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In the twenty-first century, with the development of urbanization, large-scale mine wastelands in peri-urban areas have become increasingly closely related to the daily lives of urban and rural residents. Adopting a reuse method that meets the health needs of these residents, restoration, construction of mine wastelands in the suburbs of cities, and the formation of high-quality healthy environments and service supply are in line with the demands of healthy city construction and sustainable development. In addition, they have received increasing attention from all sectors of society. Based on the main criteria for constructing a healthy urban environment, this paper takes the comprehensive remediation and construction project of mine wastelands in the Taiyuan Xishan Ecological and Cultural Tourism Demonstration Area as a case study. It uses on-site surveys and an open-ended web-based questionnaire. It focuses on researching the perceived health needs of urban and rural residents in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, China concerning the main elements that determine health, such as the natural ecological environment, the construction of facilities and activities, and the local economic and industrial development. The results of 748 questionnaires that were completed by participants who effectively participated in the survey show that most participants preferred a comprehensive development model (86.6%) to reuse these areas. In addition, the specific needs of urban and rural residents for health safety, equity and quality, and healthy low-carbon industries should be considered. The differences in demand among groups of citizens due to different ages, living distances, levels of education, and occupations should be comprehensively considered. This paper demonstrates that a full understanding of the health needs of residents has great practical significance when improving the healthy environment and service supply level in mine wasteland restoration and construction and promoting the development of regional healthy city construction. Recently, the healthy environment and sustainable development of areas that host large-scale mine wastelands on the outskirts of cities have received increasing attention from all sectors of society. This paper suggests that during the reuse and construction of these areas, government management, development, and construction companies, planning and design organizations, and other departments that are involved in policy formulation and construction implementation should give full consideration to the perceived health needs of urban and rural residents in the host city, and to groups of residents of different ages, living distances, occupations, and educational levels, to form a high-quality and equitable health environment and services in the area. In addition, active public participation, on-site research, and interviews are essential for relevant departments to improve their understanding of resident health needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continous advancement of industrialization, the environmental problems among resource-based cities in China are becoming increasingly serious. Therefore, exploring the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of industrial agglomeration and environmental pollution to understand the interaction mechanism between them is of great significance for the coordinated development of resource-based cities. In this paper, 114 resource-based cities in China are selected as research objects, and data from the period of 2011 to 2020 are used for analysis and research. Location entropy and entropy weight models are used to measure the relevant indicators, and a spatial simultaneous equation model is constructed. The generalized spatial three-stage least squares (GS3SLS) method is used to assess the spatial interactive spillover effects of industrial agglomeration on environmental pollution. The research results show that ① the industrial agglomeration center of China has begun to shift to the junction of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia, and the level of environmental pollution has dropped significantly; ② industrial agglomeration promotes environmental pollution, while environmental pollution inhibits industrial agglomeration, and between them, the inhibition effect is more obvious; ③ the level of industrial agglomeration in surrounding cities promotes industrial agglomeration in the region and inhibits environmental pollution, while the level of environmental pollution in surrounding cities inhibits industrial agglomeration in the region and promotes the diffusion of pollution. Thus, the building of a coordinated development system across regions can achieve a win–win situation between industrial development and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The concept of industrial ecology (IE) was defined based on symbiosis theory. • IE was evaluated from the functional and structural dimensions of the IE system. • Evaluation subjects of IES include symbiotic units, patterns, and environment. • The overall IE level in the Area has improved with Inner Mongolia standing out. • The industrial and ecological development remained isolated or mutual restriction. This paper defined regional industrial ecology (IE) to include four connotations: sustainable social-economic-ecological development, the high-quality transformation of the industrial system (IS) and the ecological system (ES), and harmonious symbiosis between IS and ES. Regarding the composition of the symbiotic system, this paper proposed that the IE evaluation be carried out from three aspects: the sustainability of the symbiotic environment, the high-quality development of the symbiont, and the symbiotic pattern between the symbiotic units. Then, the maturity index determined by the symbiont and symbiotic mode and the orderliness index determined by the symbiont and symbiotic environment were measured to determine the IE level from the perspectives of the system's function and structure. Besides, this paper adopted Geodetector and Oprobit model to identify the influencing factors of IE. Taking the π-shaped Curve Area of the Yellow River as the study area, this paper found that the IE systems' structural orderliness of capital cities and resource-based cities was low, while the orderliness level of non-resource-based cities was high. The IE systems' functional maturity level in the northwest Area was better than that of the southeast. The IE level was high in Inner Mongolia while low in Shanxi and Ningxia. Scientific innovation, economic development, openness degree, ecological pressure, industrial structure, urbanization level, and government influence have different influences on the IE systems' orderliness and maturity levels. The findings of this paper provided a basis for realizing IE and promoting the high-quality transformation of the whole basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Water resources system has multi-link characteristics. • The resilience evaluation index system of water resources system is constructed. • The resilience of regional water resources system is evaluated. • The temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of resilience are analyzed. As environmental and human changes combine, water shortage and ecological fragility are becoming increasingly serious issues in the basin. The national "14th Five-Year Plan" proposes to build resilient basins to enhance disaster resilience. On the basis of clarifying the multi-link characteristics of water resources system resilience under the influence of meteorology-hydrology-ecology-society-economy, this paper reveals the interrelationship and chain reaction among the factors affecting the resilience of water resources system by clarifying the multi-link characteristics of water resources system resilience. Based on the interconnections among meteorology-hydrology-engineering-economic society-ecology in regional water resources systems, this study constructs a resilience evaluation index for the water resources system. The index considers different objectives, dimensions, and scales to provide a comprehensive assessment of the system's resilience. Based on the multi-dimensional relationship of the evaluation index system, the TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method based on entropy weight method is employed to depict the resilience level of the water resources system at varying spatial and temporal scales. By focusing on Shanxi Province as the research subject, a multi-link evaluation framework for assessing the resilience of the water resources system is established, and a quantitative approach to evaluate its resilience is investigated. The results show that the level of water resources resilience in Shanxi Province has improved from 2017 to 2021, and there are certain spatial and temporal differences. In 2021, only Lvliang City and Yangquan City have low resilience level, and the resilience level of other cities has been improved. Among them, Taiyuan City has the highest resilience level of 0.56, which belongs to the high resilience level. The research results can improve the cognitive level of multi-link evolution mechanism of resilience to a certain extent, and provide scientific basis for multi-dimensional targeted regulation of water resources system resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific estimation and dynamic monitoring of CO2 emission trends are an important basis for formulating regional differentiated carbon reduction strategies. Using the integrated nighttime light data, this study estimated CO2 emissions in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) and Yangtze River Basin (YZRB) and discussed the similarities and differences of the spatial distribution of CO2 emissions for the two river basins. The results showed that: (1) The CO2 emissions in the two basins continued to rise, but the growth rate decreased from 2000 to 2018, showing an overall convergence trend, but have not yet reached carbon peak. (2) The high emission and high agglomeration areas were located in Shandong Province in the downstream of the YRB, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia in the midstream and upstream, and the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). (3) Compared with the YRB, the growth rate of CO2 emissions in the YZRB is slower, and the growth rate declines greatly. In the YRB, it had higher CO2 emissions amount, wider area of high carbon emissions and more obvious spatial agglomeration than that in the YZRB. (4) According to CO2 emissions and economic development level, 220 cities of the two river basins were classified three types: low CO2–low development, high CO2–low development and high CO2–high development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization and industrialization have had a range of effects on urban form and land use, especially in resource-based cities. Previous research has predominantly focused on the analysis of urban compactness or land-use efficiency individually, overlooking their interplay. In this study, we propose a coupled and coordinated research framework for urban compactness (UC) and urban land-use efficiency (ULUE). We analyze the UC and ULUE, as well as the degree and types of coupling and coordination (CCD) between them, in 119 counties and districts rich in coal resources within Shanxi Province. The findings reveal a declining trend in UC in Shanxi Province over time, with coal-resource-based cities exhibiting lower compactness than non-coal-resource-based cities. ULUE has shown stable development during the study period. The CCD between UC and ULUE exhibit spatial and urban typological heterogeneity. Further analysis demonstrates that the CCD types mainly manifest as the lagging development of UC. This research provides a foundation for achieving harmonious development between urban spatial structure and land-use structure and offers new perspectives for the sustainable development of resource-based urban regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roadside soils are regarded as a reservoir for heavy metal pollution, which potentially leads to ecosystem deterioration as well as serious hazard to human health. A comprehensive investigation was conducted for the levels, relationship with soil properties, and potential sources of heavy metals (Hg, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, and Cr) in roadside soils in six cities (Changzhi, Jincheng, Yuncheng, Linfen, Xinzhou, Datong) of Shanxi Province; and the corresponding ecological risk and human health risk associated with the concentrations of heavy metals were addressed. Heavy metal concentrations of 112 roadside soil samples in the surveyed cities were, in decreasing order, Zn, Cu, Cr, Pb, Cd, and Hg, which were higher than corresponding background values. The highest concentrations were in Changzhi. The results of Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated that positive correlations in varying degrees existed between soil properties such as electrical conductivity, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total organic carbon with specific heavy metals and that negative correlations were observed for clay and electrical conductivity. Anthropogenic sources related to traffic emissions and industrialization were the main sources of heavy metals in roadside soils according to principal component analysis. The ecological risk assessments were achieved by pollution index and potential risk index, indicating that contamination with Hg was the most serious, which posed the highest risk to the ecosystems in the surveyed cities; and the ecological risk in Changzhi ranked at the top compared with other cities. For the human health risk assessment, the results demonstrated that the noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks were in the acceptable range in the surveyed cities. However, there was a higher health risk from heavy metal exposure for children than adults, and the main exposure pathway was soil ingestion. In addition, Changzhi was the city with the highest noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, and the main human health risks were posed by Cr contamination in roadside soil, which was different from the results of ecological risks. Both results of ecological and health risk assessment demonstrated that the higher risk exhibited in southern and southeastern cities than northern cities in Shanxi Province. Environ Toxicol Chem 2023;42:1485–1500. © 2023 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]