Bulldozer urbanism, fraught with violent demolition and forced relocation, exemplifies China’s urban transformation. Rural-to-urban migrant workers are particularly vulnerable during the process ...because of their in-between position in the socialist, territorialised hukou (residential registration) and land tenure systems. This paper presents in ethnographic details the practice of turning shipping containers into rental units for migrants seeking cheap housing alternatives to continue to live on Shanghai’s urban fringe. It reveals the nature and constraints of container housing that emerge out of the interplay between China’s socialist land tenure system, real estate marketisation, top-down population control and urban governance. Despite the neglected appearance of container housing, its existence and operation entail the acquiescence and surveillance of local state agents as well as entrepreneurs’ tactics of conformation, which results in formal informality and sustains structural inequality in state-led development. Container housing also contributes to the deterritorialisation of homemaking among migrant workers, who are channelled by hukou-related policies to invest and retire in their registered home places and feel removed from their urban dwelling in both time and space. The decreased significance of urban residence to migrant workers’ everyday life, as exemplified by container housing, facilitates bulldozer urbanism and perpetuates urban exclusion.
•Time variation characteristics of drought were analyzed based on SPEI.•A gravity center model reflecting spatial drought migration.•Analysis of drought distribution and drought migration based on ...standard deviation ellipse method.
The Haihe River Basin is an important grain-producing area in China. It is of great significance to explore and grasp the temporal and spatial evolution of drought for drought prevention and disaster mitigation, water security, and food security. In this study, based on the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), gravity center model, standard deviation ellipse, and other methods, we analyzed the temporal and spatial evolution of drought in Haihe River Basin from 1960 to 2020. The results showed that during 1960 ∼ 2020, the frequency of drought in the Haihe River Basin had an upward trend, and light drought and moderate drought occurred frequently. Light drought was prone to occur in winter (January, February, December), and moderate drought mainly occurred in March (The first month of spring). The frequency of severe drought and extreme drought has increased significantly since 1990, and the monthly impact is spreading. The annual drought barycenters are distributed in plain areas such as Beijing, Hebei province, and showed a northeast to southwest zonal distribution in the basin, with a general trend of moving toward southwest. The monthly drought barycenters are mainly distributed in the central part of the basin around Baoding, and their migratory direction is mainly northeast and southwest.
After three decades of massive rural-to-urban migration in China, a burgeoning population of over 35 million second-generation migrants living in its cities poses a challenge to socialist modes of ...population management and urban governance. In The Inconvenient Generation, Minhua Ling offers the first longitudinal study of these migrant youth from middle school to the labor market in the years after the Shanghai municipal government partially opened its public school system to them. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic data, Ling follows the trajectories of dozens of children coming of age at a time of competing economic and social imperatives, and its everyday ramifications on their sense of identity, educational outcomes, and citizenship claims. Under policies and practices of segmented inclusion, they are inevitably funneled through the school system toward a life of manual labor. Illuminating the aspirations and strategies of these young men and women, Ling captures their experiences against the backdrop of a reemergent global Shanghai.
•The ecological environment was an important guarantee for the WEF Nexus security.•A water-energy-food-ecosystem system structure was construct.•Different scenarios were set up to simulate the ...system.•The results had positive effects regional sustainable development.
The intricate interplay among water, energy, food, and ecology underscores the paramount importance of investigating water–energy–food–ecology (WEFE) systems to foster regional sustainable development. In this study, a dynamic simulation model for the WEFE system was formulated using system dynamics, probing alterations in resource supply, demand dynamics, and ecosystem responses to resource shifts. Utilizing Henan Province as a case study and factoring in resource scarcity and environmental pollution, five scenarios were crafted to forecast WEFE system developmental trajectories from 2005 to 2035. The findings revealed the following key insights: (1) Within each subsystem, the food supply–demand balance ratio maintained a robust level of approximately 4.0. Conversely, the water and energy supply–demand balance ratio remained below 1.0 throughout the study period, indicating a worsening trend in the annual misalignment between supply and demand. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are projected to surge by 103%, posing challenges for future CO2 emission reduction efforts. (2) Among the various scenarios, the Green Development (GD) scenario emerged as pivotal for fostering a coordinated development of the WEFE system. Implementation of the GD scenario showcased a notable 38.1% improvement in the resource supply–demand ratio and a 26% reduction in CO2 emissions. (3) Addressing ecosystem feedback, the reduction of carbon emissions emerges as a focal point for future ecological environment enhancement initiatives in Henan Province. Strategic emphasis should be placed on adjusting energy consumption and its structure to propel the healthy development of the ecological environment. This study serves as a guide for managing regional WEFE systems effectively.
With the acceleration of urbanization and industrialization, urban air pollution, especially dust pollution, has become a global problem. The traditional method to control dust problem is to spray ...roads with tap water. However, this method will inevitably lead to a huge waste of water resources. Using reclaimed water instead of tap water for dust control can not only achieve the same effect of reducing dust and haze, but also save water resources. In addition, the saved tap water can be used for production and life, thereby obtaining additional benefits. In order to quantify the eco-economic benefits of sprinkling water for dust control, a quantitative method was proposed based on the emergy theory of ecological economics. It was used to calculate the cost of different water resources, the cooling and humidifying benefit, the dust control and haze reduction benefit, and the other use benefit. Taking the 2017 data of Zhengzhou as an example, the results indicated that the cost of using reclaimed water to control dust was reduced by 54%. The total benefit of using reclaimed water was about 1.30–1.80 times that of using tap water, and the net benefit was 4.65–7.17 times. Therefore, the use of reclaimed water instead of tap water for road dust control has advantages of low cost and high eco-economic benefits. The method proposed in this paper can provide quantitative basis for the popularization of using reclaimed water to dust control in cities with serious air pollution and water resource shortage.
Ecological compensation is an important economic tool for the control and management of ecological and environmental problems. The accurate assessment of the amount of compensation is the key factor ...in the implementation of ecological compensation schemes. However, due to the complex and various ecological and environmental problems caused by groundwater overexploitation, there is no scientific quantitative method. Emergy theory is a new method to quantitatively study the relationship between environmental resources and social economy. Based on the literature review of ecological compensation for groundwater overexploitation, this paper puts forward a new evaluation method for using emergy loss as groundwater overexploitation ecological compensation. The emergy system diagram of environmental problems caused by overexploitation of groundwater is constructed. And the calculation methods of the emergy loss of eco-environmental problems caused by groundwater overexploitation, such as land subsidence (collapse), salt water intrusion, surface runoff reduction, vegetation deterioration, and groundwater pollution, were presented, respectively. Taking Zhengzhou as an example, the total amount of ecological compensation for groundwater overexploitation in 2014 was equivalent to 853 × 10
6
US dollars. The largest loss of land subsidence is 816 × 10
6
US dollars, which accounts for 95.64% of the total loss. It can be seen that land subsidence is the most serious in the eco-environmental problems caused by overexploitation of groundwater in Zhengzhou.
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•Xiong’an New Area (XNA) is a new district to relieve pressure the Chinese capital.•Comprehensive analysis of WRCC using “quantity, quality, watershed and flow” (WQQSF).•Significant ...influence of water quantity factor on WRCC in XNA.•SD Model of WRCC based on obstacle factors and uncertainties of future development.•Future XNA should strictly control population, water saving and water supply.
Water resources play a pivotal role in sustaining and shaping urban development. To assess the suitability of a site for urban construction, a water-resource–carrying capacity (WRCC) assessment is typically conducted. Here, we expand on the concept of the WRCC and construct an evaluation system based on the water quantity, quality, watershed and flow (WQQSF). Using this WQQSF evaluation system, we investigated the suitability of water resources for the development of the Xiong’an New Area (XNA) in China. Specifically, we evaluated the WRCC of XNA from 2010 to 2020 and identified the main obstacle factors. By building a system dynamics (SD) model, we analyzed projected changes in the carrying capacity of XNA from 2021 to 2035. The main findings were as follows:(1) the average WQQSF-index was 0.32 from 2010 to 2017, which corresponds to the overload condition, and rises to 0.41 from 2018 to 2020, which corresponds to the critical overload condition. (2) From the perspective of obstacle factors, the water quantity factor has a large influence on the water resources bearing condition of XNA accounting for about 40 %. (3) Considering that XNA is a water-scarce area, we should first ensure the balance between the supply and demand of water resources, and secondly, choose the optimal scenario for the carrying capacity. Among the five scenarios based on uncertainty, the S3 scenario not only meets the balance of water resources supply and demand but also has the best-carrying index, which is 0.7, showing a weak carrying condition. To ensure the sustainable development of WRCC in XNA, water conservation and strict control of population size should be adhered to in the future while increasing water recharge through multiple channels. This study provides a decision basis for the management, rational development, and allocation of WRCC in XNA.
Abstract
The Huang-Huai-Hai Plain is an important commercial grain production base in China. Understanding the temporal and spatial variations in precipitation can help prevent drought and flood ...disasters and ensure food security. Based on the precipitation data for the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain from 1960 to 2019, this study analysed the spatiotemporal distribution of total precipitation at different time scales using the Mann–Kendall test, the wavelet analysis, the empirical orthogonal function (EOF), and the centre-of-gravity model. The results were as follows: (1) The winter precipitation showed a significant upward trend on the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, while other seasonal trends were not significant. (2) The precipitation on the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain shows a zonal decreasing distribution from southeast to northwest. (3) The application of the EOF method revealed the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of the precipitation field. The cumulative variance contribution rate of the first two eigenvectors reached 51.5%, revealing two typical distribution fields, namely a ‘global pattern’ and a ‘north-south pattern’. The ‘global pattern’ is the decisive mode, indicating that precipitation on the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain is affected by large-scale weather systems. (4) The annual precipitation barycentres on the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain were located in Jining city and Taian city, Shandong Province, and the spatial distribution pattern was north-south. The annual precipitation barycentres tended to move southwest, but the trend was not obvious. The annual precipitation barycentre is expected to continue to shift to the north in 2020.
Agricultural water rights trading, involving the sale of saved irrigation water to users experiencing a water shortage, has become an efficient means of improving water use efficiency and optimizing ...water management. However, after the amount of irrigation water is reduced, it is prone to externalities, resulting in a decline in the ecosystem service functions of water sellers and economic, social, ecological, and environmental losses. Sufficient compensation for such losses is the key to the sustainable development of water markets. Based on the emergy theory of ecological economics and externality theory, the eco-economic losses of water sellers caused by agricultural water rights trading are analysed. An innovative emergy quantification method that includes economic, social, and eco-environmental compensation is proposed. Additionally, eco-economic compensation for water rights trading in Dongyang-Yiwu, China, is quantified as a case study. The results show that eco-economic compensation has generally risen continuously, from 94 million Chinese Yuan (¥) in 2013 to ¥114 million in 2017. Taking 2005 as the base year, this study finds that the present value of eco-economic compensation is ¥755 million, while the actual trading price is only ¥256 million. These results indicate that the actual price does not fully reflect the economic, social, and eco-environmental losses caused by trading. The method proposed in this study can provide a reference for the reasonable quantification of the compensation of water sellers.
China’s second-generation rural-to-urban migrant youth, who grew up in their parents’ adopted cities, are still denied urban residential status and suffer from the institutional closure of higher ...education opportunities. This article explores in ethnographic detail the experiences and subjectivities of migrant youth in Shanghai who since 2008 have been channeled to secondary vocational schools. It highlights the direct involvement of the local state in reproducing a social hierarchy in which migrant youth provide cheap labor for manufacturing and low-skilled service industries. It reveals how contention over the limited choice of majors and career trajectories persists between state intention, market demand and individual aspirations. The time and space provided by vocational schooling enable migrant students to gain urban habitus and form networks across boundaries. Vocational schools have thus become a unique site for studying education and class reproduction in a late-socialist context.
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