Coupling Coordination Development of Urbanization and Ecological Environment in the Urban Agglomeration on the Northern Slope of the Tianshan Mountains, China

Pariha Helili and Mei Zan ()
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Pariha Helili: College of Geography and Tourism, Xinjiang Normal University, Xinjiang 830054, China
Mei Zan: College of Geography and Tourism, Xinjiang Normal University, Xinjiang 830054, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: With rapid urbanization and increasingly prominent environmental issues, objective evaluation of the quality of the ecological environment is crucial for environmental protection and sustainable development. Most remote sensing ecological indices (RSEI) used for ecological environmental quality evaluation include only four indicators (greenness, humidity, heat, and dryness), and many studies have ignored the impact of air quality on urban ecological environmental quality in arid areas. This study used the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains (UANSTM), China, as the research area based on the Google Earth Engine platform via Landsat remote sensing images and NPP/VIIRS data to establish a new remote sensing ecological index (RSEI new ) and compounded night light index of urbanization level. The coupling coordination degree model was used to quantitatively analyze the characteristics of the coordinated development of the ecological environment and urbanization in UANSTM and major cities from 2015 to 2020. The results showed that: (1) compared to RSEI, RSEI new is more suitable for assessing the ecological quality of arid zones because it accounts for air quality; (2) the RSEI new value for the eco-environmental quality of UANSTM from 2015 to 2020 improved and then deteriorated with an overall declining trend. The variation in the RSEI new rating was between “strongly bad” and “neutral,” and there were differences in the quality of the ecological environments among cities; (3) the level of urbanization in the economic zone of UANSTM from 2015 to 2020 increased significantly, and the degree of coordination between urbanization and ecological environmental quality coupling steadily increased but remained moderately imbalanced. The results of this study provide a scientific reference for the economic development and ecological environmental protection of the study area.

Keywords: new remote sensing ecological index; urbanization; coupling coordination; Google Earth Engine; urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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