Abstract
Urban-intensive areas are responsible for an estimated 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide. The urban–rural fringe areas emit more greenhouse gases than urban centers. The purpose of this study is to analyze the spatial pattern and driving factors of carbon emissions in urban–rural fringe mixed-use communities, and to develop planning methods to reduce carbon emissions in communities. This study identifies mixed-use communities in East Asian urban–rural fringe areas as industrial, commercial, tourism, and rental-apartment communities, subsequently using the emission factor method to calculate carbon emissions. The statistical information grid analysis and geographic information systems spatial analysis method are employed to analyze the spatial pattern of carbon emission and explore the relationship between established space, industrial economy, material consumption, social behavior, and carbon emission distribution characteristics by partial least squares regression, ultimately summing up the spatial pattern of carbon emission in the urban–rural fringe areas of East Asia. Results show that (1) mixed-use communities in the East Asian urban–rural fringe areas face tremendous pressure to reduce emissions. Mixed-use community carbon emissions in the late urbanization period are lower than those the early urbanization. (2) Mixed-use community carbon emission is featured by characteristics, such as planning structure decisiveness, road directionality, infrastructure directionality, and industrial linkage. (3) Industrial communities produce the highest carbon emissions, followed by rental-apartment communities, business communities, and tourism communities. (4) The driving factor that most affects the spatial distribution of carbon emissions is the material energy consumption. The fuel consumption per unit of land is the largest driver of carbon emissions. Using the obtained spatial pattern and its driving factors of carbon emissions, this study provides suggestions for planning and construction, industrial development, material consumption, and convenient life guidance.
Highlights
The actual impact of a global temperature rise of 2 ◦C will be more serious than predicted, and the climate warming target should be adjusted to 1.5 ◦C to avoid large losses and dangers due to climate change [1]
Using the obtained spatial pattern and its driving factors of carbon emissions, this study provides suggestions for planning and construction, industrial development, material consumption, and convenient life guidance
Carbon emission statistics show that mixed-use communities face tremendous pressure to reduce emissions, which is higher than the world average
Summary
The actual impact of a global temperature rise of 2 ◦C will be more serious than predicted, and the climate warming target should be adjusted to 1.5 ◦C to avoid large losses and dangers due to climate change [1]. The rapid urbanization of East Asia reveals a different process from Western developed countries, and a new East Asian landscape emerges, the desakota, which is characterized by a mix of agricultural and nonagricultural activities and economic transition from agricultural activities to nonagricultural activities in densely populated areas [6,7]. Urban–rural fringe areas extend along the corridor of the cores of large cities and adopt a development model of high energy consumption and high carbonization. Development movements, such as “one product one village” in Japan [12], the “new village movement” in Korea [13], reform of the land system in Taiwan, the development of beautiful villages and small towns in Zhejiang Province, have enabled urban–rural fringe areas to deploy their characteristics and gradually move toward industrialization, maturity, and ecologicalization. Implementation of the low-carbon concept in the planning and construction of urban–rural fringe areas has become an inevitable trend
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