Urban and regional planning is a spatial design practice that brings limitations to the intervention in natural areas to ensure a balance between population growth, housing, and employment in residential areas. It includes spatial design that enables living creatures to live while planning the interventions to ensure suitability to ecology, geology, climate, and land structure since intervention in nature should be balanced. In this context, the profession generally includes regional, spatial and urban planning, urban transformation that involves the urban decline areas in the city, urban renewal and protection, urban transportation, and urban management. Therefore, it is believed that this book will be useful for those who work in this area on a practical or academic basis and follow the innovations in the profession.

With the world facing increasingly serious global climate change and resource scarcity issues, ecology and the environment have received much attention in recent years. As a major factor in human activity, design plays an important part in protecting the environment, as does the role of digital technology in finding solutions to the pressing problems faced in this regard. This book presents the proceedings of ISWED2023, the International Symposium on World Ecological Design, held on 17 December 2023 in Guangzhou, China. Sponsored by the World Eco-Design Conference (a UN Consultative NGO), the conference provides a platform for professionals and researchers from industry and academia to present and discuss recent advances in the field of ecological design. This year, the conference focused on the four topics of digital technology and health, digital technology and transportation, digital technology and energy, and digital technology and the environment. A total of 518 submissions on these topics were received for the conference, of which 125 were accepted for presentation and publication here. Providing a current overview of research and innovation in ecological design around the world, the book will be of interest to all those working in the fields of ecological design and digital-technology integration.

This book takes a comprehensive look at the governance and civil society of Macao, the shadowy mecca of gambling in Asia, and the reforms, changes, and social movements which are challenging that reputation today. Thanks to the rapid expansion of the local casino industry, Macao has experienced spectacular economic growth since it returned to Chinese rule in 1999. Following double-digit rates of economic growth between 2002 and 2013, Macao has become one of the wealthiest regions in Asia, with GDP per capita rising from USD$14,258 in 2001 to USD$89,333 in 2014. However, as the casino industry has overshadowed all other sectors of the local economy, it has not only made Macao’s economy highly vulnerable and difficult to sustain, but has also aroused increasing social discontent. The authors lay out a comprehensive and well-argued discussion of the dilemma of the economic monoculture, and strategies by which to overcome it, in the process producing a book that will be of profound interest to scholars of greater China, students of political economy, and travelers to Macao.

When Britain and China negotiated the future of Hong Kong in the early 1980s, their primary concern was about maintaining the status quo. The rise of China in the last thirty years, however, has reshaped the Beijing-Hong Kong dynamic as new tensions and divisions have emerged. Thus, post-1997 Hong Kong is a case about a global city’s democratic transition within an authoritarian state. The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Hong Kong introduces readers to these key social, economic, and political developments. Bringing together the work of leading researchers in the field, it focuses on the process of transition from a British colony to a Special Administrative Region under China’s sovereign rule. Organized thematically, the sections covered include: ‘One Country, Two Systems’ in practice Governance in post-colonial Hong Kong Social mobilization The changing social fabric of Hong Kong society Socio-economic development and regional integration The future of Hong Kong. This book provides a thorough introduction to Hong Kong today. As such, it will be invaluable to students and scholars of Hong Kong’s politics, culture and society. It will also be of interest to those studying Chinese political development and the impact of China’s rise more generally.

The return of Macao from the Portuguese administration to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1999 marks the beginning of its transformation in the 21st century. Macao was confronted with various issues concerning then existing political system, economic downturn and gangland violence during the transition period. Beijing put Macao under the "One country, Two Systems" and implemented a wide variety of measures in order to restore its law and order as well as to recover its tourism dependent economy. Gradually, Macao transformed itself to "Las Vegas of the East". This volume of 18 essays highlights the key dimensions of Macao's remarkable "One country, Two Systems" actualisation experience in its first 15 years, and discusses how Macao transformed and what challenges it encountered during its post-handover transformation. The volume has several focuses. It first investigates the political and electoral issues in a critical manner─ post-handover Macao suffered from maladministration and limited democratization, and the chief executives selected lacked representativeness due to restricted public participation in the electoral process. Overall speaking, the government lacked legitimacy and popular support. From a socio-economic point of view, this book looks into the business model in running Macao's casinos and the emerging culture of mass participation and youth participation in political affairs. The education reformation and changes in civic identity of local Macao Chinese are also addressed. Finally, the volume looks into how post-handover Macao relates itself in the international politics affair.

The 2022 2nd International Conference on Information, Control and Automation (ICICA 2022) was held on December 2nd-4th, 2022 in Chongqing, China (virtual event). Invited and contributed papers present the state-of-the-art research in information, control and automation. This workshop always welcomes a fruitful mix of experienced researchers and students, to allow a better understanding of related fields. The 2022 session of the information, control and automation was doubtlessly a great success. The program covered a wide variety of topics, namely Numerical Analysis, Information Theory, Genetic Algorithm, Distributed Control System, Industrial Control, Motors and Appliances, etc. The conference agenda was divided into two parts, including Keynote Speeches and Oral Presentations. ICICA 2022 is to bring together innovative academics and industrial experts in the field of Information, Control and Automation to a common forum. The primary goal of the conference is to promote research and developmental activities in Information, Control and Automation and another goal is to promote scientific information interchange between researchers, developers, engineers, students, and practitioners working all around the world. The conference will be held every year to make it an ideal platform for people to share views and experiences in Information, Control and Automation and related areas. Everyone interested in these fields were welcomed to join the online conference and to give comments and raise questions to the speeches and presentations.