Author：Toke,David;Chen,Geoffrey Chun Fung;Froggatt,Antony;Connolly,Richard

Abstract:This book studies the extent to which nuclear safety issues have contributed towards the stagnation of nuclear power development around the world, and accounts for differences in safety regulations in different countries. In order to understand why nuclear development has not met widespread expectations, this book focusses on six key countries with active nuclear power programmes: the USA, China, France, South Korea, the UK, and Russia. The authors integrate cultural theory and theory of regulation, and examine the links between pressures of cultural bias on regulatory outcomes and political pressures which have led to increased safety requirements and subsequent economic costs. They discover that although nuclear safety is an important upward driver of costs in the nuclear power industry, this is influenced by the inherent need to control potentially dangerous reactions rather than stricter nuclear safety standards. The findings reveal that differences in the strictness of nuclear safety regulations between different countries can be understood by understanding differences in cultural contexts and the changes in this over time. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and policymakers working on energy policy and regulation, environmental politics and policy, and environment and sustainability more generally.

Author：Morris,Gareth Richard;Sheridan,Simon Matthew;Xu,Jiaxin;Liang,Wenjuan;Lv,Fenfen;Foster,Rick;Di,Shengjia;Zhang,Chenyan;Perrin,Stuart

Author：Liu,Xielin;Wang,Xiao;Hu,Yimei

Abstract:This original book is a unique and original study on how, in the past decade, Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have achieved technological innovation in the large infrastructure sector. It reveals a ʼnew world’ of Chinese innovations, showing that SOEs are willing to innovate and more than capable of doing so. Based on findings from first-hand data and years of in-depth observations, this book shows how the innovation ecosystem perspective incentivizes and facilitates Chinese SOEs’ innovation and highlights entrepreneurial role of the government.

Author：Verdini,Giulio;Bina,Olivia;Chiles,Prue;Guerrieri,Pilar Maria;Mace,Alan;Nolf,Christian;Occhialini,Etra Connie;Pola,Anna Paola;Raffa,Paola

Abstract:This chapter intends to be both scientifically sound and narratively engaging, given the richness of the work done in Gagliato as experienced by the authors. As a matter of fact, besides the research done remotely, the authors gathered in Gagliato in July 2017 for a one-week participatory design workshop, getting to know the local context, talking with local people, materialising the focus groups implemented on site in future visions of sustainable development. Gagliato is a hilly town located in the province of Catanzaro in Calabria, overlooking the Ionian Sea. The chapter introduces a theoretical section regarding current debates on transdisciplinary research and the reason why Gagliato has been considered a suitable case to test it. The enabling conditions and potential barriers to achieve meaningful transdisciplinary outcomes and consequently tangible positive urban transformation of the experience of Gagliato will be discussed in relationship to the various phases of the project.

Author：Poshan Yu, Samuel Kwok and Zhongyue Jiang

Abstract:This chapter aims to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 in China's education sector. It will capture the dynamics of the interlinked changing relationships between the availability and use of education technology (EdTech) and the demand for online learning among various stakeholders in the Chinese education market. In addition, this chapter examines whether and how these relationships enhance operational efficiency via transforming the current business models in the sector, in particular due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing the current practices of the sector, this chapter will critically discuss the challenges and opportunities for technology in education and how these changes in turn drive stakeholders (including students, educators, and regulators) to respond and engage with each other, and how these stakeholder engagements impact the sustainable development of delivery modes, such as digital education and remote learning by using EdTech strategies in the sector.

Author：Geoffrey C. Chen

Abstract:This chapter argues that the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated the process fulfilling the promise of the neoliberal idea to mitigate the effects of climate change. The neoconservative advocates that created the fictional myths of a minimalist government seem to have demonstrated their insufficient capacity to alleviate the spread of public crises. Nevertheless, the uncertainty of the energy transition caused by turbulent oil prices have compelled the national policy elites to adjust the development strategy of alternative energy with the aim of adapting to climate change. This chapter will focus on the development of China’s new energy and analyse its possible implications of human security amidst the global epidemic, investigating the diversified governance patterns in this emerging field through the central and local states’ altered industrial policies. In this chapter, the main body of the analysis includes the institutional continuity and changes and governance structures of three strategic emerging sectors, being non-hydro renew energy, nuclear energy, and electric vehicles. The study unfolds Chinese governments’ and enterprises’ actions and relations in the trajectory of sectoral development. The study illustrates a transitional bureaucratic restructuring trend towards the central government. However, this trend has formed a potentially new institution that is aimed for regulating the energy markets while striving for maintain a sustained connection between national security and human security in the Chinese context.

Author：Yue Zhou, Xi Liu

Abstract:Post-1990s Chinese eco-themed science fiction works have made a special literary contribution to current ecological discourses by imagining different ways of dealing with serious environmental issues. Chinese sci-fi writers have adopted opposing attitudes toward technology but collectively offered critiques to ecologically unsustainable mindsets and practices. While authors like Liu Cixin are optimistic about technological mediation, other writers represented by Chen Qiufan, He Xi, and Chi Hui reflect on technological triumph over environmental and ecological problems by creating dystopian sci-fi worlds. Both humanist and post-humanist discourses are articulated in these works through textual construction of diverse human/nonhuman images and identities. These works play critical roles in rethinking and reimagining the future of humanity and its relationship with the world.