Spatial-Temporal Coupling Coordination Relationship between Urbanization and Green Development in the Coastal Cities of China

Yingshi Shang,Shuguang Liu

doi:10.3390/su13105339

Abstract

With the rapid development of urbanization, coastal cities of China have made significant achievements in economic development. However, the eco-environment of these cities has been under tremendous pressure due to the interference of human activities. Therefore, it is of great significance to find the interrelationship between urbanization and regional development. As an environmental-friendly and social-inclusive way of economic growth, the level of green development (GD) represents the comprehensive status of regional economic, social, and ecological development. As few researchers have studied the relationship between urbanization and GD, especially in the coastal areas, this paper detailed an empirical investigation into the spatio-temporal variations of the coupling and coordination relationship between urbanization and GD in the coastal cities of China. The results showed that: (1) the coupling and coordination relationship is constantly improving, especially in big cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, all of which have entered into coordination development stage; (2) small prefecture-level cities, mostly agglomerated in the northeast and southwest of China, most of which lagged in urbanization, are still in the maladjusted coordination stage; (3) the contribution to the coordination relationship between urbanization and GD mainly comes from the industrial structure optimization and urbanization. However, at present the eco-environmental protection is not enough to support the coordination development between the two systems. Based on the findings of this paper, a series of policy implications for improving the coordination development between urbanization and GD is proposed.

Highlights

The results showed that: (1) the coupling and coordination relationship is constantly improving, especially in big cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, all of which have entered into coordination development stage; (2) small prefecture-level cities, mostly agglomerated in the northeast and southwest of China, most of which lagged in urbanization, are still in the maladjusted coordination stage; (3) the contribution to the coordination relationship between urbanization and green development (GD) mainly comes from the industrial structure optimization and urbanization
The results show that urbanization is better coordinated with GD in cities with higher level of economic development, predominantly confirming the conclusions that the relationship between economic growth and urbanization is a benign interaction of prior studies [76]
This paper noted the following based on the model of relative development model (RDM), coupling and coordination model (CCM), and Geographically weighted regression model (GWR), and by the analysis of the spatial-temporal characteristic of urbanization and GD in 53 coastal cities of China: (1)

Summary

Introduction

Due to the accumulation effect of human capital, urbanization provides advanced productivity for economic development, making it the engine of modernization and economic growth [1]. Urbanization has become one of the important measures to promote economic and social development in many countries. According to the 2018 Revision of World Urbanization. Global urban population accounted for 55% in 2018, and is expected to reach 68%. The proportion of global urban area in land surface expanded from 0.23% in 1992 to 0.53% in 2013, with the most obvious growth rate in Asia [3]. The expansion of urban population and built-up area brought increasing pressures to the ecological environment. It is urgent for many countries to balance urbanization and regional sustainable development

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion