healthy, Liveable Cities

People all over the world are migrating to cities in search of jobs and cultural advantages, especially in Asia. This has resulted in the formation of huge megapolitan areas and surrounding peri-urban environs. In China, a 40 million urban area is planned.

The effects of cities on people are not well-understood. Cities require huge amounts of energy, resulting in large quantities of waste products, causing unsustainable environments. Cities are sources of air, water and soil pollution. Light and noise pollution are now known to adversely affect urban people. The role of urban heat islands and air pollution, PM2.5 and ozone, on human health is beginning to emerge. Lack of green space may have psychological effects for urban dwellers.

We began to explore the nature of the urban environment and pollution on human health and well-being at UEP2010 in Boston in June of 2010. This very successful conference identified many areas of urban life that warranted further investigation. UEP2013 aims to continue the exploration of the urban environment and how we can begin to create a healthy and liveable environment in cities.

Topics list

New information about urban environments and how they function

Pollution problems and possible solutions

Role of the built environment in alleviating heat islands

Human health problems and solutions

Role of vegetation in mitigating urban pollution and human health problems

Innovative methods for alleviation of urban stress problems

Location

Beijing, China

Date

17-20 November 2013

Deadline for abstracts

31 July 2013

Programme Committee

William Manning, University of Massachusetts, USA (Chair)
Elena Paoletti, National Research Council (IPP-CNR), Italy
Claudia Wiegand, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

Local Organising Committee

Yong-Guan Zhu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Tong Zhu, Peking University, Beijing, China (Local Chair)
Yonglong Lu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Yong-Guan Zhu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Website

http://www.uepconference.com/

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

URBACHINA

Sustainable urbanisation in China