Coupling-Coordinated Development of the Water-Economy-Innovation Nexus: A Case Study of the Grand Canal Area in China
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 149, Issue 11
Abstract
The water-economy-innovation nexus is an integrated system that plays an important driving role in urban and regional sustainable development. To identify, evaluate, and measure the coupling-coordinated development of the regional water-economy-innovation nexus, this study selects China’s Grand Canal area as a typical case and constructs an integrated evaluation system of the water-economy-innovation nexus. Then, the coupling coordination model is used to evaluate the regional water-economy-innovation nexus’ development. Finally, grey correlation analysis is used to evaluate the influencing factors. The results find that the water-economy-innovation nexus’ overall development level is not high and that there are significant spatial differences. The coupling coordination level keeps rising, and the coupling coordination level of the central city is obviously better than other cities. Water accounts for the largest contribution to the coupling coordination of the water-economy-innovation nexus, followed by economy and innovation. This study contributes to the knowledge body of sustainable development and provides a scientific basis for the decision of coupling the development of the water-economy-innovation nexus in China’s Grand Canal area and other regions.
Practical Applications
Water, as a fundamental resource, plays an important role in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, water needs to interact with other factors to effectively achieve regional sustainable development. Innovation and the economy are both important drivers of sustainable development, and water is closely linked and interacted with them. Currently, the mechanism and extent of the coupled development of regional water-economy-innovation nexus remains unclear. To address this challenge, this study takes the Grand Canal area in China as a typical case and constructs an evaluation model with multiple methods to explore the coupling development of the regional water-economy-innovation nexus. This study verified the importance of multifactor coupling for regional sustainable development and demonstrated that water contributed the most, but the overall coupling development of the water-economy-innovation nexus was not high. Promoting the coupling development of the water-economy-innovation nexus through targeted policies is an important task for local governments.
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Data Availability Statement
All data used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
The research is sponsored by the grants of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42271185; 42071194), the Guizhou Provincial Major Scientific and Technological Program (No. [2023]113), and the Major Program of Philosophy and Social Science of Chinese Ministry of Education (No. 21JZD034).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 149 • Issue 11 • November 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 19, 2022
Accepted: Jul 25, 2023
Published online: Sep 13, 2023
Published in print: Nov 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Feb 13, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
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- Canals
- Case studies
- Coupling
- Engineering fundamentals
- Hydraulic engineering
- Hydraulic structures
- Infrastructure
- Integrated systems
- Methodology (by type)
- Municipal water
- Practice and Profession
- Research methods (by type)
- Structural engineering
- Structural members
- Structural systems
- Sustainable development
- Systems engineering
- Systems management
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- Urban areas
- Water (by type)
- Water and water resources
- Water management
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