Basin Water Sensitivity and Its Impact on Spatial Expansion: A Case Study of the Taihu Basin, China

Wei Sun, Yi Wang, Wen Chen, Bin He and Chong-Gang Liu
Additional contact information
Wei Sun: Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Yi Wang: School of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, North China Electric Power University, 2 Beinong Rd., Changping, Beijing 102206, China
Wen Chen: Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Bin He: National-Regional Joint Engineering Research Center for Soil Pollution Control and Remediation in South China, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Integrated Agro-Environmental Pollution Control and Management, Institute of Eco-Environmental and Soil Sciences, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China
Chong-Gang Liu: Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 24, 1-18

Abstract: Water is the most important and sensitive factor controlling urban development in basins. This paper developed a novel approach to construct a Basin Water Sensitivity Index (BWSI) from the perspective of integrated basin management. The correlation between the spatial expansion of development and water sensitivity over the past 30 years in the Taihu Basin was analyzed using BWSI and urban development data. The analysis found that, (1) from 1985 to 1995 the spatial expansion of developed areas in the Taihu Basin was unrelated to BWSI; (2) from 1995 to 2007 the expansion intensity decreased with an increase in BWSI; and (3) from 2007 to 2017 there was a significant increase in the spatial development expansion intensity and the area of expansion was concentrated in low BWSI areas, while the constraints of water sensitivity on spatial expansion were more obvious than in previous years. The analysis illustrated how BWSI affected spatial growth in a basin and this research can be used to help formulate a spatial growth management policy that includes water sensitivity and provides a scientific basis for coordinating the relationship between economic and social development with water resources and the environment.

Keywords: Basin Water Sensitivity Index; hydrological processes; regional evaluation; water resources (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:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10353/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10353/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:24:p:10353-:d:460366

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().