The growth and upgrading of global slums represent one of the most pressing challenges for sustainable urban development in the 21st century. This paper clarifies the conceptual nuances of "slums" across different contexts, synthesizes theoretical explanations for their formation and persistence, and critically analyzes the logic, models, and outcomes of diverse slum upgrading strategies. Key findings include: ① Slum is an umbrella term encompassing varied meanings and categories across developmental contexts, yet remains universally stigmatized. ② Slums emerge not merely from insufficient industrialization or urbanization but persist due to complex local economic, political, and social drivers, indicating they will not vanish spontaneously with development. ③ Slum upgrading has evolved from bulldozer clearances to in-situ redevelopment and tenure security—reflecting a paradigm shift from space-oriented aesthetics to human-centered spatial justice in urban renewal. Historical lessons from global slum upgrading offer five insights for China's urban village renewal:① Space constitutes both physical sites and materialized social relations. Clearance fails to resolve social conflicts.② Resident agency must be prioritized through participatory upgrading.③ Partial property rights empower self-driven improvement.④ Caution should be exercised in managing the negative demonstration effects of regeneration, and in exploring diversified compensation mechanisms.⑤ Attention should be paid to the sustainability of the projects to avoid stalled renovations.

Building the "Digital Silk Road" is an essential pathway for promoting the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, existing studies still lack solid theoretical foundations and empirical evidence regarding whether the BRI can effectively foster industrial digitalization in participating countries. Drawing on OECD Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) data for the period 2009–2020, this paper measures industrial digitalization at the sectoral level and employs a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) approach to empirically examine the impact of the BRI on industrial digitalization in partner countries. The results show that: ① the BRI significantly promotes industrial digitalization in participating countries, and the findings remain robust across a series of robustness checks; ② the BRI enhances industrial digitalization through multiple channels, including digital infrastructure connectivity, digital technology diffusion, deeper integration into global trade networks, and spillover effects from China's industrial upgrading; ③ heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect is more pronounced for Eurasian countries, high-income economies, coastal countries, Maritime Silk Road participants, technology-intensive industries, and producer services; ④ the deepening of digital trade rule networks further strengthens the positive impact of the BRI on industrial digitalization. This study not only quantifies the digitalization effects of the BRI but also provides policy implications for how China can advance industrial digital transformation in partner countries through targeted policy design and strategic initiatives.

The dynamic relationship between foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) and localities constitutes a classic topic in economic geography. Clarifying the evolutionary patterns of this relationship represents an essential prerequisite for promoting high-quality regional development. This paper systematically reviews the developmental trajectory and theoretical underpinnings of three key processes—location choice, local embeddedness, and strategic coupling—of FIEs. It develops an analytical framework for dynamic strategic coupling, explicates the multifaceted impacts of FIEs on local development, and outlines potential avenues for future research. The principal findings are as follows: ①The geographic pattern of FIE location choice is gradually shrinking and shows regionalization characteristics; the driving force shifts to prioritize non-economic factors; ②During local embeddedness processes, FIEs form diverse embeddedness types while embeddedness experiences dual influence from parent companies and host countries; ③In dynamic strategic coupling processes, power relations between FIEs and localities continuously transform; decoupling phenomena occur frequently and form different decoupling modes. Future research is urgently needed to refine quantitative approaches for measuring strategic coupling, establish new frameworks for regional industrial evolution from the perspective of dynamic coupling, and promote the theoretical integration of strategic coupling with political economic geography, sustainable development, and related paradigms. Study conclusions enrich the dynamic relationship theoretical system between FIEs and localities and hold important policy reference value.

Under the backdrop of the accelerating global pursuit of carbon neutrality, it is of great practical significance to scientifically assess the emission reduction effectiveness of energy structure transformation. Following the Fukushima incident in 2011, Japan has accelerated the development of renewable energy and explicitly set a carbon neutrality target in 2020, positioning renewable energy as a strategic priority. However, its actual contribution to emission reduction remains subject to empirical verification. Using panel data from Japan's 47 prefectures from 2011 to 2020, this study employs a panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model to examine the dynamic impact of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on carbon intensity. The results indicate that, during the study period, the scale of renewable energy development in Japan was insufficient to effectively drive a reduction in carbon intensity, falling short of policy expectations. Further regional heterogeneity analysis reveals that coastal areas, leveraging resource advantages, exhibit a more significant effect of renewable energy in reducing carbon intensity, whereas inland regions show limited emission reduction outcomes due to structural and geographical constraints. Cluster analysis further demonstrates differentiated responses of carbon intensity to renewable energy shocks across regions with distinct development characteristics, reflecting the influence of regional development patterns and energy structures on emission reduction efficacy. These findings provide valuable insights for China in designing region-specific energy transition pathways under its carbon neutrality goal.

In the context of global climate change, the strategic value of the Arctic region has been steadily increasing. As a near-Arctic country, Japan has continuously adjusted its Arctic policy to engage in cooperation, development, and governance of the region. This paper presents an analytical framework based on geopolitical role theory and systematically reviews the evolution and driving forces of Japan's Arctic policy since World War II. The study finds that Japan has gradually constructed a policy framework centered on three core aspects: Arctic shipping routes, resource development, and national defense security. The evolution of this policy can be divided into three stages: The embryonic period, the growth period, and the adjustment period. Japan's geopolitical role in Arctic affairs has transitioned from explorer to actor, and finally to a frustrated participant. The driving forces behind Japan's involvement in Arctic affairs and the evolution of its policy are its economic interests and the pursuit of political benefits tied to its goal of becoming a "normal state." However, the implementation of this policy has been constrained by multiple factors, including a lack of domestic policy coordination mechanisms, insufficient technology for Arctic development, a lack of international rule-making power, and intensified geopolitical competition, which has made the path to development fraught with challenges. Given the similarities and commonalities in geographical location, roles, and interests between China and Japan in Arctic affairs, understanding the evolution and motivations behind Japan's Arctic policy provides important insights for China's formulation of its own Arctic policy.

This study begins by examining the applicability of the territory-place-scale-network (TPSN) research framework in the Global South. It discusses the characteristics of regional competition and cooperation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as the core mechanisms through which the individual emirates engage in territorial division, place-making, cross-scalar interactions, and networked connections. Through empirical studies of the Khalifa Industrial Zone and the Jebel Ali Free Zone, this study reveals differentiated patterns among the emirates in terms of industrial policy, development positioning, resource allocation, and the gradation of development scale. In addition, using the UAE's railway network and aviation sector (airports) as case studies, the paper analyses the specific approaches by which infrastructural development in regional transport mitigates inter-emirate competition and fosters collaboration. The findings indicate that the UAE's model of regional governance is highly representative. Specifically, regional governance in the Global South tends to place greater emphasis on development efficiency, seeking to maximise economic benefits through the centralised allocation of resources. Regional competition and cooperation are profoundly shaped by national policy direction and the leading role of core administrative regions, while spatial integration exerts a strong impetus for administrative and institutional integration at the regional level. Generally, this study justifies the applicability of the TPSN framework in analysing regional governance issues in the Global South and offers a new theoretical perspective and practical reference for exploring the mechanisms of competition and cooperation within regional governance.

Culture is an important strategy and means of urban renewal, but it also faces risks and challenges of instrumentalization, symbolization, and consumerism. Local culture is rooted in local resources and has evolved over time. On the one hand, it can empower the high-quality development of urban renewal; on the other hand, urban renewal initiatives also create opportunities for the dynamic construction of local culture. This paper argues that local culture and urban renewal have the potential for mutual empowerment. Based on the analysis of the logical basis and conceptual connotation of the mutual empowerment of local culture and urban renewal, this paper constructs a logical framework for the mutual empowerment of both. Taking the urban renewal of Xiaoxihu in Nanjing as an example, the path and effect of mutual empowerment of local culture and urban renewal are explored. The research finds that: ① Local culture has the characteristics of regionalism, subjectivity, implicitness, normativity, and integration. The material, social, psychological, behavioral, and institutional elements it possesses can provide intrinsic motivation for the emergence and sustained promotion of urban renewal; ② Urban renewal is comprehensive, action-oriented, and process-oriented. It can provide a field of practice for the dynamic construction of local culture through spatial renewal, vitality shaping, emotional connection, action guidance, and institutional guarantees; ③ The mutual empowerment of local culture and urban renewal is mainly reflected in the awakening and manifestation of local memory, the continuation and regeneration of social networks, the infiltration and strengthening of emotional connections, the activation and transformation of community consciousness, and the upgrading and evolution of deliberative traditions; ④ The mutual empowerment of local culture and urban renewal is a process of synergistic coexistence of five dimensions: place, social group, emotion, action, governance. The effect of mutual empowerment is to promote the renewal area to become a new regional community, living community, spiritual community, behavioral community, and governance community. The interaction between local culture and urban renewal requires continuous observation, feedback, and guidance.

In the new era of high-quality development, exploring whether the logistics low-carbon resilience system demonstrates green momentum stands as a key indicator for the logistics industry to advance toward sustainable development. From a resilience perspective, this study constructed a five-dimensional evaluation index system for China's logistics low-carbon resilience. It measured China's logistics low-carbon resilience values from 2010 to 2022 using the entropy weight method, explored spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics via kernel density estimation, Moran's I, and spatial Markov chains, measured spatial association intensity through a modified gravity model, and analyzed network structure characteristics and driving mechanisms using social network analysis.The results show that: ① China's logistics low-carbon resilience level continuously increases over time, with regional differences becoming increasingly significant year by year. ② China's logistics low-carbon resilience presents a pattern of high-resilience agglomeration areas centered on the eastern coast, radiating and driving surrounding regions. Both overall and local provinces generally exhibit agglomeration in logistics low-carbon resilience, though this agglomeration has weakened in recent years. ③The network structure shows good connectivity, with density values fluctuating downward, efficiency remaining at a high level, and hierarchy generally fluctuating upward. Among them, Beijing, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Jiangsu serve as "central actors" in the network, and the attributes of each plate evolved noticeably during the observation period. ④Regarding driving mechanisms, differences in economic level, geographical proximity, consumption level, opening-up, and technological innovation promote the network structure, while differences in environmental quality exert a slight inhibitory effect. Core provinces should play the leading role of "growth poles," and provinces with spillover effects need to strengthen endogenous resilience momentum to achieve closer network structure development.

Digital infrastructure construction is an effective driving force for the high-quality development of urban and rural areas. Based on panel data from 20 prefecture-level cities (excluding Shenzhen) in Guangdong Province from 2011 to 2022, this study employs the entropy method and other techniques to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution of digital infrastructure and the level of urban-rural integrated development. By using benchmark regression and spatial Durbin models, the study examines the impact of digital infrastructure on urban-rural integrated development and its spatial effects. The results indicate: ① Both digital infrastructure and the level of urban-rural integrated development in various prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province show an upward trend, with a clear spatial agglomeration characteristic, presenting an overall spatial distribution feature of "core spreading to the periphery"; ② Digital infrastructure has a significant promotional effect on urban-rural integrated development, with distinct spatial differences among regions, where the promotional effects are notably significant in the Pearl River Delta, Eastern Guangdong, and Northern Guangdong regions, while the promotional effect in Western Guangdong is not apparent; ③The construction of digital infrastructure in each prefecture-level city not only promotes the process of local urban-rural integrated development but also has a positive spatial spillover effect on the urban-rural integration of neighboring areas. Based on this, it is recommended to coordinate the balanced development of digital infrastructure, formulate differentiated support policies according to local conditions, make full use of spillover effects and the radiation and driving effect of large cities, strengthen regional technical cooperation and sharing, and promote in-depth urban-rural integrated development.

The transnational immigrant social spaces in China have become diverse both in function and form because of the growing immigrant population. This research chooses Huaihai Street in Suzhou as an example, to explore the renewal of transnational ethnic food consumption space by analyzing interaction in different actors and the actor-network construction, and then to answer the question of 'how to choose, integrate, and translate the ethnic resources'. Inspired by actor-network theory, the research found that the actor-network in Huaihai Street included local government, stakeholders, operators/practitioners, consumers and other ethnic nonhumans. Additionally, the actor-network experienced changes from 'convergence' to 'cohesion' and later became 'dispersal' during the urban renewal process. On the one hand, the government promoted the renewal projects based on local investment attraction needs, mobilizing various secondary administrative departments and stakeholders, while operators were engaged due to shared interests. On the other hand, these shared interests were influenced by public opinion and business competition, leading to difficulties in sustaining and maintaining the tourism development. This case reveals that the tourism development of ethnic economic spaces in Chinese cities is essentially a comprehensive strategy, involving economic transition, internationalization of population and capital, and the construction of multicultural consumption spaces; and the ethnic resources have the potential to serve for place-making, although the public opinion and national feelings should be taken into consideration. This research represents a new attempt at the 'cultural turn' in ethnic tourism and immigration research in the Chinese context, offering reference suggestions for Chinese cities to enhance the internationalization of urban populations and create diverse multicultural consumer experiences.

In the era of knowledge economy and the war for talent, research on talent migration intentions assumes paramount importance in the pursuit of attracting and retaining talent, as well as in urban development. This study employs Structural Equation Model (SEM) and GIS-based spatial analysis to investigate the role of information cognition in migration intention and its underlying mechanism, using first-hand questionnaire survey data. The study yields four findings. ① The migration intention of talent in the sample, as well as the inflow intention, exhibits a spatial pattern that gradually decreases from east to west. Conversely, the settlement intention shows a pattern of being higher in the southern regions and lower in northern regions. ② Information cognition is a more fundamental driving factor for migration intention than the factors of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). It has been shown to exert both direct and indirect influences on migration intention. ③ Objective factors, including individual characteristics of talent, can indirectly influence migration intention by affecting information cognition and the TPB factors. ④ The impact of each observed variable of information cognition on the inflow intention and the settlement intention is distinct, and this difference is determined by the geographical location of talent. This study suggests that, in addition to providing economic benefits, talent policies should be optimized by focusing on the subjective psychological processes of talents.

This study focuses on digital nomads, a new traveling group, and uses the research method of network ethnography to explore the motivations and behavioral characteristics of digital nomads in choosing and maintaining a digital nomadic lifestyle. Through a two-month field survey and in-depth interviews with 16 digital nomads, the internal push factors (breaking away from work, reclaiming life values, pursuing secular pilgrimage experiences) and external pull factors (attractive destinations, cost-effective work Spaces, rich community activities) that drove the group to start and continue their digital nomadic life were summarized. It is found that digital nomads travel groups show a unique dual life in cyberspace and the real world, work and travel, freedom and discipline, alienation and connection. Such contradictory and unified behavior characteristics dialectically highlight the unique behavior pattern of digital nomads seeking a balance between work and travel in the background of the digital age. This study has enriched the cultural connotation of the travel behavior of digital nomads and provided an important perspective for understanding the new travel modes in contemporary society.

This study investigates the spatial coupling relationship between sports venues and economic development in Beijing's six central urban districts by employing kernel density estimation, trend surface analysis, and dual-factor combination mapping methods, utilizing sports venue POI data and NPP-VIIRS nighttime light remote sensing data. The findings reveal several key patterns: First, the spatial distribution of sports venues in Beijing exhibits a distinctive kernel density pattern characterized by a "core-periphery" ring structure with concentrated clusters in key areas. Similarly, economic development, as indicated by nighttime light intensity, demonstrates a clustered high-value distribution pattern that gradually diminishes toward peripheral areas. Second, sports venues display symmetrical inverted U-shaped distributions along both east-west and north-south axes, while nighttime light intensity exhibits an asymmetrical pattern with higher values in eastern and southern regions. This widespread distribution of high-intensity nighttime lights reflects Beijing's economic prominence as a global metropolis. Third, approximately 54.78% of the study area's grid cells demonstrate a coupled relationship between sports venues and economic development, with the latter significantly influencing the spatial configuration of local sports facilities. The remaining non-coupled areas predominantly show a lag in sports venue development relative to economic indicators. Finally, aligned with Beijing's strategic vision of becoming a world-class livable metropolis, this study proposes spatial optimization strategies emphasizing central area enhancement, balanced spatial distribution, and functional improvement of sports venues.

In the context of building a multi-governance system, the realization of the synergistic goal of reducing pollution and reducing carbon requires the participation of the government and the public. Based on Baidu search index to measure public participation under the concept of green consumption, this paper empirically tests the role and influence of public participation under the concept of green consumption on pollution reduction and carbon reduction by using panel data of 266 prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2019, and pays attention to the role of government environmental regulation and green technology innovation as intermediary variables. The results show that public participation based on the concept of green consumption can effectively improve the synergy of urban pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and after a series of robustness tests, the above conclusions are still valid. Heterogeneity analysis shows that for those with higher education levels, old industrial bases and environmentally friendly cities, public participation based on the concept of green consumption has a more significant synergistic driving effect on their pollution reduction and carbon reduction. The analysis of the mechanism found that public participation based on the concept of green consumption can promote the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction by strengthening environmental regulation and promoting green technology innovation. Therefore, the government should actively guide the public to participate in environmental supervision and green consumption, build a multi-element pollution reduction and carbon reduction system, and form a more effective environmental governance structure, so as to better promote the realization of the synergy goal of pollution reduction and carbon reduction.