Urban dynamics, landscape ecological security, and policy implications: A case study from the Wuhan area of central China

doi:10.1016/j.cities.2014.06.010

Cities

Volume 41, Part A, December 2014, Pages 141-153

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2014.06.010 Get rights and content

Highlights

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We monitored urban growth and landscape ecological security change in Wuhan.
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We analyzed the relationship between urban growth and landscape ecological security.
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Urban growth increases landscape fragmentation and shape complexity.
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Urban growth indexes negatively correlate with ecosystem service value.

Abstract

Monitoring of urban growth and the characterization of its patterns in the Wuhan area of central China from 1988 to 2013 was performed using an integrated approach of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques and statistical methods. We also undertook a qualitative analysis of the impact of urban growth on landscape ecological security. The results showed that the Wuhan area was in a rapid process of urbanization between 2000 and 2011, with an average urban growth rate of 10.666 km²/a and 2.969 km²/a in the surrounding region and city proper, respectively. An aggregated pattern was the primary growth type in the whole study area, while linear and leapfrog patterns mainly occurred in the surrounding region. Rapid urban growth has aggravated the landscape fragmentation and has led to considerable declines in ecosystem services. A Pearson correlation analysis was used to qualitatively explore the relationships between the urban growth patterns and the factors associated with ecological security. It was found that the ecosystem fragmentation and ecosystem services were correlated with the urban growth rate, the three types of urban growth, and the compactness of the urban form. Of the three growth types, the leapfrog growth pattern destroys the integrity of water bodies, thereby preventing the connection of lakes to the main surface water network, and thus results in increase fragmentation and reduction of ecosystem services. Although the land-use policies implemented in Wuhan during the study period have promoted the development of the local economy, they have failed to protect the ecosystem. Urban growth speed should be effectively controlled because natural resource protection is as important as, and even more important, to some extent, than encouraging extensive economic development. This research has highlighted the importance of the joint application of urban growth quantification and the monitoring of the changes in the factors associated with ecological security in landscape planning.

Introduction

As the world population has continuously grown and become concentrated in town and city dwellings, urban areas have witnessed an enormous increase in the past 30 years, and this is particularly apparent in developing countries such as China and India (Seto, Fragkias, Güneralp, & Reilly, 2011). Urbanization is a spatial and social process that is related to the transformation of rural areas into urban lands, the movement of people from rural to urban areas as well as the changes in their life styles. Urban growth is a spatial process which refers to the increased area of towns and cities as the population is concentrated in these areas (Bhatta, Saraswati, & Bandyopadhyay, 2010). Although urbanization can promote socioeconomic development and improve the quality of life, the irreversible transformation from semi-natural and natural ecosystems into impervious surfaces has resulted in considerable environmental and ecological problems worldwide (Bhatta et al., 2010, Habibi and Asadi, 2011, Su et al., 2011). Therefore, understanding the effects of urban growth on the ecosystem and quantifying the relationships between urban dynamics and landscape ecological security is crucial for effective urban planning and environmental protection policy making, in order to support sustainable development.

A considerable number of academic studies from all around the world have focused on the driving forces of urban expansion (Li et al., 2013, Lu et al., 2013, Thapa and Murayama, 2010, Wu and Zhang, 2012), and there has been increasing interest in characterizing and quantifying the temporal dynamics of the spatial patterns of urban growth (Aguilera et al., 2011, Bhatta et al., 2010, Herold et al., 2002, Ji et al., 2006, Seto and Fragkias, 2005). However, to date, less attention has been paid to the impact of urban growth on the ecological security of a region. The environmental and ecological problems of the landscape changes resulting from urbanization are significant (Carlson and Traci Arthur, 2000, Wu et al., 2012). It is, however, especially difficult to characterize the relationships between urban growth patterns, changes in ecosystem values, and the consequent loss of ecological capacity in a human-dominated ecosystem (Wu et al., 2012). Rapid urban growth, as the most obvious land transformation, has resulted in significant changes in the structure and functioning of ecosystems (Liu, Li, et al., 2012, Yang et al., 2011). The study of Su, Xiao, Jiang, and Zhang (2012) reported that landscape fragmentation, configuration, and diversity could significantly impair the provision of ecosystem services. To date, however, to the best of our knowledge, there has not been a study of the influence of different urban growth patterns on the changes in ecosystem structure and ecosystem services. Moreover, as the spatial characteristic of the urban form, and the result of urban growth, urban compactness has been the subject of many discussions (Capello and Camagni, 2000, Liu, Song, et al., 2012, Schneider and Woodcock, 2008). Nevertheless, few studies have examined the relationship between urban compactness and landscape structure and ecosystem services. Therefore, there is a need for long-term monitoring of the urbanization process, to evaluate the ecological consequences of urban growth at a landscape scale. For this study, we selected the Wuhan area to examine the different types of urban growth patterns and to monitor the long-term ecosystem changes.

The goals of this study were four-fold. Firstly, we attempted to quantify the urban growth in Wuhan and to characterize the patterns of development. Secondly, we aimed to determine the changes in ecosystem structure and ecosystem services, which are fundamental indicators of landscape ecological security, between 1988 and 2013. Thirdly, we attempted to discover the correlations between urban growth and the factors associated with landscape ecological security. Finally, we related the results to changes in land-use policy.

Section snippets

Study area and data

The city of Wuhan, which is the capital of Hubei Province as well as the largest city in central China (Fig. 1), lies in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. It covers a total area of 8549 km², of which 39.27% consists of plains and 18.17% is hilly and mountainous regions. The Wuhan area has witnessed rapid urbanization and has experienced significant economic growth. In 2012, it had an urban population of 5.55 million, which was over 67.54% of the total population. Meanwhile, the gross

Spatiotemporal changes in urban growth

During the 25 years between 1988 and 2013, the Wuhan area experienced a rapid exponential urban expansion (Fig. 3, Fig. 4). In 1988, there was a total of 206.58 km² of urban land, which represented only 2.4% of the study area, whereas by 2013, the urbanized area had progressively expanded to 1814.85 km², which accounted for 21.14% of the study area (Fig. 3a). The annual growth rate increased from 10.6% between 1988 and 1995 to 12.9% between 2005 and 2011, and then dropped to 10.53% between 2011

Landscape security change in response to urban growth

As shown in Section 3.4, all the types of growth pattern are related to the changes in ecosystem structure and services. Of the three growth patterns, scattered urban growth has the closest relationship with a decrease in ecosystem security. This was largely demonstrated by: (1) The leapfrog pattern increases landscape fragmentation and therefore increases the number of habitat patches and decreases the patch size. In summary, fragmented urban areas, such as densely populated urban areas,

Conclusion

This paper has characterized the spatiotemporal urban growth patterns and has highlighted the relationships between urban dynamics and ecological security in the Wuhan area, which was in a process of rapid urbanization between 1988 and 2013. Quantitative characterization of the urban expansion has provided strong evidence for the spatial heterogeneity of the urban growth within the Wuhan area. The urban growth rate in the surrounding region was higher than in the city proper over the study

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Key Technology R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2012BAH28B02). We sincerely thank Editor-in-Chief Ali Modarres, the three anonymous reviewers, and a language editor for their valuable comments, suggestions, and editing, which have greatly helped to improve our manuscript.

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Urban dynamics, landscape ecological security, and policy implications: A case study from the Wuhan area of central China

Highlights

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Study area and data

Spatiotemporal changes in urban growth

Landscape security change in response to urban growth

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Landscape and Urban Planning

Applied Geography

Landscape and Urban Planning

Global and Planetary Change

Journal of Environmental Management

Land Use Policy

Landscape and Urban Planning

Procedia Engineering

Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

Ecological Economics

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

Landscape and Urban Planning

Applied Geography

Journal of Urban Economics

Ecological Modelling

Habitat International

Land Use Policy

Habitat International

Habitat International

Landscape and Urban Planning

Applied Geography

Applied Geography

Applied Geography

International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation