Urban Ecosystem Health Research Articles

Intersecting disciplinary frameworks: the architecture and ecology of the city

ABSTRACTIntroduction: While many studies have explored the link between ecology and urban design, this paper examines two major conceptions that can promote deeper connections between architecture and ecological science.Outcomes: Rather than providing a comprehensive review, the paper explores in detail two frameworks that have not yet been exploited as foundations for a bridge between these fields. One is the seminal work of Aldo Rossi on the architecture of the city, as opposed to a more traditional architectural focus on specific buildings, lots, or specific clients. The complementary framework for ecological science is the ecology of the city, developed to support and explain a new era of more integrated social-ecological study of urban systems than had existed previously.Discussion: This paper draws heretofore unexamined parallels between architecture as represented by the work of Rossi and the ecology of the city as represented by the Baltimore School of Urban Ecology. The ecology of the city has become a widely used framing in the science of urban ecology, while the architecture of the city continues to influence a deeper understanding of the built environment as a whole. The parallels provided by the architecture of the city and the ecology of the city help to understand the historical interrelations between nature and culture.Conclusion: Intersecting the two conceptual frameworks of the architecture and ecology of the city can help satisfy the call for an actionable ecology for the city. This call demands both disciplines integrate their conceptual frameworks with communities in the collective enterprise of creating urban ecosystem health, justice, and sustainability.

Quantitative assessment of urban ecosystem services flow based on entropy theory: A case study of Beijing, China

Quantitative evaluation of ecosystem service is a primary premise for rational resources exploitation and sustainable development. Examining ecosystem services flow provides a scientific method to quantity ecosystem services. We built an assessment indicator system based on land cover/land use under the framework of four types of ecosystem services. The types of ecosystem services flow were reclassified. Using entropy theory, disorder degree and developing trend of indicators and urban ecosystem were quantitatively assessed. Beijing was chosen as the study area, and twenty-four indicators were selected for evaluation. The results showed that the entropy value of Beijing urban ecosystem during 2004 to 2015 was 0.794 and the entropy flow was -0.024, suggesting a large disordered degree and near verge of non-health. The system got maximum values for three times, while the mean annual variation of the system entropy value increased gradually in three periods, indicating that human activities had negative effects on urban ecosystem. Entropy flow reached minimum value in 2007, implying the environmental quality was the best in 2007. The determination coefficient for the fitting function of total permanent population in Beijing and urban ecosystem entropy flow was 0.921, indicating that urban ecosystem health was highly correlated with total permanent population.

海口市生态用地变化与安全格局构建

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 海口市生态用地变化与安全格局构建 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201704120639 作者: 作者单位: 湖北大学,海南师范大学 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家自然科学基金项目（41361090） Ecological land use change and construction of ecological land security pattern in Haikou city Author: Affiliation: Hubei University,Hainan Normal University Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:城市化过程中，城市生态用地变化与安全格局构建对于城市生态系统健康、城市居民生活质量和城市可持续发展有着重要意义，生态用地的变化直接影响生态安全格局变化，生态用地安全格局又对生态用地的规划有指导作用。基于GIS技术，对海口市1991年至2016年生态用地的时空变化过程进行研究，进而分析生态用地演变。选取高度、坡度、水资源安全作为生态安全影响单因子，并分级赋值，构建综合生态用地分布格局。以底线型生态用地为源，基于最小累计阻力模型（MCR），以阻力阈值作为分级边界，划分不同安全水平的生态用地区域，进而确定源间生态廊道、辐射道与战略点，构建生态用地安全格局。分析结果表明：1991年至2016年，海口市三类生态用地变化最大，其中林地减少13.33%，园地增加9.136%，坑塘水面增加3.71%。南渡江以西生态用地从以林地为主转为园地与建设用地为主，其余地区变化较少。生态用地安全变化区域集中在海口市西部与东部，其中西部高安全水平区减少，整体安全水平急剧恶化，东部高安全水平区略有提升。故需要制定和实施合理的生态用地保护政策，对生态用地格局进行优化调整，以期构建区域内生态环境协调发展的可行方案。 Abstract:In the process of urbanization, the change of urban ecological land use and the construction of a safety pattern are of great significance for the urban ecosystem health, the quality of life of urban residents, and the sustainable development of cities. Ecological land use change affects the ecological security pattern directly. The ecological land security pattern has a guiding role for the planning of ecological land. Based on the GIS technology, the temporal and spatial changes of ecological land in Haikou from 1991 to 2016 and the evolution of ecological land were studied. Selected height, slope and water resource security as single factor of ecological safety impact, give them graded amounts to build a comprehensive ecological land distribution pattern. Based on the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model, the resistance threshold was used as the hierarchical boundary, the ecological land area of different safety levels was divided, and then the ecological corridors, radiators, and strategic points were established to build a security pattern of the ecological land. The results showed that from 1991 to 2016, the three types of ecological land areas in Haikou City had the biggest changes, with the forest land decreasing by 13.33%, the garden area increasing by 9.136%, and the pond water surface increasing by 3.71%. The ecological land to the west of Nandu River mainly changed from forest land to garden land and construction land, and the rest of the area changed less. The high safety level area in 1991 was much larger than in 2016, but the low safety area was lower than in 2016. The overall trend gradually deteriorated. Over two years, the western and southern areas of the two "source" as the center, the high security area, the safety area, and the low security area formed a circular arrangement, while the Nandu River was the "source", with high, medium, and low areas localized along the river. In 2016, the corridors were arranged in three rings, distributed evenly throughout the city, but the relationship between the sources was weakened. The radiation path was still irregularly distributed, while the number of strategic points decreased significantly compared with those in 1991, indicating that the ecological impact and imbalance of each part become more and more serious, the stability of ecological safety in the region has been destroyed. The area where ecological land use change occurred is concentrated to the west and east of Haikou City, while the high safety area to the west of Haikou was reduced and the overall safety level deteriorated rapidly. The high safety level area to the east slightly improved. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate and implement a reasonable ecological protection policy and land use pattern to optimize the adjustment, with a view of building a coordinated environment for coordinated development of the ecological environment within the region. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Responses of urban ecosystem health to precipitation extreme: A case study in Beijing and Tianjin

Our research explores the relationship between precipitation extreme and urban ecosystem health by using emergy analysis based on urban ecosystem health assessment and Difference-in-Difference approach. In the case study area of Beijing and Tianjin, their urban ecosystem are getting healthier with the average growth rate of the key index, urban ecosystem health, are 0.23 and 0.12 respectively, simultaneously the overall index of Beijing is a little higher than that of Tianjin. Meanwhile, urban ecosystem seemingly has nothing to do with precipitation extreme, and the health of its urban sub-ecosystem performs significantly to the precipitation extreme except the sub-ecosystems, resilience, public services and human health. Vigor, one of the urban sub-ecosystems, its ecosystem health negatively associated with precipitation extreme. And urban sub-ecosystem health of vigor will reduce 14.42 if a precipitation extreme happens. The precipitation extreme has a positive effect on organization and emergies. And urban sub-ecosystem health of organization and emergies will increase 44.11, 12.02 respectively if a precipitation extreme happens. In addition, it is apparently nonsignificant to the sub-ecosystems, resilience, public services and human health. Moreover, the extreme precipitation consumes more emergies for the city, it seems beneficial for emergy flow for that precipitation extreme negatively affects emergy/dollar ratio, environmental loading rate and positively affects total emergy. But the extreme precipitation also negatively influences emergy yield ratio. Thus, urban ecosystem health associates with precipitation extreme in a complex way, both positively and negatively. Government measures for recovering urban ecosystem health should emphasize the sub-ecosystem vigor of the city, like constructing more public facilities. And policy makers may pay more attention on environmental loading rate, like advocating improving energy use efficiency.

Contamination levels and human health risk assessment of toxic heavy metals in street dust in an industrial city in Northwest China

This study investigated the content, distribution, and contamination levels of toxic metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in street dust in Lanzhou, an industrial city in Northwest China. Meanwhile, the risk these metals posed to the urban ecosystem and human health was also evaluated using the potential ecological risk index and human exposure model. Results showed that concentrations of these metals in the dust are higher than the background value of local soil, with Cu having the highest levels. The districts of Anning and Xigu had the most extreme levels of contamination, while Chengguan and Qilihe districts were lightly contaminated, which can be partly attributed to human activities and traffic densities. In comparison with the concentrations of selected metals in other cities, the concentrations of heavy metals in Lanzhou were generally at moderate or low levels. Heavy metal concentration increased with decreasing dust particle size. The pollution indices of Cr, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn were in the range of 0.289-2.09, 0.332-2.15, 1.38-6.21, 0.358-2.59, and 0.560-1.83 with a mean of 1.37, 1.49, 3.18, 1.48, and 0.897, respectively. The geo-accumulation index (I geo) suggested that Zn in street dust was of geologic origin, while Cd, Cr, Pb, and Cu were significantly impacted by anthropogenic sources. The comprehensive pollution index showed that urban dust poses a high potential ecological risk in Lanzhou. Non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic effects due to exposure to urban street dust were assessed for both children and adults. For non-carcinogenic effects, ingestion appeared to be the main route of exposure to dust particles and thus posed a higher health risk to both children and adults for all metals, followed by dermal contact. Hazard index values for all studied metals were lower than the safe level of 1, and Cr exhibited the highest risk value (0.249) for children, suggesting that the overall risk from exposure to multiple metals in dust is low. The carcinogenic risk for Cd and Cr was all below the acceptable level (<10-6).

Urban vacant land typology: A tool for managing urban vacant land

A typology of urban vacant land was developed, using Roanoke, Virginia, as the study area. A comprehensive literature review, field measurements and observations, including photographs, and quantitative based approach to assessing vacant land forest structure and values (i-Tree Eco sampling) were utilized, along with aerial photo interpretation, and ground-truthing methods, to identify and catalog vacant parcels of land.; The following types of urban vacant land were identified: post-industrial (3.34km²), derelict (4.01km²), unattended with vegetation (17.3km²), natural (2.78km²), and transportation-related (5.01km²). Unattended with vegetation sites can be important resources that support urban ecosystem health; the most effective ecosystem benefits occur in natural sites based on their per-ha value. The redesign of post-industrial sites could build a city’s image, while transportation-related sites can contribute a green infrastructure network of open spaces across a city. This typological study could have significant implications for policy development, and for planners and designers seeking to utilize urban vacant land to the best advantage.

Assessment of Urban Ecosystem Health Based on Matter Element Analysis: A Case Study of 13 Cities in Jiangsu Province, China.

Urban public health is an important global issue and receives public concern. The urban ecosystem health (UEH) indicator system was constructed with 27 assessment indicators selected from vigor, organization, resilience, service function, and population health, then the matter element analysis (MEA) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) weighting method were used to assess the UEH of each city in Jiangsu Province during the period of 2000–2014. The results show that the overall ecosystem health status of each city shows continuous improvement. The UEH status of each city gradually transferred from poor, general, and medium condition to good and excellent condition. From the perspective of spatial distribution, the city’s UEH showing a steady status after increasing for 10 years, and their spatial variations have gradually reduced. The UEH status in Southern Jiangsu and Central Jiangsu was better than that of Northern Jiangsu Province. From each component point of view, the vigor, resilience, and population health of each city in Jiangsu Province showed a trend of continuous improvement, while the organization and service function first increased and then decreased. The common limiting factors of UEH in Jiangsu Province were Engel’s coefficient of urban households, number of beds of hospitals, health centers per 10,000 people, and total investment in the treatment of environmental pollution as percent GDP. These results help decision makers to make suitable decisions to maintain the UEH of each city in Jiangsu Province.

Risk assessment of heavy metals in finer than 63-μm dust particles from various functional areas in Xi’an, China

Heavy metals Pb, Cr, Zn, Cu, Co, Mn, and Ni in the dust particles finer than 63 μm from four functional areas of Xi’an, i.e., residential area, educational area, park area, and traffic area, were measured using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The risks of these heavy metals to urban ecosystem and human health were evaluated by the potential ecological risk index and human exposure model, respectively. Compared with Shaanxi soil, the finer dust particles have elevated metal concentrations, except for Co, Mn, and Ni. All analyzed heavy metals have different variation characteristics in four functional areas. The ecological risks of Cr, Zn, Cu, Co, Mn, and Ni in the samples were at lower levels, while the presence of Pb was high. The overall ecological risks of heavy metals measured in the samples were moderate level, which were mainly caused by Pb and Cu. Health risk assessment shows that ingestion was the main exposure route of all analyzed heavy metals in the dust particles finer than 63 μm to children and adults. The non-cancer risks of the heavy metals to children and adults were within the safe range, and the cancer risks of Cr, Co, and Ni were also within the currently acceptable range.

Assessment of Urban Ecosystem Health Based on Entropy Weight Extension Decision Model in Urban Agglomeration

Urban ecosystem health evaluation can assist in sustainable ecological management at a regional level. This study examined urban agglomeration ecosystem health in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River with entropy weight and extension theories. The model overcomes information omissions and subjectivity problems in the evaluation process of urban ecosystem health. Results showed that human capital and education, economic development level as well as urban infrastructure have a significant effect on the health states of urban agglomerations. The health status of the urban agglomeration’s ecosystem was not optimistic in 2013. The majority of the cities were unhealthy or verging on unhealthy, accounting for 64.52% of the total number of cities in the urban agglomeration. The regional differences of the 31 cities’ ecosystem health are significant. The cause originated from an imbalance in economic development and the policy guidance of city development. It is necessary to speed up the integration process to promote coordinated regional development. The present study will aid us in understanding and advancing the health situation of the urban ecosystem in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and will provide an efficient urban ecosystem health evaluation method that can be used in other areas.

An integrated approach for assessing the urban ecosystem health of megacities in China

In 2014, China adjusted its “city categorization standard.” The newly defined megalopolises and metropolises are under unprecedented pressure from various eco-environmental problems, making them suitable representatives for exploring the state of urban ecosystem health. In this study, we establish a two-layer indicator system to assess the urban ecosystem health and choose 33 indicators grouped into social, economic, transportation, facility, land, and management subsystems, with the aim of correlating human activities with the structure, vigor, resilience, and health of the urban ecosystem. We integrate subjective and objective methods to determine weights at different levels through the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), the analytic hierarchy process, and information entropy. In particular, we develop a spatial TOPSIS technique by introducing a Euclidean-distance-based weight to rank the health of the cities' ecosystem in terms of the spatial effects among these cities. The results reveal that megalopolises such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou have superior social and economic subsystems, whereas other megacities have advantages in transportation, facility, land, and management subsystems. From 2005 to 2010, the gaps among these cities in terms of urban ecosystem health significantly reduced regardless of the weight determination method. Not all indicators involved can help realize a better urban ecosystem. Nevertheless, they provide a reference point for making specific regulations to control human activity and improve eco-environmental management.

Linking ecosystem services and landscape patterns to assess urban ecosystem health: A case study in Shenzhen City, China

Ecosystem health assessment is always one of the key topics of ecosystem management. However, few studies has focused on assessing ecosystem health of landscapes, which are geo-spatial units composed of different kinds of ecosystem mosaics. Healthy ecosystems should sustainably provide a range of ecosystem services to meet human needs, and such a concept often cannot be expressed using the traditional ecosystem health assessment. Using Shenzhen City in China as a case study area, this research aims to assess the ecosystem health of urban landscapes based on ecosystem services. Results showed a distinct deterioration of urban ecosystem health for all of the 30 units assessed in Shenzhen City during 1978–2005. Five levels were classified with respect to health using fixed thresholds. There were 12 towns appearing with the worst level and 4 towns disappearing with the best level in 2005 compared with the status in 1978. Although there was no significant decrease in the level of health during 1978–2000, by 2005 more than 70% of towns belonged to the top two levels, classifying them as unhealthy. Among all the assessing indicators, the indicators of ecosystem organization contributed least to ecosystem health, except in 1986, and ecosystem services were found to be the most contributive indicator during 1978–2005. It was also suggested that land use patterns provided an integrating bridge among regional ecosystem health, economic development, and environmental performances.

A new assessment approach for urban ecosystem health basing on maximum information entropy method

Information entropy is introduced to describe the interactions between diverse agents in urban ecosystems. Basing on maximum information entropy method, a holistic structural parameter and its dynamic equation are derived to reflect urban ecosystem health (UEH). In this way, a new UEH assessment model has been proposed. We then apply the model to assess the UEH of Beijing, Dalian, Shanghai, Wuhan, Xiamen and Guangzhou in China. It is shown that the holistic structural parameter, the radar chart, and the associated correlations from the model can reveal the health features of different cities. According to the calculated ranges of the holistic structural parameter, a new UEH assessment grade standard is suggested and applied to the UEH assessment of some typical cities in China. It is demonstrated that the new model and the new assessment grade standard are precise and readily operational, which can be widely used in other urban ecosystems.

Water-related ecosystem services provided by urban green space: A case study in Yixing City (China)

With the development of urbanization, green space in urban areas has received widespread attention and become an important symbol of urban ecosystem health. Urban green space plays a positive role in water regulation and purification, but this function is often ignored by municipal authorities. Based on remote-sensing image interpretation and practical investigations in Yixing (China), this study evaluated the water regulation and purification functions performed by urban green space, using the modified Soil Conservation Service model, in conjunction with relevant experimental data. The results show that during the period 2007 to 2009, the average volume of rainfall stored by the urban green space in Yixing was 5.3×107m3yr−1, which represented more than 88% of the rainfall received. The average figures for chemical oxygen demand (CODCr), total nitrogen (TN), ammoniacal nitrogen (NH4–N), and total phosphorus (TP) in rainfall that were removed by green space during 2007 to 2009 were 233.6×103kgyr−1, 70.9×103kgyr−1, 12.6×103kgyr−1, and 1.7×103kgyr−1, respectively. Differences were found between the water regulation and purification performed by urban green space inside built-up areas and those performed outside built-up areas, which relate to the importance attached to green space in the two types of area. This research will contribute to an understanding of the role that green space plays in water regulation and purification, and in the scientific management of urban green space.

Trans-boundary total suspended particulate matter (TSPM) in urban ecosystems

The highly-industrialized regions in China have been facing a serious problem of haze mainly consisted of total suspended particulate matter (TSPM), which has attracted great attention from the public since it clinically increases the risks of various respiratory and pulmonary diseases and directly impairs urban ecosystem health. In this paper, we set up a multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model to analyze the transferring routes of TSPM emissions between urban ecosystem and surrounding regions through trades. TSPM emission from particulate source regions and sectors are identified by analyzing the embodied TSPM flows through inter-regional trade. The track of TSPM from origin to end via consumption activities is also revealed by tracing the product supply chain associated with the TSPM emissions. Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (Jing-Jin-Ji) as the most industrialized district of China is selected for a case study. The result shows that over 70% of TSPM emissions associated with goods consumed in Beijing and Tianjin occurred outside of their own administrative boundaries, implying that Beijing and Tianjin are net TSPM exporters. Meanwhile, 63% of the total TSPM emissions in Hebei province are resulted from the outside demand, indicating Hebei is a net importer. In addition, nearly half of TSPM emissions are the by-products related to electricity and heating supply and non-metal mineral production in Jing-Jin-Ji district. Based on the modeling results, we provided new insights into establishing systemic strategies and identifying mitigation priorities to stem TSPM emissions in urban ecosystem and its surrounding areas.

Indicators for environmental dispersion in a three-layer wetland: Extension of Taylor's classical analysis

The rapid growth of population in cities places great pressure on urban ecosystem health and management, especially on urban water supply and disposal of wastewater. To cope with urban water degradation, indicators are needed for predicting and evaluating anthropogenic impacts on wetlands. Presented in this paper is a analytical study of the environmental dispersion in a three-layer wetland in terms of the longitudinal evolution of the lateral mean concentration. An environmental dispersion model for the mean concentration in the three-layer wetland is devised as an extension of Taylor's classical formulation. The analytical results illustrate the effect of dimensionless parameters on the environmental dispersivity. Other related indicators for urban water quality assessment in three-layer wetlands, i.e., the critical length and duration of the contaminant cloud of typical contaminant constituents are illustrated and characterized.

Risk assessment of toxic metals in street dust from a medium-sized industrial city of China

The concentrations of toxic metals As, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, V and Zn in street dust of Tongchuan, China were determined by wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The risk of the analyzed metals to urban ecosystem and human health were evaluated by potential ecological risk index and human exposure model, respectively. The results show that, in comparison with Shaanxi soil, dust samples have elevated metal concentration as a whole expect for As, Mn, V and Ni. The assessment results of ecological risk indicate that the ecological risks of As, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, V and Zn in the dust were in the low level, while Pb and Co presented low to moderate level. Health risk assessment shows that ingestion was the main exposure route of all analyzed toxic metals in street dust to children and adults. The non-cancer risks of the studied metals to children and adults were within the safe range, and the cancer risks of As, Co, Cr and Ni were also within the currently acceptable range.

Assessment and forecast of Beijing and Shanghai's urban ecosystem health

In this paper, we first analyze the 5 most cited papers with the title containing “Urban ecosystem health” in Chinese academic journals, and 5 newer papers retrieved from the CSSCI (Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index). The results show that the number of indicators to be used together in more than three papers is 28, and then we select 27 of them to assess Beijing and Shanghai's urban ecosystem health from 2000 to 2011. Secondly, when we standardize the original data, the worst value adjustment coefficient is introduced innovatively. Thirdly, using the entropy method, the weights of concrete indicators of Beijing and Shanghai in the different adjustment coefficients are calculated respectively. Fourthly, based on the fuzzy matter-element method, using the Hamming approach degree, the two cities' ecosystem health index and the contribution value to overall health index from each component are calculated. Lastly, using gray prediction model, the evolutionary time response sequence function of Beijing and Shanghai's urban ecosystem health index is identified, and thus both cities' urban ecosystem health is predicted.

Urban Ecosystem Health Assessment: Perspectives and Chinese Practice

The concept of ecosystem health is a way to assess the holistic operations and development potential of urban ecosystems. Accelerated by the practical need for integrated ecosystem management, assessment of urban ecosystem health has been greatly developed and extensively applied in urban planning and management. Development is aimed at comprehensively evaluating the performance of urban ecosystems, identifying the limiting factors, and providing suggestions for urban regulation. The time has come for reviewing and establishing an instructional framework for urban ecosystem health assessment to shed light on certain essential issues of urban ecosystem health. Based on literature reviews and series of practice, a holistic framework of urban ecosystem health assessment is proposed. The framework covers the essential elements of urban ecosystem health and integrates three dimensions: theoretical foundation, assessment method, and practical application. Concrete assessment methods are also established, focusing on both external performance and internal metabolic processes. The practice of urban ecosystem health assessment in China is illustrated to briefly demonstrate the application of the established framework and methods. Some prospects are discussed for urban ecosystem health assessment and its application in urban planning and management.

A material flow-based approach for diagnosing urban ecosystem health

Abstract Urban ecosystem health is an important concept in sustainable development. Knowledge of health status is crucial to maintaining the health of urban ecosystems. Existing methods for assessing urban ecosystem health often focus on a synthesizing assessment but neglect analysis of process. These approaches often rely on a complex indicator system that includes social, economic and environmental factors and use synthesis indicators. This means that their ability to provide diagnosis information for decision makers is limited. For meeting this need, this paper developed a diagnosis approach based on material flow for assessing urban ecosystem health. A healthy urban ecosystem should be able to support urban development and have enough resilience to recover from ecological environmental stress. Healthy material flow can support the function of the system. Therefore material flow can be regarded as a key factor that reflects the health of an urban ecosystem. This paper explores the mechanism for material flow between urban and natural ecosystems and reveals the main problems that affect urban ecosystem health. A material flow model of urban ecosystems is established by using this mechanism. By using this model, a diagnosis framework is developed for diagnosis of urban ecosystem health. The framework consists of function analysis, input–output flow analysis, health assessment, and function optimization. It focuses on developing a material flow-based diagnosis approach and an indicator system including function-based indicators and effect-based indicators. Case studies show that this approach can not only diagnose the health problems of an urban ecosystem but can also identify the main causes of the problems. Therefore our approach can aid decision makers in making a timely and informative diagnosis of urban ecosystem health to support planning and management decisions.

Ecosystem Health Assessment of Guangzhou City

Guangzhou urban ecosystem health evaluation index system was built by the connotation of urban ecosystem health and the actual situation in Guangzhou city. The system concluded five indexes such as vigor, organizational structure, resilience, ecosystem services and health status of populations. Each index weight was calculated with entropy-weight method,and comprehensive evaluation model was established to assess the urban ecosystem health level of Guangzhou city. The results showed that the health status of the ecosystem of Guangzhou city was good in 2010. High energy consumption, the R &amp; D expenditure, environmental protection investment, urban public green space and Engel coefficient had exerted influence on the healthy development of Guangzhou city. Thereby, strategies and measures should be put forward in an attempt to provide some background information an d programming reference for the sustainable development of the city.