The Sports and Leisure Characteristic Town (SLCT) has become a reasonable strategy for enhancing the sustainability of new urbanization processes in rural China. Although the Chinese government has issued a series of policies to support the development of SLCTs, limited financial resources are a major obstacle. Thus, public-private partnerships (PPPs) have been increasingly encouraged for establishing SLCT projects. However, the factors that significantly influence private partners’ willingness to participate in SLCT PPP projects remain unclear. The authors of this paper conducted expert interviews and questionnaire surveys concerning the SLCT PPP projects that have been implemented in China, identifying 23 factors that can be grouped into five major components using principal component factor analysis. Multiple linear regression was then performed to evaluate the relationships between factors and private partners’ willingness to participate. The results indicated that the factors that critically influence private partners’ willingness to participate include stakeholder factors, the internal factors of private partners, external environmental risk factors, the supporting measure factors of SLCTs, and the locational factors of SLCTs. This work also offers suggestions for encouraging private partners to participate in SLCT PPP projects. This study can provide a theoretical basis and practical guidance for government and private partners in order to help them implement sustainable SLCT PPP projects.

The essence of post-disaster reconstruction is the restoration and rebirth of the affected areas. The earthquake hitting Jiuzhaigou was the first earthquake that had its epicenter in the World Natural Heritage located in China. Ecological restoration and landscape reconstruction are essential for the sustainable development of tourism. This study uses high-resolution remote sensing images to monitor and evaluate the post-disaster restoration and reconstruction process of the leading lakes in Jiuzhaigou. It was found that the lake water quality, vegetation, and road facilities have undergone moderate reconstruction. However, the restoration and reconstruction still faced severe challenges. The ecological environment’s stability and balance are prerequisites for the sustainable development of the World Natural Heritage sites. This paper combines the “Build Back Better” concept that advocates risk reduction, scenic spot restoration, and efficient implementation to ensure Jiuzhaigou’s restoration and sustainable development. It comes up with specific measures for the resilience development of Jiuzhaigou from the eight principles of overall planning, structural resilience, disaster prevention and mitigation, landscape facilities, social psychology, management mechanisms, policies and regulations, and monitoring and evaluation to provide a reference for the sustainable development of tourism.

This paper explores the spatial and temporal variability and changes in characteristics of the economic efficiency of urban construction land (EEUCL) in 14 administrative regions in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration from 2002 to 2019, based on the super-efficiency SBM-DEA model and Malmquist index, using carbon emissions as the non-desired output. On this basis, the Tobit model is used to study the role of nine external environmental factors, such as the level of socioeconomic development and industrial structure, in influencing the EEUCL. The results indicate that (1) carbon emissions from urban construction land in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei have all reached their peak, and the growth rate has slowed down significantly in the past two years, although there has been a slight rebound; (2) from the 10th Five-Year Plan period to the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Beijing has maintained a high level of EEUCL and the trend is slowly increasing. However, the EEUCL values of Tianjin and Hebei are gradually declining; (3) the socio-economic development level, industrial structure, and green economy development level have a significant positive impact on the EEUCL in the BTH region, while the urban scale, scientific and technical support intensity, outward opening level and population density have significant negative effects.

Post-disaster rapid recovery and reconstruction, along with the evaluation of these efforts, are crucial for affected areas. They not only facilitate the swift repair of vulnerable systems but also reflect whether the recovery work has enhanced regional coordinated development. This is vital for achieving sustainable development post-reconstruction. This study addresses two main questions: (1) How effective were the recovery and reconstruction efforts in Mianyang, Deyang, and Guangyuan post-Wenchuan earthquake from a socio-economic–ecological system perspective? (2) What are the temporal and spatial changes in the Coordinated Development Index (CDI) of key affected counties? By constructing a framework to assess post-disaster coordinated development, this study utilized the entropy weight method and mean-variance method for the comprehensive weighting of evaluation indicators. The gray system prediction model G(1,1) was used to forecast the coordinated development levels of the three cities from 2019 to 2025. The findings reveal the following: (1) From 2005 to 2018, the CDI of Deyang, Guangyuan, and Mianyang showed a significant upward trend. Post-earthquake reconstruction measures like land planning and ecological restoration notably enhanced regional resilience and promoted coordinated development among social, economic, and ecological systems. (2) Despite overall success in reconstruction, disparities in development levels persist among Mianyang, Deyang, and Guangyuan. Predictions suggest that Deyang, Mianyang, and Guangyuan will achieve high-quality coordinated development in the next 5, 2, and 1 years, respectively. (3) Although significant achievements have been made through industrial restructuring, land reuse planning, and ecological restoration, more precise disaster prevention and mitigation strategies are needed to foster coordinated development among social, economic, and ecological systems. In summary, this study evaluates the post-disaster recovery effects in the hardest-hit areas of the Wenchuan earthquake and forecasts future development, providing a reference for similar post-disaster reconstruction areas in assessing and predicting coordinated development.

A just transition to green economy sectors must be grounded in optimizing job matching, that is, suitable opportunities of aligning employers with job seekers, which is critical for meeting a zero-emissions future. However, the interaction between job matching and emission patterns remains unclear. Here we examine both historical and future trends in this interaction using a global unifying explanation with high-aggregated model. Our findings reveal national-level latitude and wealth effects. In high-latitude regions, 79% of job matching in relatively wealthy nations show a positive correlation with emissions reductions. In contrast, this trend is observed in only 10% of poorer nations located at low latitudes. Introducing the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, our projection shows global job matching will be consistently improved under SSP1-2.6, but only nations in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa will benefit under SSP5-8.5. This work provides a quantitative perspective to plan the low-carbon transition of global labor force.