Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator Research Articles

Improving land-cover-based expert matrices to quantify the dynamics of ecosystem service supply, demand, and budget: Optimization of weight distribution

Although the land-cover-based expert matrices have been widely used for ecosystem service assessment, criticisms about the accuracy and reliability of this method have never ceased. In this study, we introduced a weight distribution approach called Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator (FPPSI) into the land-cover-based expert matrices, trying to reduce the systemic flaws caused by the default weight assignment and accumulative calculation form of general matrices method. Taking Hangzhou, a representative city in the rapid urbanization process of China as an example, we used the weight optimization expert matrices to quantify the dynamics of ecosystem service supply, demand, and budget during the period of dramatic land cover change from 1990 to 2020. An indicator named supply–demand balanced index (SDBI) was formulated to describe the supply–demand situation among ecosystem services. The results indicated that with the continuous encroachment of the artificial surface on suburban cultivated land, the supply and demand of the 12 selected ecosystem services had experienced a decreasing trend in varying degrees. The evaluation results derived from the general method indicated that the ecosystem service budget of the study area had dropped by an average of 11.1% in the past 30 years, while the percentage was only 5.7% through the weight optimization method. Through literature review and discussion, we note that ecosystem services assessment is a process fraught with uncertainty. The weight optimization method has the advantage of being convenient, intuitive, and adjustable. It can also export more conservative evaluation results compared with the general method, which can better reflect the dynamic and non-linear process between land use types and ecosystem services to a certain extent. The above findings provide new insights for reducing uncertainty in land-cover-based expert matrices assessments, which can be applied to the practical assessment of ecosystem supply and demand with dramatic land use/land cover changes.

Assessment of Eco-industrial Park (EIP) Performance at the Preliminary Step in Vietnam

Vietnam has recently accelerated the process of converting traditional parks into eco-industrial parks (EIP), which is a foundational strategy for sustainable prosperity. The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the efficiency of EIP operations at Ninh Binh, Danang, and Can Tho pilots. The full permutation polygon synthetic indicator method (FPPSI) was used to evaluate the initial effectiveness of the application of the EIP program with many different indicators. The results indicated a number of interesting outcomes. In particular, there were saving of 51% in LPG fuel, 67.1% in coal, and 78.1% in wastewater in Ninh Binh pilot compared to the overall figure for each category. At the Can Tho pilot project, it was found that savings of freshwater of 77%, an electricity cuts of over 66.8%, a COD decline of 77%, and cost benefits of 56%. Generally speaking, our economy needs to promote business engagement in the heavy industry sector in the near future. This will involve developing inventive symbiosis networks that run simultaneously.

A full permutation polygon synthetic indicator (FPPSI) approach for measuring and evaluating city prosperity: case study in Da Nang City, Vietnam

Economic growth has dominated development strategies and goals for many years, but prosperity encompasses more than that. In 2013, UN-Habitat proposed the City Prosperity Initiative (CPI) as a tool to quantify cities' prosperity and sustainable development. The CPI is accompanied by six essential components with 62 indicators associated with the urban settlement, incorporating productivity, infrastructure development, quality of life, social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and urban governance and legislation. The research aims to use the indicators of CPI and adopted the Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator method to measure and evaluate the level of prosperity of Da Nang City of Vietnam with data from 2004 to 2019. According to the findings of our study, the value of a synthetic indicator for the prosperity of Da Nang City increased, from 0.34 in 2004 to 0.36 in 2009, 0.43 in 2014, and 0.45 in 2019, which indicates a moderate level of wealth. On the one hand, Da Nang City has high levels of quality of life, equity and social inclusion, and urban governance and legislation. However, the city still has modest determinants of prosperity in terms of the environment, productivity and infrastructure. The Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator technique provides a comprehensive solution that illustrates the system integration idea. As a result, the proposed methodology offers a potential foundation for decision-making to promote sustainable urban development strategies and assess the effectiveness of these actions

Air pollution: A threat to health tourism development in the Islamic Republic of Iran (case study: Ilam city)

Aim. Considering the high capability of Ilam province in the development of health tourism as indicated in its active border crossings with Iraq and the response to the recent epidemic, it was deemed necessary to identify the risks of air pollution on the health of tourists.Materials and Methods. During 2008‐2018, data on five primary air pollutants during 2008‐2018 were identified by literature research and by referring to the relevant monitoring organizations. Data analysis was performed by the Full permutation polygon synthetic indicator model, while Excel and MATLAB software were used to display data.Results. The findings of the study revealed that despite the application of the Land Use Planning Document, average suspended particulate matter of less than 10 microns ranked second after sulphur dioxide (SO2), in terms of the contribution to air pollution and instability in Ilam City during the 11 years in question (excluding 2008 and 2009).Conclusions. The link between air pollution and the development of health tourism on the one hand and the emergence of an epidemic on the other has recently necessitated a new concept of health, tourism and welfare in relation to the environment with the aim of achieving a healthy environment for visiting tourists.

Development of an Approach to Assess the Success and Failures Influence in Middle Income Housing Projects: Case Study of Jalthara, Bambalapitiya and Dehiwala

Condominium is a complex of a building containing a number of individually owned apartments or houses. Condominiums can be identified as a western life style of living in urban areas. Based on high population density, lack of land availability, lack of serviced lands, easy service accessibility are the reasons for increasing condominium lives. Consequently, the satisfaction issues in Highrise buildings are considered to enhance the resident’s wellbeing among condominiums. All the housing projects are not becoming success. Successfully means that the scope, goals and objectives were met on time completed and the project came in at or under budget. The incomplete list of requirements, less involved stakeholders, lack usage of resources, high expectations, poor planning, influence for the failures. There are several factors that have identified performance after the implementation, Aesthetic appearance, Environmental impact, Client satisfaction, Project complexity for measure the project failures. In Sri Lanka is also presently experiencing condominium concept predominantly in Colombo district. Since the middle-income condominium living is new to Sri Lanka, there is no such considerations or researches regarding project performances in condominiums. Subsequently, the aim of this study to assess the success and failures influence in middle income housing projects. The study focuses on three of middle-income condominiums in Colombo district. The methodology of this research is comprised of observations and questionnaire surveys. The date was analyzed by using Correlation analysis, Factor analysins and Full permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator analysis. The findings reveal that success and failures of the housing projects through post performances. Accordingly, the results of this study serve as a basis for planners and developers to design and make polices for the future condominium housing projects.

Exploring the relationship between new-type urbanization and sustainable urban land use: Evidence from prefecture-level cities in China

The rapid development of urbanization has driven irreversible changes in land use, the Chinese government has adopted ‘the National New-type Urbanization Plan’ focusing on rational utilization of resources, which will be of great significance effect to the sustainability, rational and intensive land use. This article built indicator systems to measure the level of new-type urbanization and the sustainability of land use by using the full permutation polygon synthetic indicator method and analyzed the relationship between the new-type urbanization and sustainable land use by using panel data model from 2002 to 2016 in 203 prefecture-level cities in China. Assessment results showed that there were serious problems of insufficient efficiency of land use in most cities and far behind the level of new-type urbanization. This indicated that the quality of current urbanization was low quality as the urban sprawled frequently and exceed the quality, and the coordinated development of urbanization and sustainable land use has not been achieved. The results of econometric model showed that new-type urbanization has a significant positive impact on land use, which implied that the implementation of the policy has not reduced the sustainability of land use, but played a significant role in improving it. Therefore, the current main task is to explore an intensive, efficient, ecological, rural-urban integration and harmonious urbanization way to pursue a harmonious relationship between urbanization and sustainable land use.

Recovery evaluation of villages reconstructed with concentrated rural settlement after the Wenchuan earthquake

As a rural development approach, concentrated rural settlement (CRS) was used for rural reconstruction when Wenchuan earthquake opened the opportunity window of quick and wide implementation. Although CRS has both proponents and critics, few studies have investigated the recovery success of villages reconstructed with CRS. This research gap has resulted in insufficient theoretical guidance for the practice of CRS and inefficient summarization and transfer of relevant experiences. This study therefore aims to measure the recovery success of three villages reconstructed with CRS located in the hardest-hit areas of the Wenchuan earthquake. Full-permutation polygon synthetic indicator method is adopted to evaluate the recovery success of the three case villages from the economic, social, environmental and disaster relief aspects. It is found that the three case villages have good overall recovery performances as economic, social, and environmental aspects improved a lot from 2008 to 2015, whereas the disaster relief recovery performance increased at the first several years but dramatically decreased at the later years. The implications inferred from the case studies are discussed in detail. This study provides a reference to local governments for monitoring CRS development and for improving recovery of villages reconstructed with CRS.

An Assessment of Chinese Pathways to Implement the UN Sustainable Development Goal-11 (SDG-11)-A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration.

Urban sustainability is a crucial part of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and one of the core objectives of China’s national strategy to promote new urbanization and achieve integration in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). This paper mainly focused on the 11th SDG, which is a universal call to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The full permutation polygon synthetic indicator (FPPSI) method was applied to synthetically evaluate the sustainable level of 26 cities in the YRD urban agglomeration from 2007 to 2016. The results showed that: (1) the synthesis indicators were increasing year by year, which implied that the sustainable development of the YRD has shown obvious progress in recent years. However, each city faced its own challenges to achieving the sustainable development goals. The sustainability level for the majority of cities was restricted by obstacles such as the per capita green area, air quality and commercial housing sales area; (2) Among the 26 cities, small and medium-sized cities were subject to the traditional strong sustainability indicators while large and mega cities were more affected by weak sustainability indicators; (3) Spatial differences were found for the overall sustainable development level of the YRD. The diffusion and assembly effect among cities had not yet been formed; however, the strong spillover effect of developed cities might influence the ability of other cities to achieve sustainable development goals in many aspects of the environment, economy and society. The results suggest the need for a stronger focus on improving regional developing patterns and strengthening coordination in the process of achieving the sustainable development goal of urban agglomeration in the YRD. Furthermore, according to the conditions of different cities, integrated policies are required to address all aspects of sustainability and to avoid unintended consequences.

Niche Evolution of China’s Provincial Social–Economic–Natural Complex Ecosystems, 2005–2015

The ecological niche of a complex regional ecosystem reflects the fit of various human activities and the advantages and disadvantages of the environment in the region. This study examined China’s comprehensive niches of the compound social–economic–natural ecological system during the “11th Five-Year” and “12th Five-Year” periods using a Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator method. The results showed that before the 11th Five-Year period, the levels of comprehensive niches in the country were generally low, and, by the end of the 11th Five-Year period, the comprehensive niche levels in Beijing, Tianjin, and the eastern coastal regions each exceeded 0.40. During the 12th Five-Year period, after the ecological civilization construction plans were implemented, the average national comprehensive ecological level reached 0.57, the comprehensive ecological niche levels in eastern coastal areas reached more than 0.84, those in southern regions and some developed middle and western regions were greater than 0.72, and, in central regions, the levels were between 0.50–0.70. This shows that the concept of compound sustainable natural–societal–economic ecosystem development was incorporated into planning and used to guide local policies and assessment criteria for regional development. This paper compares the advantages and disadvantages of regional development plans through time, and can be used to promote coordinated and sustainable regional development.

Evaluation and prediction of sustainability of urban areas: A case study for Kermanshah city, Iran

Sustainable development is a balance between economic growth, environmental issues and social conditions. In this respect, urban sustainable development is an important challenge, and a considerable part of sustainable development. Therefore, this study was carried out to assess and predict urban sustainability in different areas of Kermanshah city of Iran using an integrated approach, including the improved full permutation polygon synthetic indicator (IFPPSI) and Shannon's entropy methods. Kermanshah is the largest city located in the west of Iran with six main urban areas, which is facing many environmental, economic and social problems. The results showed that among the six urban areas, Areas 1, 3 and 4 have been shown to be at a moderate level, based on the synthetic indicator value (0.25–0.5). According to the synthetic indicator value (<0.25), the levels of the other areas (2, 5 and 6) are quite bad. The IFPPSI results were also compared with common multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques, ELECTRE of the concordance subgroup, TOPSIS of the compromising subgroup and SAW of the scoring subgroup. The results of the Friedman test showed that there is no significant difference between the MCDM and IFPPSI methods; however, the IFPPSI method is preferred due to its remarkable advantages over the other methods. In a subsequent part, based on the data collected from three time periods, the years 1996, 2006 and 2016, the indicator anticipated for 2026 showing no improvement in the environmental, economic and social indexes compared with the current conditions.

An ecological method to understand agricultural standardization in peach orchard ecosystems.

While the worldwide standardization of agricultural production has been advocated and recommended, relatively little research has focused on the ecological significance of such a shift. The ecological concerns stemming from the standardization of agricultural production may require new methodology. In this study, we concentrated on how ecological two-sidedness and ecological processes affect the standardization of agricultural production which was divided into three phrases (pre-, mid- and post-production), considering both the positive and negative effects of agricultural processes. We constructed evaluation indicator systems for the pre-, mid- and post-production phases and here we presented a Standardization of Green Production Index (SGPI) based on the Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator (FPPSI) method which we used to assess the superiority of three methods of standardized production for peaches. The values of SGPI for pre-, mid- and post-production were 0.121 (Level IV, “Excellent” standard), 0.379 (Level III, “Good” standard), and 0.769 × 10−2 (Level IV, “Excellent” standard), respectively. Here we aimed to explore the integrated application of ecological two-sidedness and ecological process in agricultural production. Our results are of use to decision-makers and ecologists focusing on eco-agriculture and those farmers who hope to implement standardized agricultural production practices.

A Comprehensive Quantitative Evaluation of New Sustainable Urbanization Level in 20 Chinese Urban Agglomerations

On 16 March 2014, the State Council of China launched its first urbanization planning initiative dubbed “National New Urbanization Planning (2014–2020)” (NNUP). NNUP put forward 20 urban agglomerations and a sustainable development approach aiming to transform traditional Chinese urbanization to sustainable new urbanization. This study quantitatively evaluates the level of sustainability of the present new urbanization process in 20 Chinese urban agglomerations and provides some positive suggestions for the achievement of sustainable new urbanization. A three-level index system which is based on six fundamental elements in a city and a Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator evaluation method are adopted. The results show that China is undergoing a new urbanization process with a low level of sustainability and there are many problems remaining from traditional urbanization processes. There exists a polarized phenomenon in the urbanization of 20 urban agglomerations. Based on their own development patterns, the 20 urban agglomerations can be divided into seven categories. Every category has its own development characteristics. The analyses also show that waste of water resources, abuse of land resources, and air pollution are three big problems that are closely linked to traditional Chinese urbanization processes. To achieve sustainable new urbanization in China, four relevant suggestions and comments have been provided.

An Approach to assess the Urban Management Performance of Municipalities in Sri Lanka

Urbanization tends bring out a number of problems, such as inadequate housing and urban services, increase land prices and construction costs, propagation of slums, pollution and deterioration of the urban environment. Currently, spatial development activities focusing on major cities of Sri Lanka are demanding urban infrastructure and services where municipalities are facing challenges on provision of the infrastructure and proper urban management too. This study seeks to identify the relevant criteria, indicators and a method for assessing the urban management performance of municipalities in Sri Lanka since specific measurement criteria and related indicators are not yet identified to evaluate urban management by the central government or local government levels. Based on Literature review, five criteria and 25 indicators were selected considering their applicability for the context of Sri Lanka. The Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator Method (FPPSI) was applied to synthesize indicators and the Synthetic indicator has been used to show the performance of each criterion in terms of urban service delivery. Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Municipal Council (SJKMC) and Moratuwa Municipal Council (MMC) have been selected as the case studies for this research. Although selected cases are within Colombo Metropolitan Region, none of the municipalities were achieved the “High” or “Very High” level of synthetic indicator (SR&gt;= 0.50) that shows the standard of municipal service delivery of Sri Lanka as a whole. This research lays the platform to evaluate the functional performance of Municipal Councils to guide the future scenario and to make decisions at the grass root level for managing the urbanization related issues in the country. Also this research helps the government to know the current trends of development impact and to take necessary policy level decisions to guide the economic growth in a correct direction with the political manifestoes.

Comprehensive evaluation of different scale cities' sustainable development for economy, society, and ecological infrastructure in China

Cities are hybrid socioeconomic-natural ecosystems that represent humanity's densest concentrations of people and their activities. Changes in land use have led to the dramatic reduction of urban wetlands and green space which serve as ecological infrastructure in urban areas, bringing further environmental deterioration. Sustainable development is thus necessary to allow urbanization to continue. Urban sustainable development can be monitored using an indicator system that accounts for both socioeconomic development and the construction of ecological infrastructure. We designed a 22-indicator system capable of meeting this need, and applied it to data from 2000 to 2010 for 277 Chinese cities, including megalopolises, large cities, and small or medium-sized cities. Using the Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator method, results from 2000 to 2010 showed that indicator values for socioeconomic development, ecological infrastructure construction, and comprehensive sustainability improved at all three city scales. Moreover, the sustainable development level increased with increasing city scale, accompanied by decreasing values of energy consumption per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during ten years, and decreasing potential to improve comprehensive capacity for sustainable development in the future. We also found that the investment in ecological infrastructure construction accounted for only 1.67% of GDP through 2010, and its growth did not effectively control pollutant emissions in China. Additional efforts should be made to achieve greater sustainable environmental management. Overall, Chinese cities still have a long way to go to achieve comprehensive sustainable development; thus it is necessary to implement planning and measures to guide future urbanization and ecological infrastructure construction in China.

Conjugate ecological restoration approach with a case study in Mentougou district, Beijing

Ecological restoration is a comprehensive engineering field that involves multidisciplinary and multisectoral efforts. More and more research works have been focused on ecological restoration since the 1980s. However, until now, most studies pay attention mainly on ecological technology, ecological policy, restoration of some certain ecosystem, and so on. There are few studies regarding the restoration plan of regional or the entire ecosystem. The objects of present research studies are mainly natural ecosystem; however, ecosystem is a complex system that encompasses natural, economic, and social sectors. Human society has great intimidation on nature, and if the degenerate social and economical systems do not get restored, the vicious cycle of degeneration will continue and the effects of natural ecosystem restoration cannot possibly be guaranteed. In this article, the author puts forward conjugate ecological restoration based on theories of complex ecosystem and restoration ecology. The connotation is scientifically described and an evaluation system is established. Natural, economic, and social ecosystem restoration plans are presented and made based on the comprehensive evaluation. Conjugate ecological restoration plan in Mentougou district, Beijing, is taken as a case study. The plan includes three parts: nature, economy, and society. Moreover, ecological restoration technologies and demonstration projects are designed for different types of degradation. The author modifies the Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator Method and uses it in the comprehensive evaluation. Compared with the original method, the weight parameter is added into the evaluation system, which makes the method more scientific.

Measurement indicators and an evaluation approach for assessing urban sustainable development: A case study for China's Jining City

Cities are complex ecosystems affected by social, economic, environmental, and cultural factors. The problem of attaining urban sustainable development is thus an important challenge. The development of evaluation indicators and a method for assessing the status of urban sustainable development will be required to support urban ecological planning, construction, and management. By using Jining City in China's Shandong Province as a case study, the authors developed a system of 52 indicators of urban sustainable development that address economic growth and efficiency, ecological and infrastructural construction, environmental protection, social and welfare progress. The authors developed a Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator method to evaluate the capacity for urban sustainable development at different times during the next two decades. The results of our research indicate that the value of a synthetic indicator for sustainable development of Jining City was 0.24 in 2004, which indicates a low level of sustainable development. According to the ecological planning of Jining City (2004–2020), the indicator will improve to 0.45 in 2007 and 0.62 in 2010, indicating significant improvements in sustainable development, and will reach 0.90 in 2020, indicating excellent potential for sustainable development. The Full Permutation Polygon Synthetic Indicator method provides a comprehensive, intuitive approach that reflects the system integration principle that the whole can be more than the sum of its parts. The approach thus provides a promising basis for decision-making to support urban sustainable development and monitoring of the effectiveness of these decisions.