scholarly journals Sustainability by High–Speed Rail: The Reduction Mechanisms of Transportation Infrastructure on Haze Pollution

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2763
Author(s):  
Yu Chen ◽  
Yuandi Wang ◽  
Ruifeng Hu

Haze pollution impacts human health, as well as the competitive capabilities of firms and local economic development. Considerable attention has been given to the study of mechanisms for reducing haze pollution, but few studies have investigated the effect of city-to-city transportation infrastructures on environmental issues based on an institutional perspective. To address this research gap, this study advances our understanding by assessing the effect of city–to–city transportation on haze pollution caused by the operation of high-speed rail, which triggers the rapid flow of individuals and information, improves information transparency, as well as imposes institutional pressure on local governments and firms to reduce haze pollution. To further verify the underlying mechanisms, we tested the development of hard infrastructure (information communication technology) and soft infrastructure (market development level), which represent two conditions for which the mechanism is likely to be critical. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 288 prefecture-level cities in China during the period from 2005 to 2016. The empirical results indicate that the operation of high-speed rail can reduce haze pollution by 17% on average.

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 733-743
Author(s):  
Wangyang Gui ◽  
Xu Zhang ◽  
Ai Wang

The construction of high-speed rails is regarded as a major opportunity for urban development by local governments in China, so various grand development plans are actively formulated to promote urban economic development. In this paper, the development of station space is evaluated empirically based on the calculated node and place values of 24 high-speed rail stations along the Beijing-Shanghai line and Bertolini’s “node-place” model. The results show that: (1) The 24 stations along the Beijing-Shanghai line have different development scale, which mostly act as sub-centers of the city, where the real estate industry, modern service industry and cultural industry are dominated in station space planning. Moreover, local governments are optimistic about the accelerant effect of high-speed rail stations whose functional configuration along the line is relatively repeated, because all 24 stations are basically set with business centers. (2) The size of cities along the Beijing-Shanghai line is related to the node value, the higher the urban function level, the greater the node value, with great differences among cities. The node value of big cities is far higher than that of small and medium-sized cities, hence there are node-oriented station areas in big cities and place-oriented ones in middle-sized and small cities. However, there is no direct relationship between the urban function level of stations along the line and the value of urban places. In some small and medium-sized cities, the planning and development intensity and scale of station areas even exceed that of big cities. (3) Only Wuxi station and Nanjing station are in a balanced development state in the space planning of railway stations along the Beijing-Shanghai line. Therefore, the risk of long-term development of station area should be considered in the planning, and reasonable measures should be formulated to promote the sustainable development of station area, so as to form the overall development of Station City.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Xuefei Ren

This article examines how China’s rust-belt cities deploy historical preservation for urban revitalization. Drawing upon fieldwork interviews and online debates, it investigates the preservation battle over Jihong Bridge in Harbin in northeast China. Built by Russian settlers in the early 20th century, Jihong Bridge symbolizes the birth of Harbin as a railway city, but a century later, it stood in the way of the local government’s ambitious plan for building high-speed rail. The municipal government elevated the bridge, significantly modifying its structure to allow high-speed trains to pass underneath. The renovation was heavily criticized by local preservationists, who invoked the government’s own preservation regulations to try to save the bridge. The study highlights the dilemma faced by local governments of rust-belt cities, as they are caught between the desire to deploy historical architecture for city branding and competing priorities of infrastructure investment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 2087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yutong Xue ◽  
Pengcheng Xiang

In China, high-speed rail projects have brought huge social and economic benefits to the affected regions after they are completed. However, the potential externalities of such projects cause competition for the station during the project planning phase, thus triggering social risks. This paper studies the mechanisms responsible for generating the social risk associated with such high-speed rail projects. Employing typical case studies, a social risk list for a given project is established. Based on the risk list, a Bayesian network model is developed and verified through case studies, expert interviews, and expert grading. Using the model’s functions of reverse inference and sensitivity analysis, the key risk factors, sensitive risk factors, and maximum causal chain are identified. Countermeasures are then proposed to mitigate the social risk, such as increasing the transparency of and democratizing the planning process for high-speed rail projects, improving the mechanism by which local governments can express interest in such projects, and enhancing emergency management mechanisms. The findings provide points of reference for social risk management when it comes to planning high-speed rail projects and, more generally, offer significant guidance for socially sustainable decision-making processes for mega projects with massive externalities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 8110
Author(s):  
Shanlang Lin ◽  
Ziyang Chen ◽  
Ziwen He

This research uses a two-way fixed effect model to examine the correlation between the development of high-speed rail and the growth of green technology innovation by adopting the panel data of 284 Chinese cities between 2004 and 2013. The empirical results show that the supply of high-speed rail services has a significant promoting influence on the advance of urban green technology innovation capabilities. In particular, cities located in central and western China, along with those cities with relatively little government support or relatively backward public cultural infrastructure, have more chances to benefit from the supply of high-speed rail services. In addition, by employing a mediating effect model, this article finds that the industrial collaborative agglomeration plays an important mediating role between high-speed rail and regional green technology innovation. Therefore, this article suggests that the Chinese central government should continue to accelerate the construction of the rapid transportation network and expand the coverage of high-speed rail services in China to increase the growth of green technology innovation and achieve steady and sustained economic growth in China. Meanwhile, local governments should actively guide the collaborative agglomeration of manufacturing and related producer service industries under local conditions to stimulate the expansion of the green technology innovation market.


CICTP 2020 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Shi ◽  
Qiyuan Peng ◽  
Ling Liu

Asian Survey ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 978-1003
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Chen Chen ◽  
Jun Xiang

Existing studies of the impact of economic development on political trust in China have two major gaps: they fail to explain how economic development contributes to the hierarchical trust pattern, and they do not pay enough attention to the underlying mechanisms. In light of cultural theory and political control theory, we propose adapting performance theory into a theory of “asymmetrical attribution of performance” to better illuminate the case of China. This adapted theory leads to dual pathway theses: expectation fulfillment and local blaming. Using a multilevel mediation model, we show that expectation fulfillment mainly upholds trust in the central government, whereas local blaming undermines trust in local governments. We also uncover a rural–urban distinction in the dual pathway, revealing that both theses are more salient among rural Chinese.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 83-95
Author(s):  
Luqman H. Zainuri

Abstract The aim of this article is to describe inter government relations resulted from disorganized political change from Autocratic political system to the Democratic one. This purpose is described through a challenge against Governor’s moratorium policy in 2010 made by three Heads of Districts within the province of Bali over the issuance of principle of building permit of new hotels and tourist accomodations. The method by which this research is conducted is exploratory. The research found that the problems of coordination in the policy emanate from a radical change in politics and government from centralised to decentralised government and termination of President Soeharto from the office. The un-coordinated political transition at the national level being faced by Indonesia has brought about serious problems on coordination of inter government institutions of the local governments. In effect, to the large extent, the performance of local governments -as it has been the case in the province of Bali-is contra productive in fulfilling societal needs of public services as well as local-economic development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 515-530
Author(s):  
Massimo Zucchetti1,2 ◽  
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Keyword(s):  

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