Can urban public services and ecosystem services achieve positive synergies?

Abstract

Over the past three decades, China has experienced rapid urbanization, and with the continuous increase in urbanization, urban public services have improved dramatically. However, many studies have found that urbanization damages the ecosystem, causing a decline in ecosystem services. Nevertheless, few studies have analyzed the spatial interaction between urban public services and ecosystem services. This study aims to determine whether urban public services and ecosystem services can achieve positive synergies. We quantified five critical ecosystem services, i.e., carbon sequestration and oxygen production (CSOP), habitat quality (HQ), water conservation (WC), PM2.5 removal (PR), and temperature reduction (TR), and five urban public services, i.e., education services (EDS), medical services (MS), living services (LS), social security services (SSS) and tourism facilities (TF). We found that a few win–win areas form in the center of Hangzhou city and that it is difficult to achieve positive synergies between urban public services and ecosystem services in urban areas without appropriate ecological conditions. In addition, we found thresholds of urban public services that can prevent a sharp decline in ecosystem services in the process of urban expansion. This research proposes an approach to spatial interaction analysis involving urban public services and ecosystem services and provides insights into the harmonious development of urban ecology.