International Conference on Urban Dimensions of Environmental Change: Science, Exposure, Policies, and Technologies, Shanghai, China, May 2004

对人类和自然系统之间复杂相互作用的研究日益强调需要仔细的合作和比较见解。特别有价值的是在美国东北部和中国东部等人口稠密地区探索人与自然相互作用的努力。本项目的重点是召开一次会议，讨论城市层面的环境变化，协调对科学、暴露、政策和技术的审查。会议将由美国新泽西州蒙特克莱尔州立大学和华东师范大学联合主办，于2004年5月在中国上海举行。与会者将研究世界主要城市和城市地区环境变化的原因、影响和应对措施。关于城市环境变化的科学和管理，会议的主题将包括政策、法规、技术、影响适应、缓解和补救。会议将分为两个平行部分。其中一部分是邀请中美学者参加的研讨会，他们将介绍和讨论当前城市环境变化的研究。会议的第二部分将是城市环境变化社区的“公开会议”，包括更多的学者和实践者在有组织的论文和海报会议上发表演讲。会议将讨论有关当代城市环境管理的具体问题，例如需要综合管理结构来处理城市地区环境问题的复杂性、多样性和环环相扣的性质；全球气候变化等新的和正在出现的环境压力的影响；以及增加利益相关者参与城市政治话语的必要性。会议将讨论的第二组问题包括当前的城市环境变化和管理进程如何与脆弱性、可持续性和公平性问题相交叉，这三者在发达国家和发展中国家都是至关重要的问题。讲习班和公开会议的成果应立即在学术和更广泛的社会环境中发挥作用。这些产品应提供对当前和未来城市环境问题的理论结构的更好理解和定义，以及管理这些问题的潜在基础。通过设计，会议活动将鼓励研究人员和利益相关者从业者之间的对话。会议的具体产品将包括一个示意图，说明重新构想的理解城市环境变化和管理框架中的关键要素和相互联系；一套可能用于比较研究城市环境变化特征和相关管理战略的经验措施和指标；明确一套关键的研究和信息需求；以及一套研究工具、方法、途径和技术的规范，这些将对解决研究和信息需求最有用。

Research on the complex interactions among human and natural systems increasingly has emphasized the need for careful collaborative and comparative insights. Especially valuable have been efforts to explore human-natural interactions in densely populated regions like the northeastern U.S. and eastern China. This project focuses on the conducts o a conference that will deal with urban dimensions of environmental change, which coordinated examinations of science, exposures, policies, and technologies. The conference will be jointly sponsored by Montclair State University of New Jersey and East China Normal University, The conference will be held in Shanghai, China, in May 2004. Conference participants will examine the causes, impacts, and responses to environmental change in the world's major cities and urban areas. Relating to both the science and the management of urban environmental change, topics for the conference will include policy, regulation, technology, impact adaptation, mitigation, and remediation. The conference will be organized into two parallel parts. One part will be a workshop meeting of invited Chinese and U.S. scholars who will present and discuss current research on urban environmental change. The second part of the conference will be an "open meeting" of the urban environmental change community involving a larger group of scholars as well as practitioners giving presentations in organized paper and poster sessions. The conference will address specific questions regarding contemporary urban environmental management, such as the need for integrated management structures that address the complexity, multiplicity, and interlocking nature of environmental problems in urban areas; the implications of new and emerging environmental stresses such as global climate change; and the need for increased stakeholder involvement in urban political discourse. A second set of issues to be discussed at the conference include how do current processes of urban environmental change and management intersect with issues of vulnerability, sustainability, and equity, all three of which are emerging as crucial issues in both the developed and the developing worlds.The products of workshop and open meeting should have immediate utility in both academic and broader societal settings. The products should provide a better understanding and definition of the theoretical constructs of current and future urban environmental problems, as well as potential foundations for their management. By design, the conference activities will encourage a dialog between researchers and stakeholder practitioners. Specific products of the conference will include a schematic diagram illustrating key elements and interconnections in a reconceptualized framework for understanding of urban environmental change and management; a set of potential empirical measures and indicators to be used for comparative study of the character of urban environmental change and associated management strategies; the specification of a set of key research and information needs; and the specification of a set of research tools, methods, approaches, and technologies that would be most useful for addressing the research and information needs.