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Constructing high-speed railways (HSRs) is critical for developing countries to stimulate economic growth and urbanization. This study focuses on the Lao section of the China–Laos Railway (CLR) and employs explicitly spatial remote sensing images to investigate the urban development surrounding HSR stations. Data-driven machine learning and causal inference approaches are integrated to quantify the spatial–temporal evolution and discover its driving factors. The results suggest that the CLR has had positive spatial spillover effects on the development of the surrounding urban space. These spillover effects have exhibited a distance attenuation pattern, reflecting obvious development in 2D rather than in 3D urban space. Meanwhile, the distance to stations and adjacent city centers as well as functional urban characteristics, such as land use patterns and industrialization level, have significantly influences the surrounding spatial development. Specifically, in industrial-dominated cities, the surrounding spatial changes have been most significant under the influence of the HSR. Change related to industrial and residential land use has shown significant land expansion patterns and increased utilization efficiency, reflecting that industrialization and urbanization have been the primary drivers of land demand surrounding the HSR. The findings offer valuable insights and references for developing nations to formulate and implement spatial management policies and initiatives related to HSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 21st century, the world has increasingly focused on the issue of sustainable development, and the green transformation issues have become a new hot topic worldwide. Green and low-carbon transformation has become an international consensus. Urban agglomerations are important connections between urban development and regional coordination, as well as important spatial carriers for economic activities. They are not only the main source of carbon emissions, but also the main battlefield for energy conservation and emission reduction. As an important field for carbon reduction, the green transformation of cities is crucial for achieving the "dual carbon" goals. This article focuses on 48 cities in the three most mature and influential urban agglomerations in China from 2011 to 2019, namely, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, and the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration. The three-stage DEA model and Malmquist index model are used to measure the green transformation efficiency of the three urban agglomerations from both dynamic and static perspectives, and a Tobit regression model is constructed to explore the influencing factors of green transformation efficiency in urban agglomerations. Research has found that: 1) From a static perspective, the overall efficiency of green transformation in the three major urban agglomerations is at a high level, but from a temporal perspective, it shows a downward trend. The Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration is known for its green development, with the highest average efficiency of green transformation, followed by the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration has the lowest level of green transformation; 2) From a dynamic perspective, technological progress is the main driving factor for improving the efficiency of green transformation in the three major urban agglomerations. Therefore, the government should pay special attention to the progressiveness of technology when formulating relevant policies to promote urban green transformation; 3) From the perspective of spatiotemporal differences, there are significant differences in the spatiotemporal characteristics of green transformation among the three major urban agglomerations, and there are significant differences in green transformation strategies among different urban agglomerations. Eliminating environmental factors and random interference is necessary for accurately measuring the efficiency of green transformation in urban agglomerations; 4) From the perspective of influencing factors, factors such as industrial structure upgrading, green innovation level, and environmental regulation intensity jointly affect the efficiency of green transformation in urban agglomerations. Based on this, we should pay attention to the differences between urban agglomerations and implement policies tailored to local conditions; Strengthen the network system of urban agglomerations and avoid conflicts between cities; Encourage green technology innovation, accelerate industrial structure upgrading, and so on. This article focuses on the issue of green transformation in urban agglomerations, and conducts research from three perspectives: efficiency measurement, influencing factors, and implementation mechanisms. A relatively systematic theoretical framework for green transformation in urban agglomerations is formed, and an evaluation index system for green transformation efficiency in urban agglomerations is constructed and optimized. The composition mechanism of the five dimensional evaluation system for transformation efficiency is analyzed, and the bottleneck and breakthrough direction of the three major urban agglomerations in China in the development process are grasped. It has a good demonstration effect on the green transformation of other urban agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing recognition of nature-based solutions (NBS), there remains a research gap in understanding their implementation in urban areas, which poses a significant challenge for urban forest development. Therefore, our paper aims to explore the intersection of NBS with urban forests (UF), identify current barriers, propose strategies to maximize the potential of urban forests as nature-based solutions (UF-NBS) in effectively improving the resilience of urban forests, and enhance the service capacity of urban forest ecosystems. To achieve our objective, we conducted a comprehensive analysis that included a bibliometric review to summarize the evolution of the UF-NBS literature and classify UF-NBS types for the first time. Subsequently, we identified and organized current challenges faced by UF-NBS. Additionally, we proposed an original technological framework system for urban forest development based on NBS principles. The results show the significance of UF-NBS for enhancing urban resilience and human wellbeing, with multiple successful implementations in both China and Europe, validating their effectiveness. However, the implementation of UF-NBS faces several challenges, including inadequate financing, the gap between scientific knowledge and practical implementation, the absence of region-specific information, and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration. This study contributes to establishing a scientific theoretical basis for integrating UF and NBS and provides a systematic approach for decision-makers in urban forest management. Future research should focus on exploring the integration of UF within the NBS framework and prioritize knowledge sharing, international cooperation, and education initiatives to promote the global adoption of UF-NBS and address pressing urban challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's current urban gardening promotion policies mainly focus on community gardens and lack in-depth research on the differentiated needs of different urban gardeners. To meet the diverse needs of China's gardeners, this study proposes a typology that classifies gardeners into urban native and migrant ones based on their urban and rural living experiences in China. A questionnaire survey conducted in the core area of Chongqing city revealed significant differences and some similarities in gardening motivations and behaviors between urban native and migrant gardeners: (1) Although most of the gardeners approved of the value of food production and green scenery creation that Chinese urban gardening has, and disapproved of its value for family income generation, the urban native gardeners' disapproving attitude towards family income generation, and their approval of green scenery creation were more assertive, while on the contrary, the urban migrant gardeners had a more robust approval attitude towards food production. (2) The urban native gardeners preferred proximity and small private spaces for a combination of ornamental vegetation and edible vegetables. In contrast, the urban migrated gardeners preferred larger areas for gardening in non-community spaces and leaned towards edible vegetables. (3) Both have shared motivations related to the recreation and ecological conservation values of urban gardening. Given the above differences and similarities, this paper proposes an urban gardening development strategy that meets the needs of the two types of gardeners in China, including space planning and design, operation, and management of gardening spaces, and organization of activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local governments in China have decision-making authority over urban land use, and their level of environmental attention influences the green use of urban land. However, the impact of local government environmental attention on urban land green use efficiency and its mechanisms remain unclear. This study utilizes panel data from 284 cities from 2003 to 2020 in China and employs fixed effects models and mediation analysis to investigate the pathways through which local government environmental attention affects urban land green use efficiency. The main results are as follows: (1) Through a series of significance tests, local government environmental attention has a significant positive influence on urban land green use efficiency in cities. (2) Further research suggests that both the quantity and quality of industrial structure upgrading act as intermediaries between local government environmental attention and urban land green use efficiency, while the rationalization of industrial structure plays a partial masking role rather than acting as an intermediary. (3) Furthermore, a regional heterogeneity analysis indicates that the impact of local government environmental attention on urban land green use efficiency is significant in the central region but not in the eastern and western regions. Based on these research findings, this study provides valuable policy insights aimed at contributing to green land use and sustainable development in Chinese cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore new strategies to improve the efficiency of land for grain production in China, this study empirically investigates the relationship between the grain imports competition effect and the efficiency of land for grain production from the perspective of virtual land trade based on the new-new trade theory and induced technological innovation theory. We obtained the following conclusions: (1) Overall, the efficiency of land for grain production showed a slow upward trend from 2003 to 2020, with a growth rate of 27.53%. Among them, the efficiency of land for grain production in the Huang-Huai-Hai and northeast regions has increased by 66.41% and 36.30%, respectively. (2) The grain imports competition effect reduces the profitability of domestic grain production through shocks and forces the improvement of China's grain production land efficiency. It is caused by the trade-for-competition effect. Importing a large number of grain products with lower land use costs reduces the profits of grain producers in the domestic market through shocks, gradually eliminating producers with less efficient land use, thus forcing the improvement of land use efficiency in domestic grain production. (3) The grain imports competition effect is stronger because the developed livestock industry in the northern region requires the import of large quantities of soybeans and corn, and other virtual land content is much lower than the domestic feed grain. Also, the marginal effect of the grain imports competition effect is stronger due to the presence of more producers with less efficient land for grain production in non-major grain-producing regions, which are more likely to be eliminated by market shocks from imports. This study verifies the applicability of the trade promotion competition effect and induces the technological innovation effect in the field of grain trade, which extends the research boundary of virtual land trade in grain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining the supply of multiple ecosystem services of cultivated land is directly concerned to the sustainable development of human society. The ecological compensation of cultivated land is an important measure which has been major strategy to promote ecological protection of cultivated land and ensure food security in China. Although the cultivated land is immovable, when the grain transfer from surplus to poor areas, the cultivated land resources are reallocated and the corresponding ecosystem services are spilt. This paper constructs a model to quantify cultivated land resources flows hidden in the grain, calculates the compensation standard, and quantifies the compensation amount by building the eco-compensation mechanism. The typical integrated region in China, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) was selected as the study area. The results show that (1) cultivated land resources in the YRD appear the characteristics of outflow in 24 cities and inflow in 17 cities, which means the former is the recipient and the latter is the payer of eco-compensation. (2) Generally, the developed cities have much more outflow of cultivated land resources than the developing cities in the YRD. And the city of Shanghai and Hangzhou, which are the best economic developed cities in the YRD, transfers into most grain and cultivated land. (3) Paddy field and dry farmland have different eco-value, so the compensation is different, respectively. Our study can enrich the perspective of cultivated land eco-compensation and proposes policy implications for improving the eco-compensation mechanism and realizing multifunctional ecological protection of cultivated land in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territory space is an ecological resource carrier and place for human development. Human activities and ecological systems are the basis of ecological product supply. Promoting territories' spatial protection and governance by improving the supply of ecological products is very important. In this study, we established an ecological product supply capacity evaluation index system involving three types of ecological products, i.e., ecological environmental products, ecological material products, and ecological cultural products. For the case of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, we comprehensively used principal component analysis, the equivalent factor method, and the entropy method to evaluate the supply capacity of ecological products from 2011 to 2021. Then, we analyzed the spatio-temporal pattern, combining the natural breakpoint and quantile classification methods, and analyzed the obstacle factors using the obstacle degree model of ecological supply. The results show that the supply capacity of different ecological products in each city are closely related to their ecological resource endowment. The supply capacity of ecological products exhibited an upward trend, with the highest ecological environmental product supply being relatively smaller than the ecological material product supply, while the largest growth rate was for ecological cultural product supply. The supply capacity of different ecological products varied across cities over time and displayed noticeable spatial differentiation. The main obstacle factors included eco-land, eco-tourism, eco-leisure, park green space, and fishery products, although there were variations among cities. Finally, based on the level, spatial-temporal pattern, and obstacle factors of ecological product supply, we proposed strategies for territory spatial protection and governance from the perspectives of the integrated protection of elements, structural regulation, and systematic governance. The results reflected the ecological functional heterogeneity of the territory space, which can provide spatial planning guidance for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With economic and societal development, the ecological environment of the Yellow River Delta-Laizhou Bay coastal zone has been seriously damaged. Exploring the changes in land use and ecosystem service value (ESV) is essential to ecological construction of the region. The random forest classification method was used for land cover interpretation of the four periods of remote sensing images in the study area from 1990 to 2020. Newly calculated regional difference coefficients and social development coefficients were used to construct a dynamic ESV assessment model and to study its changes from overall and sea‒land gradient perspectives. The results showed that construction land, salt pans, aquaculture ponds, and inland water masses expanded rapidly, while cropland, tidal flats, and shallow waters shrank sharply over the past 30 years. The ESV in the study area has continued to decrease from 34.47 billion yuan in 1990 to 25.23 billion yuan in 2020, a total decrease of 9.23 billion yuan. This is mostly due to the encroachment of construction land, salt pans, and aquaculture ponds, and the flow of ecosystem services from high-value land cover types (tidal flats, herbaceous wetlands, and cropland) to medium- and low-value land cover types. Moreover, the land cover transfer and ESVs exhibited a decreasing trend from sea to land, with significant sea-land gradient differences. Land conversion is most common in the 0-15 km coastal zone, mainly from natural wetlands to artificial wetlands, where the ESV also decreases rapidly. Considering the regional differences and social development in this paper, the ESV of small-scale areas can be reasonably evaluated to explore the characteristics and causes of changes in land use and ESVs, which can provide an important reference for ecological protection and land use management in the region., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Revealing the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and key driving processes behind the habitat quality is of great significance for the scientific management of production, living, and ecological spaces in resource-based cities, as well as for the efficient allocation of resources. Focusing on the largest coal-mining subsidence area in Jiangsu Province of China, this study examines the spatiotemporal evolution of land use intensity, morphology, and functionality across different time periods. It evaluates the habitat quality characteristics of the Pan'an Lake area by utilizing the InVEST model, spatial autocorrelation, and hotspot analysis techniques. Subsequently, by employing the GTWR model, it quantifies the influence of key factors, unveiling the spatially varying characteristics of their impact on habitat quality. The findings reveal a notable surge in construction activity within the Pan'an Lake area, indicative of pronounced human intervention. Concurrently, habitat degradation intensifies, alongside an expanding spatial heterogeneity in degradation levels. The worst habitat quality occurs during the periods of coal mining and large-scale urban construction. The escalation in land use intensity emerges as the primary catalyst for habitat quality decline in the Pan'an Lake area, with other factors exhibiting spatial variability in their effects and intensities across different stages., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Chinese cities are experiencing urban shrinkage due to demographic, environmental, economic, and political changes. However, urban form is another reason for urban shrinkage. This study first identified the shrinking of 293 cities in China based on the values of the change in brightness extracted from multi-year nighttime light data. Next, the characteristics of construction land morphology from 2019 were analyzed using landscape pattern analysis. Finally, the impact of urban form on urban shrinkage was explored using Geodetector. The results show that: (1) In total, 293 cities experienced different degrees of shrinkage. Regions with severe shrinkage were concentrated in the underdeveloped provinces, and autonomous central and western regions of China; moreover, (2) All factors of urban form significantly affected urban shrinkage. The largest q-values were found in patch density (0.144) and urban area (0.133), indicating that the degree of construction land fragmentation and urban area scale affected urban shrinkage the most; and (3) The interaction effects of pairwise factors were mutually or nonlinearly enhanced. The influence of urban form and socio-economic factors was stronger than that of socio-economic factors alone. This shows that the coupling of urban form and socio-economic factors strengthens the impact of urban form on urban shrinkage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most elderly people choose to age in place, making neighborhood environments essential factors affecting their health status. The policies, economic status, and housing conditions of old neighborhoods have led many elderly people to live in skipped-generation households (SGHs), where they have gradually weakened physical functions and are responsible for raising grandchildren; this puts their health in a more fragile state than that of the average elderly person. Practical experience has shown that when faced with complex environmental renovation problems in old communities, many cases often adopt a one-step treatment strategy; however, many scholars have questioned the sustainability of such unsystematically evaluated renovation projects. Therefore, it is often valuable to explore the root causes of these old neighborhood problems and conduct targeted transformations and upgrades according to the interactive relationship between various influencing factors. This study attempted to establish a novel evaluation system to benefit the health of elderly families in old neighborhoods and develop an understanding of the impact relationship among the indicators, while avoiding any form of waste when collecting responses in regard to the future transformation of old neighborhoods. A questionnaire survey was conducted on the elderly in the Guangzhou Che Bei neighborhood in China, and by applying the rough set theory of the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory model, we established a preliminary evaluation system, obtained key environmental factors affecting the health of elderly people living in SGHs, and clarified their mutual relationships. Finally, on this basis, we proposed corresponding neighborhood renewal suggestions. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis for future research, and our research model can be applied to similar aging research in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is common to see urban land expansion worldwide, and its characteristics, mechanisms, and effects are widely known. As socio-economic transition and the change of land use policies may reverse the trend of urban expansion, in-depth research on the process of urban land use change is required. Through a process perspective, this paper reveals the change paths, development stages, and spatial patterns of urban residential land use with data from 323 cities in China from 2009 to 2016. The results show that: (1) theoretically, urban residential land use change can be divided into four development stages: an initial stage (Ⅰ), a rapid development stage (Ⅱ), a transition stage (Ⅲ), and a later stage of transition (Ⅳ). The rate of land use change is low—increase—decrease—approaching zero. (2) In about 68.7% of China's cities, urban residential land is experiencing a transition, shifting from accelerating growth to decelerating growth. Given the distinctive transition process, it has been suggested that urban planning and land use policies should give timely responses to the new trends and spatial differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid urban population growth and industrial agglomeration, the urban land supply is becoming gradually tight. Improving land use quality (LUQ) is becoming increasingly critical. This study was carried out in the Luohe built-up zones between 2013 and 2021. The aim is to explore the growth characteristics of LUQ and determine the association between the inner urban location and the growth rate from the perspective of spatial heterogeneity. Therefore, based on a socio-economic-environmental framework, we selected an integration/GDP/population/artificial-surface Rate, and a remote-sensing-based ecological index to construct a LUQ assessment framework that is more stable and applicable for developing urban areas. Additionally, then, multiscale geographical weighted regression is adopted, which can better help us explore the scale of the location factors. The results show that: (1) The LUQ overall growth is gradually slowing. High-quality areas clustered in the urban center and subsystem elements spread outward along the national and provincial highways to drive boundary expansion; (2) In the W/E/SE direction, land use tends more towards physical sprawl than usual development and expansion; (3) Location factors were distinguished as global, semi-global, and local. The global factors constitute the homogenized locational space. Semi-global and local factors constitute a heterogeneous locational space. The latter is critical to guide LUQ growth. LUQ assessment can promote intensive land use. Exploring location factors can further guide the LUQ spatial growth and provide data in support of urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urban expansion and energy transformation are two major challenges facing China. Many researchers have explored urban compactness and energy efficiency, but there is little literature on the coordinated development of the two. Therefore, this paper takes 35 cities in China as research object: The urban compactness evaluation index system is established, and the score is calculated using the entropy weight method; considering the bad output, SBM is used to calculate the green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE); and the coupling coordination degree model is used to calculate their coordinated degree. The following conclusions can be inferred: (1) Although China's urban compactness has increased, it has not maintained a steady upward trend. Some more developed cities have the phenomenon of compactness rising first and then falling; (2) The overall GTFEE shows a continuous upward trend, but there is still much room for improvement, and regional disparities are significant; (3) The degree of coordination between the two maintains a steady upward trend, and the city's compactness lags behind GTFEE. Based on the findings of the study, this paper proposes policy recommendations that can serve as a reference for key decision-makers and are critical in promoting China's urbanization and energy transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization adversely impacts urban air quality, impacting human health and the ecological environment. However, few studies have systematically explored air quality from the perspective of urban structural evolution. This can be done using two scales: one focusing on microscopic patches and one focusing on the macroscopic built-up area. Based on polycentricity at a city scale, urban growth patterns at a patch scale, and other natural and socioeconomic data for 362 cities in China, this study applied spatial regression models to quantify the impact of urban structure on PM2.5. The PM2.5 data were downloaded from the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data center. The results show the following: (1) at a city scale, the polycentricity index had a significant and negative relationship with PM2.5, the development of polycentric cities supports improvements in air quality; (2) at a patch scale, three urban growth patterns (edge-expansion, outlying, and infilling) all significantly and negatively impact PM2.5. Urban growth continues to increase PM2.5 pollution in China; and (3) road density, the built-up area, population density, land-use mix, and other control variables have an influence on the PM2.5 concentration, and this study verified the existence of a scale effect. In addition, considering the different urban development trajectories of developed and developing countries, this study makes targeted recommendations for urban managers wanting to make reasonable development policies. In general, quantifying the relationship between urban structure and PM2.5 helps provide a scientific basis for city planners and managers to optimize urban layouts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensive urban land use has been proposed as a method to promote sustainable development in the context of rapid urban sprawl. However, a consensus has not been reached on whether this approach is beneficial for ecology and compatible with suitable living conditions. Exploring this issue in China will help promote high-quality development. Extant research has mainly explored the effects of intensive urban land use on quality of life, ecology, and urban-land-use scale separately, while a synthesized analysis in this regard is lacking. In the light of this, we establish an analysis framework by which to verify the effects of intensive urban land use on the three aspects, using data from China spanning 2005–2019, subjected to structural equation modeling. The results show that intensive urban land use has varying degrees of positive effects on quality of life, ecology, and urban-land-use scale. It had no strong effect on the three items initially, while quality of life was significantly optimized by 2010, and ecology was markedly improved from 2015. However, there was a trend toward shrinking living space and sprawling urban areas. The corresponding suggestions are formulated for policy makers to improve intensive urban-land-use policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate estimation of the impact of urban form on CO2 emissions is essential for the proposal of effective low-carbon spatial planning strategies. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between urban form and CO2 emissions in small and medium-sized cities, and it is especially unclear whether the relationship varies across cities with different socioeconomic characteristics. This study took 132 small and medium-sized cities in the Yangtze River Delta in China to explore how urban form affects CO2 emissions, considering the socioeconomic factors of industrial structure, population density, and economic development level. First, nighttime light data (DMSP-OLS and NPP-VIIRS) and provincial energy data were used to calculate CO2 emissions. Second, four landscape metrics were used to quantify the compactness and complexity of the urban form based on Chinese urban land-use data. Finally, panel data models were established to analyze whether and how different socioeconomic factors impacted the relationship between urban form and CO2 emissions. The results showed that the three socioeconomic factors mentioned above all had obvious influences on the relationship between urban form and per capita CO2 emissions in small and medium-sized cities. The effect of compactness on per-capita CO2 emissions increased with a rise in the proportion of the tertiary industry, population density, and per-capita GDP. However, compactness shows no effects on per-capita CO2 emissions in industrial cities and low-development-level cities. The effect of complexity on per-capita CO2 emissions only increased with the rise in population density. The results may support decision-makers in small and medium-sized cities to propose accurate, comprehensive, and differentiated plans for CO2 emission control and reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sponge cities provide broad hydrological functions to alleviate urban flooding and other water-related problems in China. Conventional impervious paving cannot meet contemporary sustainable city goals. The permeable paving technology offers primary benefits such as increasing stormwater infiltration, drainage, purification, groundwater recharge, and microclimatic amelioration. Few studies have evaluated the embracive range of benefits and the social functions holistically. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive benefit evaluation system to cover a broad range of indicators. Nineteen indicators were selected based on the literature review, field studies, and research experience. Organized in a three-tiered hierarchical structure, they were divided into environmental, economic, and social benefits. A grey intuitionistic fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model was built by combining intuitionistic fuzzy analysis with a grey comprehensive evaluation. The computational tools could determine the differential weights of indicators and benefit scores. Taking an example of a permeable pavement project in Quanzhou City, the comprehensive benefits were assessed and validated using our evaluation model. The results show that (1) the comprehensive benefits of the project met the economic feasibility criteria with advantages over conventional paving; (2) the environmental benefits were prominently expressed; (3) the social benefits were assessed and confirmed. The results verified the feasibility and applicability of the quantitative-qualitative model. The method could permit the integrated and systematic benefit assessment of permeable paving designs. It also provides guidance and reference to evaluate the performance of permeable pavements and their comprehensive range of benefits. The findings could reference choosing and refining designs, optimizing the benefits, and promoting a science-oriented development of permeable paving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural production is constrained by farmland and water resources, especially in China with limited per capita resources. Understanding of the geographic changes between national crop production and resource availability with the spatial shift of crop production has been limited in recent decades. To solve this issue, we quantified the changes in geographic relationships between crop production and farmland-water resources in China from 1990 to 2015 by a spatial imbalance measurement model. Results found a clear spatial concentration trend of crop production in China, which increased the pressure on the limited farmland and water resources in the main production areas. The geographic imbalances between the total production of crops and farmland resources (∑SMI_PF) alleviated slightly, whereas that of water resources (∑SMI_PW) increased by 9.12%. The rice production moved toward the north of the country with less water but abundant farmland resources, which led to a decrease of 1.34% in ∑SMI_PF and an increase of 14.20% in ∑SMI_PW. The shift of wheat production to the south was conducive to alleviating the pressure on water resources, but the production concentration still increased the demand for farmland and water resources, resulting in an increase in ∑SMI_PF and ∑SMI_PW by 39.96% and 10.01%, respectively. Of the five crops, adjustments to the spatial distribution of corn production had the most significant effect on reducing pressure on farmland and water resources and ∑SMI_PF and ∑SMI_PW decreased by 11.23% and 1.43%, respectively. Our results provided a reference for adjustments in crop production distribution and for policy formulation to sustainably utilize farmland and water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Urban green infrastructure (GI) networks play a significant role in ensuring regional ecological security; however, they are highly vulnerable to the influence of urban development, and the optimization of GI networks with better connectivity and resilience under different development scenarios has become a practical problem that urgently needs to be solved. Taking Harbin, a megacity in Northeast China, as the case study, we set five simulation scenarios by adjusting the economic growth rate and extracted the GI network in multiple scenarios by integrating the minimal cumulative resistance model and the gravity model. The low-degree-first (LDF) strategy of complex network theory was introduced to optimize the GI network, and the optimization effect was verified by robustness analysis. Results: The results showed that in the 5% economic growth scenario, the GI network structure was more complex, and the connectivity of the network was better, while in the other scenarios, the network structure gradually degraded with economic growth. After optimization by the LDF strategy, the average degree of the GI network in multiple scenarios increased from 2.368, 2.651, 2.189, 1.972, and 1.847 to 2.783, 3.125, 2.643, 2.414, and 2.322, respectively, and the GI network structure connectivity and resilience were significantly enhanced in all scenarios. Conclusions: Economic growth did not necessarily lead to degradation of the GI network; there was still room for economic development in the study area, but it was limited under existing GI conditions, and the LDF strategy was an effective method to optimize the GI network. The research results provide a new perspective for the study of GI network protection with urban economic growth and serve as a methodological reference for urban GI network optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a crucial part of urban development, blue infrastructure (BI) provides multiecosystem services. Using the Hanjiang Ecological Economic Zone as the study area, the potential benefits of a BI network were constructed using morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and minimum cumulative resistance model (MCR) for three periods in order to assess network structure. The main conclusions are: (1) The total BI area of the study location increased at first and then decreased from 2010 to 2020, during which the area of the core and loop was continually rising while the islet and bridge were gradually dropping. These results reveal that landscape fragmentation was well controlled; (2) Both the Integral Index of Connectivity(IIC) and Probability of Connectivity(PC) of the landscape showed an increasing trend, but the integral connectivity level was still low; (3) The comprehensive resistance value decreased gradually from west to east. The potential corridors were concentrated in the middle and lower reaches of the Hanjiang and extended upstream. The amount decreased first and then increased. (4) The structure of the BI network was simple first and then complex, which is in line with changes in the number of BI sources. Thus, changes in the BI network pattern are closely linked to the changes in the study area and the number of BI sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban agriculture (UA) encompasses different practices and dissimilar agendas, not all environmentally and socially savoury, ranging from food security to leisure and recreation. Although there is a wealth of literature on UA, little research has investigated its presence and role in a Chinese global city against the backdrop of unbridled urbanisation. This article focuses on Nanshan District in Shenzhen, a vast, rapidly urbanising region in China. We analyse the social and spatial characteristics of UA and its regulation. Employing a mixed-method approach that combines spatial analysis and in-depth semi-structured interviews, the results demonstrate the coexistence and interaction of diverse types of UA. What emerges is a socio-biologically rich heterogeneity of precarious practices, overlooked by the local authorities, but contributing to stewardship, social development and community engagement, while preserving a precious agricultural heritage. This article presents policy insights and advocates for government involvement in recognising the social significance of UA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban expansion leads to changes in the visual aesthetic quality and ecological degradation of the surrounding slope forest landscapes. Color is a crucial visual element to examine when viewing this large-scale slope forest landscape from a long distance. This is particularly true for the autumn color of slope forest, which is very attractive to the public. An exploration of the relationship between the change in color of a natural slope forest and its visual aesthetic quality enables the implementation of the configuration of superior aesthetic tree species. Therefore, it can provide aesthetic rules and a reference to configure local tree species to support their visual aesthetic quality, ecological sustainability and native biodiversity restoration in a local urban slope forest. However, such research is critically lacking. This study investigated the visual aesthetic quality of the color dynamics of a natural slope forest in Jiaozi Mountain, China in the autumn. We analyzed both the composition of tree species and the changes in color for each species of tree in nine forest sites that exhibited superior visual aesthetic quality. The results showed that the forests with superior visual aesthetic quality were more green, red, and yellow, had moderately higher saturation and value, more obvious color contrast, and diverse colors with primary and secondary contrast. Diverse and balanced color patches or a dominant color patch contrasted by many small patches with interspersed color components also highlighted the superior visual aesthetic quality of slope forest features. Different combinations of color features can result in high visual aesthetic quality. The 84 tree species in the superior visual aesthetic quality forests primarily displayed 10 types of color changes that varied as green, yellow, blue, red, withered yellow, withered red and gray. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research to date on urban ecosystem services has mainly been conducted in large cities, particularly in China, the USA and some European countries. This study examined the provision of urban ecosystem services in a Swedish municipality context, based on interviews with municipal stakeholders in strategic management and planning from six municipalities and a review of existing publications readily available to practitioners. The analysis focused on (1) the ecosystem services explicitly covered, (2) whether multifunctionality was covered and specific synergies and trade-offs identified and, (3) the spatial scale and context used for ecosystem services (valuation/mapping, planning, design or maintenance) in practical application. The results showed that regulatory services are very much the focus in municipal operations as well as in publications available to practitioners. This is reflected in the implementation of the concept through problem solving often related to regulatory services, using multifunctionality and win-win situations in ecosystem service supply. These findings contribute to the growing body of work exploring how the concept of ecosystem services is adapted and utilised in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Prominent gaps exist between science and practice in the field of nature-based solutions (NBS) worldwide, with relatively well formulated concepts but less clear application procedures. China urgently needs to address this gap because many so called NBS practices advance rapidly nowadays, including river landscapes. Advocating planning as a bridging procedure in China's top down governance system, this study introduces NBS planning for the Jialing River in Wusheng County to address three challenges: how to transform the riverfront planning from specialized to holistic, how to effectively communicate NBS in planning, and how to incorporate both scientific results and local wisdom into NBS decision-making. A planning scope was negotiated to incorporate holistic solutions. Five NBS paradigms were identified for better communication, and then spatially allocated with specific design guidelines and governance strategies. Our pilot study calls for reflection on the communication of NBS to the public, and alternative models of NBS implementations customized to different government regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Coastal zones are a significant coupling landscape and seascape with large global populations and thus have large concentrations of carbon emissions and potential influences on global environmental changes. However, the impacts of coastal seascape pattern change, on the provision of ecosystem goods and services (e.g. carbon flows) have not been understood fully in the face of rapid human-induced changes. Objectives: We aim to reveal the dynamics of integrated landscape and seascape (land-sea-scape) carbon flows under the natural and anthropogenic changes, inform coastal spatial planning and restoration, and optimize coastal land-sea-scape pattern. Methods: A spatial carbon flow network model of land-sea integration was developed to quantify coastal carbon flows under rapid urbanization. We chose a typical coastal city of Xiamen in China as an example to analyze the dynamics of carbon flows and ecological security pattern during 2000–2015. Results: We found that the total carbon flows between sea and land was 12.78TgCO2 during 2000–2015, and carbon losses due to seascape conversion were 9.76TgCO2. These flows and losses signified the reduction of ecosystem services (carbon sequestration) resilience to further perturbations. Carbon deficit pattern was gradually increased and sprawled out to the forest-farmland landscape and coastal tidal flat seascape, which represent decline of coastal ecosystem security. Conclusions: Our findings indicated total coastal carbon flows were 4 times greater than terrestrial carbon flows, and carbon deficit was mainly distributed along the coastline in Xiamen. These can provide a reference for better governance of sustainable land-sea-scape pattern to enhance seascape ecology and coastal sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Green infrastructure (GI) has become an integral part of the process leading toward urban sustainability because it provides multiple ecosystem services that contribute to urban ecosystems and human health. Planners and managers have therefore attempted to understand and improve GI multifunctionality. Objectives: This study has characterized and mapped GI multifunctionality in the Fengtai District of Beijing based on the ecosystem services (ES) perspective and has developed an adaptive model to improve its multifunctionality. The study has aimed to: (1) assess and map GI multifunctional degree, (2) characterize GI multifunctional types, and (3) propose adaptive solutions based on characterization of GI multifunctional types. Methods: Biophysical models and social questionnaires were used to quantify and map ES, ES hotspots, and ES bundles to identify the degree of multifunctionality and characterize GI multifunctional types. An adaptive model was designed to improve GI multifunctionality for local planning and design practice. Results: Three GI multifunctional degrees were mapped, and areas with high multifunctional degree were found to account for only 5.55% of the study area. Seven GI multifunctional types were identified by the distinct heterogeneity of their compositions and function sets. These types of GI also implied different improvement strategies for GI planning and design practice. The adaptive model offers integrated solutions for preserving, restoring, and embedding levels that correspond to the characterization of GI multifunctional types. Conclusions: The ES-based framework proposed in this paper integrates multifunctionality analyses and can be helpful to urban planners and designers in adaptive GI planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic literature review on the technological aspects of smart cities and to give insights about current trends, sources of research, contributing authors and countries. It is required to understand technical concepts like information technology, big data analytics, Internet of Things and blockchain needed to implement smart city models successfully. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected from the Scopus database, and analysis techniques like bibliometric analysis, network analysis and content analysis were used to obtain research trends, publications growth, top contributing authors and nations in the domain of smart cities. Also, these analytical techniques identified various fields within the literature on smart cities and supported to design a conceptual framework for Industry 4.0 adoption in a smart city. Findings: The bibliometric analysis shows that research publications have increased significantly over the last couple of years. It has found that developing countries like China is leading the research on smart cities. The network analytics and article classification identified six domains within the literature on smart cities. A conceptual framework for the smart city has proposed for the successful implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies. Originality/value: This paper explores the role of Industry 4.0 technologies in smart cities. The bibliometric data on publications from the year 2013 to 2018 were used and investigated by using advanced analytical techniques. The paper reviewS key technical concepts for the successful execution of a smart city model. It also gives an idea about various technical considerations required for the implementation of the smart city model through a conceptual framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentrations of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) and their contamination indices were determined in urban soil from five different land-use zones, namely municipal solid waste landfill (MWL), industrial area (INA), heavy traffic area (TRA), residential area with commercial activities (RCA), and farmland (FAL) in Osogbo Metropolis. Ecological and human health risk assessments were also evaluated. Based on the average concentrations, the highest values of As, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn were found at INA, while the maximum concentrations of Ba, Cd, and Co were observed at MWL. The average enrichment factor (EF) values of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn showed very high to extremely high enrichment in the soils of INA, MWL, TRA, and RCA, while the EF values of Ba, Co, Cr, Fe, Ni, and V were significantly to moderately enriched in the aforementioned land-use zones. This trend was consistent with the average contamination factor (Cf) values of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn, which indicated considerable to very high contamination at INA, MWL, TRA, and RCA. However, Cf values of Ba, Co, Cr, Fe, Ni, and V had moderate contamination variously at the different land-use zones. Furthermore, the potential ecological risk factor (Er i ) values for all the PTEs were < 40, which indicated low Er i , except for Cd and to some extent Pb. The Er i value of Cd was high to very high at MWL, INA, TRA, and RCA, and low at FAL, while Er i of Pb was only moderate at INA. Assessment of health quotient (HQ) of non-carcinogenic health risks was within acceptable limit (< 1) for most of the PTEs in the different zones for adults and children, except the maximum HQ value of Pb at INA (HQ = 1.0), which was beyond the acceptable limit for children. The carcinogenic risk was within the acceptable limit (1.0 × 10 -6 ) in all the zones, except INA. This may pose health challenges to children in the vicinity of the pollution sources. Continuous monitoring of PTEs to reduce exposure to PTE should be considered., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

The cities across the northern dry region of China are exposed to multiple sustainability challenges. Beijing‐Hebei‐Tianjin (BTH) urban agglomeration, for example, experiences severe water shortages due to rapidly expanding urban populations, industrial use, and irrigation‐intensive agriculture. Climate change has further threatened water resources security. Overuse of water resources to meet the demand of various water sectors has far‐reaching health and environmental implications including ecosystem sustainability. Surface water and groundwater pollution present public health risks. Despite the extraordinary policies and efforts being made and implemented by the Government of China, the BTH region currently lacks coordination among stakeholders leading to poor water governance. Consultation among scientists, engineers and stakeholders on regional water security issues is crucial and must be frequent and inclusive. An international symposium was held in Shijiazhuang in early November 2019 to identify some of the key water security challenges and scope of an idealized future eco‐city in the region by developing a sustainability framework. This work drew on experiences from across China and beyond. Scientists agree that integration of science, technology, and governance within an appropriate policy framework was particularly significant for combating the issue of water insecurity, including in the region's newly developed city, Xiong'an New Area. An emerging concept, "Healthy Waterways and Ecologically Sustainable Cities" which integrates social, ecological and hydrological systems and acts as an important pathway for sustainability in the 21st century was proposed in the symposium to tackle the problems in the region. This high level biophysical and cultural concept empowers development goals and promotes human health and wellbeing. The framework on healthy waterways and ecologically sustainable cities can overcome sustainability challenges by resolving water resource management issues in BTH in a holistic way. To implement the concept, we strongly recommend the utilization of evidence‐based scientific research and institutional cooperation including national and international collaborations to achieve the Healthy Waterways and Ecologically Sustainable Cities goal in the BTH in future. This article is categorized under:Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and timely maps of urban underlying land properties at the national scale are of significance in improving habitat environment and achieving sustainable development goals. Urban impervious surface (UIS) and urban green space (UGS) are two core components for characterizing urban underlying environments. However, the UIS and UGS are often mosaicked in the urban landscape with complex structures and composites. The "hard classification" or binary single type cannot be used effectively to delineate spatially explicit urban land surface property. Although six mainstream datasets on global or national urban land use and land cover products with a 30 m spatial resolution have been developed, they only provide the binary pattern or dynamic of a single urban land type, which cannot effectively delineate the quantitative components or structure of intra-urban land cover. Here we propose a new mapping strategy to acquire the multitemporal and fractional information of the essential urban land cover types at a national scale through synergizing the advantage of both big data processing and human interpretation with the aid of geoknowledge. Firstly, the vector polygons of urban boundaries in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018 were extracted from China's Land Use/cover Dataset (CLUD) derived from Landsat images. Secondly, the national settlement and vegetation percentages were retrieved using a sub-pixel decomposition method through a random forest algorithm using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Finally, the products of China's UIS and UGS fractions (CLUD-Urban) at a 30 m resolution were developed in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018. We also compared our products with six existing mainstream datasets in terms of quality and accuracy. The assessment results showed that the CLUD-Urban product has higher accuracies in urban-boundary and urban-expansion detection than other products and in addition that the accurate UIS and UGS fractions were developed in each period. The overall accuracy of urban boundaries in 2000–2018 are over 92.65 %; and the correlation coefficient (R) and root mean square errors (RMSEs) of UIS and UGS fractions are 0.91 and 0.10 (UIS) and 0.89 and 0.11 (UGS), respectively. Our result indicates that 71 % of pixels of urban land were mosaicked by the UIS and UGS within cities in 2018; a single UIS classification may highly increase the mapping uncertainty. The high spatial heterogeneity of urban underlying covers was exhibited with average fractions of 68.21 % for UIS and 22.30 % for UGS in 2018 at a national scale. The UIS and UGS increased unprecedentedly with annual rates of 1605.56 and 627.78 km2yr-1 in 2000–2018, driven by fast urbanization. The CLUD-Urban mapping can fill the knowledge gap in understanding impacts of the UIS and UGS patterns on ecosystem services and habitat environments and is valuable for detecting the hotspots of waterlogging and improving urban greening for planning and management practices. The datasets can be downloaded from 10.5281/zenodo.4034161 (Kuang et al., 2020a). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use change is the most prominent feature of Chinese urbanisation. In China, the expansion of land consumed for urban development is inevitable given the rapid increases in the urban economy and urban population, but also in meeting the population's increasing demand for better quality of life. This paper is based on a research study of Wujiang district in Suzhou, which is considered representative of many of the rapid urbanisation areas within the nation. The objective is to develop an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of land use change and how this change contributes to environmental deterioration, as assessed by changes in the ecosystem service value (ESV). In this study, ESV is defined as the environmental products and functions provided for human well-being. Based on local planning documents, Landsat TM remote-sensing images and field surveys, the research analyses the cost to the environment when traditional land uses are transformed into urbanisation. The research demonstrates that conversion to urban land use which ignores the limit and capacity of the environment can generate significant environmental costs, as assessed by ESV, which in turn, can lead to a deterioration of quality of life for inhabitants, the exact opposite of the original intention. The research demonstrates that by mapping the spatial distribution of ecological service values, ESV can be used as a guide to urban sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional studies of urban spatial expansion typically focus on a single vertical or horizontal dimension and rarely consider the two together. Using 58 cities in China as examples, this paper first identifies the urban growth pattern (UGP) of newly built‐up land patches in each city from 1995 to 2015 horizontally. It then compares and analyses the distribution patterns of three‐dimensional buildings in different UGP patches vertically. There were two important findings: (a) Building patterns in the outlying patches were characterized by low density, high floor numbers, and smooth changes. The infilling patches represented compact development and had the lowest average building height. Edge patches had the highest average number of floors, the most dramatic floor variability, and the lowest utilization rate of three‐dimensional space. (b) In western cities, building distribution characteristics in outlying patches were similar and formed clusters. The distribution characteristics of buildings in the Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei urban agglomeration edge patches, as well as those in the northeast urban agglomeration infilling patches, were similar, forming clusters of different types. The results of this paper will contribute to an understanding of both sprawl and the compact development of Chinese cities and will provide international comparative examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green Infrastructure (GI) provides an important life-support system for regions and cities. Inspired by, supported by or copied from nature, GI is intended to deal with issues that traditional grey infrastructure can hardly accomplish. Initiated by the European Union's (EU) Biodiversity Strategy, Germany was an early adopter and thus a role model for the GI approach. In particular, a systematic GI planning system composed of formal and informal planning instruments has been established and implemented from the national to the local level. In comparison, China has not yet officially issued guidance or laws for GI planning. Instead, GI implementations are mainly concentrated at the urban and local scale in the form of green municipal engineering. Scrutinizing the spatial planning system in China, however, we can identify a top-down "5+1" model as a GI planning framework. This includes five types of statutory and non-statutory planning together with the garden city movement. Germany may benefit from China's diversified and inclusive GI development model and its efforts to promote regional transformation and enhance citizens' sense of pride in their city. On the other hand, China can learn from Germany's integrated GI planning system and top-level design. Due to the cross-cutting nature of the issues involved, China's national spatial planning system must be reformed in order to improve GI planning in the country. The aim of this paper is to compare GI planning in Germany and China, two countries at different developmental stages and with contrasting social and governmental systems. In so doing, we hope to build a "bridge" for the exchange of experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Aging-friendly environments have been encouraged to develop at the city level, district level and community level in China. In the process of rapid urbanization, the state of aging-friendly communities in old and new neighborhoods is disparate. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate aging-friendly communities and identify the disparities in old and new neighborhoods. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 1,172 elderly respondents completed the survey. Of these, 576 seniors lived in an old community developed before 2000, and 596 lived in a new community developed after 2000. In total, 17 physical environment factors and 10 social environment factors were identified. Findings: The results indicated that public spaces, facilities and transportation in old neighborhoods were inferior to those in new neighborhoods. Most social environment factors in new neighborhoods achieved higher satisfaction levels than those in old neighborhoods. The satisfaction levels of aging-friendly community factors in both old and new neighborhoods were below the expectation levels of elders. Practical implications: In order to improve physical aging-friendly environments in old neighborhoods, it is suggested that full use is made of school facilities and the renovation of old buildings. The locations of public transportation stations in new neighborhoods are recommended to be revised within 5-min walking distances of senior residents. Both old and new neighborhoods are encouraged to improve social aging-friendly environments by increasing the coverage of medical services and creating multiple approaches to recreation activities. Originality/value: These findings have empirical significance for urban planners and policy makers, in regard to identifying disparities between old and new neighborhoods, and understanding the equitable allocation and distribution of urban resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Natural Resources / Ziran Ziyuan Xuebao is the property of Journal of Natural Resources and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Green infrastructure is a concept aimed at realizing a strategically planned network of valuable natural and semi-natural areas, designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services and to protect biodiversity in rural and urban settings. In the general post-mining context of China and Germany, this paper suggests and outlines an approach that combines green infrastructure with specific concepts of post-mining landscapes. While Germany has a long tradition of post-mining restoration, concepts of green infrastructure are still poorly developed. China, on the other hand, has taken its first steps in the restoration of coal regions, and could profit from the new concepts while drawing on Germany’s experience. The potentials of relevant strategies are investigated here through two case studies from Germany and China. Although there are significant differences in the post-mining development strategies of these two countries, it is clear that the green infrastructure concept can contribute significantly to a growth in ecosystem services. Four advantages of the green infrastructure concept are seen: First, it enables a systematic and highly objective assessment of mining impacts on the ecosystem. Second, the concept assists in the implementation of urban sustainability goals. Third, it is rooted in the local characteristics of landscapes. And finally, the green infrastructure concept seems to be highly compatible with tools of landscape and regional planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wetlands are important ecosystems as they are known as the "kidney of the earth". Particularly, urban wetlands play an important role in providing both natural and social beneficial services. However, urban wetlands are suffering from various human impacts, such as excessive land use conversion, air and water pollution, especially those in developing countries undergoing rapid industrialization and urbanization. Therefore, it is of great necessity to derive timely biomass information for optimal design, management and protection of urban wetlands. In this paper, we develop a set of models for estimating above ground biomass (AGB) in Xixi National Wetland Park in Hangzhou, China by using optical images and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. A series of vegetation indices (VIs) derived from optical data is introduced along with spectral data. The modeling methods consist of (1) curve estimation; (2) linear regression for multivariable model; (3) Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) modeling. Curve estimation is a combination of linear and nonlinear regressions. It is applied to generate AGB models from a single variable including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and radar backscatter coefficient. The models are then compared via three accuracy metrics. According to the results, SAR models generally show better accuracy than optical models and BPNN models show the greatest accuracy among all the models. The BPNN model from the combination of Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and European Remote-Sensing Satellite-2 (ERS-2) SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) image has the least root mean square (RMSE, 0.396 kg/m2), least mean absolute error (MAE, 0.256 kg/m2) and the greatest correlation coefficient (0.974). The results indicate that AGB can be estimated by integrating optical and SAR imagery. Four maps of AGB are derived to illustrate the distribution of AGB in the study area. The total AGB in the study area is estimated to be between 165,000 and 210,000 kg/m2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cities are facing various environmental problems, where performance-based planning and nature-based solutions have been proposed to address such problems. As a natural landscape in the city, urban waterfront space has efficient ecological benefits, high-quality landscape vision and environment, and it is an important carrier of citizens' activities. However, existing studies have mainly focused on coping with environmental problems, while social functions and strategies have been neglected. Therefore, this study aims to fill such research gaps by understanding the social performance of urban waterfront spaces. Field observation and questionnaire survey were conducted in a famous urban waterfront space, Qiantang riverside walkway, in Hangzhou, China. The results indicate that the Qiantang riverside walkway serves as a space for tourism, leisure and entertainment, as the visitors who lived more than 5 km away from here accounted for about 50% and the local people also accounted for about 50%. People's activities exhibited significantly temporal differences, where the occupation of the Qiantang riverside walkway reached a peak at night. For the people who lived far from here, they mainly depended on self-driving, which led to two critical problems relevant to transport linkage with the city and parking lot. Results also indicate that the landscape, supporting facilities and road functions could perform well among the mind of 102 respondents. However, public service and main facilities should be improved to meet more people's requirements. Moreover, importantly, the results indicate the phenomenon of stratification and agglomeration so that the similar aspects (e.g. rest seat quantity, rest seat style) could be merged into the same cluster (e.g. rest seat) for consideration in the urban waterfront space planning and design. This study also generates some implications for the renovation of urban waterfront spaces. Overall, this study provides people with basic understanding of the social performance of existing urban waterfront spaces, which can further promote urban planners and designers to comprehensively build sustainable, resilient and healthy water-based living environments.

Ecosystem services provide important support for the sustainable development of humans; these services are provided by various ecosystems, but they have been severely influenced by anthropogenic activities globally in the past several decades. To respond to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, this study investigated the changes in ecosystem structure and estimated the associated ecosystem services value (ESV) since China's reform and opening-up policy in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), one of the most developed and populous areas of China. Our results showed that dramatic changes in ecosystem structure occurred in the GBA, characterized by unpresented construction land sprawl (an average of 148 km2/yr) and extensive farmland loss (an average of 111 km2/yr). The change size and rate of ecosystems from 2000 to 2010 was the biggest and fastest, followed by that from 1990 to 2000. The ESV of the study area showed an overall decreasing trend, declining from 464 billion yuan to 346 billion yuan. The ESV supported by forest ecosystems and water body ecosystems made dominant contributions to the total ESV, ranging from 92% to 95%. Strong spatial heterogeneity of the ESV of the GBA might be noted throughout the study period, with lower values in the central region and higher values in the surrounding region. To realize sustainable development in the GBA; this study strongly suggests that local governments, and the public, scientifically use various ecosystems and their services, focusing on vigorously protecting ecosystems with high and important ESVs, such as water body, wetland, forest, and farmland ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deterioration of human-terrestrial relations and the intensification of global warming, development in all countries is facing difficulties. Whether in highly urbanized countries or in rapidly urbanizing developing countries such as China, the research on ecosystem services (ES) and land use management has attracted increasing attention. The general management of land use unilaterally pursues economic benefits and neglects ecological benefits, which aggravates the disparity between ecological development and the economic benefits of land resources. How to strike up a balance between ecologic protection and economic development remains a difficult problem during urbanization. It may be a better choice to formulate regional development strategies by combining natural conditions with humanistic and social tendencies. Identifying regional cultural ecosystem services (CES) and other important ES while performing zoning planning for regional land use can be a viable approach in land use management. Here, our study quantitatively evaluates the tourism experience of Xiaohuangshan Mountain (XHSM) and various ES, including recreation, biodiversity, history, aesthetics, soil conservation, surface water regulation, and soil nutrition. All ES were classified into four bundles for XHSM. Different ES bundles generated are suitable for different land use management methods and development forms according to their outstanding ES. The results show that quantifying and mapping regional ES bundles can provide the necessary information to support a win-win solution and provide decision support for land and spatial planning in areas with different social and ecological characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban green space (UGS) plays a pivotal role in improving urban ecosystem services and building a livable environment for urban dwellers. However, remotely sensed investigation of UGS at city scale is facing a challenge due to the pixels' mosaics of buildings, squares, roads and green spaces in cities. Here we developed a new algorithm to unmix the fraction of UGS derived from Landsat TM/ETM/8 OLI using a big-data platform. The spatiotemporal patterns and dynamics of UGSs were examined for 70 major cities in China between 2000 and 2018. The results showed that the total area of UGS in these cities grew from 2780.66 km2 in 2000 to 6764.75 km2 in 2018, which more than doubled its area. As a result, the UGS area per inhabitant rose from 15.01 m2 in 2000 to 18.09 m2 in 2018. However, an uneven layout of UGS occurred among the coastal, western, northeastern and central zones. For example, the UGS percentage in newly expanded urban areas in the coastal zone rose significantly in 2000–2018, with an increase of 2.51%, compared to the decline in UGS in cities in the western zone. Therefore, the effective strategies we have developed should be adopted to show disparities and promote green infrastructure capacity building in those cities with less green space, especially in western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]