Research on the Relationship between Urban Development Intensity and Eco-Environmental Stresses in Bohai Rim Coastal Area, China

Dongchuan Wang,Wengang Chen,Broxton W Bird,Wei Wei,Lihui Zhang,Mengqin Sang,Qianqian Wang

doi:10.3390/su8040406

Abstract

To realize sustainable urban development that minimizes environmental impacts, the relationship between urban development intensity and eco-environmental stresses should be clearly revealed. This paper focused on the Bohai Rim coastal area, where cities have experienced significant development in the last decade. An index system was developed to quantify the comprehensive urban development intensity (CDI) and comprehensive eco-environment stresses (CES). Remote sensing imagery and statistical data were used to provide indices for CDI and CES. Spatiotemporal analysis was carried out on the correlation between the two indices. The coupling between the CDI and CES was then investigated to explore the urban development characteristics of each city in the study area, its development level, and the trend of urban development. Results showed that human activities surrounding urban development were partly dependent on the use of ecological resources to a certain degree, and that the degree of dependence increased with year. To promote a sustainable level of urban development, the government should focus on not only the high development intensity, but also the high quality of the eco-environment. Dalian was a good model of how to achieve a balance between the two.

Highlights

The urbanization of China has accelerated greatly in recent decades, resulting in intense urban development that has negatively impacted ecological systems [1,2,3,4,5]
Coxhead [19] discussed the effects of economic growth, structural change, and industrialization on the environment, which identified the trends and phenomena likely to be associated with changes in the valuation and use of environment and natural resources assets
Coupling analysis between economic development and the environment were carried out in some cities in China, like Anhui [27] from 1990 to 2008, Xi’an [28] from 2001 to 2010, and Urumqi [29] for the past 20 years. These researchers mainly focused on the relationship between economic development and ecological environment, which is of important reference value in this research field

Summary

Introduction

The urbanization of China has accelerated greatly in recent decades, resulting in intense urban development that has negatively impacted ecological systems [1,2,3,4,5]. Coupling analysis between economic development and the environment were carried out in some cities in China, like Anhui [27] from 1990 to 2008, Xi’an [28] from 2001 to 2010, and Urumqi [29] for the past 20 years. These researchers mainly focused on the relationship between economic development and ecological environment, which is of important reference value in this research field. Most of the research was based on time series, and more spatiotemporal comparative research between a group of cities in a region should be carried out

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion