Reshaping the Sustainable Geographical Pattern: A Major Function Zoning Model and Its Applications in China

Abstract

The imbalance between human activities and Earth's natural surface adversely affects the sustainability of the Earth system. From an understanding of the suitability of surface functions and potential ramifications of policy decisions, this study proposes a sustainable geographical pattern. It introduces a national‐to‐provincial downscaling approach to optimizing a national‐scale zoning scheme that covers 60%–80% of land development and protection functions in China and to creating a major function zoning model. Taking China as the case study area, the following function zones are identified: urbanization zones, food security zones, ecological security zones, and heritage protection zones. This study then proposes a three‐dimensional index system and algorithm, develops individual and integrated assessments for the major functions of the land grid, and produces national‐scale and provincial‐scale major function zoning schemes consisting of county‐level administrative cells, the first schemes to create a blueprint for a sustainable national land pattern in China through optimized convergence. In total, 5% of China's land area is covered by urbanized zones, 28% by food security zones, 55% by ecological security zones, and 12% by heritage protection zones. In the future, there will be 805 urbanization administrative units, 790 food security counties, 780 ecological security counties, and 8,151 heritage protection zones. The scheme created using the model developed in this study is 95% consistent with the final scheme implemented by China's central government, and it has a high degree of robustness and precision. It can serve as a reference for scientific research and decision‐making concerning sustainable development in developing countries.

Practical Exploration of Ecological Restoration and Management of the Mountains-Rivers-Forests-Farmlands-Lakes-Grasslands System in the Irtysh River Basin in Altay, Xinjiang

“…The ecosystem process is hindered, the normal functioning of the ecosystem is restricted, and even the service capacity of the natural ecosystem is seriously reduced or lost (Ge et al, 2016;Borrelli et al, 2017;Wunder et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2019a), which is especially true for the case of China's development. For a long time, China's economic development has relied mainly on inputs of production factors (e.g., land, capital, labor, and technology) (Wang et al, 2009;Wang and Huang, 2015;Fan et al, 2019), while the role of ecological factors in economic growth are inadequately considered. High-intensity resource development has led to a series of serious ecological problems (e.g., environmental pollution, land degradation and biodiversity loss) (Liu and Diamond, 2005;Zhou et al, 2021), and the carrying capacity of resources and the environment continues to decline (Li et al, 2019a).…”

Spatiotemporal Differentiation of Territorial Space Development Intensity and Its Habitat Quality Response in Northeast China

“…Territorial space development and protection of the environment have become a conspicuous contradiction in ecological civilization construction in China. The Chinese government has proposed that optimizing the development pattern of territorial space should be the primary task of China's ecological civilization construction [3,4]. Further, it is necessary to clarify the TSDI and the impacts of development on ecology and the environment, which is the basis and prerequisite for enhancing the configuration of territorial space development.…”

Multi-scale analysis of the spatial structure of China’s major function zoning

“…Studying the relationship between people and land to construct a sustainable geographical or landscape pattern is currently an important frontier in sustainability science (Liu et al, 2007;Kates, 2011;Wu, 2013;Baerwald et al, 2016). A sustainable geographic or landscape pattern should offer both a sustainable supply of ecosystem service functions and orderly socio-economic spatial organization, and a necessary prerequisite is determining the regional function of each portion of land (Loorbach et al, 2017;Fan et al, 2019). A regional function is the overall role played by a certain region within a larger geographical area in terms of its natural resource and eco-environmental systems as well as its production and living activities.…”

“…Major function zoning in China aims to determine the role that each administrative unit should play in the national sustainable development system with comprehensive consideration given to their natural resource and environmental features, socio-economic development features and future development prospects. Rational organization of function zones is considered an important means of achieving orderly regional development (Fan et al, 2019). Major function zoning can be considered China's attempt to achieve a sustainable geographic and landscape pattern.…”