{"title":"Lock-in effect of infrastructures metabolism in China's residential centralized heating: View from consumption and production end","authors":"Yan Li , Kairui You , Weiguang Cai","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106067","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106067","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Residential centralized heating (RCH) is dominated form of heating for residents in Chinese northern area. Long lifespan caused a slow metabolism of RCH infrastructures, hindering the adoption of new and clean heating techniques and leading to a severe lock-in effect. However, the lock-in effect of RCH infrastructure metabolism is unclear. This study developed stock dynamic of RCH infrastructure coupling techniques metabolism, and further quantified the lock-in effect of RCH infrastructures. We also assessed the decarbonization potential and cost-effectiveness of retrofitting and early retirement for RCH infrastructures. The results represent: 1) In 2021, the CO<sub>2</sub> emissions and heating consumption of RCH increased to 263.56 MtCO<sub>2</sub> and 541.36 TWh, respectively. 2) Stock RCH infrastructures will result in 14.77 PWh of heating consumption and 4.30 GtCO<sub>2</sub> of emissions during their rest life. 3) Unlocking of RCH infrastructures can achieve a significant heating saving and decarbonization. If all stock buildings follow latest standard, national heating unit heating area will decrease by 30.63 %. Replacing coal-fired boilers can reduce heating emission factor by 3.22–18.26 %. Meanwhile, building retrofitting and early retirement of coal-fired boiler have great cost-effectiveness. The results of this study can help policy-makers understand the lock-in effect of current RCH, find potential unlocking objectives and formulate province-specific RCH decarbonization policies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48659,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 106067"},"PeriodicalIF":10.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143144901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yi Fan , Chanchan Hu , Zhaokun Wang , Haimei Wang , Ruosu Zhang , Dongxia Jiang , Xueqiong He , Linyan Li , Jack M. Wolfson , Jianyin Xiong , Shaodan Huang , Yinping Zhang , Petros Koutrakis
{"title":"Residential VOC from building materials: Exposures, health risks, and ambient hazards","authors":"Yi Fan , Chanchan Hu , Zhaokun Wang , Haimei Wang , Ruosu Zhang , Dongxia Jiang , Xueqiong He , Linyan Li , Jack M. Wolfson , Jianyin Xiong , Shaodan Huang , Yinping Zhang , Petros Koutrakis","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106080","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106080","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from building materials are a significant concern in China, yet their national indoor exposures, health risks, or impact on the ambient remain underexplored. Based on the emission mechanism and measurements of 53 VOC species in 279 residences across 9 cities, we correlated their indoor concentrations with temperature, humidity, ventilation, loading factor and renovated time. Using Monte Carlo method, we estimated average residential concentrations and health risks of the top 10 VOC species across 31 regions. We found significant spatial-temporal variations in residential exposures, with higher concentrations in the south and during summer generally. Residential VOC emissions significantly affect the ambient. Nationally, formaldehyde, 1,2-dichloropropane, and cumene from residential building materials contributed 13.169 %, 14.779 %, and 2.475 % of total anthropogenic emissions to the ambient, respectively. Urban emissions were higher than rural; for instance, urban formaldehyde emissions were 2.55 times of the rural emissions. Residential VOC contribute to the ambient potential to form ozone and secondary organic aerosols, surpassing emissions from about half of the 98 previously studied anthropogenic sources. Our results underscore the urgency of reducing residential VOC levels, particularly in urban areas, to promote sustainable development by addressing both direct indoor health effects and broader environmental impacts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48659,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 106080"},"PeriodicalIF":10.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143144905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spatiotemporal characteristics and robustness analysis of the thermal network in Beijing, China","authors":"Xiang Cao , Fei Feng , Chengyang Xu , Xiaoting Li , Baoquan Jia , Lanqing Zhang , Qiang Yu , Raffaele Lafortezza","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106092","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106092","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the acceleration of the process of urbanization, the urban heat island effect (UHI) is seriously impacting the ecological environment. At present, only a few studies have specifically analyzed the flow trajectory of heat, the change of heat sources, and the complexity of heat. Therefore, the city of Beijing, China, is used as a case study to analyze the mitigation of the UHI effect in large cities. The results show that: (1) the range of the sub-high-temperature zone fluctuated greatly, and the area proportion of four years (2003, 2013, 2018, and 2022) was 28.60 %, 35.53 %, 21.35 %, and 35.17 %, respectively; (2) the heat sources gradually aggregated and the heat corridors were gradually ordered from 2003 to 2022; and (3) the connectivity robustness initially decreased and then increased. When 76 points were removed from random attacks, connectivity robustness began to increase. Application of the above research and analysis will help planners and decision makers to quickly locate high-risk and critical areas of heat islands. It also regulates the urban thermal environment by optimizing the composition of heat source sites and the linkages between heat sources, providing an important reference for future urban planning and ecological protection as well as sustainable development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48659,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 106092"},"PeriodicalIF":10.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143144906","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Analyzing the cooling effect, thermal comfort, and energy consumption of integrated arrangement of high-rise buildings and green spaces on urban heat island","authors":"Juui Kim, Seungkeun Yeom, Taehoon Hong","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106105","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106105","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The strategic arrangement of green spaces is essential to mitigating the urban heat island effect. This study comprehensively analyzed how integrating high-rise buildings and green spaces impacts the urban thermal environment and energy consumption. Simulations using ENVI-met were conducted for three scenarios in an urban renewal area in Seoul: (i) pre-development phase, (ii) high-rise building and green space development phase, and (iii) green space creation phase. Thermal comfort via the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) and energy consumption via Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) were evaluated. Results showed a mean air temperature decrease of 0.94 °C and a 1.80% reduction in energy consumption due to the integrated arrangement. The daytime PET improved more with the combined arrangement than with green spaces alone. Parametric analysis revealed that building shading provides more effective daytime cooling during heatwaves than green spaces, with cooling effects increasing as building height rises. This comprehensive study demonstrated the synergistic benefits of integrating high-rise buildings and green spaces for cooling and energy efficiency. These findings provide practical insights for green space development plans to enhance urban thermal environments and reduce energy consumption, particularly in dense urban settings experiencing extreme climate conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48659,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 106105"},"PeriodicalIF":10.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143145443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spatiotemporal effects of lake-land breezes on the microclimate of lakefront trees","authors":"Ying Liu , Peng Zeng , Dachuan Shi , Kexin Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2025.106127","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scs.2025.106127","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To mitigate the challenges of heatwaves and urban heat islands, blue-green spaces are widely used for reducing urban overheating. In this study, the annual spatiotemporal variations in lake-land breezes at a small urban lake were investigated, including their impacts on heat and moisture dynamics of lakefront trees. From 2022 to 2023, we conducted field experiments via automatic weather stations arranged at different distances from the lake, which continuously recorded the air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction. Data analysis involved identifying and quantifying lake-land breezes. The findings revealed the longest lake breeze duration of 21.25 h and the lowest land breeze intensity of 0.11 m/s in summer. Lake breezes yielded a maximum cooling effect of 0.50 °C in the afternoon when the wind speed exceeded 0.5 m/s. Additionally, lake breezes enhanced moisture diffusion, reducing the lakefront humidity by 0.2 g/m<sup>3</sup> but weak land breezes increased humidity. Hydrometeorology-related parameters like solar radiation significantly influenced lake-land breezes. In this research, urban planning strategies for blue-green spaces were provided to maximize cooling benefits during peak hot periods, thereby leveraging lake breezes to reduce heat stress. By considering lake-land breezes, cities can increase their thermal comfort and resilience to heatwaves.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48659,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 106127"},"PeriodicalIF":10.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143145654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wenwen Deng , Jiaxiang Li , David I. Forrester , Yelin Zeng , Shuai Ouyang , Liang Chen , Huili Wu , Yanting Hu , Wenhua Xiang
{"title":"Mountainous landscapes and tree species diversity enhance ecosystem multifunctionality in an urban green heart area","authors":"Wenwen Deng , Jiaxiang Li , David I. Forrester , Yelin Zeng , Shuai Ouyang , Liang Chen , Huili Wu , Yanting Hu , Wenhua Xiang","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2025.106130","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scs.2025.106130","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Green heart is a form of green space adapted to address urbanization challenges and provides ecosystem services linked to human well-being and the sustainability of surrounding cities. However, it is paucity that ecosystem services, multifunctionality hotspots and their drivers in great heart are determined using fine-scale data of vegetation types and local parameters. We quantified eight ecosystem services and mapped multifunctionality in the world's largest green heart in the center of the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration in China, using field plot inventory data. Multivariate statistical methods were applied to identify key factors affecting multifunctionality. Forests made substantial contributions to most ecosystem services, except for grain production and water yield. Ecosystem services differed among forest types (<em>p</em> < 0.05). Evergreen broadleaved forests had highest net primary production (NPP) and flood risk reduction, while mixed forests performed best in carbon storage and mitigating urban heat island effects. Coniferous forests had highest particulate matter (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) removal rate. Multifunctionality hotspots were concentrated in the central mountainous areas, dominated by natural broadleaved forests. Biodiversity and mountainous landscapes were the main factors promoting multifunctionality. Therefore, sustainable development policies should focus on protecting natural forests in mountainous areas and biodiversity to enhance green heart multifunctionality and urban resilience.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48659,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 106130"},"PeriodicalIF":10.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143145657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Searching for economic synergy and sustainability in Tehran metropolitan region","authors":"Saeid Zarghami , Anwar Eziz , Narges Siamian , Ivana Janeska Stamenkovska , Laima Skauronė , Hossein Azadi","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106104","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106104","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Over the past few decades, urban areas have become hubs for economic activity, especially industrial activity, because of economies of scale and agglomeration. Lack of compliance with the environmental regulations and frameworks has led to environmental unsustainability in these regions over time, and Tehran Metropolitan Region (TMR) as one of the concentrations of industrial activities is encountering environmental issues these days. This study sought to determine the degree of environmental unsustainability as well as these locations' potential for economic synergy. In this study, economic synergy potentials and sustainability were implemented by Related Variety (RV), clustering, energy consumption, air pollution, and land use change (agriculture, vegetation, and built-up areas) indicators. The results of the study indicated that certain industries have contributed to unsustainability simultaneously; however, they had a high potential for economic synergy. Factors including the increase of industry production capacity, low technological level, and improper location of industrial parks and workshops in terms of economic synergy considerations, have led to increased distance among workshops and industrial parks in their supply and value chains. Therefore, for regional sustainable development, it would be prominent to employ cluster-based development according to RV and environmental policies including institutional transformation and innovative and green technologies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48659,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 106104"},"PeriodicalIF":10.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143146015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Neng Shen, Jingwen Zhou, Guoping Zhang, Lianjun Wu, Lin Zhang
{"title":"How does data factor marketization influence urban carbon emission efficiency? A new method based on double machine learning","authors":"Neng Shen, Jingwen Zhou, Guoping Zhang, Lianjun Wu, Lin Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106106","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scs.2024.106106","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Data factor marketization (DFM) can fully leverage the multiplier effect of data and provide impetus for China 's carbon emission efficiency (CEE) improvement. Drawing from the panel data across 282 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2021, this research takes the establishment of data trading platforms as the quasi-natural experiment, and innovatively uses the double machine learning (DML) model to study the impact of DFM on CEE and its mechanisms. The findings indicate that: (1) DFM has a strong favorable impact on CEE. Furthermore, this conclusion remains valid following a series of robustness tests such as adjusting samples and changing models. (2) DFM can influence CEE by accelerating digital finance development, improving technological innovation level and promoting industrial structure towards the direction of advanced development (3) The effect of DFM has obvious regional heterogeneity. It is more significant for non-resource-based, high administrative level, low-intensity environmental regulation and economically developed cities. This study quantifies the promotion effect of the DFM on CEE, and provides important experience and enlightenment for comprehensively deepening the construction of data resource system and achieving sustainable development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48659,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 106106"},"PeriodicalIF":10.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143146018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An innovative sustainable multi-energy management framework for full renewable grid-tied microgrids under the transactive energy paradigm","authors":"Mohammadreza Daneshvar , Behnam Mohammadi-Ivatloo , Kazem Zare","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2025.106167","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scs.2025.106167","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The significant growth in thermal and electrical energy demand along with the simultaneous emergence of hybrid energy systems have made the uninterrupted clean multi-energy supply with adequate sustainability and flexibility a critical challenge under the current independent energy structures. This paper develops an innovative sustainable multi-energy management framework by adopting transactive energy capabilities in the energy sharing of multi-carrier multi-microgrids. The developed model allows microgrids to benefit from the optimal integration of 100 % renewable energy sources for fully producing carbon-free energy. The proposed framework enables microgrids to fairly trade energy with each other in the local multi-energy sharing environment for effectively realizing environmental and economic objectives. Herein, the stochastic volatilities of the solar irradiation, multi-energy prices, and wind speed are simultaneously modeled by developing the distributionally robust chance-constrained methodology to ensure the achievement of a sufficient level of robustness as well as a satisfactory economic advantage. The results highlighted achieving 11.36 % cost savings for microgrids when they are operated under the proposed model. Indeed, the outputs indicated the applicability of the suggested model in reducing microgrids’ dependency on the grid, supplying continuous multi-energy, and improving the system's robustness and economic benefits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48659,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":"120 ","pages":"Article 106167"},"PeriodicalIF":10.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143172620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ganmin Yin , Chen Fu , Shuliang Ren , Xiaoqin Yan , Junnan Qi , Yi Bao , Zhou Huang
{"title":"Traffic prediction and road space optimization for the integration of dockless bike-sharing and subway","authors":"Ganmin Yin , Chen Fu , Shuliang Ren , Xiaoqin Yan , Junnan Qi , Yi Bao , Zhou Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.scs.2025.106162","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.scs.2025.106162","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The integration of dockless bike-sharing (DBS) and subway is an effective measure to promote sustainable urban transportation. However, inaccurate traffic prediction and unreasonable road space allocation have brought a severe imbalance between supply and demand, significantly restricting its application. To address these issues, this study first employs machine learning to establish a traffic prediction model at the origin–destination level. Then, we propose a road space optimization method based on multi-source geospatial big data, aiming to compress motorized lanes and increase cycling space. Results from the Beijing case indicate: (1) The XGBoost model achieves the best prediction accuracy, with an R<sup>2</sup> of 0.68 ± 0.04. (2) The optimization method can accurately identify high-priority areas, and compressing each motorized lane only by 0–0.41 m can achieve reasonable allocation and still meet official standards. This study will assist policymakers in identifying demand and adjusting infrastructure within the DBS-subway integration scenario, ultimately achieving sustainable transportation systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48659,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Cities and Society","volume":"121 ","pages":"Article 106162"},"PeriodicalIF":10.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143183001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}