The Study Of Regulation On Sustainable Development Of Resource-Exhausted Cities

The sustainable development of resource-exhausted cities becomes a worldwide problem.Due to the different government functions and state system, arguments related to such subjectin the international environment are centering upon social problems and solutions to theproblems, while arguments in China are centering upon the solutions to "continuousdevelopment". However, in practice, we are confronted with many obstacles, and in theories,there is no any explanation on how resource-exhausted cities could find their ways out.Therefore, this thesis does not propose that resource-exhausted cities can definitely fulfilltheir value targets, but tries to present solutions to some extent from such aspects as system,industrial structures and government support. Based on the analyses of the features, problems and systems of resource-exhausted cities,and from the view of sustainable development, this thesis makes a study into the developmentapproach of resource-exhausted cities that best accords with the objective laws. Through afundamental investigation into the cause of the resource-exhausted cities, it discusses aboutthe driving force to the solutions and selection of the reasonable continuing industries, andproposes the calculation of primary costs of transfer as well as suggestions concerningpolicies. The process of the study, combining the regular analysis with practical investigation,introduces the relevant theories including the regional economics, urban geography andindustrial organizations, probes into the impact that such theories could produce on thedevelopment of regional economy, and the role they may play in the sustainable developmentof resource-exhausted cities. This thesis consist of six parts: Chapter 1, general understanding and theories on resource / resource-exhausted cities.There has always been a lack of clear criterion and categorization distinguishing resourcecities in China. This thesis combines the definitions of resource-exhausted cities provided byembryology and functionalism, and points out that a resource-exhausted city is actually astage of development that a resources city may experience. Based on a review of the results ofstudy achieved both in China and oversea, it raises several focused questions concerningresource cities: whether a resource city is able to maintain its sustainable development, thefuture development of a resource-exhausted city under different systems, and whether thedevelopment of ecological agriculture may imply an admission of decay of urban economy.Finally, it points out that the results of basic theories concerning resource cities as a kind ofregional economy failed in providing an ideal explanation on the decaying of resource citiesdue to the exhaust of resource. The reason lies in the conflicts and confusions exiting withinsuch results, where the theoretically attracting achievements have produced an awkwardsituation in today's practice. Chapter 2, analysis on the problems and factors of resource-exhausted cities in China. Itis thought that the resource-exhausted cities in China have already experienced decades of oreven centuries of tapping of resources, where a series of complex system problems have nowappeared, including city economy, social and environment issues. It then makes a relativelysystematically analysis on each type of factors leading to the problems withresource-exhausted cities from aspects of resource types, life cycle of resource,industrialization progress in China, area and locations, system transfer and currentemployment situation. It considers a resource-exhausted city as a complex system integratingsystems of economic development, social conflicts and energy environment that are followingdifferent rules, where either the idea of grasping the primary conflicts to settle the secondaryconflicts and the idea of relative analysis would seem too simple, or the understanding ofstructural transfer through industrial structure will not provide any insight into the cause ofthe problem. Chapter 3, the study of way out of the problems with resource-e...