Song Xiaoqing, Chang Kang-Tsung, Yang Liang, Scheffran Jürgen
Institute of Land Resources and Urban-Rural Planning, School of Geographical Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Department of Geography, National Taiwan University, 1, Roosevelt Road, Section 4, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2016 May 26;13(6):535. doi: 10.3390/ijerph13060535.
Driven by rising income and urban population growth, China has experienced rapid urban expansion since the 1980s. Urbanization can have positive effects on the urban environment; however, improvement of urban environment quality, especially its divergence between relatively developed and undeveloped cities in China, is currently a rather rudimentary and subjective issue. This study analyzed urban environmental benefits among China's prefectural cities based on their structure of urban land use in 2000 and 2010. First, we divided 347 prefectural cities into two groups, 81 coastal and capital cities in the relatively developed group (RD) and 266 other prefectural cities in the undeveloped group (RP). Then, we defined three areas of urban environmental benefits, including green infrastructure, industrial upgrade, and environmental management, and developed an assessment index system. Results showed that all prefectural cities saw improvement in urban environmental quality in 2000-2010. Although the RD cities had higher income and more population growth, they had less improvement than the RP cities during the same period. We also found that demographic and urban land agglomeration among RD cities restrained green infrastructure expansion, making green infrastructure unsuitable as a permanent solution to environmental improvement. It is therefore urgent for China to promote balanced improvement among the three areas of urban environmental benefits and between the RD and RP cities through regional differentiation policies.
受收入增长和城市人口增长的推动，自20世纪80年代以来，中国经历了快速的城市扩张。城市化对城市环境可能产生积极影响；然而，城市环境质量的改善，尤其是中国相对发达城市与欠发达城市之间的差异，目前是一个相当初步和主观的问题。本研究基于2000年和2010年中国地级市的城市土地利用结构，分析了城市环境效益。首先，我们将347个地级市分为两组，相对发达组（RD）中的81个沿海和省会城市，以及欠发达组（RP）中的266个其他地级市。然后，我们定义了城市环境效益的三个领域，包括绿色基础设施、产业升级和环境管理，并建立了一个评估指标体系。结果表明，2000 - 2010年期间，所有地级市的城市环境质量都有所改善。尽管RD组城市收入更高，人口增长更多，但同期它们的改善程度却低于RP组城市。我们还发现，RD组城市的人口和城市土地集聚抑制了绿色基础设施的扩张，使得绿色基础设施不适宜作为环境改善的永久性解决方案。因此，中国迫切需要通过区域差异化政策，推动城市环境效益三个领域之间以及RD组和RP组城市之间的平衡改善。
