Identification of Priority Areas for Improving Urban Ecological Carrying Capacity: Based on Supply–Demand Matching of Ecosystem Services

Xueqi Wang, Shuo Wang, Gengyuan Liu, Ningyu Yan, Qing Yang, Bin Chen, Junhong Bai, Yan Zhang and Ginevra Virginia Lombardi
Additional contact information
Xueqi Wang: CMA Public Meteorological Service Centre, Beijing 100081, China
Shuo Wang: Development Research Center of Surveying and Mapping, Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing 100830, China
Gengyuan Liu: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Ningyu Yan: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Qing Yang: Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Bin Chen: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Junhong Bai: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Yan Zhang: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Ginevra Virginia Lombardi: Department of Economics and Management, University of Florence Via delle Pandette 9, 50121 Florence, Italy

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-24

Abstract: As the most concentrated area of human activities, cities consume many natural resources and discharge a large amount of waste into the natural environment, which has a huge environmental impact. Most of the ecological and environmental problems, such as environmental pollution, global climate change, and loss of biodiversity, are related to urban systems. How to coordinate urban development with the urban ecological carrying capacity is related to the destiny of the city itself, and also to whether its surrounding areas can successfully achieve the goal of high environmental quality and sustainable development. At present, the theory and methods of urban ecological carrying capacity research are relatively new, which has caused problems for policy makers in practical applications. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for urban ecological carrying capacity assessment based on the analysis of ecosystem services supply and demand. Combined with multi-source spatial data and spatial model methods, the supply and demand of ecosystem services were spatially quantified. The capital city of China, Beijing, was the case study area for this research. The spatial differentiation of the supply–demand relationship of ecosystem services is formed. The priority areas for ecological carrying capacity improvement at pixel scale and at the administrative level are obtained, respectively. The results show that the first priority area is concentrated in the center of the urban area, accounting for 31.11% of the total area of Beijing. According to the secondary zone and the specific ecosystem service type, the ecological carrying capacity improvement strategy of different zones is proposed. This study provides a new perspective for investigating urban ecological carrying capacity and for identifying the priority areas for ecological carrying capacity improvement, and helps the policy-makers to design tailored policy actions.

Keywords: ecological carrying capacity; ecosystem services; supply and demand; priority areas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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