This article analyses the case of Dubai’s smart city from a public policy perspective and demonstrates how critical it is to rely on the use of the public-private partnership (PPP) model. Effective use of this model can guarantee the building of a smart city that could potentially fulfill the vision of the political leadership in Dubai and serve as a catalyst and blueprint for other Gulf states that wish to follow Dubai’s example. This article argues that Dubai’s smart city project enjoys significant political support and has ambitious plans for sustainable growth, and that the government has invested heavily in developing the necessary institutional, legal/regulatory, and supervisory frameworks that are essential foundations for the success of any PPP project. The article also points to some important insights that the Dubai government can learn from the international experience with the delivery of smart cities through PPPs.

The history of organic polymers is a remarkable journey from the discovery of natural materials like rubber and silk to the development of sophisticated synthetic polymers that have transformed industries and modern life. This comprehensive review article presents a detailed account of the evolution of organic polymers. It begins with the early uses of natural polymers and explores key breakthroughs, including the invention of Bakelite, nylon, and neoprene. The theoretical foundations of polymer science, laid by Hermann Staudinger, are discussed, and the post-war surge in polymer development is examined, including the introduction of polyethylene, polypropylene, and PVC. Notable advances in polymer chemistry, such as isotactic polypropylene and silicone polymers, are highlighted. The article also delves into the development of high-performance polymers like Kevlar and carbon-based materials, offering insights into their applications. Moreover, it discusses the current trends in polymer science, emphasizing sustainability and biodegradability. As the world continues to rely on polymers for numerous applications, this review provides a historical perspective and a glimpse into the future of organic polymers, where innovations are expected to shape various aspects of technology, healthcare, and environmental protection.

Under the background of green economic transformation, the sustainable utilization of ecological resources has become a trend, and bamboo all-for-one tourism has become a new development direction for bamboo-resource-rich areas. Based on the all-for-one tourism model and characteristics of bamboo resources, this paper puts forward a bamboo all-for-one tourism model, which shows the relationship between resources, products, and markets, and elaborates on the joint effect mechanism of industrial environment, governance environment, and external environment. Taking Yibin City, Sichuan Province as an example, this paper also analyzes existing problems of developing bamboo all-for-one tourism and then proposes suggestions to provide effective analytical ideas and reference, such as establishing a market-oriented all-product development model, introducing the sustainable development concept of bamboo management, establishing the management concept of sharing by all people, and driving all industries developing in a coordinated way.

This paper reviews and comments on the evaluation methods of the recreational value of natural landscape resources, pointing out that the current popular TCM method and CVM method both rely too much on the market prediction conclusion and cannot truly reflect the recreational value, and putting forward the idea, specific operation steps and calculation methods of evaluating the recreational value of natural landscape resources with tourism environmental capacity.

Using the rank scale rule, taking 47 major port cities in China from 2001 to 2015 as research samples, this paper discusses the rank scale characteristics and hierarchical structure of coastal port city system from a multi-functional perspective, and divides the coupling type of multi-functional development based on shipping logistics. The research shows that: 1) from 2001 to 2015, the scale-free area of manufacturing function order scale distribution in the coastal port city system appeared bifractal structure, the hierarchical segmentation characteristics appeared, and the other functions were single fractal; From the perspective of long-term evolution, only the order and scale distribution of shipping logistics function has developed from centralization to equilibrium, while the business function, manufacturing function (scale-free region I), modern service function and population distribution function are in a centralized situation. 2) The hierarchical structure of coastal port city system has gradually changed from pyramid structure to spindle structure, and generally formed five levels: national hub, regional hub, regional sub center, regional node and local node. 3) From the perspective of multi-functional coupling types, the traditional functions of port cities are generally ahead, while the high-end service functions lag behind, and the improvement speed of urban functions is slow and tends to be flat, indicating that the multi-functional development of China’s coastal port cities is still at a low level, and the industrial system structure needs to be further optimized. 4) From the perspective of port cities at different levels, the functions of regional hub cities and regional sub central cities are in the stage of rapid growth; regional and local node cities are still in the growth stage of traditional functions such as industry and commerce.

The paper examines the motivations, financing, expansion and challenges of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI was initially designed to address China’s overcapacity and promote economic growth in both China and in countries along the “Belt” and “Road” through infrastructure investment and industrial capacity cooperation. It took into account China’s strategic transition in its opening-up policy and foreign policy to pay more attention to the neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and Central and West Asia when facing greater strategic pressure from the United States in East Asia and the Pacific region. More themes have been added to the initiative’s original framework since its inception in 2013, including the vision of the BRI as China’s major solution to improve international economic cooperation and practice to build a “community of shared future for mankind”, and the idea of the Green Silk Road and the Digital Silk Road. Chinese state-owned enterprises and policy and commercial banks have dominated investment and financing for BRI projects, which explains the root of the problems and risks facing the initiative, such as unsustainable debt, non-transparency, corruption and low economic efficiency. Measures taken by China to tackle these problems, for example, mitigating the debt distress and improving debt sustainability, are unlikely to make a big difference anytime soon due to the tenacity of China’s long-held state-driven investment model.