Towards Low Carbon Cities in China explores the relationship between urban form and greenhouse gas emissions in China, providing new insights for policy, urban planning and management. Drawing on the results of a four-year multidisciplinary research project, Towards Low Carbon Cities in China examines how factors such as urban households' access to services and jobs, land use mixes and provision of public transport impact on greenhouse gas emissions. The authors analyse data from a wide range of sources including 4 677 sample households from four major Chinese cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Xi'an – with diverse locations, urban spatial structures and population sizes.
Towards Low Carbon Cities in China explores residents' attitudes to reducing GHG emissions and advances knowledge relating to three environmental scales – cross-metropolitan, intra-city and neighbourhood level. It also contributes to debates on low carbon policy by revealing the relevance of urban planning parameters at both the macro and micro levels. The book will be of interest to scholars in the areas of urban planning, urban management, environmental sustainability and resource utilisation, as well as urban policy makers and planners who are working toward developing low carbon, sustainable cities of the future.
1. Framing China's Low Carbon City Ambitions in a Global Context
2. Low carbon Policies and Programs in China
3. The 'Campaign' for Low Carbon Cities in China
4. Does Urban Form 'Shape' Carbon Emission?
5. Beijing, a "Multi-Ringed" City
6. Wuhan, a Polycentric City
7. Xi'an, a Mono-centric City
8. Shanghai
9. Residents' Opinions on Creating more Sustainable Cities
10. Suggestions for decarbonizing Chinese Cities
Sun Sheng Han is Professor in Urban Planning in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Ray Green is Professor in Landscape Architecture in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Mark Y. Wang is Professor in Geography in the Melbourne School of Land and Environment at the University of Melbourne, Australia.