Search Results (13)

With the growing demand for mobility fueled by global population expansion and rapid urbanization, the intricate interplay between public transport and land use, along with their economic, environmental, and social externalities, has emerged as a critical concern for policymakers and the public alike. This study assembles publicly available academic literature, including papers, reports, books, and news articles, to construct a comprehensive database. Using CiteSpace 5.8.R3 software, this study conducts a visualized analysis of 10,470 scholarly works on public transport and land use published since 1932, identifying and synthesizing the researcher, research stages, research theories, research models, and research hotspots. Findings reveal that since Mitchell and Rapkin first introduced the transport–land use relationship in 1954, research in this field has steadily gained traction, particularly after the 1973 oil embargo crisis. The Journal of Transport and Land Use and institutions such as the University of Minnesota’s Transportation Research Center have played pivotal roles, particularly with the establishment of the World Society for Transport and Land Use Research (WSTLUR). In recent years, China’s high-speed rail expansion has further revitalized interest in this field. Prominent scholars in this domain include Robert Cervero, Reid Ewing, Michael Duncan, and Peter Calthorpe. Major theoretical frameworks encompass utility theory, urban economic theory, and the human–land system theory. Key modeling approaches include the spatial interaction model, the stochastic utility model, and urban economic models. Current research hotspots center on safety and public health, equity and valuation, environmental sustainability and energy efficiency, as well as transit-oriented development (TOD) and accessibility. This systematic literature review offers valuable insights to inform land use planning, enhance spatial structure, guide transportation project decision making, and optimize transport infrastructure and service provision. Full article

In order to address the climate change crisis, China has actively promoted low-carbon urban development. China has implemented a policy known as the low-carbon city pilot policy (LCCPP). Given the enterprise life cycle theory, a multi-period DID model is employed to investigate the influence of the LCCPP on enterprise’s green technology innovation (GTI). The research reveals that the LCCPP can actually promote enterprise’s GTI. The LCCPP significantly stimulates GTI of enterprises in the growth phase, but not for enterprises in the maturity and recession phases. Path analysis indicates that the LCCPP can enhance enterprise’s GTI by increasing government fiscal subsidies to and research and development (R&D) of firms. Further analysis reveals that although the GTI effects of the LCCPS are not effective for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-manufacturing businesses, it is significant for those enterprises that are in the growth stage. The LCCPP successfully enhances substantial innovation within enterprises, but not for strategic innovation within enterprises. This study enriches the existing scholarly research on the influence of the LCCPP on enterprise’s GTI and holds practical implications for promoting accurate and effective GTI among enterprises, thereby further advancing the transition towards low-carbon urban development. Full article

Analysis of the relationships among global stock markets is crucial for international investors, regulators, and policymakers, particularly during a crisis. Complex network theory was applied to analyze the relationship between global stock markets during the Russia–Ukraine war. Daily data from 55 stock markets from 6 August 2021 to 23 September 2023 were retrieved and used to investigate the changes in global stock market networks. The sample period was divided into 22 subsamples, using a 100-day rolling window rolled forward a trading month, and then long-range correlations based on distance matrices were calculated. These distance matrices were utilized to construct stock market networks. Moreover, minimum spanning trees (MSTs) were extracted from these financial networks for analytical purposes. Based on topological and structural analysis, we identified important/central nodes, distinct communities, vulnerable/stable nodes, and changes thereof with the escalation of war. The empirical findings reveal that the Russia–Ukraine war impacted the global stock markets’ network. However, its intensity varied with changes in the region and the passage of time due to the level of stock market integration and stage of war escalation, respectively. Stock markets of France, Germany, Canada, and Austria remained the most centrally connected within communities; surprisingly, the USA’s stock market is not on this list. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought enormous casualties and huge losses to cities around the world, causing urban planning to reflect on its serious inadequacy in public health crisis management. Looking back at the pandemics of modern history, urban planning has been dedicated to enhancing disease prevention capacity as well as improving the wellness of human beings. By systematically comparing the urban planning response between COVID-19 (2019) and its predecessor H1N1 (2009) in the literature, this paper seeks to explore how urban planning theories evolved through the pandemics and whether COVID-19 has led to possible new implications and directions for urban planning in the future. A total of 3129 related results with overlapping themes of “city”, “pandemic”, and “planning” in the database were narrowed down to 30 articles published between 2009 and 2019 on the topic of H1N1 and 99 articles published between 2020 and 2022 on the topic of COVID-19 after careful extraction and integration. Through bibliographic and detailed analysis, twelve urban theories used to fight against pandemics were identified. In addition, three main changes between urban planning responses to the H1N1 and COVID-19 pandemics were summarized: from focusing on stages of “in-pandemic” and “pre-pandemic” to focusing on stages of “post-pandemic”, from global and national to local, and from the absence of an urban-built environment to a return to ‘healthiness’ in urban planning and design. Such comparisons are useful for examining the current situation and providing suggestions for a possible upcoming outbreak. Full article

This article investigates the dynamics of socio-ecological systems’ (SESs) unsustainability. By adopting a theoretical standpoint grounded in systems’ theory, the analysis shows how SESs’ teleology (or final cause) is of the utmost relevance for understanding the relationship between humans and ecosystems and how it is pivotal for envisioning possible evolutionary trajectories towards sustainability. Building on the contributions of both system and social scientists, the study argues that SESs’ teleology is determined by dominant social ontologies that require a dialectical lens to be properly dealt with. The article therefore proposes the adoption of the adaptive cycle heuristic complemented by an historical-geographical approach based on world-ecology theory as a means to interpret SESs’ behavior. Such a perspective allows for the direct comparison between the four stages of the panarchy cycle (reorganization, exploitation, conservation, and release) and the four stages theorized by the world-ecology dialectics (expansion, appropriation, capitalization, crisis). In conclusion, the article claims that both system and social scientists would benefit from including concepts and definitions from the other field in their analysis, since both provide valuable insights about SESs’ processes of change and both are necessary to envision transition pathways towards sustainability. Full article

In recent decades, various types of emergencies have started to occur more frequently. Their impact and complexity have increased significantly, bringing serious challenges to the sustainable development of the economy, society and the environment. Emergency decision making (EDM) for emergencies is vital for successfully handling crisis events and achieving sustainable development goals. It has attracted widespread academic attention. The purpose of this study is to summarize the progress made so far in research and identify future directions through a literature review. First, a two-stage literature search was conducted to identify a sample of studies. Then, the literature was analyzed econometrically and coded for content. Finally, a theoretical framework based on stakeholder theory was developed to identify current insights and to uncover what needs to be further researched. The article suggests that future in-depth research should be conducted in four areas: analysis of social media information related to emergencies, improvement in computer-aided tools, the influence of decision makers’ characteristics on decision outcomes, and efficient linkage of multiple subjects in the organization and implementation phase of emergency projects. This study hopes to draw the attention of more scholars to conduct research related to EDM to promote theoretical progress and contribute knowledge on the sustainable development of the practice of EDM. Full article

Environmental emergency management is an important practical subject for local governments. Understanding the different dimensions of environmental emergency management capability is crucial for enabling a well-informed governance performance. Based on the crisis management 4R theory (comprising four stages: reduction, readiness, response and recovery), PPRR emergency management theory (emergency management is categorized into four stages: prevention, preparation, response and recovery), crisis life cycle theory and ISO 22320, this paper divided local government environmental emergency management capability into four dimensions of a dynamic pre–during–post process: preparedness, early warning, response and recovery. This paper applied a confirmatory factor analysis model to confirm the classification standards of the four capabilities, which are strongly correlated within environmental emergency management. We found that China’s local government environmental emergency management capability is generally at an upper-middle level, according to the empirical data. We also analyzed the regional differences in local government environmental emergency management capability across China and concluded that the environmental emergency management capability of local governments in the eastern region is higher than those in other regions. The capability levels in the central, western and northeastern regions are more similar to each other and show a decreasing distribution in the east–central–west–northeast region. Full article

The increasingly severe environmental pollution and the Earth’s ecological crisis make the concept of resilient cities (RCs) a hot topic in urban research. We ran a bibliometric analysis to analyze the research progress, areas, hotspots, and strategies pertaining to RCs. The core collection came from the Web of Science (WoS) database as the data source to explore 4462 literature works on RCs. The results revealed that development time series analysis is divided into three stages. Changes in the number of publications are linked to natural disasters, the ecological environment, and science policy. The top five issuing journals accounted for 24.15% of the total sample. Country cooperation mainly is concentrated in countries with good economic development trends, such as the United States, China, and the United Kingdom. There were 63 core authors. The most published research institution was the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The RC research hotspots included the definition of resilience and evolution, the study of resilience as an analytical framework for urban issues, and resilience assessment indicators. This paper shows that RCs should strengthen multi-country cooperation and interdisciplinary integration and should focus on comprehensive research on basic theories, evaluation systems, and action mechanisms to reference future research on RCs further. Full article

Efficient risk communication is aimed at improving the supply of risk information to meet the information needs of individuals, thus reducing their vulnerability when facing the risk of emergency. There is little information available in the literature regarding information preference from an individual’s need perspective, and there is a lack of differentiation in evaluation between information need and supply. Under the guidance of the crisis stage analysis theory, using multiple response analysis and weighted analysis methods, this study explores earthquake disaster information content and communication channel preferences, and develops an information deviation index (IDI) to evaluate the efficiency of risk communication before, during, and after an earthquake. A questionnaire-based survey of 918 valid respondents in Songyuan, China, which had been hit by a small earthquake swarm, was conducted to provide practical evidence for this study. The results indicated the following. Firstly, the information needs of individuals are highly differentiated in the different stages of an earthquake. From pre-disaster to post-disaster, individuals show a shift in information need from “preparedness and response knowledge” to “disaster information”, then to “disaster information and disaster relief information” in parallel, to “reconstruction and reflection information”. Based on the above analysis, a composition of the main earthquake disaster information is proposed for different stages. Secondly, by measuring the values of the IDI, we found that most individuals’ information needs were met for the earthquake. Thirdly, the TV and the internet were the two preferred commutation channels for acquiring disaster information from among all the effective channels in all the stages. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen an unmatched level of panic buying globally, a type of herd behavior whereby consumers buy an uncommonly huge amount of products because of a perception of scarcity. Drawing on the health belief model, perceived scarcity, and anticipated regret theories, this paper formulated a theoretical model that linked the determinants of panic buying and analyzed their interrelationships. Subsequently, data were collated from 508 consumers through an online survey questionnaire in Singapore that was conducted during the early stage of the pandemic, before the onset of the circuit breaker in April 2020. Next, an analysis of the results was done through structural equation modeling. It showed that the effect of the health belief model dimensions (i.e., perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, outcome expectation, cues to action, and self-efficacy) on panic buying is partially mediated by the consumers’ perceived scarcity of products. Furthermore, the effect of perceived scarcity on panic buying is partially mediated by consumers’ anticipation of regret. This paper expands on the current theoretical understanding of panic buying behavior, giving insights into the possible measures and solutions that policymakers and relevant stakeholders can uptake to manage panic buying in future a pandemic or health crisis. Full article

Renewable energy plays a significant role in the world for obvious environmental and economic reasons with respect to the increasing energy crisis and fossil fuel environmental problems. Biomass energy, one of the most promising renewable energy technologies, has drawn increasing attention in recent years. However, biomass technologies still vary without an integrated framework. Considering the theory of a technological paradigm and implementing a literature analysis, biomass technological development was found to follow a three-stage technological paradigm, which can be divided into: BETP (biomass energy technological paradigm) competition, BETP diffusion, and BETP shift. Further, the literature review indicates that waste, like municipal solid waste (MSW), has the potential to be an important future trend in the world and waste-to-energy (WTE) is designed for sustainable waste management. Among WTE, anaerobic digestion has the potential to produce energy from waste sustainably, safely, and cost-effectively. The new BETP technological framework proposed in this paper may offer new research ideas and provide a significant reference for scholars. Full article

Workplace violence in Chinese township hospitals is a major public health problem. We identified the risk factors of healthcare workers’ worry about experiencing workplace violence in 90 Chinese township hospitals and determined specific measures for differing stages of violence (based on crisis management theory). Participants were 440 general practitioners and 398 general nurses from Heilongjiang Province, China (response rate 84.6%). One hundred and six (12.6%) respondents reported being physically attacked in their workplace in the previous 12 months. Regarding psychological violence, the most common type reported was verbal abuse (46.0%). While most (85.2%) respondents had some degree of worry about suffering violence, 22.1% were worried or very worried. Ordinal regression analysis revealed that being ≤35 years of age, having a lower educational level, having less work experience, and working night shifts were all associated with worry about workplace violence. Furthermore, those without experience of such violence were more likely to worry about it. Respondents’ suggested measures for controlling violence included “widening channels on medical dispute solutions,” “improving doctor-patient communication,” and “advocating for respect for medical workers via the media.” Results suggest the target factors for reducing healthcare workers’ worry by according to the type of education and training and possible measures for limiting workplace violence in township hospitals. Full article

Online social media has shifted the balance of power from businesses to consumers, with consumers now being able to share information almost unrestrictedly in real-time. As a result, an effort to suppress what may be considered as harmful information can easily backfire, causing the information to instantly spread through user ties. However, what is considered important in such occasions is the way extant and prospective customers may interpret such crises. In this paper, we discuss the case of a Greek Apple authorized service provider and the manner in which it responded to a customer’s complaint in a blog post. The company, instead of using social media to reach out to its customers, chose to move legally against the disgruntled customer, aiming to suppress the relevant blog post, which quickly resulted to the company’s viral defamation. Building upon attribution theory and employing a content analysis of user postings in social media, our study explores stakeholders’ perceptions regarding the company’s reaction and response strategy, seeking to investigate attributions of cause and responsibility. Our results show that, in the initial stages of a crisis, hostile behaviour or refraining from comments altogether, can lead to negative outcomes in relation to a company’s reputation. Full article