Spatiotemporal analysis of the relationship between urbanization and the eco-environment in the Kashgar metropolitan area, China

As urbanization increases, the city continues to interfere with an already-fragile oasis eco-environment in arid areas. This paper proposes a synthesised evaluation index system regarding the urbanization level from the perspectives of demographic, economic, spatial, and social urbanization. The eco-environment was characterised in terms of its level, endowment, pressure and response. Moreover, a coupling coordination degree model was established with respect to the coordination degree of urbanization and the eco-environment based on panel data of three county-level cities and 14 counties in the Kashgar metropolitan area from 1999 to 2016. The findings show the following: (i) Economic urbanization and the eco-environmental response contributed the most to the urbanization and eco-environmental systems of the Kashgar metropolitan area. (ii) The coordination effects of the urbanization and eco-environmental system in most counties and cities of the Kashgar metropolitan area were classified as the balanced development II 2 subcategory of intermediate uncoordinated development. This overall spatial pattern shows that county-level cities had significantly higher levels of urbanization and ecoenvironments than did counties. (iii) The double exponential curve between urbanization and the ecoenvironment was an inverted U-shaped curve. Urbanization had a stress effect on the eco-environment, whereas the eco-environment had a binding effect on urbanization. This study provides a reference for researching the evolutionary relationship between urbanization and the eco-environment in arid areas and provides decisional support for the more harmonious development of humans and nature in the Kashgar metropolitan area.

Automated summary

As urbanization increases, it interferes with the fragile oasis eco-environment in arid areas. This paper proposes an evaluation index system from different perspectives to assess the level of urbanization. It also characterizes the eco-environment and establishes a coordination degree model to study the relationship between urbanization and the eco-environment in the Kashgar metropolitan area.