Urban ecosystem health assessment based on emergy and set pair analysis—A comparative study of typical Chinese cities

Regarding various energy and materials flowing in the urban ecosystem and the merit of emergy as an embodied energetic equivalent for integrated ecological economic evaluation, an evaluation framework of emergy-based urban ecosystem health indicators (UEHI_em) was established in view of five aspects including vigor, structure, resilience, ecosystem service function maintenance and environmental impact to depict the urban ecosystem health states. Further, set pair analysis (SPA) was employed to assess the urban ecosystem health level based on the UEHI_em, by which the approximate degree of real index set to the optimal one was defined and evaluated to describe the relative health state of the concerned urban ecosystems. Choosing twenty typical Chinese cities in 2005 as cases, we evaluated and compared their urban ecosystem health levels based on UEHI_em and SPA. The results showed that health levels of Xiamen, Qingdao, Shenzhen and Shanghai are pretty well, while those of Wuhan, Harbin, Yinchuan, Beijing and Urumchi are relatively weak. Moreover, the relative health levels were analyzed by SPA to discern the influences of the mentioned five aspects on the UEHI_em. It is concluded that emergy synthesis combined with SPA can serve as an effective relative-measure to compare different ecosystem health levels of urban ecosystems.     

Emergy analysis of the urban metabolism of Beijing

Cities can be modeled as if they were superorganisms with a range of metabolic processes. Research on this urban metabolism can contribute to solving urban environmental problems by revealing details of the metabolic throughput of the system. A key issue is how to find a common basis for measuring the environmental and economic values. By providing a single unified unit, emergy theory integrates the natural and socioeconomic systems and thoroughly evaluates a system's metabolism. We analyzed Beijing's urban metabolic system using emergy synthesis to evaluate its environmental resources, economy, and environmental and economic relations with the regions outside the city during 14 years of development. We compared Beijing's emergy indices with those of five other Chinese cities and of China as a whole to assess Beijing's relative development status. These indices are the emergy self-support ratio (metabolic dependence), the environmental load ratio (metabolic loading), empower density (metabolic pressure), emergy used per person (metabolic intensity per capita), and the monetary equivalent of emergy (emdollars; metabolic intensity). Based on our emergy analysis, Beijing's socioeconomic system is not self-sufficient, and depends greatly on external environmental resources. Its GDP is supported by a high percentage of emergy purchased from outside the city. During the study period, Beijing's urban system showed an increasing dependence on external resources for its economic development. Beijing's loading and pressure on the ecological environment is continuously increasing, accompanied by continuously increasing human emergy consumption. In the future, it will become increasingly necessary to improve Beijing's metabolic efficiency.     

城市复合生态系统能值整合分析研究方法论

系统阐述了城市复合生态系统能值分析的基本概念原理与方法步骤,总结了城市可持续发展综合能值评价指标体系。在此基础上,从能值转换率的积累和统一、多尺度研究的整合与尺度推绎、城市功能流分析与空间结构分析的整合、能值成本价值论与使用(市场)价值论的整合等方面,讨论了能值研究方法在城市生态系统研究中的应用前景和发展方向。     

Evaluating the environmental impacts of an urban wetland park based on emergy accounting and life cycle assessment: A case study in Beijing

In this paper, emergy accounting (EA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) methods are employed to investigate a typical urban wetland park, the Green Lake Urban Wetland Park (GLUWP) of Beijing, in terms of its environmental and capital inputs, ecosystem services and organic matter yields, environmental support, and sustainability. The LCA method is also used to obtain a quantitative estimation of the environmental impact of discharges during the entire life cycle of the GLUWP. Various emergy-based indices, such as emergy yield ratio (EYR), environmental load ratio (ELR), emergy sustainability index (ESI), net economic benefit (Np), and environmental impacts of process-based LCA, including global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication (EU), nonrenewable resource depletion (RU), energy consumption (EN), acidification potential (AP), photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), particulate matter (PM) and wastes (W), are calculated. The results show that the GLUWP has higher proportions of renewable resource input, less pressure on the environment, more environmental support and better ecological and economic benefits, which can be considered as an environment-friendly and long-term sustainable ecological practice, compared with another constructed wetland in Beijing. Meanwhile, the dominant environmental impact is induced by POCP with the construction phase contributing the most on the entire life cycle. It is expected that increasing green area, extensively using environment-friendly materials, optimizing construction techniques and reducing power consumption can promote the sustainability of the GLUWP.     

北京城市生态系统的能值动态分析

采用能值理论与分析方法,对北京市1990~2001年间的能值结构动态进行了分析,并采用人均能值、能值密度、生态功能潜力、人口基本承载力、能值自给率、能值货币比率、环境负载率、输入能值比等重要能值指标对该时期北京市城市生态系统的能值状况作了详细分析。研究表明,北京城市生态系统正处于较高发展水平,已基本跨入发达国家水平的行列;但高强度、快速发展给本市带来了巨大的生态环境压力,未来北京的可持续能力建设已势在必行。文章也提出了北京城市生态系统可持续发展能力建设的基本方向。     

Evaluation of ecosystem health for regional development in the southwestern Beijing, China

Ecosystem health assessment is one of the most important issues in regional ecological quality and safety studies. It also has a great significance to ecological conservation and regional development. This study focused on assessing the health status of forest, agriculture and urban ecosystems in the southwestern Beijing, China, including the Fangshan and Fengtai Districts. Based on field surveys and data collection, an assessment index system containing the vigor, organization and resilience factors was developed to measure the ecosystem health. Each index was scored from 1 to 5, representing five levels that contribute to the whole ecosystem health. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was used to measure the weights of each index and three factors, and thus an overall score for a certain ecosystem was calculated. The results show that the forest ecosystem in the Fangshan District had higher health value than the Fengtai District, while the urban ecosystem had a slightly lower value in the Fangshan District than the Fengtai District. Both districts show lower resilience values in forest and urban ecosystems. Maintaining the ecosystem health will definitely benefit the long-term development of two districts. This study suggested that an approach for assessing the regional ecosystem health could be further developed to address spatial and synergy relationships between ecosystems and the three health factors.     

华北平原集约农区种植业生态经济系统的能值分析——以河北沧州为例

从能值的角度出发,以华北平原代表区域——河北省沧州地区2003年统计数据和调查数据为基础,对该地区种植业生态经济系统的能值投入和产出进行首次分析。结果显示:该地区不可更新的工业辅助能占总能值投入的78.5%,可更新的能值投入仅占21.4%(可更新环境资源8.79%、可更新有机12.68%),说明农业生产过渡依赖于外源不可更新辅助能的投入;此外,高系统太阳能值转换率、低净能值产出率和高环境负荷率的特点,表明该地区种植业的科技发展水平比较高,对环境的压力相当大。综合结果说明种植业系统对环境资源的过度利用必然会引起生态环境的破坏。基于此,提出华北平原集约农区种植业生态经济系统可持续发展对策:以优化施肥为基础,合理减少化肥投入为代表,适当降低工业辅助能投入;调整农业增产投入战略,努力解决该地区以水资源短缺为主的作物增产限制因子;改变农业生产中有机能值与无机能值的投入比例,降低系统环境负荷率。     

国际能值研究热点和前沿的可视化分析

能值用以表征一种流动或储存的能量所包含另一类别能量的数量,即产品或者劳务形成过程中消耗的总能量,常以太阳能为度量标准。能值作为生态经济学中的新概念,它的提出实现了物质流、能量流、经济流、人口流和信息流等的统一量化,架设了“环境与经济间的桥梁”,能值理论和应用目前已成为生态经济学研究的热点领域,能值分析方法正日益发展成为生态经济系统评价的基本工具。文章首先以Web of Science数据库中1998─2013年间收录主题为“emergy”的文献为基础数据,对能值研究的学科、时间、区域和机构等分布情况进行了统计分析,发现能值研究文献数量呈逐年上升趋势,主要分布在生态、环境及能源相关学科,中、美、意大利3国及锡耶纳大学、北京师范大学、北京大学、中国科学院和佛罗里达大学等研究机构表现出较强的研究实力。其次,利用CiteSpace软件绘制了能值研究文献的共被引知识图谱,对其知识基础及核心作者的影响力进行了探讨。图谱研究显示,Odum H T、Brown M T、Hau J L、Ulgiati S等学者及其代表作品对能值理论知识基础的构建及相关研究的推进奠定了坚实的基础。最后,通过对能值研究领域出现关键词及膨胀词的共词分析与词频分析,绘制出能值领域的研究热点演进脉络,并探测环境可持续性、可持续发展、生态系统服务、电力生产、能值核算、生命周期研究法等前沿命题,可见系统可持续发展及能值与其它理论方法的结合应用将成为能值研究的新热点。目前能值研究文献数量持续增长,但其理论研究速度落后于应用范围及领域的延伸速度,能值转换率及评价指标体系已无法满足小区域、微观小系统的研究需求,核心作者及代表作品较少,且欠缺与动态模型及仿真技术的结合应用。因此,未来能值研究     

中国省域城市生态适宜度综合评价

依据城市生态系统原理,从生产位、生活位、环境位3方面构建了综合衡量城市生态适宜度的指标体系和数学方法,以各个省区地级以上城市作为分析样本,通过对评价区的各领域以及生态适宜度水平综合评价,结果表明:中国省域城市生态适宜度具有的明显区域性差异,城市生态适宜度大致呈现:东部高、中西部低,南方高、北方低的格局,既与区域自然生态条件有关,也同地方社会经济发展、城市建设与管理水平相关。     

Integrated urban ecosystem evaluation and modeling based on embodied cosmic exergy

This paper presented a thermodynamic synthesis that involved resource accounting, evaluation and modeling of urban ecosystems based on embodied cosmic exergy (EcE), which redefined embodied exergy with the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) as the reference for solar exergy. In a case study of the Beijing urban ecosystem, the major resources supporting the urban ecosystem, both from free natural resources and from the economy, were accounted for, analyzed and evaluated in the same units, Cosmic Joules (Jc). These indicators revealed the current performance of the Beijing urban ecosystem by considering five aspects of the system: EcE sources, EcE intensity, EcE welfare, environmental impacts and economic efficiency. Moreover, through the combination of the EcE synthesis with a systems dynamics, this research constructed an embodied cosmic exergy-based urban system model (EESM) using Beijing as an example of urban development. The results show that the 10 years from 2010 to 2020 will be very critical for the sustainable development of Beijing because many key factors, such as water resources, wastes and urban assets, might be confronted with great changes during this period. These changes will inevitably transform the urban system not only in its external circumstances but also in its inner structure and may lead to serious consequences. Of all the necessary resources, the most sensitive factor is water supply.     

小城镇复合生态系统能值整合研究

运用能值理论和方法,以湖北省小城镇(大悟县)为案例,对其复合生态系统进行研究,以了解系统的能流结构和特点,为系统持续发展提供科学指导。研究结果表明,该系统能值自给率68.42%,对外界依赖性低,经济安全性高;但人均能值用量和能值密度较低,系统经济不发达。不可更新资源占能值总用量63.51%,属于资源消耗型的经济模式,环境压力较大,不利于区域可持续发展,今后应增加可更新资源的利用,提高不可更新资源的利用效率,增加科技投入,促进该区域可持续发展。     

The widening urbanization gap between the Three Northeast Provinces and the Yangtze River Delta under China’s economic reform from 1984 to 2014

Urbanization has created a significant gap between the Three Northeast Provinces (TNP) and the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) since China’s reform and opening-up. In this study, we explain this problem by employing an urban expansion index, spatial hierarchical clustering, the Zipf-PLE model, fractal theory, and time-series analysis. Statistical data on the built-up area, population, and gross domestic product were downloaded from the National Bureau of Statistics of China. The results revealed the following. (1) During the stage of the planned economy, as a result of the significant government investment in development, the urban built-up areas in the TNP and the YRD reached 1867 and 757 km², respectively, in 1984. (2) During the stage of the socialist market economy, the urban built-up area of the YRD experienced rapid growth over the 30 years from 1984 to 2014 with a rate of increase of 668.8%, which was higher than that of the TNP (139.9%). In 2014, the urban built-up areas of the TNP and the YRD were 4479 and 5820 km², respectively. (3) Locational advantages had significant effects on urban development after China’s economic reform. The coastal cities of the YRD had higher rates of increase of the built-up areas. By contrast, the border cities of the TNP had lower rates of increase. Finally, this paper finds that the socialist market economy exhibited more efficiency in promoting urban expansion and economic development. The results are significant for generating balanced and sustainable regional development strategies in the future.     

基于属性理论的长株潭城市群生态系统健康评价

城市生态系统是一种高度人工化的自然-社会-经济复合生态系统,其健康状况直接影响到城市的可持续发展。针对城市生态系统健康评价标准的不确定性问题,在构建评价指标体系的基础上,提出了基于属性理论的城市生态系统健康评价模型及评价方法。以长株潭城市群为研究区域,运用该模型和方法对其生态系统健康进行了综合评价。评价结果表明：长株潭城市群的生态系统现状属于一般健康类,其中自然生态子系统对区域整体健康状况有较大影响,评价结果与实际情况大体吻合。通过对各子系统层的健康度分析,识别了健康限制因素,并提出了相应的调控措施。采用属性理论方法开展城市生态系统健康评价,能较好地识别系统层综合健康状况和子系统层的健康状况,具有一定的实用价值,其评价结果为促进城市生态建设,有效实施生态系统健康管理提供了科学依据。     

Urban planning and sustainable development under transitional economy: a case study of Guangzhou

There are always conflicts between the need for conservation and economic growth in the developing countries. Planning plays a primary role in balancing these conflicts. This is particularly obvious in Chinese cities since China adopted its open door policy in 1978. Foreign investment has been a major driving force for rapid growth of the Chinese economy. Planners in China have been facing the dilemma of protecting the natural environment on the one hand while, on the other hand, supporting the overall national goal of attracting foreign investment to maintain continuous economic growth. The planning system in China, which has been largely based on a planned economy, soon found itself handicapped in safeguarding the environment from rapid industrialization and urbanization fostered by market forces. This paper takes Guangzhou as an example to study challenges to the planning system in Chinese cities in the past two decades of rapid economic growth and urbanization. By means of a case study on an industrial development within a protected orchard area in Guangzhou, this study illustrates the conflict between the need for rural conservation and the pressure for economic development in the Chinese cities. In particular, it analyzes the pressures on the present urban planning system in China in terms of the following categories: the emergence of private investors in urban development; the goal of pursuing a high economic growth rate; the implications of a transitional economy for urban planning; and the weakness of the present urban planning system. It concludes that the role of urban planning in China should change from simply providing guidelines on board land-use strategy, to a combination of a strategic plan with specific development control laws at the operational level. Finally, some recommendations are suggested as to how to improve the planning system in China.     

Current situation and development of Chinese urban forestry

This paper introduces Chinese urban forestry research in terms of the concept, forest types, ecosystem services, spatial structure, planning and construction, assessment and management. Modern Chinese urban forest had a close relationship with traditional landscape architecture. Urban forest services had been quantified in some case cities, and determined by urban forest spatial patterns and internal structures. Based on landscape ecology and urban planning, urban forest spatial patterns have been analysed and planned rationally in some cities. However, studies on urban forestry generally lack long-term, continuous and systemic observations, as well as in-depth research on ecological processes and mechanisms. The development trends in urban forestry in China might include extensive application of '3S' technology, research on the relationship between urban forest landscape spatial patterns and their ecological effects, economic assessment, ecological and economic benefits and studies on the negative effects of pollutants.     

Different response of bacterial community to the changes of nutrients and pollutants in sediments from an urban river network

• Bacterial community varied spatially in sediments from the urban river network. • Key environmental factors shaping bacterial community were detected by RDA. • Bacterial co-occurrence networks changed at different levels of nutrient and metal. • Potential indicator species were selected to predict pollution risk in sediment. Microbial communities in sediment are an important indicator linking to environmental pollution in urban river systems. However, how the diversity and structure of bacterial communities in sediments from an urban river network respond to different environmental factors has not been well studied. The goal of this study was to understand the patterns of bacterial communities in sediments from a highly dense urbanized river network in the lower Yangtze River Delta by Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The correlations between bacterial communities, the environmental gradient and geographical distance were analyzed by redundancy analysis (RDA) and network methods. The diversity and richness of bacterial community in sediments increased from upstream to downstream consistently with the accumulation of nutrient in the urban river network. Bacterial community composition and structure showed obvious spatial changes, leading to two distinct groups, which were significantly related to the characteristics of nutrient and heavy metal in sediments. Humic substance, available nitrogen, available phosphorus, Zn, Cu, Hg and As were selected as the key environmental factors shaping the bacterial community in sediments based on RDA. The co-occurrence patterns of bacterial networks showed that positive interaction between bacterial communities increased but the connectivity among bacterial genera and stability of sediment ecosystem reduced under a higher content of nutrient and heavy metal in average. The sensitive and ubiquitous taxa with an overproportional response to key environmental factors were detected as indicator species, which provided a novel method for the prediction of the pollution risk of sediment in an urban river network.     

烟台市生态经济系统的能值分析

利用能值分析方法分析了2013年烟台市生态经济系统的能值流动状况,并提出了相应的能值利用调控对策。2013年烟台市生态经济系统的能值总用量为2.630×1023 sej,人均能值用量为4.044×10^16 sej,能值自给率为22.6%,能值密度为19.14×10^12sej/m^2,能值货币比率为2.848×10^12sej/,电力能值占能值总用量的比例为5.6%,由可更新资源及其产品支持的人口承载力为16.19×10^4人,由可更新资源及其产品、进口产品及技术共同支持的人口承载量为518.6×10^4人,能值可持续指标值为4.986。将上述计算结果与其它国家和地区进行比较表明：虽然目前烟台市经济较发达,能值利用效率和人民生活水平较高,生态经济系统的能值使用总体上符合区域可持续发展的要求,但系统能值自给率较低,生态环境比较脆弱,经济增长对外部输入的能源和资源依赖性较强。据此,提出了调整产业结构、转变经济增长方式、加强电力资源开发、发展科学教育事业等能值利用的调控对策。     

Simulating spatiotemporal dynamics of urbanization with multi-agent systems—A case study of the Phoenix metropolitan region, USA

Urbanization is a human-dominated process and has greatly impacted biodiversity, ecosystem processes, and regional climate. To understand the socioeconomic drivers of urbanization and project future urban landscape changes, multi-agent systems provide a powerful tool. We develop an agent-based model of urban growth for the Phoenix metropolitan region of the United States, which simulates the behavior of regional authorities, real estate developers, residents, and environmentalists. The BDI (Beliefs-Desires-Intentions) structure is employed to simulate the agents behavior and decision models. The heterogeneity of agents is reflected by adjusting parameters according to the agents’ beliefs, desires and preferences. Three scenarios, baseline, economic development priority and environmental protection, are developed and analyzed. The combination of multi-agent system and spatial regression model is employed to predict the future urban development of the Phoenix metropolitan region. Landscape metrics are used to compare the spatial patterns of the urban landscape resulting from different scenarios in different times. In general, with the rapid urban expansion, the shape of urban patches will become more regular as many of them become coalesced. The spatial analysis of urban development through modeling individual and group decisions and human-environment interactions with a multi-agent systems approach can enhance our understanding of the socioeconomic driving forces and mechanisms of urban development.     

中国的生态城市建设及生态产业方法在其中的作用

生态城市是一类具有经济高产生态高效的产业、系统负责社会和谐的文化、结构健康生命力强的景观的行政单元.其建设目标是通过规划、设计、管理和建设生态景观、生态产业和生态文化来实现结构耦合的合理、代谢过程的平衡和功能的可持续性.生态城市是以生态经济学、系统工程学为理论基础,通过改变生产方式、消费行为和决策手段,实现在当地生态系统承载能力范围内可持续的、健康的人类生态过程.体制整合、科技孵化、企业投资、公众参与和政府引导是生态城市发展的基本方法.清洁生产和生态产业是生态城市建设的关键.在搞好技术和管理的同时,怎样在局地和区域生态系统尺度上整合生产、消费和还原功能,建设一类和谐的生态景观,企业的空间和城市尺度应予以充分的重视.     

Comprehensive urban planning and management at multiple scales based on ecological principles: a case study in Beijing,China

SUMMARY

Rapid urbanisation and serious environmental problems have led people worldwide to realise the significance of urban planning and management towards a sustainable environment. Beijing was used as a case study to develop a framework and strategies for sustainable development using ecological principles. At the regional level, Beijing-Tianjin agglomeration and Hebei Province are considered together. At the Beijing administrative level, some important measures are put forward for revision of the Beijing Urban Master Plan. At the Beijing plain level, the future spatial structure of Beijing city and the relationship between settlements, green space and transportation are considered, and three basic development patterns are proposed. At the inner district level, the ecological corridor system is suggested, based on ecosystem services. At the selected area level, a comprehensive strategy and key measures for conservation and renewal of old Beijing city core are provided. Once strategies for Beijing urban development are implemented step-by-step, a vision for future development can be achieved. This paper provides considerations for improvement of urban planning and management in China and other countries.