We propose a Spatial Decision Support System (DSS) designed for planners and policy makers which will help them develop effective policy interventions for more liveable and sustainable cities. The DSS will be based on novel high resolution urban simulation models augmented with tools capable of measuring and distinguishing sustainability levels as well as tools that support the decision maker i...

For decades, rapid urban expansion has led to concerns over the loss of cultivated land in rural China. Less well known is the fact that development of newly cultivated land has in fact consistently exceeded land conversion from 1999-2006. This paper provides an analytical model that makes sense of this observation, featuring fiscal decentralization, local governments as custodians of land use ...

The recent world recession-some might even call it has been sweeping through developing countries since T a depression-is testing the vitality of urban poliWorld War 1I will be sustained through the end of this cies in developing countries. One is reminded of Dickcentury. Second, there are significant quantitative difens's Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was ferences between c...

BACKGROUND Although a number of environmental and policy interventions to promote physical activity are being widely used, there is sparse systematic information on the most effective approaches to guide population-wide interventions. METHODS We reviewed studies that addressed the following environmental and policy strategies to promote physical activity: community-scale urban design and land...

Anthropogenic activity interacts with urban form and inner metabolic processes, ultimately impacting urban sustainability. China’s cities have experienced many environmental issues and metabolic disturbances since the nation-wide market-oriented “reform and opening-up” policy was adopted in the 1980s. To analyze urban reform policy impacts and metabolism sustainability at a settlement scale, th...