Unsustainable imbalances in urbanization and ecological quality in the old industrial base province of China

Abstract

The benign interaction between ecological quality and urbanization is a crucial guarantee for regional sustainability, especially for the old industrial bases in China. However, the linkage and interplay between these two aspects have not yet been well revealed. By using the compound night light index (CNLI) and the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI), we conducted a long-term quantitative assessment of Liaoning, which is a typical old industrial base province in China. Both CNLI and RSEI have been proven to be effective indicators for monitoring and evaluating regional urbanization and ecological quality (EQ) respectively. Trend analysis methods were performed to detect the spatiotemporal dynamics of EQ. The coupling coordination degree (CCD) model is employed to estimate the linkage between urbanization and EQ. Results show that the mean RSEI of Liaoning province generally fluctuated within the range of moderate grade and displayed an oscillating upward trend from 2001 to 2020. The gaps of EQ among different cities were narrowing, and obvious clustering characteristics can be seen. According to the trend analysis findings, the area exhibiting EQ improvement over the past 20 years was larger than that showing degradation, in which forest land and cropland were the main contributors. The results from the CCD model showed that the majority of cities in the case area have not fully entered the stage of transformation development. The imbalance between urbanization and EQ is very severe and common in Liaoning province, which is mainly attributed to the relatively sluggish spatial urbanization. Additionally, the negative impact of spatial urbanization on ecological land use is not obvious in Liaoning, which indicates the relationship between urbanization and ecological quality is not always a simple negative correlation. Our results have an important implication for further understanding urbanization-induced impacts on the ecological environment and promoting sustainable development.