Exploring the Relationship between Urbanization and the Eco-Environment: A Case Study of Beijing

Abstract

Beijing is one of the most developed cities in China and has experienced a series of environmental problems. In accordance with the Major Function Zone planning, Beijing is divided into four zones in an attempt to coordinate development between urban areas and the eco-environment. Classic coupling model uses statistical data to evaluate the interactions of these two subsystems; however, it lacks the capability to express dynamic changes to land cover. Thus, we extracted land cover data from Landsat images and examined the urbanization and eco-environment level as well as the coupling coordination in Beijing and its functional zones. The main conclusions are as follows. (1) Between 2001 and 2011, both urbanization and the eco-environment level in Beijing and its functional zones grew steadily. Different zones coordinated together according to their own characteristics, and the overall coupling coordination of the city transformed from the “basically balanced” to the “superiorly balanced” stage of development. (2) After 2011, the condition of the eco-environment worsened in Beijing and in most of the function zones, while the coordination between increased urbanization and the worsened eco-environment may be a result of environmental lag. This study integrated land cover data into the coupling mode and fully utilized the advantages of spatiotemporal analysis and the coupling model. In other words, the spatiotemporal analysis explains the land cover changes visually over the research period, while the coupling model explores the interaction mechanisms between urbanization and the eco-environment. The land cover data enriches the coupling theory and provides a reference for evaluating the effectiveness of local development policy.

Exploring the relationship between urbanization and water environment based on coupling analysis in Nanjing, East China

“…Nanjing lies in a subtropical monsoon-climate area with large interannual variation in rainfall, which induces marked fluctuations in the WE state subsystem index. Similar findings have been reported in Beijing, Suzhou, and other cities in eastern China (Huang et al 2019 ; Ji and Ni 2018 ). The annual rainfall in 1992 was only 885.2 mm, and industrial water consumption (Y14) reached the peak, which resulted in that year being the one with the greatest pressure on the WE.…”

“…To better explain the degree of mutual coupling and coordinated development of urbanization and WE on the basis of comprehensive research classification, the coupling coordination degree can be divided into three primary development stages, which can be further divided into five secondary development stages (He et al 2017 ; Huang et al 2019 ; Liu et al 2018a , b ) (Table 2 ). Furthermore, nine tertiary development stages can be used to describe the coupling relationship between urbanization (f(x)) and WE (g(y)) (Table 2 ).…”

Exploring the Relationship between Urbanization and Ecological Environment Using Remote Sensing Images and Statistical Data: A Case Study in the Yangtze River Delta, China

“…(ii) "Technical Criterion for Ecosystem Status Evaluation" promulgated in 2015 by the former Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China [47], which stipulates the index systems for evaluation on the ecological environment and calculation methods of the indicators, such as E1, E2, E3, E5, E6, E10 and E11. (iii) On the basis of literature review and analysis [4][5][6]20,23,25,29,[31][32][33], indicators adopted by high frequency are selected, such as U1, U3, U4, U5, U6, U7, U10, E8 and E9. (iv) The aspects are related to national economy and people's livelihood [2,[35][36][37][38], such as U6, U7, U8, U9 and U10.…”

“…Per capita disposable income of urban residents (Yuan) (U9) [4,5,32,46] Total retail sales of social consumer goods per capita (Yuan) (U10) [4,23,29,32,46] Number of beds per 10,000 people (Bed) (U11) [6,23,46] Ecological environment…”

Spatial–Temporal Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Coupled Coordination between Urbanization and Eco-Environment: A Case Study of 13 Urban Agglomerations in China

“…Taking Beijing as their research object, Huang et al found that, before 2011, Beijing's urbanization level and eco-environment level presented a growing trend, and both were "superiorly balanced". However, since 2011, Beijing's eco-environment has been deteriorating [27].…”