Does Suburbanization Cause Ecological Deterioration? An Empirical Analysis of Shanghai, China

Hefeng Wang, Yishao Shi, Anbing Zhang, Yuan Cao and Haixin Liu
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Hefeng Wang: School of Mining and Geomatics, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056021, Hebei, China
Yishao Shi: College of Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Anbing Zhang: School of Mining and Geomatics, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056021, Hebei, China
Yuan Cao: School of Mining and Geomatics, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056021, Hebei, China
Haixin Liu: School of Mining and Geomatics, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056021, Hebei, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Suburbanization in the US largely occurred to solve various urban problems; however, it has also caused many issues, such as the decline of central urban areas, the waste of land resources, and the deterioration of ecological environments in the suburbs. Therefore, the study of suburbanization has received considerable attention in academia. Scholars have argued that suburbanization leads to ecological deterioration. To examine this viewpoint, the authors analyzed spatial-temporal changes in the ambient environment, the soil environment, the water environment, and other ecological environments, as well as carbon emissions of the central urban areas and the suburbs, in the suburbanization process exemplified by Shanghai. The results showed that suburbanization indeed caused many changes in ecological and environmental quality, but that the overall environmental quality in the suburbs of Shanghai remained better than that in the central urban area. It is important not to exaggerate the negative impact of suburbanization in metropolitan areas on the quality of the surrounding ecological environments. However, great attention must be given to controlling the diffusion of pollutants resulting from industrial and population suburbanization. It is also crucial to continue strengthening ecological environmental remediation, improvement, and recovery in the central urban area, and to comprehensively promote the coordinated development of agricultural modernization, industrial aggregation, low-carbon urbanization, and ecological sustainability, in both urban and rural areas.

Keywords: suburbanization; ecological environment; empirical analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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