An integrated approach to investigate the relationship of coupling coordination between social economy and water environment on urban scale - A case study of Kunming

Spatial-temporal pattern of ecosystem services and sustainable development in representative mountainous cities: A case study of Chengdu-Chongqing Urban Agglomeration

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are essential measure for preserving the balance between human well-being and natural ecosystems. The benefit of preserving ecosystems health play a crucial role in promoting the SDGs by providing stable ecosystem services (ESs). However, the ecological health of mountainous cities is vulnerable, with relative low ecological resilience. To investigate the conflict between ecosystems and sustainable development, this study takes the Chengdu-Chongqing Urban Agglomeration as the study area. The major tasks and results in this study include: (1) using the entropy weighting method and the InVEST model, we combined remote sensing, geographic, and statistical data to quantify three types of SDGs (economic, social, environmental) and four ESs (water yield, soil conservation, habitat quality, carbon storage), and establish a localized sustainable development assessment framework that is applicable to the Chengdu-Chongqing Urban Agglomeration. The results show that from 2014 to 2020, the three types of SDGs exhibited an overall upward trend, with the lowest values occurring in 2016. The gap between different counties has narrowed, but significant regional differences still remain, indicating an unbalanced development status quo. Among the 142 counties, water yield and soil conservation values show a consistent downward trend but occupies significant interannual variations, while habitat quality and carbon storage values increases consistently each year. (2) using Spearman's nonparametric correlation analysis and multiscale geographically weighted regression model to explore the temporal variation and spatial heterogeneity of correlations between county ESs and SDGs. The results showed significant heterogeneity in the spatial trade-offs and synergies between ESs and SDGs, with two pairs of synergies weakening, seven pairs of trade-offs increasing, and the strongest negative correlation between Economic Sustainable Development Goals and habitat quality. (3) we applied the self-organizing mapping neural networks to analyze the spatial clustering characteristics of ESs-SDGs. Based on the spatial clustering effects, we divides the Chengdu-Chongqing Urban Agglomeration into four zones, and different zones have different levels of ESs and SDGs. The targeted strategies should be adopted according to local conditions. This work is of great practical importance in maintaining the stability and sustainable development of the Chengdu-Chongqing Urban Agglomeration ecosystem and provides a scientific reference for the optimal regulation of mountainous cities.

Analysis of dynamic evolution characteristics and driving factors of regional synergistic effect of reducing carbon and saving water: the case of Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations, China

Carbon emissions and water consumption are both important factors affecting sustainable development. Therefore, it is necessary to put them in the same research framework and investigate the synergy. In this study, the dynamic evolution characteristics of the synergistic effect of reducing carbon and saving water (RCSW) were analyzed. Then, taking the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations (YRDUA) as the research object, the influencing factors and specific paths of the synergistic effect were clarified. The results showed that the low-carbon emission efficiency (LCEE) had a stable synergy with the intensive utilization efficiency of water resources (IUEWR) in the YRDUA. Government financial expenditure, actual use of foreign capital, and population density were the most significant driving forces for the synergistic effect of RCSW, with q values of 0.561, 0.363, and 0.240, respectively. In addition, most of the interactions of the driving factors were nonlinear enhancement and double-factor enhancement.

Spatial correlation between electricity generation and economic scale in Africa

This study attempts to determine whether there is a spatial correlation between electricity generation and economic scale promoting coordinated development in Africa. We explore the spatial similarity and gray correlation degree between electricity generation and economic scale in Africa since the 21st century by adopting barycenter coupling and Gray Correlation Analysis method. We argue that there is a strong correlation between electricity generation and economic scale. Our findings indicate a significant spatial difference in electricity generation, mainly concentrated in Northern and Southern Africa. Furthermore, spatial pattern remains largely consistent over time, mirroring trends observed at the economic scale. Electricity generation and economic scale were concentrated in six countries- South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Morocco, and Libya- and did not change significantly over time. A correlation analysis between electricity generation and the economic scale further confirmed this, with a linear coefficient of 0.907. Both the gravity centers of economic scale and electricity generation in Africa move farther in the north-south direction than in the East-West direction, with the former showing a Southwest-Northeast-Southwest track feature and the latter a Northeast-Southwest track feature. The spatial distribution of the gravity centers of electricity generation and the gravity centers of the economic scale in Africa are highly consistent; electricity generation highly correlates with the economic scale, consistent with the research conclusion obtained by the Gray Correlation Analysis method. This study suggests the coordinated development of electricity generation and economic scales in various African countries.

Exploring the coupling coordination relationship of water resources, socio-economy and eco-environment in China

Water resources (W), socio-economy (S), and eco-environment (E) have incredibly intricate linkages of interaction, and the coordination of them is crucial to the long-term sustainability of a nation. Thus, we considered "water resources, socio-economy, and eco-environment" (W-S-E) as a composite system and constructed an evaluation model to quantitatively analyze the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of W-S-E system in China from 2011 to 2020. Then, the spatial correlation characteristics were analyzed by using spatial autocorrelation method. To analyze the time evolution patterns of the W-S-E system, this paper divided the stages from the perspective of clustering, which is more scientific and interpretable than the CCD fixed-value division. We found that: (1) W subsystem, S subsystem and E subsystem were closely connected and its CCD was enhanced with relatively higher growth rates in the development of S subsystem but slower growth rates in the W subsystem. (2) The CCD of W-S-E system had spatial correlation. The areas with low CCD were concentrated in the west of China, forming poor coordinated development phenomena. Conversely, most of provinces had relatively high CCD in the east of China with the coastal region playing radiative driving function. (3) The temporal change of W-S-E system followed four transforming patterns including "policy-oriented type", "resource problems constraint type", "socio-economy leading type", and "special location controlling type". Furthermore, we also put forward some advice and policy suggestions. The findings provide research basis and guidance for the sustainable and coordinated development of water, society and ecology.

The role of the environmental subsystem in sustainable urban development: Evidence from megacities in China

Conflicts in urban subsystems have severely hindered the realization of sustainable development, among which the most serious is the conflict between the environmental subsystem and urban development. Differing from studies considering individual environmental elements, this paper innovatively investigates the quantitative relationship between overall environmental performance and other development dimensions to understand the quantitative role of the environmental subsystem in sustainable urban development. Taking the nine megacities in China as an example, this paper first develops the performance variables of four urban subsystems, including the environment, by entropy method and analyzes the conflict or coordination level between the environment and other subsystems through the coupling coordination degree model (CCDM). Then, the interaction mechanism is further analyzed by the fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and vector error correction model (VECM). This paper tries to provide a new reference for management and decision-making by focusing on the whole environmental subsystem rather than separate elements, which is of theoretical and practical significance. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The coordination level between the environment and other urban subsystems is low; (2) 1 % rise in the economic and resource performance can respectively lead to 0.2014 % and 0.1388 % declines in the environmental performance; (3) 1 % increase in social performance can bring a 0.3738 % rise in environmental performance; (4) Improving environmental and resource subsystems' performance is the priority; (5) Coordinating urban subsystems is the key to long-run sustainable development. Despite the case studies on megacities in China, we hope to provide a new reference for cities worldwide with concentrated populations, rapid growth, and complex development contradictions.

Method development and empirical research in examining the construction of China's "Zero-waste Cities"

At the current stage, >100 cities in China are in the process of constructing "Zero-waste Cities" (ZCs). However, the absence of a unified quantitative evaluation method hinders the real-time display, assessment, and analysis of the progress and effectiveness of construction in various cities. Based on China's "Zero-waste City" (ZC) construction index system, a five-dimensional evaluation approach of transforming the city's construction index system into an evaluation index system is proposed, and an evaluation method for examining the construction of China's ZCs is developed. Meanwhile, the obstacle analysis model is employed to identify ZC's advantages and weaknesses. Following this evaluation framework, empirical research was conducted on Shenzhen. Results showed: 1) Shenzhen's ZC scoring result increased significantly from 58.9 to 108.3 by implementing the pilot project; 2) The dimensions of Management Measure, Support Capacity, and City Characteristic had achieved or approached full scores, but the dimension of Management Level still need improvement. 3) While industrial waste management reached an excellent level and agricultural waste proved manageable, domestic waste landfill and construction waste disposal still existed challenges. This method takes into account the uniformity of evaluation methods in nationwide and the diversity of solid waste environmental issues in cities. It can achieve a quantitative assessment of the ZC construction level for all cities in China, and providing a scientific basis for the horizontal comparison of the construction effectiveness of each city.

An improved approach for evaluating landscape ecological risks and exploring its coupling coordination with ecosystem services

The rapid urbanization has accelerated the destruction of regional ecosystems, triggering ecological risks and threatening sustainable development. Landscape ecological risk (LER) evaluation is an effective tool to mitigate such negative impacts. However, the existing evaluation systems exhibit certain subjectivity. Therefore, an improved LER evaluation method was proposed, which incorporates ecosystem services (ESs) to characterize landscape vulnerability. The method was validated using the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration (PRDUA) as the study area. The results showed that the optimal grain size and extent for landscape pattern analysis in the PRDUA were determined to be 150 m and 6km × 6 km, respectively. The comparison results with the traditional LER evaluation method demonstrated the improved method's superior rationality and reliability. The hotspot analysis based on the Getis-Ord Gi* method revealed that the hotspots of LER were mainly concentrated in the densely populated areas of the south-central region of the PRDUA. The coupling coordination degree (CCD) between LERs and ESs showed four different levels of development in both temporal and spatial dimensions, generally dominated by moderately balanced development and lagging ESs, reflecting the unbalanced ecological environment and socio-economic development of the PRDUA. It is recommended that the ecosystems in the PRDUA be managed and protected separately according to the delineated Ecological Protection Area (EPA), Urban Built-up Area (UBA), and Urban Ecological Boundary Area (UEBA). This study can provide an important reference for regional ecosystem conservation and management.

The response of ecological security to land use change in east and west subtropical China

Regional land use change and ecological security have received considerable attention in recent years. The rapid economic development of Kunming and Fuzhou has resulted in environmental damage such as water pollution and urban heat island effect. It is thus important to conduct a comparative analysis of the ecological security response to land use/land cover change (LUCC) in different natural zones. Using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, random forest and support vector machine methods were used to classify land cover types in the study area, after which the ArcGIS platform was used to analyze LUCC. The driving force-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) model and entropy weight method were used to construct an ecological security evaluation system, and gray correlation was used to compare the ecological security responses to LUCC in Kunming and Fuzhou. The findings revealed that: (1) The average dynamic degrees of comprehensive land use in Kunming and Fuzhou from 1995 to 2020 were 1.05% and 0.55%, respectively; (2) From 1995 to 2020, the ecological security index values for Kunming and Fuzhou increased from 0.42 to 0.52 and from 0.36 to 0.68, respectively, indicating that Fuzhou's index is rising more rapidly; and (3)There is a strong correlation between LUCC and ecological security, the correlation between the woodland and the ecological security index is very strong in both places. The expansion of construction land may be an important reason for the reduced ecological security level in Fuzhou City, while water resources have a significant impact on the ecological security level of Kunming City.

Investigating the dynamic decoupling relationship between regional social economy and lake water environment: The application of DPSIR-Extended Tapio decoupling model

The water environmental problems associated with rapid socioeconomic growth have drawn widespread attention from the government and the public. Revealing the decoupling mechanism between the social economy and lake water environment has become an important breakthrough point to seek the pathways of sustainable economic development. To investigate the decoupling process of the social economy‒lake water environmental system, this study proposes a comprehensive evaluation model, which integrates the Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model, projection pursuit method, and Tapio decoupling model; and then applies it to the case study of Hefei City and Lake Chaohu in China in 2021-2035. Three typical scenarios of current, social economy, and water environment are designed and simulated using the DPSIR model to evaluate the dynamic decoupling relationships under various development patterns. We found that the DPSIR indexes had a fluctuating upward trend from 2009 to 2020, with a synchronous improvement trend of the social economy and lake water environment. Meanwhile, the Tapio decoupling analysis showed that the decoupling relationships between socioeconomic driver forces, response strategies and the status of lake water environment was mostly strongly decoupled and weakly decoupled during 2009-2020. However, there was still an inconsistency between the improvement rate of the lake water environment and the increase rate of the response strategies. During the 2021-2035 simulation period, the DPSIR indexes of all scenarios depicts an overall increasing trend. The decoupling states of S&I-D&P and S&I-R generally tend to be consistent under three regulation scenarios. Among them, the water environment scenario outperforms other scenarios, and the social economy scenario performs worst. Overall, the decoupling of the social economy and lake water environment can attribute to both the transformation of socioeconomic development patterns and the increase of water environmental protection efforts.

Water resource sustainable use assessment methodology and an impact factor analysis framework for SDG 6-oriented river basins: evidence from the Yellow River basin (Shaanxi section) in China

The rapid growth of developing countries has placed unprecedented pressure on water resources, severely hindering the realization of sustainable development goal 6 (SDG 6) in river basins. In this study, sustainable water resource utilization (SWRU) in the Yellow River basin (Shaanxi section) from 2005 to 2019 is evaluated through an analysis of water resource overload combined with the water footprint (WF) and the water planetary boundary (WPB) and an analysis of water resource utilization quality combined with the WF and city development index (CDI) based on the coupled coordination model. Then, the results are incorporated into the drive-pressure-state-impact-response framework to analyze the impacts of the socioeconomic system on SWRU and the feedback effect of related policies. The results show that there were obvious differences in the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the WF in different geographical units. The WF of Guanzhong first increased and then decreased, and the WF of Northern Shaanxi grew continuously. The water deficit state is increasing. Although the coordination level between the WF and CDI in the basin increased by 500.31%, it was characterized by nonequilibrium and volatility. Compared to water resource endowment, socioeconomic development and government policies have greater impacts on SWRU; furthermore, the influencing factors demonstrate spatial variability, revealing the complexity of achieving SDG 6 in the basin. As policy implications, adaptive water resource policies should be formulated on the basis of strengthening the overall basin management. This study provides a scientific basis for promoting the realization of SDG 6 through watershed water management.

Evaluation of the industrial cooperation of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area: Based on the Origin-Destination pairs of industrial parks and coupling model efficiency

The industrial cooperation of Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is one of the leading regional development strategies of this world-class urban agglomeration. This study constructed the industrial cooperation network based on the travel Origin-Destination (OD) connections among industrial parks. A multi-dimensional industrial cooperation and industrial development calculation index system were also set up to measure the nonlinear interaction relationship between them. The research found that an industrial collaboration network has been basically formed in the GBA, particularly presented by major cities. Some undeveloped cities may receive more benefits in the industrial collaboration network. The Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact in terms of within city connection instead of cross-city industrial cooperation. In addition, the degree of coupling between urban industrial coordination and urban industrial development has improved significantly over one decade and taking industrial collaboration as the input variables, industrial collaboration efficiently leads to industrial development outputs in almost every city in the GBA. Practically, decision makers should encourage and support intercity industrial collaboration, particularly between cities with closer geographic proximity, as it has been found to result in stronger cooperation and better economic enhancement. In addition, although industrial collaboration does not guarantee industrial development, when the collaboration systems and policies are enhanced, the synergy and coordination between them gradually improve. This highlights the potential benefits of continued investment in industrial collaboration for economic development.

Coupling coordination analysis of urbanization and energy eco-efficiency: a case study on the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration

The coordination of urbanization with the ecological environment has become a significant sustainable urban development problem given the current acceleration in China's urbanization. The existing research lacks in-depth discussion on the coordination relationship between urbanization and energy eco-environment from the perspective of urban agglomeration. This paper takes the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration as its research area. The combination of CRITIC and entropy weight methods is used to measure the comprehensive urbanization level (CUL) from the four dimensions of population, economy, land, and society, and the SBM-Undesirable model is used to measure the energy eco-efficiency (EE). The spatiotemporal pattern and dynamic evolution law of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between CUL and EE are analyzed using the coupling coordination model and the spatial Markov chain. The research results reveal that (1) from the comprehensive development level standpoint, both CUL and EE are on the rise from 2010 to 2021; however, a problem of unbalanced development is observed. (2) The overall CCD displays an upward trend and evinces significant spatial differentiation characteristics from the coordinated development level viewpoint. (3) The CCD transition state is not isolated to certain geographic spaces: adjacent cities will impact changes in the coupling coordination types of an urban center. Therefore, we propose strategies to improve the CCD between CUL and EE to offer theoretical and policy inferences for the formulation of sustainable urban development strategies.

On the coordination in diversity between water environmental capacity and regional development in the Three Gorges Reservoir area

Water environment capacity has drew the attention of policymakers and stakeholders to sustainable development, and its dynamic changes are ultimately impacted by population, capital, and industrial clusters under regional development. Previous research, however, has not been able to completely comprehend it. In this paper, the authors use the Coupling Coordination Degree model and the Geodetector model to study the temporal and spatial evolution of water environment capacity and its driving mechanism based on regional development represented by regional function including urbanization function, ecological function, and agricultural function using the Three Gorges Reservoir area on county scale as a case study from 2000 to 2015. The results showed that (1) compared with 2000, 2005, and 2010, the water environment capacity of the whole reservoir area in 2015 was significantly improved. (2) The urban functions of each district and county are increasing in different years, and the dynamic changes of ecological and agricultural functions are obviously different. (3) The water environment capacity of districts and counties in the head area. There are significant disparities in the relationship between water environment capacity and regional function in various regions. Differences in water environment capacity are largely influenced by ecological function and the interaction driver of the proportion of agricultural function and urban function, which are typically the biggest of all the components. This suggests that regional development is a top priority in order to improve the operability of the water environmental capacity through more regulation, rules, and planning.

Copula-based analysis of socio-economic impact on water quantity and quality: A case study of Yitong River, China

Socio-economic development has a significant impact on both water quantity and quality. However, few studies have considered the complex relationship between water quantity and quality when evaluating such impact. In this study, three indicators based on copula model were proposed, namely, water quantity improvement degree (WQID_w), water quality improvement degree (WQID_q) and water quantity and quality joint improvement degree (WQJID). These indicators were used to assess the impact of social economy on water quantity and quality, and applied to a case study in Yitong River in Northeast China from 2021 to 2025. Four scenarios were set to explore the impact of socio-economic development and water resources protection on WQID_w, WQID_q and WQJID. The maximum WQID_w, WQID_q and WQJID were <1 under the business-as-usual scenario, which showed that the present socio-economic pattern caused great damage to river water quantity and quality. The combined effect of socio-economic development and water resources protection increased the WQJID of COD and NH₃-N by 1.67 and 1.30. This showed that attention should be paid to water resources protection while developing social economy. Compared with comprehensive evaluation, separate evaluation of water quality will underestimate the impact of social economy on rivers, while separate evaluation of water quantity will overestimate the impact. The relationships between WQID_w, WQID_q and WQJID were quantified. Meanwhile, the uncertainty of the evaluation was controlled by the selection of water quality indicators. The WQID_q, WQID_w and WQJID proposed in this study provide a comprehensive assessment tool for guiding water resources management.

Coupling coordination analysis and spatiotemporal heterogeneity between sustainable development and ecosystem services in Shanxi Province, China

Excessive human activities destroy the structure and function of ecosystem and threaten sustainable development. As a typical resource-based area, Shanxi Province is facing an increasingly serious contradiction between ecosystem and sustainable development, with the overexploitation of resources. In view of this, the coupling coordination degree model was used to measure the association between sustainable development and ecosystem services (SDESs), and geographically and temporally weighted regression model was used to explore the correlation between SDESs and measure the correlation between ecosystem services (ESs) and sustainable development at the county level from 2000 to 2015 in Shanxi Province. The results showed an increase in the sustainable development level and all ESs except soil retention. The coupling coordination degree (CCD) of soil retention and sustainable development decreased, while other services increased. Habitat quality had the strongest negative correlation with sustainable development. There were obvious spatiotemporal heterogeneities in the CCD and correlation of SDESs, which is helpful for promoting regional sustainable development and optimize ecosystem decision-making.

Coupling coordination between higher education and environmental governance: Evidence of western China

Exploring the coupling coordination mechanism between higher education and environmental governance is conducive to understanding the mutual interactions between them and thus enhancing mutual development. This study constructs the coupling coordination mechanism and the aggregated evaluation index system to measure the mutual coordination relations between them, assesses the performances and the coupling coordination degrees between them in the case of western provincial regions in China, and proposes countermeasures based on the prediction results. It is found that the performances of higher education are relatively more stable than those of environmental governance, and the distributions of the average performance grades exist noticeable geographical differences. Besides, the coupling coordination degrees increase with mild fluctuations with relatively small spatial variations, demonstrating the balanced and similar coordinated development status among regions; furthermore, in the future, the gaps in the coordination status among regions will gradually decline. This study highlights the mutual coordination mechanism between the two subsystems, compares the coupling coordination status among regions both temporally and spatially, and proposes specific, generalizable development suggestions that contribute to the academic sector, policymakers, ecology, and sustainability.

Coupling Coordination Analysis of the Ecology and Economy in the Yellow River Basin under the Background of High-Quality Development

The concept of high-quality development has become the current theme of China’s economic construction. High-quality development requires maintaining a healthy and cyclical approach to economic development, which is a challenge in the original development approach. Yet, a great deal of evidence suggests that there is a strong interrelationship between economic development and the ecological environment, and developing a method to quantify this interrelationship is important for studying the extent of high-quality development. Here, we propose a new indicator system using the coupling degree model and the coupling coordination degree model to assess the coupled coordination of economic development and the ecological environment in the Yellow River basin as a whole and in each province. We found that: (1) the economic development and ecological health of the Yellow River basin exhibit a slowly increasing trend; (2) the coupling degree of the economic development and ecological environment is high, indicating that the interaction between the economy and ecology is very strong; and (3) the increasing degree of coupling and coordination reflects the trend of continuous improvement and coordination in the relationship between the economy and ecological environment, and the level of high-quality development in the basin has continuously increased. The results of this study indicate that to continue to strengthen the high-quality development in the Yellow River basin, the contradiction between the economy and ecology should be alleviated, and coordinated development of both should be achieved.

An Integrated Assessment of the Competitiveness of a Sustainable City within the Context of the COVID-19 Impact

It is crucial for a city to ensure economic stability and growth, along with social security and prosperity, not only for the present, but also for future generations. Increasingly, researchers are highlighting the need to apply sustainable urban growth principles to the field of urban development, arguing that this would reduce the negative impacts of urbanization processes (poverty, air pollution, unemployment, and crime). At the same time, cities are competing with one another to maintain their position in the urban hierarchy, not only in the short term, but also in the long term. The COVID-19 pandemic affected many areas of our everyday life: over 5.85 million deaths, increased unemployment, the introduction of restrictions, the closure of national borders, and various other circumstances have all undoubtedly affected to a certain degree those factors which serve to influence competitiveness. The aim of this article is to conduct an integrated competitiveness assessment of the Baltic capitals within the context of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the period 2015–2020, according to an integrated assessment model for urban competitiveness (MDK), which is based upon the principles of sustainable development. A systematic and comparative analysis of the concepts published in the scientific literature has been performed, the concepts of sustainable city and sustainable urban competitiveness have been formed, research and methods of urban competitiveness evaluation have been carried out, and a comprehensive competitiveness assessment of the results of the study showed that the evaluation of integrated competitiveness of a sustainable city in the context of the impact of COVID-19 (using the Baltic capitals as an example in the period 2015–2020), in terms of the multi-criteria SAW and TOPSIS evaluation methods, is in the highest position in 2016–2019. Vilnius is in second place during the whole period 2016–2019. Riga takes third place in 2015–2019 (except in 2020, when it exchanges places with Vilnius and takes second place). Meanwhile, the results of the COPRAS multicriteria method differ from those discussed above. In 2016, 2019, and 2020, Tallinn is in the highest position, and in 2015, 2017, and 2018, it is surpassed by Vilnius. Riga remained in third place from 2015 to 2019. In 2020, Vilnius took over this position.

Boundary delineation and grading functional zoning of Sanjiangyuan National Park based on biodiversity importance evaluations

Recently, China advanced a policy of establishing a protected area system with national parks as the main body, and so the development of protected areas has entered a transitional period. However, to promote the coordinated development of economic construction and ecological protection of protected areas, their management needs to be more comprehensive and refined. Therefore, a more quantitative and refined spatial planning and management method for protected areas is urgently needed. This study took Sanjiangyuan National Park as the research object and considered the three biodiversity elements of species, ecosystems and landscape. The maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model, Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model, and Fragstats software were used to determine the areas with highly suitable species habitat, areas of high ecosystem service value and areas of high landscape diversity. Based on these areas, Marxan software was used to calculate the irreplaceability value, identify the boundary of Sanjiangyuan National Park and clarify the gaps of the existing Sanjiangyuan National Park in the space. We suggest that at least 18,569 km² of the eastern part of the Sanjiangyuan Region with a high irreplaceability value should be included in the existing Sanjiangyuan National Park. Moreover, the first-level zones were also classified based on irreplaceability, and the second-level functional zones were classified by K-means clustering based on the evaluation of ecological vulnerability and economic construction suitability. The first-level zones include "core conservation zones" and "general control zones", which had areas of 71,758.20 km² (57.99%) and 51,980.13 km² (42.01%), respectively. The core conservation zones were further zoned into primary vulnerable zones and secondary vulnerable zones. The subzones of the general control zones are multifunctional and they are tourism-grazing-living zones, grazing-living zones, tourism-living zones, tourism zones and other areas.

Riverine Health Assessment Using Coordinated Development Degree Model Based on Natural and Social Functions in the Lhasa River, China

Rivers provide a variety of ecosystem services to humans. However, human interference significantly impairs the rivers’ functions and poses a threat to river health. To increase the understanding of riverine health in Tibet, China from 2011 to 2014, this study used the Lhasa River as a case study and established a multiple indicator system incorporating both natural and social functions of the river. Weights of riverine health indicators were calculated using the entropy method. Moreover, to evaluate the coordination and development of natural and social functions, a coordinated development degree model was developed. The results showed that the entropy weights of natural and social functions in the target layer were 0.67 and 0.33, respectively. Natural functions, social functions, and riverine state index all decreased from upstream to downstream, and marked as “good” during the entire study period. In 2012, the coordinated development degree improved from previously “moderately coordinated” to “highly coordinated”. Furthermore, the development of natural and social functions was synchronized throughout the study period. Further analysis revealed that the construction of hydraulic projects had a significant effect on the hydrological regime, resulting in an increase in social functions of the river. Therefore, the coordinated development degree model is shown to provide new insight into assessing riverine health in terms of both natural and social functions.

An Evaluation of the Coupling Coordination Degree of an Urban Economy–Society–Environment System Based on a Multi-Scenario Analysis: The Case of Chengde City in China

Sustainable urban development requires the coordinated development of economic, social, and environmental subsystems. Evaluating the coordination degree of different urban subsystems is of great significance to supporting sustainable urban development. This study explores the method of combining a scenario analysis with the coupling coordination degree model, proposing a new approach to measure the correlation between the level of urban sustainable development and the coupling coordination degree of urban subsystems. This method is used to analyze the correlation between the sustainable development level of 11 district-level and county-level administrative regions in Chengde City and the coupling coordination degree under different scenarios. The evaluation results show that, under different scenarios, the coupling coordination degree of the 11 administrative regions in Chengde City is at three levels: imminent imbalance, near coordination, and primary coordination. Compared with the business-as-usual scenario, the changes in the coupling coordination degree of all administrative regions in Chengde City under the economic-led scenario, social-led scenario, and environment-led scenario are in line with the level of sustainable development evaluation outcomes. The results confirm that there is a correlation between the level of urban sustainable development and the coupling coordination degree in different scenarios.

Assessing the Sustainability of Long-Term Care Insurance Systems Based on a Policy-Population-Economy Complex System: The Case Study of China

Although China launched long-term care insurance (LTCI) pilot program in 2016, there are great challenges associated with developing a sustainable LTCI system due to limited financial resources and a rapid increase in the aging population. This study constructed an LTCI policy−population−economics (PPE) system to assess the sustainability of the LTCI system in China. Based on the latest 76 LTCI policy documents published between 2016 and 2021, this study evaluated the strength of LTCI policy modeling in 14 pilot cities by constructing a policy modeling consistency (PMC) index containing 9 main variables and 36 sub-variables. The coupling coordination model was used to evaluate the interaction between LTCI policy, population aging, and economic development. The results showed that the PMC index ranged from 0.527 to 0.850. The policy strength of Qingdao, Nantong, and Shanghai was the highest (PMC > 0.8). Anqing, Qiqihaer, Chongqing, and Chengdu had the lowest level of policy strength (PMC < 0.6). The main policy weaknesses were the coverage of the LTCI, the sources of funds, the scope of care services, and benefit eligibility. The coupling coordination degree of PPE systems varied from 0.429 to 0.921, with a mean of 0.651. Shanghai, Nantong, and Suzhou had the highest level of coordination. The coordination between subsystems of PPE in most pilot cities (12 of 14 cities) was at a basic or low level. The findings from this study concluded that the coordination within the PPE system should be improved to develop a sustainable LTCI system. To improve the coordination of the PPE system, it is suggested that the country should maintain sustainable economic growth and modify LTCI policies based on demographic transitions and economic development.

An analysis of coupling coordination relationship between regional economy and transportation: empirical evidence from China

The increasing discrepancy between a regional economy and transportation imposes higher requirements for their coordinated development. This paper utilized the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model and entropy method (EM) to quantitatively study the coupling coordination state between regional economy and transportation and its spatial distribution of 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2017. The results show the following: (1) The comprehensive level of regional economy and transportation development in China has shown a growing trend, and the development of regional economy is faster than that of the transportation. (2) The CCD between regional economy and transportation in China is changing from incoordination to high-level coordination. The imbalance of CCD levels among the regions studied varies significantly. The CCD in the eastern regions is slightly higher than that in the central, western, and northeast regions. (3) In the region with a higher CCD, the discrepancy between the development of regional economy and transportation is higher than that in other regions. Moreover, suggestions are provided to promote the coordinated development from a regional perspective. This study provides references to policymakers to help them properly plan and design transportation systems while considering the regional economy, thus stimulating the coordinated and sustainable development between regional economy and transportation.

Transformation performance and subsystem coupling of resource-based cities in China: An analysis based on the support-pressure framework

The sustainable development of resource-based cities is vital to China's high-quality development. Based on the support-pressure framework, this study simplifies the city system into an economy-society subsystem (ESS) and a resource-environment subsystem (RES), and measures the economy social developmental level (ESDL) and resource environmental carrying capacity (RECC) of China's 116 resource-based cities using the improved entropy-TOPSIS model. Then, it applies the coupling coordination degree (CCD) and relative development models to explore their coupling coordination relationships and relative developmental types. The results are as follows. (1) The ESDL and RECC of China's resource-based cities have improved significantly, and there is a large divergence between cities in different regions, development stages, and dominant resource types. (2) The CCD between the ESDL and RECC of China's resource-based cities is still not ideal, and no city qualifies for the high coordination category. (3) Overall, the RECC lags behind the ESDL, and the cities with a lagging ESDL are concentrated in the western and northeastern regions. Based on these conclusions, three specific suggestions are put forth. This study may provide a scientific reference for the Chinese government to formulate a sustainable development plan for resource-based cities. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:770-783. © 2021 SETAC.

Coupling Relationship of Urban Development and the Eco-Environment in Guanzhong Region, China

Since the 21st century, China’s rapid urban development has had profound impacts on the regional eco-environment and posed severe threats to regional sustainable development. In order to scientifically evaluate the coupling relationship between urban development and the eco-environment in the Guanzhong region, in this paper, by combining nighttime lighting data and MODIS data in 2001, 2010 and 2018, we applied an overall coupling model and a coordination model to discuss the spatial–temporal coupling and coordination relationship between urban development and the eco-environment. The results showed the following: (1) From 2001 to 2018, the urbanization development in the Guanzhong region significantly improved and the links between cities were continuously strengthened, but the degree of contact still needed to be improved. (2) The eco-environment quality in the Guanzhong region slightly increased, but the overall level was low. The structure of the eco-environment quality grade changed greatly, and “Good” grades changed to “Very Good”. (3) During 2001–2018, the overall coupling situation between urban development and the eco-environment strengthened and the degree of coordination increased. The coupling coordinator subtype gradually transformed from system balanced development into system balanced development, the ecology lag type, and the urban development lag type coexisting phenomenon. The results of the study suggest that future urban development planning and ecological protection policies need to take the coordinated coupling between urban development and the eco-environment into account.

Optimizing the Water Ecological Environment of Mining Cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt Using the Cloud Model, CV-TOPSIS, and Coupling Coordination Degree

The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is the core region for the security of mineral resources in China and is a strategic water source containing rich water resources. Coordinating the security of mineral resources and water resources in the YREB is a key problem. Establishing and optimizing the water ecological environment (WEE) is crucial for addressing this problem in mining cities, which are the main bases for the supply of mineral resources. This study applies the cloud model, CV-TOPSIS, the standard deviation ellipse, and the coupling coordination degree model to evaluate the WEE and the coordinated development state, and to optimize the WEE. The results show that: (1) the WEE of mining cities in the YREB is generally good; (2) the protection of WEE in most mining cities has achieved significant results recently, and the results in the downstream are more remarkable than those in the mid-upstream; (3) the coordinated development of WEE in regenerative mining cities is better than that of mature and declining cities; and (4) most mining cities still belong to the lagging type of water environment (heavy metal pollution has been better treated and the threat of water ecological security caused by heavy metal pollution is low). This study suggests improvements to the sewer system, promotes WEE management in the mid-upstream, and propels the transformational development of mature and declining mining cities in advance.

Spatiotemporal and Multiscale Analysis of the Coupling Coordination Degree between Economic Development Equality and Eco-Environmental Quality in China from 2001 to 2020

Evaluating and exploring regional eco-environmental quality (EEQ), economic development equality (EDE) and the coupling coordination degree (CCD) at multiple scales is important for realizing regional sustainable development goals. The CCD can reflect both the development level and the interaction relationship of two or more systems. However, relevant previous studies have ignored non-statistical data, lacked multiscale analyses, misused the coupling coordination degree model or have not sufficiently considered economic development equality. In response to these problems, this study integrated multisource remote sensing datasets to calculate and analyse the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) and then used nighttime light data and population density data to calculate the proposed nighttime difference index (NTDI). Next, a modified coupling coordination degree (MCCD) index was proposed to analyse the MCCD between EEQ and EDE. Then, spatiotemporal and multiscale analyses at the county, city, province, urban agglomeration and country levels were performed. Global and local spatial autocorrelation and trend analyses were performed to evaluate the spatial aggregation degree and change trends from 2001 to 2020. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The EEQ of China displayed a fluctuating upwards trend (0.0048 a−1), with average RSEI values of 0.5950, 0.6277, 0.6164, 0.6311 and 0.6173; the EDE of China showed an upwards trend (0.0298 a−1), with average NTDI values of 0.1271, 0.1635, 0.1642, 0.2181 and 0.2490; and China’s MCCD indicated an upwards trend (0.0220 a−1), with values of 0.4614, 0.5027, 0.4978, 0.5401 and 0.5525. (2) The highest global Moran’s I of NTDI and MCCD was achieved at the city scale, while the highest RSEI was achieved at the county scale. From 2001 to 2020, the spatial agglomeration effect of the RSEI decreased, while that of the NTDI and MCCD increased. (3) A power function relationship occurred between NTDI and MCCD at different scales. Furthermore, the NTDI had a higher contribution to improving the MCCD than the RSEI and the R2 of the fitted curve at different scales ranged from 0.8183 to 0.9915.

Spatial-temporal evolution of coupling relationship between land development intensity and resources environment carrying capacity in China

Land development poses challenges to the sustainable use of resources and environmental health in regions. This study explores the coupling relationship and its spatial-temporal evolution trend between land development intensity and resources environment carrying capacity of 31 provinces in China from 2005 to 2017. The information entropy method, coupling degree model, and coupling coordination degree model are used to calculate the index weight, coupling degree, and coupling coordination degree. The results show that: (1) Three change types of resources environment carrying capacity are presented with land development intensity increasing: first decrease and then increase; first increase and then decrease; and alternating fluctuations. (2) The proportion of construction land, GDP per land, and population density are dominate determinants of land development intensity, while the water resources per capita, energy consumption per unit of GDP, and per capita cultivated land area are that of resources environment carrying capacity. (3) From the perspective of temporal evolution, both coupling and coordination relationship were found to have continuously strengthened. (4) In terms of spatial evolution, the coupling level presented a constantly narrowing inter-regional gap, and the coordination level has changed from initial two-level differentiation to final regional gap narrowing. These findings can provide evidence in support for integrating land development with resources environmental protection to promote regional coordinated development.

Water environment protection and sustainable development in townlet of China: A case study in Taicang

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model was applied to investigate the relationship between economic growth and water environment quality based on panel data of Taicang during 2010-2017. The typical inversed-U shaped relationship has been obtained between GDP (gross domestic product) and indicators of ammonia, total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), respectively. The EKC turning point appeared when the GDP per capita was around US$2270, which was much lower than those in some developed countries (US$11,200). However, the decoupling between chemical oxygen demand (COD) and GDP per capita occurred even before this period, which should be attributed to the strict COD emission regulation being implemented since 2010. Further, analysis based on the Tapio decoupling coefficient elasticity model analyzed the ammonia nitrogen and economic development of each industry. We found that the agriculture no-point was strong decoupling in 2011-2014, then came to Recessive decoupling. The domestic wastewater had been in a strong decoupling state; Both urban non-point and industry experienced expansive negative decoupling, due to strict policy that prioritizes the environment over development and the investment in improvement of environment and techniques, both of them gradually came to strong decoupling. The result demonstrated that the EKC turning point could be appear in earlier economic stage and the decoupling coefficient elasticity could be improved through taking strong regulation measures.

Evaluation of Environmental and Economic Integrated Benefits of Photovoltaic Poverty Alleviation Technology in the Sanjiangyuan Region of Qinghai Province

Low-carbon energy technology is the most fundamental way to control carbon emissions. The Sanjiangyuan region in Qinghai Province must put environmental conservation in first place during development, because of its important function of national ecological protection. The comprehensive benefits of photovoltaic technology in this area need to be evaluated. In this paper, a new multicriteria decision model (MCDM) is established, with the four dimensions of “environment-society-economy-population”, and 16 specific indicators are developed by combining the coupling coordination degree (CCD) and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. MCDM can contribute to screening out key indicators that should be of high concern. The evaluation results show that the four dimensions of “environment-society-economy-population” in the Sanjiangyuan region are highly correlated, and the PPAT is creating a coordinated development; the elements of population and environment play a decisive role in the comprehensive benefits based on five key indicators and three indicative indicators. The paper provides suggestions for the local government to further implement the PV poverty alleviation industry, under the condition that the natural environmental capacity of the region and the natural ecosystem are fully respected and undisturbed.

Sustainable Urban Water Management in China: A Case Study from Guangzhou and Kunming

In China, the notion of a water sensitive city has gained popularity in urban water management as a result of the detrimental effects of flooding and pollution caused by developmental activities. Urban systems and their interrelationships are critical for long-term urban water management and water sensitivity. This article is a case study considering how a strength, weakness, opportunities, and threat (SWOT) analysis-based approach to urban water management interventions in Guangzhou and Kunming cities (China) enables decision makers to identify solutions for cities to become more water-sensitive and resilient. The similar difficulties and rewards with respect to the contexts of both cities were synthesized using SWOT analysis. The contextual SWOT analysis, in conjunction with the comprehensive inclusion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in intervention planning in these cities, revealed that a water-sensitive-cities approach requires the establishment of a comprehensively multi-objective rainwater management system; this approach would have the goals of reducing rainwater draining sources, controlling processes and adaptive measures, and governing the system to make it more resilient. The water strategy should be holistic and adaptive, capable of providing a broad range of ecological services and other social benefits consistent with the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals, and adaptable to other Chinese cities seeking to achieve water sensitivity.

Coupling coordination analysis and spatiotemporal heterogeneity between urbanization and ecosystem health in Chongqing municipality, China

Rapid urbanization has seriously disturbed the structure and function of ecosystems and caused many eco-environmental problems, in turn, these problems also reduce the quality of urbanization and threaten the sustainable development of urban. Currently, most studies only focus on the impact of urbanization on ecosystem components (i.e., structure, functions or services), few studies have explored the coordination and spatiotemporal heterogeneity between urbanization and ecosystem health from a systematic view. Therefore, in viewing of this, this study integrated coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) to measure the interaction relationship and spatiotemporal heterogeneity between urbanization and ecosystem health (UAEH) in Chongqing at the county scale from 1997 to 2015. Results showed that: 1) the degree of coordination between UAEH in Chongqing increased gradually from 1997 to 2015, developed from the moderately unbalance stage to moderately balance stage, and experienced a transition from urbanization lag to ecosystem health lag. Moreover, the coupling coordination degree showed a decreased spatial trend from the western to the eastern of Chongqing. 2) The restriction effect between UAEH gradually weakened from 1997 to 2015, and the synergistic effect between them gradually strengthened. Additionally, the interaction between UAEH tended to converge, and the negative effects between UAEH were mainly distributed in the central and western of Chongqing. In these area, population urbanization aggravated the deterioration of the natural ecosystem, in turn, the decline of ecosystem vigor and resilience also restricted the sustainable development of urbanization. Finally, this study also puts forward some corresponding policy recommendations based on each region's coupling type.

Coordination Study on Ecological and Economic Coupling of the Yellow River Basin

The coupling and coordination relationship between ecology and the economy in the Yellow River Basin is a hot topic in sustainable development research. Said research has important guiding significance for the ecological security and comprehensive development of the Yellow River Basin. Taking the Yellow River Basin as the object of our study, based on the data of the economy, energy consumption data, ecology data and water resources data, we construct an indicator system of the economic development and ecological status of the Yellow River Basin and use the principal component analysis method to calculate the economic development and ecological status index. Then, we use the evaluation method, the coupling degree model and the coupling coordination degree model to analyze the time and space evolution trends of economic development and ecological state, coupling degree and coupling coordination degree. The results show that: (1) From 2000 to 2018, the economic development index of the Yellow River Basin rose steadily; the ecological status index showed a slow rise and then a downward trend. (2) The degree of coupling between economic development and ecological state has been considered as intensity coupling after 2005. The coupling trend slowly increased and then decreased, indicating that the interaction effect between the economy and ecology was first significantly enhanced and then slowly weakened. (3) The degree of coupling coordination increased from 0.2994 to 0.6266 and then decreased to 0.5917, reflecting the continuous improvement of the relationship between the regional economy and the ecological environment and the trend toward coordination. From 2015 to 2018, due to the gradual increase in the difference between economic development and ecological conditions, the coupling and coordination between the two decreased. Studies have shown that ecological construction and protection should be strengthened to ease the contradiction between the economy and ecology and achieve coordinated development.

An integrated assessment system for the carrying capacity of the water environment based on system dynamics

Implementing an integrated assessment system for the carrying capacity of water environments should include recognizing and eliminating warning signs based on future predictions. However, existing methodologies tend to ignore the warning methods already in place, and current studies fail to quantify water ecology issues adequately. To help solve these problems, the ecological footprint that involves water uses a procedural indicator system, which adopts an early warning methodology system approach. This reconstruction has devised definitions, recognizes hazards, states forecasts status, analyses signs, judges situations, distinguishes levels, and eliminates risks. Based on these procedures, a dynamic system model has been developed, comprising five subsystems with an overarching parent system. These subsystems are population, ecology, water resources, water environment, and water ecology. The simulation involves carrying rates for the water environment, water resource, water ecology, and the level of harmony between society and the environment. All these serve to describe the water environment carrying capacity, i.e., the upper limit of the capacity to supply resources, remove pollutants, and offer sustainable ecological services. To properly quantify the carrying capacity, the water environment carrying rate was assessed by a comprehensive analysis of the water environment, water resources, and water ecological carrying rate. The carrying rates were calculated as the ratios of currently existing pressure to the maximum pressure that can be born. When values are greater than 1, they indicate overload because the actual pressure is greater than the pressure they can bear. The degree of coordination between economy and environment was standardized to range between 0 and 1. The larger the value, the more harmonious the relationship. For this research, the North Canal basin, a basin consisting of several rivers flowing through Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei in northern China and its surrounding areas, was chosen. The results showed that water environment and resource carrying rates would decline to 2.60 and 0.94, respectively, while the water ecology carrying rate would remain high at 10.98 by the year 2025. In addition, the degree of coordination would increase from 0.65 to 0.79. These statistics mean that the overload statuses will be high for a long time, although they are expected to ease gradually. Besides, the relationship between society and the environment would become more stable. Considering both the overload statuses and the relationship between society and the environment, the warning signs would not vanish. Based on predictions, the measures used were explained from three perspectives, i.e., alleviating pressures, enhancing carrying capacities, and finding a balance between society and the environment. Finally, the effects of the measures were estimated quantitatively.

Sustainable Development of Urban Metro System: Perspective of Coordination between Supply and Demand

Metro systems are gradually becoming more and more crucial in promoting the economy and society in cities. However, various challenges such as financial resources and the efficiency of utilizing these metro plans bring difficulties for metro construction. Hence, accurately evaluating the urban metro system's development condition seems significant for the sustainable development of the urban metro system. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation indicator system of metro development conditions containing 25 indicators from dimensions of demand and supply is established in this study, and a coupling coordination degree model combined with the entropy weight method and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is proposed to analyze the level of metro development conditions and coupling coordination conditions of 35 cities in China. According to the calculation results, 35 cities are divided into six categories, and radar charts are constructed to promote the sustainable development of the metro system.

Ecological network analysis of an urban water metabolic system: Integrated metabolic processes of physical and virtual water

The contradiction between social economy and water environment has become increasingly prominent, and the analysis of urban water metabolism system (UWMS) represents a problem-solving approach from the perspective of the entire flow process. However, a comprehensive UWMS model that considers both physical and virtual water flows is currently lacking. This paper presents an innovative application of an ecological network model of the UWMS-integrated metabolic process of physical and virtual water in Xining during the 2002-2018 period. By analysing and screening the metabolic characteristics, metabolic structure and metabolic relationships, the sustainability of the UWMS is evaluated in depth, and the main causes and critical compartments of the unhealthy metabolic process are identified. The findings show that the UWMS in Xining maintains a moderate level of robustness (the average R = 0.48) with limited metabolic efficiency. Since 2012, the water management policies in Xining have been significantly strengthened, contributing to a slight increase in robustness by improving the water use efficiency and metabolic structure. The integrated metabolic process is unhealthy because the metabolic structure is not reasonable, and the systematic metabolic relationship tends to be antagonistic due to the network mutualism index dropping to 1.0 during 2016-2018. We conclude that efficient irrigation management, more infrastructure projects for the sewer network, wastewater treatment and recycling could provide effective support to enhance the coordinate development of the social economy and water environment in Xining.

Temporal and spatial evolution and obstacle diagnosis of resource and environment carrying capacity in the Loess Plateau

Natural resources are scarce in the Loess Plateau, and the ecological environment is fragile. Sustainable development requires special attention to resource and environmental carrying capacity (RECC). This study selected 24 representative cities in five natural areas of the Loess Plateau; used the entropy-weight-based TOPSIS method to evaluate and analyze the RECC of each city and region from 2013 to 2018; established a diagnosis model to identify the obstacle factors restricting the improvement of RECC; and constructed the theoretical framework of the RECC system mechanism. The results show that the RECC of the Loess Plateau is increasing in general but is relatively small. The environmental and social subsystems have the highest and lowest carrying capacities, respectively. There is an evident contradiction between economic development and the environment. Population density, investment in technological innovation, per capita sown area, and per capita water resources are the main obstacles affecting the improvement of RECC in the Loess Plateau. Such evaluations and diagnoses can support ecological civilization and sustainable development.

Spatial Disparity and Influencing Factors of Coupling Coordination Development of Economy-Environment-Tourism-Traffic: A Case Study in the Middle Reaches of Yangtze River Urban Agglomerations

In the process of rapid development of economic globalization and regional integration, the importance of urban agglomeration has become increasingly prominent. It is not only the main carrier for countries and regions to participate in international competition, but also the main place to promote regional coordination and sustainable development. Coordinated economic, environmental, tourism and traffic development is very necessary for sustainable regional development. However, the existing literature lacks research on coupling coordination of the Economy-Environment-Tourism-Traffic (EETT) system in urban agglomeration. In this study, in order to fill this gap, we establish the index system from four dimensions of economy, environment, tourism and traffic, and select the influencing factors from the natural and human perspectives to exam the spatio-temporal changes and influencing factors in the coupling coordination of the EETT system using an integrated method in the Middle Reaches of Yangtze River Urban Agglomerations (MRYRUA), China. The results indicate that the coupling coordination degree of the EETT system transitioned from the uncoordinated period to the coordinated period, while it showed an increasing trend on the whole from 1995 to 2017. The spatial agglomeration effect has been positive since 2010, while "High-High" and "Low-High" agglomeration regions were transferred from the east to the south. Land used for urban construction as a percentage of the urban area and vegetation index has a great impact on the coupling coordination degree. These results provide important guidance for the formulation of integration and coordinated development policy in the MRYRUA, and then increase China's international competitiveness by improving the contribution of urban agglomerations to GDP.

Environment, Business, and Health Care Prevail: A Comprehensive, Systematic Review of System Dynamics Application Domains

System dynamics, as a methodology for analyzing and understanding various types of systems, has been applied in research for several decades. We undertook a review to identify the latest application domains and map the realm of system dynamics. The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA methodology. We analyzed and categorized 212 articles and found that the vast majority of studies belong to the fields of business administration, health, and environmental research. Altogether, 20 groups of modeling and simulation topics can be recognized. System dynamics is occasionally supported by other modeling methodologies such as the agent-based modeling approach. There are issues related to published studies mostly associated with testing of validity and reasonability of models, leading to the development of predictions that are not grounded in verified models. This study contributes to the development of system dynamics as a methodology that can offer new ideas, highlight limitations, or provide analogies for further research in various research disciplines.

An Evaluation of Coupling Coordination between Rural Development and Water Environment in Northwestern China

Balancing the relationship between rural development and the protection of water resources is a challenging undertaking. This study develops a coupling coordination degree (CCD) model to examine the non-linear interaction between rural development and water environment in the 11 prefectures of Gansu, northwestern China. There are three key findings. First, economic development is the key driver of rural development, whereas social development has relatively little impact. For the water environment subsystem, improved water efficiency has been the key contributor, whereas environmental carrying capacity is secondary. Second, the CCD increased steadily in the studied period, which suggests that the relationship between rural development and water environment has gradually changed from antagonistic to mutually beneficial. However, this change is not occurring rapidly and in fact shows signs of slowing. Third, the complex spatial differences of the CCD are related to the level of economic and social development, the process of urban–rural integration, and regional natural conditions. The findings of this study have great significance for further quantitative analysis of the interaction and mutual feedback mechanism between the rural economy and the water environment in China and support evidence-based policymaking.

Urban Water Inclusive Sustainability: Evidence from 38 Cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China

The ecological environment of urban water resources in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is in a huge challenge; yet, while myriad studies have investigated the carrying capacity or sustainable utilization of Chinese water resources, few to none have looked at the inclusive sustainable development of water resources. In this article, a new concept of urban water inclusive sustainability (UWIS) is firstly proposed, and the conceptual framework of ASFII and a five-dimensional indicator system are developed, integrating availability, sustainability, friendliness, inclusiveness and innovation. The panel data of 38 cities in the YREB are adopted from 2008 to 2018 to measure UWIS and five development indexes by the TOPSIS (technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution) and entropy method. Moreover, the characteristics of the temporal–spatial evolution of the overall system and subsystems coupling coordination are described using the coupling coordination degree model. Key factors that hinder UWIS are identified through the obstacle degree model. The results indicate that the overall UWIS showed a gradual upward trend at a lower to medium level from 2008 to 2018 and a friendliness > sustainability > inclusiveness > innovation > availability index. The UWIS from high to low is YRDUA (Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration), MRYRUA (middle reaches of the Yangtze River urban agglomeration) and CCUA (Chengdu–Chongqing urban agglomeration). The 38 cities are in low-level coordination, and their temporal characteristics show a trend of economy > science and technology > water resources > environment > societal system, YRDUA > MRYRUA > CCUA. The spatial differentiation is manifested as high in the east and low in the west. The main obstacles come from 12 factors, such as the water resources utilization rate, etc. The findings of our study will be a scientific reference for the Chinese government to track UWIS and ensure urban water resources security in the YREB.

Quantification of the Coordination Degree between Dianchi Lake Protection and Watershed Social-Economic Development: A Scenario-Based Analysis

Dianchi Lake is the largest freshwater lake on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau near Kunming City, China. As one of the most polluted lakes in China, although billions of U.S. dollars have been spent trying to clean it up, water pollution and eutrophication are still a bottleneck for regional sustainable development. This research established an integrated approach for the evaluation of the coupling coordination degree to support future planning of the Dianchi Lake basin. Ten future scenarios for possible development directions of Dianchi Lake basin were designed to find the best balance between development and protection. Among these scenarios, a high protection–medium development scenario is the most suitable scenario for future development planning. To further improve the coordination degree, economic growth control and non-point source governance were the most effective and feasible approaches. Furthermore, a water quality model was used to verify the coordination degree. It was found that the high protection–medium development scenario can reach the water quality target in 2025. The coordination degree evaluation could be a practical link to help equilibrate the socio-economic development and environmental protection of the Dianchi Lake basin.

Exploring the impact of technological innovation, environmental regulations and urbanization on ecological efficiency of China in the context of COP21

The objective of this study was to explore the roles of technological innovation, environmental regulations, and urbanization in ecological efficiency within the context of the 2015 Paris agreement. Initially, the study employed the super-efficiency DEA model to estimate the ecological efficiencies of 30 regions in China. Following this, the system GMM method was used to explore the impacts of technological innovation, environmental regulations, and urbanization on ecological efficiency. We used annual data from 2008 to 2018. The results indicate that, in terms of ecological efficiency, the eastern region was the highest ranked, followed by central and western regions, respectively. The urbanization index has a negative impact on ecological efficiency at a national level. However, in the context of regions, it is positively significant in the eastern region, while the results in the central and western regions are insignificant. The influence of technological innovation on ecological efficiency is found to be significantly positive at both national and regional levels. It is generally perceived that environmental regulations are pivotal for sustainability. Our results verify this argument and indicate that environmental regulations have a positive impact on ecological efficiency in the central and eastern regions. However, their impact is found to be negative in the western region. Policy suggestions are discussed, in order to further strengthen environmental laws and sustainability.

Investigation on the Coupling Coordination Relationship between Electric Power Green Development and Ecological Civilization Construction in China: A Case Study of Beijing

In the context of ecological civilization construction (ECC) and energy revolution strategy, there are many studies on ECC or electric power green development (EPGD). However, EPGD and ECC influence each other and are closely related, and there are few studies on the development relationship of EPGD and ECC. Therefore, this paper aims to study the coupling coordination relationship between EPGD and ECC to make them develop in harmony. Firstly, an evaluation index system of EPGD and ECC for their coupling coordination relationship is proposed. Then, this paper combines the coupling coordination degree model (CCDM), improved analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based on cloud model, and regression model to propose a coupling coordination relationship analysis model for EPGD and ECC. The improved AHP based on cloud model can fully reflect the will of decision-makers and effectively deal with the ambiguity and randomness of weight judgment. Finally, this paper conducts an empirical study on Beijing and verifies the applicability of the model proposed in this study. Policy recommendations to promote EPGD and ECC are proposed based on weight analysis, coupling coordination degree (CCD) analysis and regression analysis. This paper provides tools for the study on policies related to power development and ecological civilization.

Research on coupling degree and coupling path between China's carbon emission efficiency and industrial structure upgrading

To coordinate economic development and carbon emission reduction targets, China needs to improve carbon emission efficiency and upgrade the industrial structure. Therefore, it is important to study the coupling degree and coupling path between these two factors in various provinces in China, and thereby promote the development of China's low-carbon economy. We first calculate carbon emission efficiency using the Super-SBM model, then analyze an extended coupling model between carbon emission efficiency and industrial structure upgrading, and finally design the coupling paths using the framework of distribution dynamics. There are three main findings. First, the coupling degree of nearly half the provinces is at the level of mild-to-moderate imbalance recession. And in terms of specific coupling characteristics, nearly half the provinces belong to the type "low-level coordination," with a low development degree and high coordination degree. Second, there is an obvious dynamic imbalance between China's carbon emission efficiency and industrial structure upgrading, and the "low-level trap" of regional carbon emission efficiency is more serious than that of regional industrial structure upgrading. Finally, if the government prioritizes provinces with low carbon emission efficiency, carbon emission efficiency and the coupling efficiency with industrial structure can be improved, which would not only improve the coupling degree within each region but also alleviate the disharmony between regions.

Coupling Coordinated Development and Exploring Its Influencing Factors in Nanchang, China: From the Perspectives of Land Urbanization and Population Urbanization

The coordination relationship between land urbanization and population urbanization is crucial for achieving sustainable development under economic transition. Moreover, the balance between land urbanization and population urbanization is essential to guarantee the urbanization process of an entire city. This paper empirically analyzes the interaction between land urbanization and population urbanization in Nanchang from 2002 to 2017 based on the coupling coordination model (CCM). The impacts of the coordination degree on coordinated development are quantified by multivariate linear regression (MLR). The results show the following: (1) The indices of land urbanization and population urbanization in Nanchang showed an upward trend, and therefore the coordination degree in Nanchang increased significantly from 2002 to 2017. (2) The coordinated development of urbanization underwent two stages: disordered and moderately disordered. (3) The urban population proportion and the supporting capability of agricultural production had a positive impact on coordinated development. Meanwhile, the results also show that per capita education expenditures and the per capita public green area had negative impacts on the coordination degree, while economic development and the urban industrial structure were positive contributors to the coordination degree. Finally, this paper proposes that policies should be formulated to achieve coordinated development of urbanization. It can be concluded that the results regarding coordinated development of urbanization can help decision makers formulate effective measures to achieve coordinated development in the future.

A Game Theory-Based Approach for Exploring Water Resource Exploitation Behavior in the Poyang Lake Basin, China

Exploring the relationship between competition and cooperation in water resource exploitation by applying a game model is crucial for achieving stable equilibrium in the presence of environmental externalities. To explore this, we used the Poyang Lake Basin, which is divided into three overly exploited sub-regions, as an example. This paper selected the different types of sub-regions of Poyang Lake Basin as the research subjects, and then proposed a game model to study evolutionarily stable equilibrium strategies. The results are as follows: (1) the behavior of the sub-regions of Poyang Lake Basin are affected by one another and cannot achieve equilibrium through independent games, which also need external forces to coordinate the three reaches; (2) the benefits improve gradually from the state of “non-cooperation” to “full cooperation” and reach an ideal equilibrium when all the sub-regions choose the strategy of cooperation; (3) the strategic choice of sub-reaches is difficult to maximize the overall benefits of the basin in the absence of external constraints. To ensure that the sub-regions choose the cooperative strategy, the central government should support the cooperative subsidies of local governments. In addition to improving the equilibrium state of the sub-reaches, this study proposes the following policy implications: constructing a basin plan and promoting fiscal transfer payments, inducing an industrial gradient transfer, and strengthening the payment for the use of water resources.