Public perceptions of ecosystem services and preferences for design scenarios of the flooded bank along the Three Gorges Reservoir: Implications for sustainable management of novel ecosystems

The newly formed extensive flooded land associated with the Three Gorges Reservoir hold great potentials to provide ecosystem services (ESs) for surrounding cities and communities. Conflicting values and conventional management strategies may complicate and inhibit broad-scale decision-making for this novel ecosystem. Public attitudes are a crucial influence in the way this process plays out. This study was conducted to assess how the reservoir bank is perceived by the general public of Chongqing Municipality in terms of importance of riparian ESs, and preference for corresponding landscape design styles through photo-questionnaire interviewing. Although Chongqing citizens know little of the “ecosystem services” concept, they do recognise riparian environmental and ecological benefits especially the bank protection and pollution interception functions, while benefits of habitats for wildlife and flood attenuation were of less concern. Recreational values were least appreciated, which is inconsistent with other studies. This may be attributed to a wider, intensive environmental education in various social media in today’s China. But publicity has been dominated by toxic air, water and soil pollution control rather than the benefits of nature conservation and personal contact with nature. In line with recognition of ESs, there is quite strong preference for the forested design scenario and particularly vegetation components across the socio-demographic spectrum. Overall, socio-demographic variables have very low explanatory power for the perceptual responses. Our study also revealed misunderstandings around riparian functions and a gap between public expectations and special abiotic and biotic prerequisites in restoring novel ecosystems. Finally, we discuss the relevance of this research to urban novel ecosystems in general, and implications for raising public awareness, engaging appropriate public values in sustainable design and management of such ecosystems.     

广东山区开发的理论与实践：—广东山区开发理论与实践研讨会综述

本文述了“广东山区开发理论与实践研讨会”所达成共识的观点：广东山区开发具有重要的战略意义，广东山区开发必须走可持续肆展，农业产业化经营、工业化道路，同时必须搞好基础设施建设，组织好商品流通工作，优化资源配置。     

甘肃省农村信息化发展水平探讨

农村信息化是社会主义新农村建设的重要内容,是解决"三农"问题的突破口。对于欠发达的甘肃农村经济,近年来虽然取得很大进步,但总体水平还不高,与发达地区的差距还很明显。在客观数据的基础上,基于因子分析方法建立了综合评价农村信息化水平的模型,直观的比较了各省市的农村信息化水平,认为信息资源的利用情况和信息基础设施建设的差异是评价农村信息化水平的决定因素,提高农村信息化水平必须从这两方面着手,切实可行的推进甘肃农村信息化的发展。     

Citizens’ perception of and satisfaction with urban forests and green space: Results from selected Southeast European cities

In this paper the results of the first comprehensive study on perception of and satisfaction with urban forests and green space in seven Southeast European cities are presented. The aims of the paper are to analyse 1) citizen perceptions of the current state of urban forests and green space in their cities, 2) to what extent current urban forests and green space meet their needs and how this can be improved. A cross-sectional study was conducted by using a common face-to-face survey questionnaire. Respondents were selected based on census data though a stratified sampling procedure by taking into account age, gender and city district (n = 384 in each city). The results showed that citizens genuinely care for urban forests and green space in their cities, but are not satisfied with their current state. The respondents found issues related to misbehaviour of other users, the presence and quality of facilities, as well as the presence and quality of management or maintenance the most pressing. There were more statistically significant differences than similarities between cities. Socioeconomic variables explained perceptions only to some extent. Citizens were very supportive of educational campaigns about the importance of urban forests and green space as well as of better enforcement of the existing regulations though having more community wardens that were expected to tackle current unsatisfactory situations. Urban planning and urban forest and green space management in these cities are facing many problems characteristic for post-socialist countries. Study findings are expected to contribute to decision making in urban planning and natural resource management.     

加强国家农业重大科技基础设施建设刍议

国家重大科技基础设施是国家为在科学技术前沿取得重大突破、解决经济社会发展和国家安全中的战略性、基础性和前瞻性科技问题而投资建设的科学技术研究设施。加强农业领域国家重大科技基础设施建设,对提升我国农业科技创新能力,强化科技对现代农业的支撑与引领作用等具有战略意义。     

星球城市化：风景园林的新理论基础

星球城市化是建立在对城市/非城市二元论批判上提出的立足全球尺度的城市理论，其对非城市区域的关注与思考，以及操作性景观等概念的提出，均论证了这一城市研究理论与风景园林学科的密切联系。以星球城市化为基础发展起来的一系列新思潮近年来对风景园林的教育与实践产生了重要影响，星球生态学、星球建筑学以及星球基础设施等新概念的提出为学科带来了新的思考角度与操作手法，同时也促进了风景园林与多个学科之间的良性交流与补充。在星球视野下的风景园林学科将凭借其综合性与包容性，在全球人居环境营造中承担更重要的责任。     

我国农业基础设施投资存在的问题及对策

随着我国经济的发展,政府越来越重视农业的投资问题,并充分认识到加大对农村基础设施的投资是建设现代化农业的关键,但我国财政对农业基础设施的投资与城市比较还存在很大差距.为此,以我国农业基础设施投资的现状和存在问题为着眼点,分析了加强农业基础设施投资的措施.     

Analysis of micro-climate on the programs of urban infrastructure regeneration in J city,Republic of Korea

The purpose of this study is to simulate urban micro-climate change due to the variation of wind flow and temperature assuming situations before and after applying programs using urban infrastructure regeneration technologies (UIRTs), and to then quantitatively estimate effectiveness on the urban regeneration schems. UIRTs focus on improving the recycling efficiencies of reclaimed water and biogas produced and to enforce the linkage among all environmental infrastructures associated with water, waste, and energy in an urban block. To implement the micro-climate analyses, data such as land use, topography, building height and materials, and weather conditions were collected, and the results estimated based on fluid simulations of cold wind and temperature variation pathways. There were three programs used in the urban regeneration project in J city: river restoration, traditional market revitalization, and a primary school eco-school. The height of cold wind from the ground level was significantly elevated, and the maximum wind velocity differential between before and after increased by 0.12 m/s due to the expansion of the waterfront space and grassland through the three programs. Overall, a temperature at the ground level dropped by 1.6 °C. Based on these results, the three programs improved the urban environment at ground level, and might ultimately be capable of diminishing the urban heat island effect and mitigating the energy consumption of urban areas.     

Spatial and temporal variability of air temperature across urban neighborhoods with varying amounts of tree canopy

Recent studies have emphasized the presence of microclimates in urban settings, but most do not have the high resolution observations necessary to understand the interactions taking place at a neighborhood scale. This study used a network of 10 identical weather stations and high resolution land cover data in Knoxville, Tennessee, to analyze the microclimates of a medium-sized city with a temperate climate. Two stations were installed in each of four urban neighborhoods in locations with varying localized tree cover, and two additional stations were installed in the center of downtown and in a nearby urban nature center. The intra-neighborhood results suggested that there is significant temperature variability within a single neighborhood based on the tree canopy density immediately surrounding a given weather station. However, the inter-neighborhood variability (differences between neighborhoods) was similar in magnitude, which suggests that the overall differences in neighborhood characteristics also have an effect on climate. Land cover at the neighborhood scale (in particular tree canopy percentages at the 500-m radii) had the highest correlation with the minimum daily temperature (Tmin) during the summer season. Maximum daily temperature (Tmax) relied most on the distance of each station from Downtown and the amount of impervious area in the 50 m surrounding each station. Tmax was also most influenced by surrounding land cover during dry conditions (a Dry Moderate air mass). Overall, highly localized impervious land cover percentages and larger-scale forested canopy were important in explaining temperature fluctuation, pointing to the importance of scale in microclimate assessments. Dry air masses enhanced the relationship between land cover and temperature during the day, while moist air masses did the same overnight. These data can be used to better inform planning strategies to build resiliency to extreme heat into urban environments by considering the influence of tree canopy.     

A spatially-explicit method to assess the dry deposition of air pollution by urban forests in the city of Florence,Italy

Urban forests (UF) provide a range of important ecosystem services (ES) for human well-being. Relevant ES delivered by UF include urban temperature regulation, runoff mitigation, noise reduction, recreation, and air purification. In this study the potential of air pollution removal by UF in the city of Florence (Italy) was investigated. Two main air pollutants were considered – particulate matter (PM₁₀) and tropospheric ozone (O₃) – with the aim of providing a methodological framework for mapping air pollutant removal by UF and assessing the percent removal of air pollutant.The distribution of UF was mapped by high spatial resolution remote sensing data and classified into seven forest categories. The Leaf Area Index (LAI) was estimated spatially using a regression model between in-field LAI survey and Airborne Laser Scanning data and it was found to be in good linear agreement with estimates from ground-based measurements (R² = 0.88 and RMSE% = 11%). We applied pollution deposition equations by using pollution concentrations measured at urban monitoring stations and then estimated the pollutant removal potential of the UF: annual O₃ and PM₁₀ removal accounted for 77.9 t and 171.3 t, respectively. O₃ and PM₁₀ removal rates by evergreen broadleaves (16.1 and 27.3 g/m²), conifers (10.9 and 28.5 g/m²), and mixed evergreen species (15.8 and 31.7 g/m²) were higher than by deciduous broadleaf stands (4.1 and 10 g/m²). However, deciduous forests exhibited the largest total removal due to the high percentage of tree cover within the city. The present study confirms that UF play an important role in air purification in Mediterranean cities as they can remove monthly up to 5% of O₃ and 13% of PM₁₀.