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The diversity of communities is a common feature in peri-urban areas, which are transitional zones between urban and rural areas. Lifestyles, as well as environmental awareness, may be closely related to the community morphology. Currently, there are few studies on the differences in environmental awareness in peri-urban areas. In this paper, a typical peri-urban area in Xiamen (Jimei District) was selected to investigate the residential characteristics and compare and analyse residents' environmental awareness in communities at various levels of urbanisation. Based on external building and socio-economic characteristics, 10 communities in Jimei District could be classified and ranked by degree of urbanisation. The closer the communities were to the urban centre or industrial zone, the higher the urbanisation level. Significant differences in resident's environmental awareness existed among the 10 communities in Jimei District. Along the urbanisation gradient, the discrepancies in awareness among communities were not linear, but showed a U or inverted U trend, very similar to the environmental Kuznets curve. The data obtained should be helpful in enriching urbanisation theory, and provide a scientific basis for environment planning and management in peri-urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]