Decoupling Urban Development and Ecological Changes: A Case Study of Shanghai–Hangzhou Bay Urban Agglomeration
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 150, Issue 2
Abstract
With the acceleration of urbanization, there has been rapid expansion in urban areas, the associated intense human activity exerting serious impacts on urban environments. Clarifying the interaction between urbanization and the urban environment is important for promoting high-quality sustainable regional development. In this work, a decoupling model is introduced that was used to measure the interaction between (demographic, economic, spatial, and social) urbanization and the urban environment (environmental status, pressure, and response) in the Shanghai–Hangzhou Bay urban agglomeration (SHBUA) from 2003 to 2018. The results showed that: (1) the development level of the four urbanization subsystems improved to different degrees, but overall, the speed of the economic and spatial urbanization (builtup land sprawl) was faster than the social and demographic urbanization; (2) from 2015 to 2018, the relationship between urbanization and the environment in Huzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo, and Shaoxing was strongly decoupling, indicating negative growth in the urban environment and a trend of environmental deterioration, with increased urbanization coming at the cost of environmental damage; and (3) except for Shanghai, the growth rate of the four subsystems of urbanization in the cities was higher than that of the overall environmental level. Cities with higher urbanization levels were found to be more likely to achieve harmony between urbanization and the urban environment. This study provides a basis for analyzing the relationship between urbanization and the urban environment in urban agglomerations, along with decision-making support for a more harmonious integration of man with nature in the SHBUA.
Practical Applications
China is currently undergoing a dramatic urbanization process, with populations exploding and construction land expanding in the cities. In addition, ecological cities have been proposed that would increase the area of urban ecological space, causing a negative impact on the urban environment. Despite this process taking place in China, it is unclear how urbanization affects the urban environment, which is of great significance for avoiding the wrong development mode and for realizing sustainable development. From our analysis, we found that, for cities with low levels of urbanization, such as Huzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo, and Shaoxing, increasing urbanization accompanied a deterioration in the urban environment. Contrastingly, in the more developed cities, such as Shanghai, greater development of the economic and social environment meant more attention could be paid to the construction of the urban environment. Thus, urban environmental improvement and urbanization complement each other. By exploring the relationship between the degree of urbanization and the urban environment, it is possible to inform urban development and environmental management plans in order to mitigate the negative impact of urbanization and improve the urban environment to achieve sustainable urban development for the coming decades.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are proprietary or confidential in nature and may only be provided with restrictions. The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time because the data also forms part of an ongoing study.
Acknowledgments
This research is partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Major Program (Grant Nos. 42192580 and 42192583), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42371299) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China International Cooperation Program (Grant No. 42361144861).
Author contributions: All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. The material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Zhonghao Zhang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Zhonghao Zhang, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 150 • Issue 2 • June 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 10, 2022
Accepted: Dec 29, 2023
Published online: Mar 28, 2024
Published in print: Jun 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Aug 28, 2024
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