Effects Of Urbanization Research Articles

Urbanization Effect on Regional Thermal Environment and Its Mechanisms in Arid Zone Cities: A Case Study of Urumqi

Urumqi is located in the arid region of northwestern China, known for being one of the most delicate ecological environments and an area susceptible to climate change. The urbanization of Urumqi has progressed rapidly, yet there is a lack of research on the urbanization effect (UE) in Urumqi in terms of the regional climate. This study investigates the UE of Urumqi (urban built-up area) on the regional thermal environment and its mechanisms for the first time, based on the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model (combined with the Urban Canopy Model, UCM) simulation data of 10 consecutive years (2012–2021). The results show that the UE on surface temperature (Ts) and air temperature at 2 m (T2m) is strong (weak) during the night (daytime) in all seasons, and the UE on these is largest (smallest) in spring (winter). In addition, the maximum UE on both Ts and T2m is present over southern Urumqi in winter, whereas the maximum UE is identified over the northern Urumqi in other seasons. The maximum UE on Ts occurred in northwestern Urumqi at 18 LST (Local Standard Time, i.e., UTC+6) in autumn (reaching 5.2 °C), and the maximum UE on T2m occurred in northern Urumqi at 4 LST in summer (reaching 2.6 °C). Urbanization showed a weak cooling effect during daytime in summer and winter, reflecting the unique characteristics of the UE in arid regions, which are different from those in humid regions. The maximum cooling of Ts occurred in northern Urumqi at 11 LST in summer (reaching −0.4 °C), while that of T2m occurred at 10 LST in northern and northwestern Urumqi in winter (reaching −0.25 °C), and the cooling effect lasted for a longer period of time in summer than in winter. The UE of Urumqi causes the increase of Ts mainly through the influence of net short-wave radiation and geothermal flux and causes the increase of T2m through the influence of sensible heat flux and net long-wave radiation. The UE on the land surface energy balance in Urumqi can be used to explain the seasonal variation and spatial differences of the UEs on the regional thermal environment and the underlying mechanism.

Urbanization Effect on Changes in Extreme Climate Events in Urumqi, China, from 1976 to 2018

This study investigates, for the first time, the urbanization effect (UE) on local extreme climate events in Urumqi, China, based on 22 indices of climate extremes, which are calculated with daily observation data from 1976 to 2018. These analyses reveal a pronounced nocturnal urban heat island (UHI) effect and a daytime urban cold island (UCI) effect. Due to Urumqi’s arid climate background, the UCI effect is considered a unique feature of the UE, which significantly differs from those in eastern and northern China. The UE on the TR20 index (number of days with minimum daily temperature exceeding 20 °C) reached 5.22 d/10a, indicating that urbanization has led to a fast increase in the number of hot nights in Urumqi. The absolute averaged UE on the indices measuring the frequency of warm events is about twice as large as that on the indices measuring the frequency of cold events, while that on the indices measuring the intensity of warm events is about one third of that on the indices measuring the intensity of cold events. The highest averaged urbanization contributions (UCs) to the extreme warm and cold events are represented by the frequency indices and the intensity indices, respectively, while those contributing to the extreme precipitation events are represented by the duration indices. Moreover, urbanization probably exacerbates the degree of wetting in the overall “warming and wetting” climate trend of the region. These findings can be seen as new evidence to provide scientific basis for further investigation of the UE on climate changes in arid regions.

Mapping land-use and land-cover changes through the integration of satellite and airborne remote sensing data.

An integrated, remotely sensed approach to assess land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) dynamics plays an important role in environmental monitoring, management, and policy development. In this study, we utilized the advantage of land-cover seasonality, canopy height, and spectral characteristics to develop a phenology-based classification model (PCM) for mapping the annual LULCC in our study areas. Monthly analysis of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and near-infrared (NIR) values derived from SPOT images enabled the detection of temporal characteristics of each land type, serving as crucial indices for land type classification. The integration of normalized difference built-up index (NDBI) derived from Landsat images and airborne LiDAR canopy height into the PCM resulted in an overall performance of 0.85, slightly surpassing that of random forest analysis or principal component analysis. The development of PCM can reduce the time and effort required for manual classification and capture annual LULCC changes among five major land types: forests, built-up land, inland water, agriculture land, and grassland/shrubs. The gross change LULCC analysis for the Taoyuan Tableland demonstrated fluctuations in land types over the study period (2013 to 2022). A negative correlation (r = - 0.79) in area changes between grassland/shrubs and agricultural land and a positive correlation (r = 0.47) between irrigation ponds and agricultural land were found. Event-based LULCC analysis for Taipei City demonstrated a balance between urbanization and urban greening, with the number of urbanization events becoming comparable to urban greening events when the spatial extent of LULCC events exceeds 1000 m2. Besides, small-scale urban greening events are frequently discovered and distributed throughout the metropolitan area of Taipei City, emphasizing the localized nature of urban greening events.

Urbanicity and child health in 26 sub-Saharan African countries: Settlement type and its association with mortality and morbidity

Urbanization and changing settlement patterns have affected health environments in African countries. A profound understanding of the intricate association between urbanicity and health is imperative for formulating effective interventions. This study aims to classify settlement types based on urbanicity and assess their effects on child health in 26 African countries, utilizing data from the Demographic and Health Survey and the Global Human Settlements Layer. The advanced settlement classification incorporates a multidimensional urbanicity scale and globally standardized urban extents, along with identifying urban slums. This approach derives six distinct settlement types: urban center, urban cluster, deprived urban settlement, rural town, rural cluster, and rural village. A multilevel logistic regression model examines the relationship between settlement types and health outcomes, encompassing mortality, fever, anemia, diarrhea, and cough in children under five. The analysis reveals that children living in rural villages and deprived urban settlements face a high burden of adverse health conditions. However, the size and direction of urbanicity's effects vary depending on the specific outcome. These findings highlight the significance of tailored interventions acknowledging health environments within each settlement to promote health equity.

Urbanization accelerates urban warming by changing wind speed: Evidence from China based on 2421 meteorological stations from 1978 to 2017

Understanding the process and mechanism underlying urbanization's effect on urban warming is essential to future urban development planning. This study aims to measure the impact of urbanization on urban warming and dynamically analyze its meteorological drivers (wind speed and precipitation). According to remote sensing based impervious surface data, 2421 meteorological stations in China in 1978–2017 were dynamically classified into urban and rural stations. Then, correlation analysis was used to explore the effect and mechanism of urbanization on meteorological differences between urban and rural areas. The positive effect of urbanization on urban warming was 0.02 °C (0.26 °C) per decade during the period of 1988–2017 (2008–2017), and the contribution of urbanization to urban warming increased from 58.74% to 61.21% between the two periods. In 59.7% of cities, urbanization drove urban warming by changing wind speed. In 80.95% of cities, when wind speed decreased, the temperature difference between urban and rural areas increased. When wind speed was higher, the positive contribution of urbanization to urban warming was more significant. Considering the urban ventilation environment during urban planning and renewal will improve the local climate and reduce climate risks.

Does urbanization cause energy consumption amidst globalization and FDI in South Asia? A pooled mean group estimation

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the influence of urbanization on energy consumption, including economic growth, globalization and “foreign direct investment (FDI)” inflow as control variables.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses yearly panel data from 19071 to 2018 on five selected South Asian economies. It applies the “pooled mean group (PMG)” estimator and the “Dumitrescu-Hurlin (D-H)” panel causality test.FindingsThe PMG estimators reveal that urbanization causes energy consumption negatively in the long run because of an unusual and messy urbanization process. At the same time, it has no impact on the latter in the short run. Per capita income has both long- and short-run positive influences on energy use. Globalization causes energy consumption positively in the long run but does not affect it in the short run. FDI inflow has a strong positive impact on energy use in the long run and adverse effects in the short run. The Dumitrescu–Hurlin causality test reveals feedback relationships between “urbanization and energy consumption,” “globalization and energy consumption” and one-way causation from “per capita income to energy consumption.” It validates the findings of the PMG estimators.Practical implicationsThe results of this study indicate that South Asia may focus on enhancing the availability of energy in the region and producing more renewable energy to add to its energy portfolio to meet growing energy demand, particularly among urban dwellers. Moreover, they should raise their real per capita incomes and augment the standard of living of low-income city dwellers to make urbanization more serviceable and comfortable.Originality/valueThis study is original. As far as the author is aware, this is a maiden attempt to investigate urbanization's effects on energy usage in South Asia in the preview of globalization and FDI.

Spatio-temporal changes in ecosystem service value: Evidence from the economic development of urbanised regions

This study investigates the spatial and temporal evolution of ecosystem service value (ESV) in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region using an improved equivalent factor method based on land use data for five periods from 2000 to 2020. The research also examines the mechanism and spatial spill-over effects of economic development and urbanisation on ESV using a spatial econometric model. The findings indicate that YRD region's ESV rose from 442,422 million to 1,304,068 million between 2000 and 2020 and considerable spatial spill-over impact is evident. Although local economic development contributes positively to the improvement of ESV, development in nearby cities has a reducing effect on local ESV, leading to an overall negative impact. Urbanisation's effect on ESV presents an inverted U-shaped curve. When the population urbanisation rate is less than 56.96 %, expansion is advantageous to ESV growth; however, when the rate is higher than this threshold, blind expansion of population urbanisation is not advantageous to growth. The study's findings provide useful insights for policy formulation and forging a course for sustainable regional eco-economic development.

Freshwater insect communities in urban environments around the globe: a review of the state of the field

Urbanization is a key stressor of freshwater habitats, possibly contributing to global insect declines. However, scientific understanding of urbanization's effects on aquatic insect communities has largely been based on studies of temperate streams. We reviewed global urban freshwater macroinvertebrate community studies, classifying habitat type, location, urbanization metrics, biodiversity metrics, and focal taxa, drawing from 114 studies in 32 different countries. Our goals were to: (1) investigate the extent of research on urbanization across a variety of freshwater habitats, (2) examine the representation in empirical literature across the globe by comparing cities in different geographic regions, and (3) highlight how study approaches including taxonomic resolution and the inclusion of trait data impact interpretation of these patterns. Most studies were conducted in North America and Europe, but there is growing representation from other continents. Additionally, lentic environments were underrepresented in the literature on community responses to urbanization compared to lotic studies. Therefore, we suggest that lentic habitats should be investigated more thoroughly. We suggest that future empirical studies should incorporate traits of the taxa investigated to better predict how communities respond to urban stressors. The lack of consistent results from the reviewed studies showed that there is no single, predictable effect of urbanization, indicating that future meta-analyses and review papers should consider the potential context-dependency of freshwater insect responses to anthropogenic pressures. Our goal in highlighting understudied environmental and regional contexts is to move toward holistically addressing the ongoing challenges of urban freshwater insect conservation and freshwater ecology research.

Gender and Ultimatum in Pakistan: Revisited

The aim of the present study is twofold. First, we develop a theoretical model which incorporates the role of institutions in promoting economic growth. The theoretical model predicts that rent seeking activities decrease as institutional quality improves, and hence income increases and vice versa. Second, we conduct an empirical analysis to quantify the impact of institutions on economic growth in selected Asian economies over the period 1996- 2012 by employing both static and dynamic panel system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) technique with fixed effects. The empirical results reveal that institutions indeed are important in determining the long run economic growth in Asian economies. However, the impact of institutions on economic growth differs across Asian economies and depends on the level of economic development. The results reveal that institutions are more effective in developed Asia than developing Asia. This evidence implies that different countries require different set of institutions to promote long term economic growth.

Revisiting the Effect of Urbanization on Residential Electricity Consumption

Under the background of electrification, it is significant to explore the changes in residential electricity consumption for energy conservation and emission reduction. Based on the staggered difference-in-difference (DID) approach, this paper investigates urbanization's effect on residential electricity consumption using the longitudinal dataset from 2010-2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). It is found that China's urbanization has increased the average electricity consumption by 12.8% with electricity substitution as the main channel. After urbanization, the scale effect of population and area levels does not exist. The authors also find that this positive effect is affected by electricity price (i.e., the higher the price level, the smaller the positive impact). However, as the electric charge is insignificant relative to the income, the moderating effect of price remains small. This indicates that the positive effect of urbanization will not decrease soon in the future unless the residential electricity price system is reformed.

Drivers of urban heat in Hong Kong over the past 116 years

Understanding how the urban heat island (UHI) effect changes over time and its drivers are essential to efforts in mitigating its impacts through future planning efforts. In Hong Kong, urbanization has occurred for >150 years, but historical analyses of UHI have been limited by the absence of suitable “rural” reference weather observations prior to the 1980's. Here, we used historical maps, meteorological observations from the Hong Kong Observatory, and climate model output from the 20th Century Reanalysis to examine the influence of historical drivers of urban heat from 1884 to 2000. Using the three drivers including total urbanized area, cumulative area of reclaimed land, and a proxy for past urban morphology, we developed linear models of the relationship between urbanization and UHI. Our analysis shows that UHI has a well-correlated positive and statistically significant relationship with all drivers of urban heat in Hong Kong. Historical temperature change in urban Hong Kong (1884–2000) was 0.95 °C, whereas regional climate change over the same period was 0.71 °C. Our results corroborate with historical understanding of Hong Kong's rapid, intensive urban development and furthers understanding on urbanization's effects on local microclimates on a century-long timescale.

Does new-type urbanization help reduce haze pollution damage? Evidence from China's county-level panel data.

Urban transformation is the key to sustainable urban development. China is currently undergoing massive urban transformation, that is, new-type urbanization. This study explored the relationship between new-type urbanization construction and haze pollution by constructing a time-varying DID model based on 2013-2018 district and county data. Our empirical results show that new-type urbanization can significantly improve haze pollution. We also examined the heterogeneous differences in new-type urbanization's effects on haze pollution. First, we find that new urbanization construction has no significant effect on haze pollution in cities rich in natural resources. Second, its effect on haze pollution was most pronounced in the eastern region, which had the highest urbanization rate. This study also explored the moderating effect of new urbanization and haze pollution from the urban governance perspective. The results show that the government's fiscal spending capacity is significant for new-type urbanization's ability to improve haze pollution. In addition, in the pilot year, the turnover of regional officials enhanced new-type urbanization construction to improve haze pollution. We also find that districts and counties implementing pilot new-type urbanization are conducive to reducing haze pollution in surrounding areas in the same city not implementing new-type urbanization; however, they exacerbate haze pollution in other provincial areas that have not implemented new-type urbanization. Finally, we propose relevant policy recommendations based on the empirical results.

An analysis of the new urbanization’s ecological driving factor on the environment: based on the LMDI method

The new urbanization policy emphasizes ecosystem friendliness. However, there is little research on new urbanization's effect on the ecological environment. This paper builds the LMDI model to decompose the ecological environment into three aspects: green area, wastewater discharge, and industrial solid waste production, to analyze the urbanization driving effect of Fujian Province in 2011-2018. The results show that the green area will increase due to economic-driven and urbanization-driven influences. Land-use-driven will cut down Wastewater discharge and waste generation. Among them, the economic-driven and land-use-driven have opposite effects.

Spatial Analysis for Landscape Changes

Landscape is the backcloth over which environmental and anthropic events occur, and recent increasing trends of natural and anthropic processes, such as urbanization, land-use changes, and extreme climate events, have a strong impact on landscape modification [...]

Effect of urbanization on extreme temperature events in Liaoning Province, China, from a spatiotemporal perspective

Understanding the role of urbanization in extreme temperature events can help mitigate their negative impacts. This study aimed to comprehensively analyze the effect of urbanization on extreme temperature events in Liaoning Province, China, from a spatiotemporal perspective. First, eight extreme temperature indices were selected from the temperature data for the period 1959–2018. Climatic regions corresponding to 24 meteorological stations were divided, and land use data were used to classify urban and rural areas. Then, the dynamic “urban minus rural” method was improved and used to quantify the urbanization effect (UE) and temporal variation trend of extreme temperature events. Furthermore, landscape indices were used to quantify the impact of the spatial layout of urban landscapes on extreme temperatures. The results showed that the UE in the northern region of Liaoning Province was reflected by most indices (minimum urbanization contribution, UC = 9.61%), while that in the southern region was mainly observed at night (maximum UC = 75.00% observed during frost days). The area and fragmentation of the urban landscape were the main spatial factors affecting extreme temperatures, primarily extremely high temperatures at night. Further, the highest correlation coefficient (-0.74) was between the contagion index and tropical nights index.

Drivers of the change in carbon dioxide emissions under the progress of urbanization in 30 provinces in China: A decomposition analysis

China's extensive and growing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are linked to rapid economic development and advancing urbanization, posing serious concerns in the context of climate change. Decomposition analysis has been widely performed to identify the drivers of China's CO2 emissions. However, to date, no researchers have examined the drivers of the change in CO2 emissions under the progress of urbanization across all of its provinces. Using provincial statistical data and six key factors influencing CO2 emissions (carbon intensity, energy intensity, resident consumption, consumption inhibition, population urbanization, and population size), we applied the logarithmic mean Divisia index decomposition method to examine how urbanization affect CO2 emission changes across 30 provinces during 1990–2016. We elucidated that while urbanization's effects on CO2 emissions increased in China as a whole during this period, they were regionally differentiated. The energy intensity effect was the main driver of reduced CO2 emissions, with carbon intensity exerting weaker effects in the 30 provinces, differentiated by their energy structures. The resident consumption effect, strongly linked to advancing urbanization, was the primary driver of increased CO2 emissions in all the provinces. While the consumption inhibition and population urbanization effects were positive at the national level, they were negative in highly urbanized provinces and in highly industrial provinces. These findings highlight the need to promote environmentally friendly consumption and to design regionally differentiated policies and optimized energy structures tailored to particular urbanization contexts. Moreover, they can provide valuable inputs for other developing countries undergoing continuous urbanization, contributing to efforts to balance economic development and environmental sustainability.

Dynamic Trends of Urban Flooding Mitigation Services in Shenzhen, China

Urbanization is characterized by population agglomeration and the expansion of impervious land surfaces. As a result of ongoing urbanization, rain and flood events have increasingly affected the well-being of residents in cities across the world. This should draw attention to the role of urban ecosystems in providing runoff retention/flood mitigation services. Focusing on Shenzhen, a major city in southern China, we used a hydrologic model based on the Soil Conservation Service curve number (SCS-CN) model to evaluate this flood reduction ecosystem service and its dynamic trends based on long-term remote sensing data from 1980 to 2018. We find that Shenzhen’s capacity for flood reduction gradually decreased due to changes in land use. The spatial distribution showed strong reduction capacity in the eastern part of the city and weak capacity in the western part. Additionally, the city’s total flood reduction capacity decreased by over 1.88 × 108 m3 over the past two decades. This loss of ecosystem-based flood reduction capacity undermines Shenzhen’s resilience against extreme weather events. Due to climate change, Shenzhen should advance its plan to build a “Sponge City” rooted in the conservation, restoration, and construction of urban ecological spaces.

Impact of urbanization on the eco-efficiency of cultivated land utilization: A case study on the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Abstract Today, scholars and governments focus on the loss of cultivated land resources as a result of urbanization, but ignore urbanization's impact on the eco-efficiency of cultivated land utilization (ECLU), which causes the wastage of cultivated land resources and environmental pollution. Hence, this study systematically analyzes how urbanization influences the ECLU and proposes four of the former's effects on the latter: agglomeration, barrier, driving, and feedback effects. Further, it uses the System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and threshold models to estimate urbanization's impact on the ECLU. The estimation results of System GMM model reveal that agglomeration and barrier effects have a significant negative effect on the ECLU, with regression coefficients of −0.6725 and −0.0415, respectively. Contrarily, driving and feedback effects have a significant positive effect on the ECLU, with regression coefficients of 0.0274 and 0.1423, respectively. Further, the threshold analysis demonstrates that the barrier, driving, and feedback effects of urbanization have single threshold values of 20.7%, 22.8%, and 18.2%, respectively, whereas the agglomeration effect by itself has two threshold values of 18.3% and 49.5%. The study concludes that focusing only on the urbanization-related occupation of cultivated land while ignoring the urbanization's effects on the ECLU will jeopardize food security and the ecological environment. After considering the effects of different levels of urbanization on the ECLU, the government should formulate appropriate policies and measures to realize the sustainable utilization of cultivated land resources.

The heterogeneous effects of urbanization and income inequality on CO2 emissions in BRICS economies: evidence from panel quantile regression.

This paper empirically examines the effects of urbanization and income inequality on CO2 emissions in the BRICS economies (i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) during the periods 1994-2013. The method we used is the panel quantile regression, which takes into account the unobserved individual heterogeneity and distributional heterogeneity. Our empirical results indicate that urbanization has a significant and negative impact on carbon emissions, except in the 80th, 90th, and 95th quantiles. We also quantitatively investigate the direct and indirect effect of urbanization on carbon emissions, and the results show that we may underestimate urbanization's effect on carbon emissions if we ignore its indirect effect. In addition, in middle- and high-emission countries, income inequality has a significant and positive impact on carbon emissions. The results of our study indicate that in the BRICS economies, there is an inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) between the GDP per capita and carbon emissions. The conclusions of this study have important policy implications for policymakers. Policymakers should try to narrow the income gap between the rich and the poor to improve environmental quality; the BRICS economies can speed up urbanization to reduce carbon emissions, but they must improve energy efficiency and use clean energy to the greatest extent in the process.

Urbanization Effects on Vegetation and Surface Urban Heat Islands in China’s Yangtze River Basin

In the context of rapid urbanization, systematic research about temporal trends of urbanization effects (UEs) on urban environment is needed. In this study, MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) land surface temperature (LST) data and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) data were used to analyze the temporal trends of UEs on vegetation and surface urban heat islands (SUHIs) at 10 big cities in Yangtze River Basin (YRB), China during 2001–2016. The urban and rural areas in each city were derived from MODIS land cover data and nighttime light data. It was found that the UEs on vegetation and SUHIs were increasingly significant in YRB, China. The ∆EVI (the UEs on vegetation, urban EVI minus rural EVI) decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in 9, 7 and 5 out of 10 cities for annual, summer and winter, respectively. The annual daytime and nighttime SUHI intensity (SUHII; urban LST minus rural LST) increased significantly (p < 0.05) in 10 and 4 out of 10 cities, respectively. The increasing rate of daytime SUHII and the decreasing rate of ∆EVI in old urban areas were much less than the whole urban area (0.034 °C/year vs. 0.077 °C/year for annual daytime SUHII; 0.00209/year vs. 0.00329/year for ∆EVI). The correlation analyses indicated that the annual and summer daytime SUHII were significantly negatively correlated with ∆EVI in most cities. The decreasing ∆EVI may also contribute to the increasing nighttime SUHII. In addition, the significant negative correlations (r < −0.5, p < 0.1) between inter-annual linear slope of ∆EVI and SUHII were observed, which suggested that the cities with higher decreasing rates of ∆EVI may show higher increasing rates of SUHII.