Search Results (13,679)

Many current studies have purely regarded green finance as green credit, ignoring the background of carbon neutrality and energy transition. This paper investigates the relationships among green finance, green technological innovation, and urban ecological welfare performance. Using 279 Chinese cities as examples, this paper reveals the following: there is (1) a direct positive effect, where a 0.1-unit absolute increase in the green finance index (GFI) is associated with an average 0.0605-unit rise in ecological welfare performance (EWP); (2) a partial mediation mechanism through green technological innovation, establishing a “finance → technology → ecology” pathway; (3) temporal persistence of positive effects across pre-2012 and post-2012 policy periods; and (4) regional disparities with significant impacts in Eastern/Western/Northeastern China but insignificant effects in Central China due to lower green credit allocation and weaker R&D intensity. Robustness checks, including Winsorization and subgroup analyses, validate these results. This study advances the integration of environmental finance with sustainable development theory, offering actionable insights for achieving ecological welfare goals. Full article

The 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes led to 428 container cities housing over 700,000 displaced people. How settlements at this scale are organized, serviced and governed across their operating life remains largely unexamined. This study follows five container cities between 2023 and 2025, combining longitudinal observation of one site with cross-sectional comparison of four others, using field observation and interviews with ten settlement administrators and their staff. Three operational phases were distinguished by observable shifts in provision, maintenance, resident adaptation and occupancy: establishment, stabilization and transition. The governing directive regulates establishment but sets no criteria for sustaining or withdrawing provision, leaving the transition phase effectively ungoverned. Services were reduced on an administrative timetable while settlements remained substantially occupied. Layouts lacked the designed public and outdoor space that carries a settlement beyond unit provision. Residents’ capacity to adapt outdoor space grew as provision fell, while their capacity to take part in decisions was absent at every phase. Comparable shortfalls appear in earlier responses in Japan, Haiti and Türkiye, suggesting they follow from how temporary settlement is conceived rather than any single response. Planning for the full operational lifecycle would make temporary settlement support a sustainable recovery. Full article

Smart cities and smart real estate are increasingly used to enhance urban efficiency, sustainability, and quality of life. Nevertheless, their implementation is hindered by interconnected challenges across concepts, technology, governance, economics, society, ethics, and the environment. Thus, this paper examines how and why interconnected limitations constrain the smartness of smart city and smart real estate initiatives and identifies the governance and implementation responses revealed by cross-case comparison. The analysis of secondary academic sources, policy papers, standards, and industry reports compares Toronto, Songdo, NEOM, and Barcelona. The results identify six categories of limitations: conceptual and strategic; technological and infrastructural; governance and institutional; economic and financial; social and ethical; and environmental. The analysis shows that the challenges facing these initiatives go beyond technology alone and include ambiguous definitions of smartness, poor governance, limited public involvement, privacy and surveillance risks, high implementation and maintenance costs, interoperability issues, and unverified assumptions that technological advancement will deliver sustainability. The comparison of cases highlights that the success of these initiatives depends on effective governance, responsible data management, public trust, financial feasibility, institutional coordination, and a life cycle approach. The study concludes that smartness should be understood as an integrated institutional, economic, social, technological, and environmental capacity rather than as the mere adoption of digital technologies. Full article

Urban pluvial flooding shows clear temporal accumulation, delayed response, and spatial heterogeneity. Better flood-depth prediction from a spatiotemporal coupling perspective can support urban flood risk identification and refined management. This study develops a spatiotemporal prediction model that integrates a Transformer and graph neural network (GNN). The Transformer module captures temporal dependencies in rainfall processes and flood-depth evolution. The graph attention network (GAT) represents spatial associations constrained by terrain, drainage networks, and neighboring spatial relationships. A fusion attention mechanism then adaptively couples temporal and spatial features. This study uses multi-source data, including hourly meteorological observations, terrain, land cover, drainage networks, and water-system data. It selects the heavy rainfall event caused by Typhoon In-Fa in Huai’an City in July 2021 as a typical case. The study analyzes the temporal evolution of regional average flood depth and the spatial differentiation of inundated grid cells at the municipal scale. The results show three main findings. First, during the typical heavy rainfall event, regional average flood depth follows a continuous process of low-level stability, sustained rise, rapid increase, delayed peak, slow recession at a high level, and rapid recession. The flood peak lags behind the rainfall peak by about 3 h. This result indicates clear accumulation and delayed response in urban pluvial flooding. Second, at the municipal scale, inundated grid cells show a pattern of concentrated distribution in urban built-up areas, secondary distribution in county-level built-up areas, and scattered distribution in non-construction land. Different depth grades also show clear hierarchical differentiation. Mild and moderate inundation covers a wider area. Medium-high inundation concentrates locally. High-grade inundation appears as a small number of nested high-value cells. Third, the spatial differentiation of medium- and high-grade inundated grid cells does not result from low-lying terrain or construction land alone. It forms under the combined effects of low-lying terrain, local relative depressions, and impervious surfaces in construction land. This pattern shows clear built-up-area clustering, grade differentiation, and land-cover correspondence. The results provide methodological support and decision references for urban flood risk identification, grid-based risk management, and emergency dispatch during extreme rainfall. Full article

Urban services increasingly depend on interconnected sensing, communication, computing, decision-support, and response functions, yet technical performance alone does not establish service effectiveness. This structured integrative review examines WSNs, WBANs, V2X systems, 5G-enabled edge–cloud infrastructures, and prospective 6G capabilities across health, mobility, environmental monitoring, energy, water, infrastructure safety, and climate resilience. A five-database search covering January 2018–March 2025 was supplemented by citation tracing and a documented gap-directed update with a final cutoff of 1 July 2026. The analytical corpus comprised 40 peer-reviewed studies, five deployment cases, and one scope-boundary case. An outcome-mediated perception–network–edge/cloud–decision–response framework enabled categorical comparison of heterogeneous evidence without pooling non-comparable measures. Attribution was classified as T1 (comparatively evaluated downstream outcome), T2 (technical or bounded operational outcome), or T3 (conceptual linkage): three studies were T1, 34 T2, and three T3. Ten studies supported target-level SDG alignment, whereas none reached indicator-level correspondence. Evidence remained concentrated at communication, processing, decision-support, and bounded operational endpoints, with limited assessment of response availability and disruption–recovery conditions. Among the deployment cases, only SFpark supported T1 interpretation. These findings characterize the selected corpus and identify a persistent gap between technical performance and comparative, longitudinal, and distributionally assessed urban-service outcomes. Full article

Waste accumulation and land carrying pressure are common sustainability challenges in urbanization, making the improvement of urban land green use efficiency (ULGUE) a key issue. Using panel data from 278 Chinese cities over 2008–2023, this study treats zero-waste city pilots as a quasi-natural experiment and constructs a difference-in-differences model, measuring ULGUE via a super-efficiency slacks-based measure–Global Malmquist–Luenberger (Super-SBM-GML) model under variable returns to scale. The results show that zero-waste city construction significantly and robustly improves ULGUE. Mechanism analysis shows that zero-waste city construction improves ULGUE mainly by optimizing the waste treatment structure, promoting green technological innovation, and facilitating the development of green industries. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the promoting effect is stronger in eastern regions, key environmental protection cities, old industrial base cities, and resource-based cities. Moderating effect analysis indicates that rising public environmental attention and internet development strengthen this effect. Spatial econometric analysis further shows that zero-waste city construction generates significant positive spatial spillovers on neighboring regions in addition to improving local ULGUE. This study reveals the underlying logic and micro-level transmission paths of zero-waste city policy, situates China’s experience within global circular economy governance, and offers policy evidence for emerging economies advancing green land use. Full article

Climate risk has become a major challenge for the development of sustainable finance and the enhancement of regional economic resilience. However, limited attention has been paid to how climate shock affects the spatial organization of financial dependence across cities. Using daily return data for firms listed on China’s A share market from 2021 to 2025, this study examines the relationship between climate shock and the urban equity risk network. Firm returns are first aggregated according to corporate location, after which annual networks and rolling backbone networks are constructed. The resulting network indicators are then matched with a national daily climate shock index. The empirical analysis combines comparisons across climate shock groups, regressions, alternative windows, lagged models, and descriptive analyses of extreme climate windows. The results show that urban equity risk in China is spatially uneven. Coastal urban regions and several major inland cities occupy influential positions in the network. Higher mean climate shock is significantly associated with greater average edge weight and average weighted degree, indicating stronger dominant risk connections across cities. The main findings remain stable in lagged models and specifications based on longer rolling windows, whereas acute extreme climate shocks are associated with more heterogeneous network responses. The findings suggest that sustainable financial governance should incorporate network monitoring across cities, regional regulatory coordination, and dynamic climate shock testing to strengthen the resilience of urban and regional financial systems to climate risk. Full article

Sustained enhancement of energy utilization efficiency constitutes a pivotal lever for achieving dual carbon goals. To examine both the local effects and spatial spillovers of the Energy-use Rights Trading System (ERTS) on urban green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE), this study employs the super-efficiency EBM-GML index to measure GTFEE across 270 prefecture-level cities in China from 2013 to 2022. Utilizing a Spatial-DID model, we find that the ERTS significantly drives local GTFEE improvements, with the positive effect intensifying over time, while concurrently exerting a negative spatial spillover on GTFEE in neighboring cities. Mechanism analysis suggests that the ERTS enhances local GTFEE through increased R&D investment, optimized fossil energy structures, and improved energy resource allocation in pilot cities, yet suppresses GTFEE improvement in adjacent areas via reduced R&D investment, a worsening fossil energy structure, and resource misallocation. These patterns are consistent with cross-regional flows of R&D resources and energy-intensive industries between pilot and non-pilot cities. Heterogeneity tests reveal that the policy’s effects on pilot city GTFEE are more pronounced in cities with larger populations, stronger industrial bases, more abundant human capital, greater resource endowments, and more transparent environmental information disclosure. Moreover, the population size of pilot cities intensifies the negative spatial spillover effect on neighboring GTFEE, whereas a well-established industrial base in pilot cities mitigates such adverse spillovers. It should be noted, however, that the Spatial-DID model is sensitive to the specification of spatial weights, and the mechanism analysis can only provide indirect evidence of cross-regional factor and industrial mobility. These findings offer spatial-effect empirical evidence to inform the further refinement of the ERTS under the dual carbon framework. Full article

Urban air pollution has become a critical governance challenge for many developing cities, where sustained air quality improvement depends not only on pollution-control capacity but also on durable public participation and financial support. Building on Cultural Additivity Theory (CAT), this study employs Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics with a Bayesian cumulative ordinal logistic specification to investigate how environmental perceptions, adaptive behavior, and household financial capacity are associated with household willingness to pay (WTP) for urban air quality improvement, using survey data from 604 households in Hanoi, Vietnam. The results show that household income, perceived pollution urgency, perceived pollution impact, and avoidance behavior are positively associated with higher WTP. More importantly, the positive associations of perceived pollution urgency and avoidance behavior with WTP are more pronounced at higher household income levels, indicating that these environmental orientations are more closely associated with higher contribution preferences at greater levels of financial capacity. These findings suggest that household WTP reflects a differentiated decision process in which environmental engagement and material circumstances jointly correspond to stated financial contribution rather than operating as isolated determinants. This study makes three contributions. First, it extends CAT into behavioral environmental economics by distinguishing environmental value formation from its expression in stated financial contribution and revealing within-decision differentiation across environmental attributes. Second, it extends the application of BMF analytics to payment card WTP data through a Bayesian cumulative ordinal logistic specification that supports posterior and probability-based interpretation. Third, it provides evidence for designing clean air governance that combines locally relevant risk communication and behaviorally informed public engagement with flexible participation arrangements that recognize heterogeneous household financial capacity. Full article

Land-use type acts as a key anthropogenic factor shaping the diversity of pollinator communities. Different habitats indirectly alter pollinator species richness, abundance and community structure by regulating vegetation coverage and the abundance of host and nectar plants. To clarify the mechanisms underlying habitat effects on pollinator assemblages, we conducted transect surveys to investigate pollinator communities across three typical habitats (forest, cropland and urban area) in Nanchong City. Our results revealed that pollinator alpha diversity was significantly higher in forests than in croplands and urban areas, with urban habitats harboring the lowest species diversity. Vegetation coverage and nectar plant richness were identified as the primary environmental drivers of pollinator diversity. The plant–pollinator interaction network exhibited pronounced seasonal dynamics: spring networks displayed a distinct nested architecture dominated by generalized mutualistic interactions; networks shifted gradually from generalized to specialized links in early summer; and only a small number of specialist pollinators persisted in late summer to early autumn. Accordingly, retaining wild flowering herbs adjacent to pollinator-dependent crops and conserving autumn- and winter-blooming plant species can sustain continuous floral food resources for pollinators, promote pollinator richness, stabilize pollinator communities, and enhance the ecosystem service of pollination. Full article

Rapid urbanization across global South megacities has accelerated the overexploitation of urban aquifers, creating complex socio-hydrological crises that threaten long-term water resilience for a vast population. Conventional urban-water management frequently relies on uniform, city-wide regulatory mandates that fail to account for localized hydrogeological heterogeneities and the socio-economic drivers of private extraction. This study performed a seasonal assessment (post- and pre-monsoon) of groundwater levels (GWLs), across the National Capital Territory of Delhi, India, using a 13-year archival dataset (2010–2022) of 77 ‘common’ wells, with a sequential spatial–statistical framework. No statistically significant ‘seasonality’ was found in GWLs, except for isolated years. About 13% of the observations appeared as ‘deep outliers’, the call for more process-level hydrogeologic investigations. Spatial interpolation via the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation technique, alongside Global Moran’s I, Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA), and spatially Constrained Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (sHCA), revealed a recurrent spatial pattern: persistent, deep GWLs, within the fracture-dominated, low-yielding Alwar Quartzite (Delhi Ridge) of South and Southeast Delhi. The spatial clustering demonstrates the migration of the deep-GWL hotspots toward the unconfined alluvial aquifers of the Yamuna River floodplains to the east, threatening future baseflow stability. These spatial drawdown patterns represent a structural response to municipal Drinking Water Services Framework (DWSF) deficits, where intermittent supply and informal water markets incentivize the growth of more unregulated and unrestricted private pumping of groundwater. Achieving sustainable urban groundwater governance requires replacing blanket administrative mandates with a more data-driven, micro-zoned socio-hydrological framework across the city—combining area-specific extraction caps, economic instruments for geologically targeted aquifer storage and recovery, informal market regulation, and facilitating more participatory, community-based (Water users Associations, WUA) initiatives in the future to protect groundwater resources in Delhi. However, it requires specialized monitoring data, which is still largely lacking, and detailed investigations involving the aquifer hydrogeology and groundwater pumping patterns. Full article

Rapid urbanization of the human population and the escalating threat of climate change are the main global crises of the 21st century. When cities densify to accommodate the growth, they face critical shortage of urban space and intense competition between gray infrastructure, ecological preservation, and the urgent need for renewable energy generation, calling for effective urban planning as well as management. Traditionally, urban planning operates in isolated departments without cooperation; they simply separate nature into parks, energy into peripheral power plants, and water into underground pipes, leading to more and more vigorous competition for space utilization. This perspective argues that such a fragmented approach is no longer viable, while a new paradigm of spatial synergy integrating blue–green infrastructure (BGI) and renewable energy sources (RES) possesses encouraging potential and is gaining increasing attention. After discussing the mechanics, the planning methodologies, and the operational frameworks of the spatial synergy, the critical challenges and specific barriers in the synergistic integration are summarized in the dimensions of spatial planning, operation and techniques, socio-economics and governance, and the interconnected pathways, spanning good planning, honest financing, and inclusive governance are proposed to provide a clear roadmap for achieving tangible sustainable urbanism. Full article

The city of Skopje faces persistent inefficiencies in waste management, characterised by rising waste generation and limited progress in sustainable treatment solutions. This paper addresses the need for a structured approach to identify barriers to implementing Waste-to-Energy (WtE) technology, focusing on incineration-based energy recovery as a potential option for improving waste management while generating energy. Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) and Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) were applied to six categories of implementation challenges: operational, technical, financial, regulatory, social, and environmental. ISM identified hierarchical relationships within each category, while MICMAC classified challenges according to their driving and dependence powers. The results revealed distinct structural patterns across categories, with underlying barriers including inadequate waste separation and collection, lack of integrated waste information, competitive renewable energy prices, regulatory preferences for waste reuse, recycling and reduction over WtE, institutional distrust, and combustion residue management. The findings reveal interconnected barriers with distinct structural roles, while conceptual mitigation measures and relevant SDG linkages are proposed based on the identified barriers and literature. The proposed ISM-MICMAC framework provides a structured approach for analysing WtE implementation barriers and can be adapted to other contexts following appropriate contextual and quantitative assessment. Full article

Sustainable river basin management requires an integrated approach that considers interactions among hydrological resources, socioeconomic development, and ecological protection. Existing studies have mainly focused on evaluating system development and coupling coordination, with limited attention to optimization-based regulation. This study conducts optimal operation of coupling coordination for the integrated system considering water resources, socioeconomic, and ecological environment. Initially, an indicator framework integrating multiple dimensions is developed to characterize system performance, followed by the application of the coupling coordination degree model to assess subsystem evolution and overall coordination. The obstacle degree model is further employed to diagnose dominant limiting factors and determine adjustable variables with regulatory potential. Finally, an optimization model is formulated to maximize the coupling coordination degree under constraints related to total water consumption, green ecological development, and regional feasibility, and NSGA-II is applied to obtain optimal regulation schemes. The results showed that the coupling coordination degree increased from 0.72 to 0.83 (+15.2%). Under the proposed operation strategy, the coupling coordination degree was further improved across all seven league-level cities, with average increases of 0.007–0.012 during the operation period. Optimization further improved coordination in all cities, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed framework for sustainable basin management. The proposed framework supports coordinated development and sustainable resource management in the Yellow River Basin. Full article

Coordinated population, economic, and land urbanization across counties is essential for sustainable metropolitan development. Factor flows between central cities and their surrounding counties are closely associated with urbanization levels across counties within metropolitan areas. Using multi-source data for 12 counties in the Hefei Metropolitan Area, China, in 2023, we measure population, economic, and land urbanization through equal weighting and characterize bidirectional population, logistics, capital, technology, and information flows between the central urban area and the counties. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) identifies configurations associated with the three urbanization dimensions. Population urbanization shows the greatest intercounty disparities, followed by economic and land urbanization. Economic urbanization exhibits a clear core–periphery pattern, population urbanization a partial one, and land urbanization a dispersed pattern. Factor flows cluster mainly near the central urban area but show neither uniform distance decay nor one-way diffusion. No single flow is necessary. Inflow configurations center on capital or logistics–information for high population urbanization, capital-information for high economic urbanization, and capital–technology for high land urbanization. Outflow configurations center on information with or without capital, capital–information, and capital and/or information, respectively. These findings provide a configurational basis for differentiated county-level strategies and contribute to understanding how bidirectional metropolitan linkages can support more coordinated and sustainable urbanization within comparable metropolitan contexts. Full article