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Smart and Low-Carbon Transition: Urban Planning and Governance under Climate Change

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2023) | Viewed by 10579

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Martin De Jong

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Guest Editor

1. Rotterdam School of Management & Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2. Institute for Global Public Policy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Interests: urban development; eco cities; inclusive cities; smart cities; city branding; public policy; governance; policy transfer
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Yang Fu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Public Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518000, China
Interests: sustainability transition theory and sustainable urbanization; low-carbon city and eco-city development; urban environmental governance; smart cities and smart communities; low-carbon policy evaluation; urban planning for eco and low-carbon new towns

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Global cities have been experiencing a process of smart and low-carbon transition to cope with the immense and immediate challenge of climate change. The transition process is characterized by the interplay between progresses in urban planning theories and practices, various policy responses at different levels of government, and the application of a variety of low-carbon and information technologies. Under these backgrounds, urban experimental initiatives of smart, low-carbon and eco cities have been launched, which has drastically reshaped our urban fabric and landscape. These urban experiments are expected to help us translate the vision of future smart and low-carbon cities into realty under the background of climate change.

This SI aims to systematically review the theories and practices in urban planning and governance that facilitate the smart and low-carbon transition of global cities. We welcome submissions of empirical and theoretical debates on topics of smart and low-carbon transition in urban realms, innovations and progresses in urban planning and design for low-carbon development, urban policies for low-carbon city initiatives and their empirical case studies, urban environmental policies and their impacts on citizens’ low-carbon behaviors, critical reflections on the development of smart cities and the employment of ICT in cities. We would also like to invite research articles that are relevant to other important topics and issues in studies on smart and low-carbon transition.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

Smart city and smart governance;
Urban low-carbon transition policies and their impacts;
Urban planning and design for smart and low-carbon cities;
Urban environmental policies and citizens’ low-carbon behaviors;
Critical reflections on ICT application in urban development;
Interactive planning practices and theories for low-carbon and smart cities;
Evaluation on urban policies against climate change;
Other topics related to smart and low-carbon transition studies.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Martin De Jong
Dr. Yang Fu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

smart city
low-carbon city
low-carbon transition
urban planning
environmental policy
climate change
urban policy
urban governance

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 863 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Protection Goes Digital: A Policy Perspective on Promoting Digitalization for Sustainable Development in China

by Fanbao Xie, Xin Guan, Junfan Zhu, Jun Ruan, Zeyu Wang and Hejian Liu

Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10673; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310673 - 06 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1170

Abstract

In the current discourse surrounding economic and societal growth, much emphasis has been placed on the role and impact of digitalization. Despite this trend, research exploring the ecological implications of the digital economy remains scarce. To fill this research gap, our study aimed to investigate the correlation between the digital economy and carbon emissions, specifically examining the moderating impact of environmental regulations. For empirical analysis, we utilize the CRITIC methodology to establish a thorough set of indicators that can evaluate the performance of China’s digital economy. According to our empirical results, the digital economy seems to exert a moderating influence on the levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, and this negative impact is more pronounced in affluent and densely populated regions of China. The effectiveness of digitalization in reducing pollution can be enhanced by the enforcement of environmental regulations. This paper elucidates the potential mechanisms via which the digital economy affects carbon dioxide emissions, and constructs a framework for the mechanisms via which the digital economy affects the environment by influencing the carbon dioxide emissions, providing a new way for enterprises and governments to participate in environmental protection and expanding the content of research related to the digital economy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart and Low-Carbon Transition: Urban Planning and Governance under Climate Change)

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14 pages, 1801 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of the Evaluation of Trash Can Removal Policy under the “Compulsory Times” of Waste-Sorting in Longhua District in China

by Xu Geng, Honghao Li, Xiaoyu Liu, Huayun Liu and Miaoxin Huang

Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9763; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129763 - 19 Jun 2023

Viewed by 1185

Abstract

In China, waste sorting has gradually entered “compulsory times”. The beginning of the compulsory times of waste sorting is marked by the implementation of the policy to remove trash cans in residential building hallways. Since then, this policy has been controversial. Based on the theory of planned behavior and the public’s perspective as well as using the Delphi method and entropy weight method, we investigated Longhua District in Shenzhen and designed an evaluation index system for the effect of the policy to remove trash cans from the following three dimensions: the policy cognitive level, the policy admissive degree, and the awareness of waste sorting. The data were supplemented by observations and interview methods as well as questionnaire surveys that were distributed in residential sub-districts in Longhua District. According to the quantitative research and variance analysis of the data, the policy promotes waste sorting. This paper provides a new idea on how to evaluate environmental policies such as the garbage-classification policy from the perspective of the public based on rigorous evaluation methods and processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart and Low-Carbon Transition: Urban Planning and Governance under Climate Change)

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19 pages, 322 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Can Ecological Governance Policies Promote High-Quality Economic Growth? Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China

by Zhuo Li, Liguo Wang and Wanyu Zhao

Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9459; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129459 - 12 Jun 2023

Viewed by 1073

Abstract

The implementation plan of the National Ecological Civilization Pilot Zone (Jiangxi) is an experimental policy aimed at exploring the path of ecological value realization, optimizing industrial structure, and ultimately promoting the green economic development of cities in ecologically distressed areas based on good ecological protection and construction. Its policy objectives are as follows: (1) provide policy references for the development of other ecologically distressed areas in other Chinese territories, and (2) achieve a win–win situation for both ecological improvement and economic development and promote the harmonious development of humans and nature. This study considers China’s ecological governance pilot policy as a “quasi-natural experiment” based on a panel of 81 Chinese cities in Jiangxi Province, China, from 2014 to 2020. A DID model is constructed to study the impact of China’s ecological governance policies on the quality development of Chinese cities in four dimensions: economic development, economic structure, ecological environment, and the disposable income of residents. The following impacts are observed: (1) Ecological governance policies have insignificant effects on GDP promotion, and the above findings still hold after a series of robustness tests, such as the parallel trend test and PSM-DID and placebo tests. (2) Ecological governance policies can significantly improve the rationalization of the economic structure, promote the improvement of ecological environments, and increase the disposable income of residents in the pilot cities. (3) Due to the strong control of local governments over regional economies in China, the stronger the government intervention in the economy, the greater its effect on policy inhibition. (4) The economic structure of ecologically distressed regions is relatively homogeneous, and the primary industry makes up a high proportion of agricultural production. Since China abolished agricultural taxes in 2006, local governments are unable to obtain government tax revenues from agricultural production. The ecological management policy can not only protect land fertility but also reduce the over-exploitation of land resources. It can indirectly increase the scale of agricultural production per unit of land (i.e., the same land resources can create more output value), prompt the transfer of agricultural labor to secondary and tertiary industries, and promote the development of secondary and tertiary industries, which in turn improves the source of local government tax revenue. Moreover, the increase in government tax revenue can increase investment in ecological environments. This in turn increases the tax revenue of local governments, and the increase in government tax revenue can increase investments in ecological and environmental management; this eventually results in a green and high-quality development path with respect to the positive cycle of ecological protection and economic development. Therefore, the scale of agricultural production per unit of land and government tax revenue are important mediating variables for ecological environment improvements, and the mediating effect is obvious. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart and Low-Carbon Transition: Urban Planning and Governance under Climate Change)

17 pages, 1931 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Do Urban Innovation Policies Reduce Carbon Emission? Empirical Evidence from Chinese Cities with DID

by Ling Luo, Yang Fu and Hui Li

Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6739; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086739 - 17 Apr 2023

Viewed by 784

Abstract

The Chinese government launched the Pilot Scheme of National Innovative Cities in 2008, and it has continued to expand the scope of the program in order to achieve more high-quality and sustainable development. This pilot scheme encourages scientific and technological innovations to solve the problems of urban development against the background of climate change by promoting the sustainable transformation and upgrading of the urban economy. This article attempts to examine whether the innovative city pilot helps improve the city’s carbon emissions. Moreover, through which mechanisms does the pilot affect the carbon emissions of Chinese cities? The authors use the Pilot Scheme of National Innovative Cities as a quasi-natural experiment and apply the difference-in-difference (DID) method to investigate the impact of innovative city pilot policy on the carbon emissions of pilot cities and the underlying mechanisms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart and Low-Carbon Transition: Urban Planning and Governance under Climate Change)

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16 pages, 1249 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Walking Together Indicator (WTI): Understanding and Measuring World Inequality

by Salvatore Flavio Pileggi

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5392; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065392 - 17 Mar 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1178

Abstract

Socio-economic inequality may be addressed at a different scale. Its impact at a micro and macro level on very many social issues is well-known, as well as its effects on global development being extensively reported in literature, where inequality is often seen as a clear barrier on the path to a sustainable development. That becomes extremely critical in light of major global challenges, such as climate change. The quantification of inequality in the different contexts, its interpretation, as well as its impact on society at a different level are object of major interest and discussion within the scientific community. Inspired by the famous African proverb “if you want to go fast go alone; If you want to go far go together”, we propose an indicator—Walking Together Indicator (WTI), based on a simple model to foster transparency and broad communication. It relies on the statistical standard deviation to facilitate the measurement of inequality looking at single metrics (e.g., GDP) as well as considering broad categories (e.g., Economy) composed of multiple indicators. Despite evident limitations, simplifications (context-less comparison among countries) and approximations (significant lack of data), the study conducted on well-known macro indicators presents a fundamental coherence in the result. Indeed, it shows a reducing inequality in the main trends. On the other side, the performed computations also point out a relevant exception for the main economic indicator, which is characterised, overall, by an increasing inequality among the considered countries. Such a contrasting trend is partially explainable looking at the simplifications in the model, which neither considers dependencies among indicators nor assumes weighting. The indicator provides a very encouraging and optimistic figure. However, the recent pandemic has shown a world running at different speeds. It advises a more conservative interpretation of the indicator as the exception related to economy is relevant. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart and Low-Carbon Transition: Urban Planning and Governance under Climate Change)

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Review

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38 pages, 1588 KiB

Open AccessReview

Influential Factors, Enablers, and Barriers to Adopting Smart Technology in Rural Regions: A Literature Review

by Salem Ahmed Alabdali, Salvatore Flavio Pileggi and Dilek Cetindamar

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7908; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107908 - 11 May 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4261

Abstract

Smart Technology is a quickly and constantly evolving concept; it has different applications that cover a wide range of areas, such as healthcare, education, business, agriculture, and manufacturing. An effective application of these technologies increases productivity and performance within complex systems. On one side, trends show a lack of appeal for rural environments as people prefer to move to cities, looking for better opportunities and lifestyles. On the other side, recent studies and reports show that the attractiveness of rural areas as places with opportunities is increasing. Sustainable solutions are needed to enhance development in the rural context, and technological innovation is expected to lead and support the stability for people and organizations in rural regions. While Smart City is progressively becoming a reality and a successful model for integrating Smart Technology into different aspects of everyday life, its effective application in a rural context according to a Sustainable Development approach is not yet completely defined. This study adopts comparative and categorial content analysis to address the different applications and the specific characteristics of rural regions, which often present significant peculiarities depending on the country and the context. The main goal is to investigate and discuss how the Smart City model may be adopted and effectively applied within rural contexts, looking at major gaps and challenges. Additionally, because of the complexity of the topic, we provide an overview of the current adoption of Smart Technology in the different applications in rural areas, including farming, education, business, healthcare, and governance. The study highlights the huge difficulties in rural life and the potentiality of Smart Technology to enhance their Sustainable Development, which is still challenging. While the holistic analysis clearly points out a gap, there is no specific strategic roadmap to re-use or adapt existing models, such as Smart City. The study does not address fine-grained indicators. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart and Low-Carbon Transition: Urban Planning and Governance under Climate Change)

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