No abstract

Patterns of spatial development and protection form a basic category of geoscience, and redesigning them is a popular subject of research in regional sustainable development that is important for ecological civilization construction. The authors here report a case study of Wuhan city using the circuit theory model and minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model to rebalance its spatial protection and development. The results show the following: (1) Using the density of the gross domestic product (GDP), density of population, rate of urbanization, and access to transportation as evaluation indicators, seven core areas of development in Wuhan were identified, accounting for 59% of the total number of streets, that exhibited a "circular-satellite" spatial structure. (2) According to the importance of ecosystem services, ecological sensitivity, land use type, and slope of the terrain, the resistance surface of spatial development in Wuhan had a stereoscopic spatial form of an "inverted pyramid," with high surroundings and a low center. The area of low resistance accounted for 6.64% of the total area of Wuhan. (3) Based on coupling analysis using the MCR and spatial morphological characteristics of current, nine axes of spatial development with a total area of 427.27 km² and eight key strategic points with a total area of 40.02 km² were identified. Streets that were prioritized for development accounted for 9.63% of Wuhan's total area. (4) By combining the characterization of the development axis with the structure of the three-level core area, we extracted the structure of spatial development of "one heart, two wings, and three belts" in Wuhan. The research framework and empirical results can provide scientific guidance for the urban spatial layout, the development of regional linkages, and ecological environmental protection in China.

As the starting point of addressing the issue of “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” for a new era, a rural revitalization strategy is necessary and suits the realistic demand for high-quality development. At present, agro-pastoral ecotone in China is facing a series of ecological degradation and environmental pollution problems. The measurement and analysis of ecological efficiency play an important role in promoting the sustainable development of the agro-pastoral ecotone. Based on the theoretical discussion and empirical calculation, this study took Tongliao as a case area to explore the ecological efficiency issue. Firstly, the ecological efficiency of grass-based livestock husbandry in Tongliao from 2000 to 2019 was calculated by the DEA method, then the dynamic change of efficiency was dissected by the Malmquist index, and finally, multiple factors affecting the ecological efficiency of grass-based livestock husbandry were evaluated by Tobit model. The results showed that the ecological efficiency of grass-based livestock husbandry in the counties of Tongliao showed a growing trend from 2000 to 2019, and the average ecological efficiency increased from 0.88 to 1.17. The total factor ecological efficiency of the counties in Tongliao had increased year by year from 2000 to 2019, and it mainly depended on technological progress. The implementation of the national ecological protection policy and the increase of the output value and number of persons employed in grass-based livestock husbandry has significantly improved the ecological efficiency. However, the increase in the number of livestock, especially in the case of exceeding the carrying capacity of the grassland, was not conducive to the protection of grassland ecology. The key to realizing the revitalization of grass-based livestock husbandry in the future is to promote the coordinated development of economy and ecology through the improvement of management level and large-scale and standardized livestock breeding.

The sustainable development goals regard improving agricultural production efficiency (APE) as the main method to solve food security problems. Based on the geographical cognition, combined with the functional positioning, we used meta semi‐parametric linear programming and spatial convergence models to analyze the spatiotemporal convergence characteristics of APE in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2000 to 2020. The results show that (1) under the framework of metafrontier analysis, the APE increases while maintaining an olive‐shaped stable structure of “sharp at both ends and wide in the middle”; (2) the efficiencies in agricultural production areas and the middle reaches has obviously declined compared with that of non‐agricultural production areas; and (3) non‐spatial factors and spatial factors jointly drive the convergence. The research results can provide references for clarifying the evolution law of regional agriculture and formulating differentiation macro policies.

Industrial transformation and high-quality urban development have become the core issues of urban-rural coordination and the leap forward in development in the new era. The research perspective of ‘pattern-process-mechanism’ is needed to reveal the spatiotemporal correlation characteristics of industrial transformation and urban economic efficiency evolution, and to expand its systematic, comprehensive and regional characteristics. Based on the geographical cognitive of local effects and spatial non-stationarity, we used a quantile regression model and a geographically weighted regression model to analyze the dynamic mechanism of industrial transformation and urban economic efficiency to explain the path characteristics of urban development and industrial transformation of the Yangtze River economic belt. The conclusions are as follows: (1) From 2000 to 2015, the average economic efficiency in the Yangtze River economic belt increased from 0.05 to 0.332, and the pattern gradually changed from spatial homogeneity to spatial mosaic; (2) From 2000 to 2015, the range and intensity of industrial transformation in the Yangtze River economic belt showed an increasing trend, while the speed of industrial transformation showed a downward trend, and the high-value unit of the three showed the characteristics of gradual homogenization; (3) From the perspective of the impact of industrial transformation on urban economic efficiency, the impact of the range and speed of industrial transformation on urban economic efficiency was gradually weakened, while the impact of the intensity of industrial transformation on urban economic efficiency was gradually strengthened, and the patterns of the three show the characteristics of a spatially inverted U-shaped distribution with high values in the middle reaches and low values in the upstream and downstream areas.