Spatiotemporal analysis of the relationship between urbanization and the eco-environment in the Kashgar metropolitan area, China

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108524
• Publication Date: 2022-01-13T06:42:49Z
• Authors: Jiangang Li; Jun Lei; Songhong Li; Zhen Yang; Yanjun Tong; Shubao Zhang; Zuliang Duan
• Keywords: Coordinated pattern; Relationship; Ecology; Evolutionary characteristics; Urbanization; 1. No poverty; Kashgar metropolitan area; 15. Life on land; Eco-environment; 01 natural sciences; 13. Climate action; 11. Sustainability; QH540-549.5; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

As urbanization increases, the city continues to interfere with an already-fragile oasis eco-environment in arid areas. This paper proposes a synthesised evaluation index system regarding the urbanization level from the perspectives of demographic, economic, spatial, and social urbanization. The eco-environment was characterised in terms of its level, endowment, pressure and response. Moreover, a coupling coordination degree model was established with respect to the coordination degree of urbanization and the eco-environment based on panel data of three county-level cities and 14 counties in the Kashgar metropolitan area from 1999 to 2016. The findings show the following: (i) Economic urbanization and the eco-environmental response contributed the most to the urbanization and eco-environmental systems of the Kashgar metropolitan area. (ii) The coordination effects of the urbanization and eco-environmental system in most counties and cities of the Kashgar metropolitan area were classified as the balanced development II 2 subcategory of intermediate uncoordinated development. This overall spatial pattern shows that county-level cities had significantly higher levels of urbanization and eco-environments than did counties. (iii) The double exponential curve between urbanization and the eco-environment was an inverted U-shaped curve. Urbanization had a stress effect on the eco-environment, whereas the eco-environment had a binding effect on urbanization. This study provides a reference for researching the evolutionary relationship between urbanization and the eco-environment in arid areas and provides decisional support for the more harmonious development of humans and nature in the Kashgar metropolitan area.