Using Remote Sensing Data to Study the Coupling Relationship between Urbanization and Eco-Environment Change: A Case Study in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

Zijing Wu, Zhijian Li and Hui Zeng
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Zijing Wu: School of Urban Planning and Design, Peking University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Zhijian Li: School of Urban Planning and Design, Peking University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Hui Zeng: School of Urban Planning and Design, Peking University, Shenzhen 518055, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-19

Abstract: Promoting the coordinated development of urbanization and eco-environment is essential for the development of urban agglomerations. As an emerging economic growth pole in China, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) has become a research hotspot in recent years. However, relevant studies in this area have been largely constrained by the incomparability of statistical data between the inland part of the GBA and the two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macao) of the GBA. This study used nighttime light data and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to evaluate the level of urbanization and eco-environment in the GBA, respectively. Then we adopted the gravity center model to analyze the overall coupling situation between urbanization and eco-environment change. We also adopted a coordination index to determine the spatial differentiation characteristics of this coupling in the GBA from 2000 to 2018. The results show that (1) the spatial pattern of urbanization and eco-environment both show an approximately circular structure, and the change rates of these two variables show significant spatiotemporal differentiation; (2) on the whole, urban development and eco-environment construction became more coupled in the GBA during 2000–2018, as indicated by the continuously decreasing distance between the gravity centers of urbanization and eco-environment; and (3) as for the spatial differentiation characteristic of this coupling, the GBA was generally dominated by slightly uncoupled units, while the spatial distribution of different coupling types transformed from a circular structure to a relatively random form.

Keywords: urbanization; eco-environment change; nighttime light data; NDVI; coupling; Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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