Spatial identification of land use multifunctionality at grid scale in farming-pastoral area: A case study of Zhangjiakou City, China

Abstract

Land use mutilfunctionality (LUMF) has recently received increasing attention in scientific and policy contexts because its capacity to bridge the connections between mutilfunctionality and land uses, as well as to integrate production, living and ecology approaches in policy development. This study established a conceptual framework for identifying and evaluating LUMF in spatial grid context from the perspective of structure, function, and well-being. Embedded in the spatial reference framework, a set of spatialization models were applied to quantify and visualize land use functions (LUFs), e.g. production, living, and ecology functions, by using multi-source and multi-scale data (land use data, remote sensing data, meteorological data, and statistical data, etc.) in Zhangjiakou City. The interactions of LUFs were measured, and on this basis, land use zoning was proposed. The results showed that the functionality indexes of production, living, and ecology ranged from 0 to 0.500, 0 to 0.994, and 0 to 0.998, respectively. The high production and living functions, and the low ecology function mainly occurred in well-developed regions, especially in the city center, where existed the strong synergies between production and living functions, as well as the strong trade-offs between the above two functions and ecology function. The low production and living functions, and the high ecology function were mainly distributed in mountain and hilly areas, located in the eastern and southern parts, where existed the weak synergies between production and living functions, and the strong trade-offs among production, living, and ecology functions. Four categories of land use zones were divided at town-level, namely, ecological preservation zones, urbanization development zones, agricultural production zones, and countryside improvement zones, mainly based on the spatial distribution of the synergies and trade-offs among LUFs. This study provides a pathway for quantitatively evaluating LUMF, and making land use zoning division, which provides quantitative information for policy-makers to implement land use optimization, economic development, and ecological protection in the light of the interactions of LUFs.