Land Use Transition and Its Eco-Environmental Effects in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Urban Agglomeration: A Production–Living–Ecological Perspective

Abstract

With the rapid development of urbanization and industrialization, China’s metropolitan areas have experienced dramatic transitions of land use, which has had a profound impact on the eco-environment. Accordingly, the contradictions of regional production, living, and ecological spaces have intensified. In this context, analysis of the dynamics of regional production–living–ecological (PLE) spaces has become an important entry point for studying land use transition and its eco-environmental effects, by constructing a classification system of PLE land functions. Using remote sensing data from four periods from 1985 to 2018, this paper explores the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of PLE spaces and their eco-environmental effects in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration, based on GIS and the InVEST model. The results revealed that from 1985 to 2018, the living space of the BTH region expanded rapidly, the production space gradually shrank, and the ecological land remained relatively stable. The eco-environmental quality index within the study area shows obvious regional differences, demonstrating the spatial distribution of “high in the northwest and low in the southeast”, and an overall deteriorating trend in the past 33 years. Moreover, the carbon density decreased gradually from northwest to southeast, and the transformations from production land into living land and from ecological land into production land were the major types of eco-environment deterioration. Our findings will provide guidelines for land use management, and offer references for the functional division of PLE spaces and ecological civilization construction, especially in terms of the coordinated development of the BTH region.

Rural-Spatial Restructuring Promoted by Land-Use Transitions: A Case Study of Zhulin Town in Central China

“…The expansion of land for construction led to landscape fragmentation, environmental degradation and the destruction of ecosystem services [59]. Faced with these problems and challenges, since 2012, China has proposed a shift in the spatial development model for its land from a production-space orientation to ecologicalproduction-living coordination to optimize the spatial layout of land and alleviate the contradiction between urban and rural development [22]. This is why Zhulin's ecological spatial area decreased from 2010 to 2018, while its functional suitability was significantly enhanced in this period.…”

“…In addition to the natural properties of land, the classification of EPL spaces should be based on the subjective land-use intentions of the actors [22]. Among these, production space refers to a land-use system that provides a material space carrier for human production and business activities [44].…”

“…Promoting rural-spatial restructuring to optimize land use in this way will transform traditional rural areas through land concentration and large-scale operation, as well as optimizing village and industrial layouts. This will promote industrialization and the modernization of agriculture, optimize urban-ruralspatial patterns, build new urban-rural relationships and achieve integrated urban-rural development [21], thus alleviating urban-rural development conflicts [22]. Therefore, a profound analysis of the process of rural-spatial restructuring represented by the changes in EPL space morphologies, and the mechanism behind them, could enable correct human interventions to guide positive rural development.…”

“…Undeniably, changes in quantity are an important characteristic of change in EPL spaces, and the disorder of the quantity structure of EPL spaces often leads to unsustainable spatial development and conflicting landscape functions [39]. For example, Yang et al [22] analyzed the impact of change in the quantity structure of EPL spaces on the quality of the ecological environment, concluding that the transformation of agricultural-production land to urban and rural living land is the main factor behind the deterioration of regional ecological environmental quality. These authors propose that ecological space be further expanded through land reclamation and greening to provide a solid ecological barrier for urban development.…”

Influencing Factors of Spatial Heterogeneity of Land Surface Temperature in Nanjing, China

“…Research on the production-living-ecological space helps optimizing space, governing resources and environment, and promoting ecological development. Research has revealed that the distribution of the production-living-ecological space strongly correlates with the living quality, utilization of space, and the ecological environment [33][34][35] . Currently, only a few studies have revealed the correlation between the production-livingecological space and LST, and the correlation degree remains unknown.…”