Characterizing Spatiotemporal Pattern of Land Use Change and Its Driving Force Based on GIS and Landscape Analysis Techniques in Tianjin during 2000–2015

Integrated environmental assessment of a diversion-project-type urban water source considering the risks of novel and legacy contaminants

The water diversion project is an effective engineering approach to overcome water scarcity as a water source for the area. However, the complex environmental conditions of long-distance water diversion bring many uncertainties for water security. In this study, we assessed the pollution condition and risk levels of emerging contaminants and traditional contaminants in the water and soil along a water diversion project in Tianjin. Then, we assessed the influence of eco-economic characteristics on environmental conditions and established a comprehensive assessment framework of water source sustainability by analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results showed that excessive nutrient elements and heavy metal pollution mainly contributed to environmental problems in the water source area. Contrary to pollution assessment, the soil ecosystem was more subject to environmental pressure due to atmospheric deposition. The health risk assessment indicated that all contaminants had negligible non-carcinogenic risks for adults, with arsenic being considered a priority pollutant. The statistical analysis results indicated land use allocation was the most important factor in the environmental management of the water source area. According to the result of the integrated environmental assessment, the main characteristics of pressure zones were high pollution levels and human activity intensity. It is urgent to control agricultural pollution and allocate land use rationally for water source pressure zones. By considering the risks of traditional and emerging contaminants in water and soil, this study could support urban water source management and the sustainable development of the water diversion project.

Analysis of Land Use Change Drivers and Simulation of Different Future Scenarios: Taking Shanxi Province of China as an Example

This study analyzed change and spatial patterns of land use in Shanxi from 2000 to 2020. The drivers of land use and cover change (LUCC) in cultivated lands, forest lands, grasslands, and rural construction areas were explored from four dimensions, including population, natural environment, location traffic, and economic development. The CA-Markov model was used to simulate the scenarios of natural growth (NG), ecological protection (EP), economic development (ED), food security (FS), ecological protection-economic development (EP-ED), and ecological protection-food security (EP-FS) in 2030. The results indicated that: (1) The conversion to built-up areas primarily dominated the LUCC processes, and their expansion was mainly to the detriment of the cultivated lands and grasslands during 2000-2020. (2) From 2000 to 2020, population, economy, and land productivity were the main factors of LUCC; the interaction of drivers for the increase of cultivated lands, forest lands, grasslands, and rural construction areas showed enhancement. (3) Under the NG, ED, and EP-ED scenarios, the rural construction areas would have increased significantly, while under the FS and EP-FS scenarios, the cultivated lands would only just have increased. These future land use scenarios can inform decision-makers to make sound decisions that balance socio-economic, ecological, and food security benefits.

Simulation of land use/land cover changes and urban expansion in Estonia by a hybrid ANN-CA-MCA model and utilizing spectral-textural indices

Over the recent two decades, land use/land cover (LULC) drastically changed in Estonia. Even though the population decreased by 11%, noticeable agricultural and forest land areas were turned into urban land. In this work, we analyzed those LULC changes by mapping the spatial characteristics of LULC and urban expansion in the years 2000-2019 in Estonia. Moreover, using the revealed spatiotemporal transitions of LULC, we simulated LULC and urban expansion for 2030. Landsat 5 and 8 data were used to estimate 147 spectral-textural indices in the Google Earth Engine cloud computing platform. After that, 19 selected indices were used to model LULC changes by applying the hybrid artificial neural network, cellular automata, and Markov chain analysis (ANN-CA-MCA). While determining spectral-textural indices is quite common for LULC classifications, utilization of these continues indices in LULC change detection and examining these indices at the landscape scale is still in infancy. This country-wide modeling approach provided the first comprehensive projection of future LULC utilizing spectral-textural indices. In this work, we utilized the hybrid ANN-CA-MCA model for predicting LULC in Estonia for 2030; we revealed that the predicted changes in LULC from 2019 to 2030 were similar to the observed changes from 2011 to 2019. The predicted change in the area of artificial surfaces was an increased rate of 1.33% to reach 787.04 km² in total by 2030. Between 2019 and 2030, the other significant changes were the decrease of 34.57 km² of forest lands and the increase of agricultural lands by 14.90 km² and wetlands by 9.31 km². These findings can develop a proper course of action for long-term spatial planning in Estonia. Therefore, a key policy priority should be to plan for the stable care of forest lands to maintain biodiversity.

Land Cover Change Analysis to Assess Sustainability of Development in the Mongolian Plateau over 30 Years

The changes in land cover patterns in the Mongolian Plateau can reveal the regional status of sustainable development. Based on land cover data from 1990–2020, the study reveals the process of land cover change on the Mongolian plateau and integrates those changes with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to further evaluate regional sustainable development status. Result revealed there is a stable rate of land cover change (0.16%) for the Mongolian Plateau, but with diverse shifting trends for various land cover types and SDGs indicators in past 30 years. Croplands (SDG2) showed a growth trend in the last five years, which was different from its initial obviously decreasing trend. The status of water (SDG6) showed a clear decreasing trend, which presents a major threat to this arid-to-semi-arid region. The built area (SDG11) increased continuously, but the long upward trend has slowed in recent years. The forest area (SDG15) declined, but it has recently recovered. Grasslands showed diverse changes in various steppe types (including real, meadow, and desert steppe types) while still experiencing land degradation. The expansion of sand areas presents a hidden risk of increasing sandstorms. Comparative analysis revealed that there have clear differences between Mongolia and Inner Mongolia due to the various government policies. In general, the land use degree in Mongolian Plateau increased annually. This indicated that the climate change and human activities have more and more influences, and it is still facing severe challenges for specific SDGs indicators in the region.

Spatiotemporal Characterization of the Urban Expansion Patterns in the Yangtze River Delta Region

Characterizing urban expansion patterns is of great significance to planning and decision-making for urban agglomeration development. This study examined the urban expansion in the entire Yangtze River Delta Region (YRDR) with its land-use data of six years (1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2018). On the basis of traditional methods, we comprehensively considered the four aspects of urban agglomeration: expansion speed, expansion difference, expansion direction, and landscape pattern, as well as the interconnection of and difference in the expansion process between each city. The spatiotemporal heterogeneity of urban expansion development in this region was investigated by using the speed and differentiation indices of urban expansion, gravity center migration, landscape indices, and spatial autocorrelations. The results show that: (1) over the 23 years, the expansion of built-up land in the Yangtze River Delta Region was significant, (2) the rapidly expanding cities were mainly located along the Yangtze River and coastal areas, while the slowly expanding cities were mainly located in the inland areas, (3) the expansion direction of each city varied and the gravity center of the urban agglomeration moved toward the southwest, and (4) the spatial structure of the region became more clustered, the shape of built-up land turned simpler, and fragmentation decreased. This study unravels the spatiotemporal change of urban expansion patterns in this large urban agglomeration, and more importantly, can serve as a guide for formulating urban agglomeration development plans.

Landscape Pattern and Ecological Network Structure in Urban Green Space Planning: A Case Study of Fuzhou City

During the process of urbanization, many green spaces are fragmented for other uses. The key problems for researchers and planners are reducing the fragmentation of green spaces, constructing urban ecological networks, and maintaining sustainable environments to cope with the rapid urbanization process. This paper analyzes Fuzhou, China as a case study of the effects of urbanization, and reviews three epochs in Fuzhou: 2000, 2010, and 2021. First, the integration degree of landscape pattern index and spatial syntactic attribute value is used to quantify the urbanization situation of Fuzhou and the degree of green space fragmentation in the process of urbanization. Second, it adopts the network analysis method to construct an urban ecological network featuring “one city and two rings”. Finally, urban green spaces are assessed by the corridor structure analysis, and the improvement of the urban green space ecological network is quantitatively evaluated by comparing the green space ecological network with the green space planning system. The results show that the urbanization of Fuzhou city center is apparent and the fragmentation of urban green space is a serious issue from 2000 to 2021. The green space planning in Fuzhou is ineffective in improving the existing green space. According to the results, the street integration of space syntax aptly reflects the process of urbanization. In conclusion, the planned ecological network increases the shape complexity of green patches and landscape connectivity and reduces landscape fragmentation, thus improving the urban ecological environment quality and facilitating the sustainability of urban green spaces.

Land Use and Land Cover Change Modeling and Future Potential Landscape Risk Assessment Using Markov-CA Model and Analytical Hierarchy Process

Land use and land cover change (LULCC) has directly played an important role in the observed climate change. In this paper, we considered Dujiangyan City and its environs (DCEN) to study the future scenario in the years 2025, 2030, and 2040 based on the 2018 simulation results from 2007 and 2018 LULC maps. This study evaluates the spatial and temporal variations of future LULCC, including the future potential landscape risk (FPLR) area of the 2008 great (8.0 Mw) earthquake of south-west China. The Cellular automata–Markov chain (CA-Markov) model and multicriteria based analytical hierarchy process (MC-AHP) approach have been considered using the integration of remote sensing and GIS techniques. The analysis shows future LULC scenario in the years 2025, 2030, and 2040 along with the FPLR pattern. Based on the results of the future LULCC and FPLR scenarios, we have provided suggestions for the development in the close proximity of the fault lines for the future strong magnitude earthquakes. Our results suggest a better and safe planning approach in the Belt and Road Corridor (BRC) of China to control future Silk-Road Disaster, which will also be useful to urban planners for urban development in a safe and sustainable manner.

Urban Green Space Fragmentation and Urbanization: A Spatiotemporal Perspective

Urbanization leads to the occupation of green areas, directly contributing to a high level of fragmentation of urban green spaces, which, in turn, results in numerous socioeconomic and environmental problems. Consequently, an understanding of the relationships between patterns of urban green spaces and urbanization processes is essential. Although previous quantitative studies have examined this relationship, they have not included an exploration of spatial heterogeneities in the effects of urbanization on the spatial patterns of urban green areas. We therefore applied a spatiotemporal perspective to examine the above relationship, while considering the wider planning context. First, we quantified the extent of fragmentation of urban green spaces using landscape metrics comprising the largest patch index (LPI) and landscape shape index (LSI). Next, using the calculated spatial metrics and nighttime light data (NTL) for central Beijing for the period 1992–2016, we applied a geographically weighted regression model to assess variations in the spatiotemporal effects of urbanization on the fragmentation of urban green spaces. The results showed that urbanization initially occurred mainly in the northern parts of Beijing, whereas urbanization of southern urban fringe areas occurred after 2008. The reduction in green spaces along with increasing fragmentation and complex spatial patterns are indicative of issues relating to Beijing’s rapid urbanization and planning policies. This study contributes to an understanding of how urbanization influences fragmentation of urban green spaces and offers insights for the planning of urban green spaces from the perspective of promoting sustainability.

Land Use and Land Cover Changes, and Environment and Risk Evaluation of Dujiangyan City (SW China) Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Understanding of the Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change, its transitions and Landscape risk (LR) evaluation in earthquake-affected areas is important for planning and urban sustainability. In the present study, we have considered Dujiangyan City and its Environs (DCEN), a seismic-prone area close to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (8.0 Mw) during 2007–2018. Five different multi-temporal data sets for the years 2007, 2008, 2010, 2015, and 2018 were considered for LULC mapping, followed by the maximum likelihood supervised classification technique. The individual LULC maps were further used in four time periods, i.e., 2007–2018, 2008–2018, 2010–2018, and 2015–2018, to evaluate the Land Use and Land Cover Transitions (LULCT) using combined remote sensing and GIS (Geographical Information System). Furthermore, multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) techniques were applied for LR mapping. The results of the LULC change data indicate that built-up, agricultural area, and forest cover are the prime categories that had been changed by the natural and anthropogenic activities. LULCT, along with multi-parameters, are suggested to avoid development in fault-existing areas that are seismically vulnerable for future landscape planning in a sustainable manner.

Integrative Assessment of Land Use Conflicts

Changes in land use are reflected primary in changes of land cover, but subsequently cause conflict of interest of sectors and are the main initiation of many environmental problems. The basic tool for sustainable utilization of the landscape is integrated landscape management, which, in our understanding, is the environmentally biased harmonization of tools which regulate the spatial organization and functional utilization of the landscape to avoid the conflicts of interest of sectors. “Integrated” in this case means the systematic assessment of the interests of all relevant sectors from the environmental point of view. The scientific base of this approach is the understanding of the landscape as a geosystem, and, in particular, the proper interpretation of the mutual relations of primary, secondary and tertiary landscape structures and their role in the assessment of the conflicts of interest. This paper presents a theoretical and methodical base for the integrated approach to the assessment of the conflicts of interest of the sectors in the landscape. The theoretical-methodical base was applied to the model territory of the Trnava district (south-west Slovakia). Mutual conflicts of interest of endangering and endangered sectors cause diverse problems, which were ranked in three basic groups as: problems of endangering of the ecological stability of the landscape (including endangering of biodiversity and nature conservation areas); problems of endangering of natural resources (in particular forests, soils, waters); and, problems of endangering the immediate human environment (stress factors in residential and recreational areas). The result is the identification and analysis of the conflicts of interest in the territory and their projection to a map. This research should be followed by implementation of procedures of ecologically optimal spatial organization and utilization of the territory for regular spatial planning processes.

Does the Exhaustion of Resources Drive Land Use Changes? Evidence from the Influence of Coal Resources-Exhaustion on Coal Resources–Based Industry Land Use Changes

Analyzing the spatial-temporal changes of resources–based industrial land is essential to the transformation and development of resources–exhausted cities. In this paper, we studied coal resources–based industrial land use changes and their driving factors in a typical coal resources–exhausted city, Anyuan District, Pingxiang city. The changes between coal resources–based industrial land and other land-use types were analyzed. The logistic regression models were applied to identify the main driving factors and quantify their contributions to coal resources–based industrial land-use changes during the two periods of 2003–2008 and 2008–2013. The results show that coal resources–based industrial land declined by 34.37% during the period 2008–2013 as coal resources were being exhausted. Altitude, distance to roads, distance to town, population density change, fixed-asset investment per area change, and GDP per capita change drove coal resources–based industrial land-use changes. However, the patterns of the driving effects differed, and even the same factors had different influences on coal resources–based industrial land-use changes during the two periods. The changes in the driving factors can be seen as responses to socioeconomic transformation and development in the city, which is experiencing the exhaustion of coal resources. As a result of the comprehensive effects of these driving factors, coal resources–based industrial land use has changed in complex ways.