Optimization of land use structure to balance economic benefits and ecosystem services under uncertainties: A case study in Wuhan, China

Abstract

Rapid economic growth and urbanization in China have led to significant changes in land use structure and seriously threatened the sustainability of urban ecosystems. A Fuzzy Multi-Objective Linear Programming (FMLP) model is developed in this paper to determine an optimal land use structure with social, economic and ecological benefits of lands considered comprehensively. Ecosystem service assessment is integrated into the FMLP model for emphasizing the ecological benefits of land use, and the uncertainty in the optimization process have been addressed. Wuhan is selected as a case study. The results indicate that (1) the relative equilibrium between economic and ecological benefits can be achieved by establishing the FMLP model. (2) The optimized land use structure can increase the ecosystem service value (ESV) at a lower cost of economic benefits. (3) The optimal land use allocation can contribute to a growth of ecological benefit by 1.51 billion RMB and economic benefit by 348.6 billion RMB compared to the government's land use planning. (4) The ESVs of 11 types of ecosystem service functions are all increased in varying degrees through land use structure optimization. (5) There are huge differences in economic and ecological benefits between the central and remote urban areas of Wuhan. The economic benefit is 603 folds of the ecological benefit in central urban area while the ESV in remote urban area is 25 folds of that of the central urban area in Wuhan. These findings could provide valuable decision-making support for the sustainable land use planning in Wuhan. The FMLP model is proven to be feasible and applicable for land use planning under uncertain conditions and thus could be applied to other cities with unbalanced land use structure.