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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 13303

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Debin Lu

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Guest Editor

Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: land use change; geospatial artificial intelligence; remote sensing; air pollution

Dr. Meimei Wang

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Guest Editor

College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Interests: urban resilience and planning; urban-rural integration; land use; population change; rural geography; social and development geography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Tingting He

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Guest Editor

Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: remote sensing; rcological restoration; geographic information system; land use changes; google earth engine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Clean air is a basic requirement for human survival and development. However, the disorderly expansion of cities and the unreasonable development of land use has made the total amount and scope of air pollutant emissions increase dramatically. This increase has caused the burden of air pollution on humans to increase. Currently, air pollution has seriously threatened human health and social well-being, especially in developing countries. National land space is affected by air pollution and it is also the place where the social economy occurs. The optimizing of structure, size, shape, and spatial distribution patterns of national land space could control urban air pollution by improving the mixing degree of land use and reducing traffic density, which is of great significance to sustainable urban development. In particular, the air pollution control and predictive analysis tools proposed through careful consideration of socio-economic and land-use changes will provide effective technical supports in air pollution control for governments and decision-makers.

This Special Issue seeks to compile studies regarding land-use change, air pollution, and their control policies in different areas from a wide range of disciplines, with the ultimate aim of contributing to the high-quality development of land use and improving urban air quality. This Special Issue welcomes all manuscripts presenting new and advanced scientific contributions in land use and environmental governance through social-ecological modeling, air pollution exposure modeling, satellite remote sensing using artificial intelligence technologies, big data processing and analysis, public policy analysis, as well as other related topics. We expect this Special Issue will become an important reference for state-of-the-art methods for sustainable land-use practices and environmental pollution governance.

Dr. Debin Lu
Dr. Meimei Wang
Dr. Tingting He
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

land use/land cover change
sustainable land use planning
urban air quality
artificial intelligence and air pollution
socio-economic and air pollution
environmental pollution government
environmental remote sensing
environmental big data

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 10862 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identification of Waterlogging-Prone Areas in Nanning from the Perspective of Urban Expansion

by Juan Huang, Jiangfeng Li and Zhi Huang

Sustainability 2023, 15(20), 15095; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152015095 - 20 Oct 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 851

Abstract

The objective of this study was to discern the spatial and temporal patterns of areas in Nanning that are susceptible to waterlogging, particularly during various phases of urban expansion. Furthermore, this study presents a proposal outlining strategies aimed at preventing and controlling waterlogging. These strategies are based on the integration of the concepts of sponge city and resilient city construction. This study employed remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques to provide technical support. The supervised classification method and normalized difference index method were utilized to compare and extract impervious surfaces in Nanning from 2013 to 2020. The present investigation utilized the acquired impervious surfaces to compute the fractal dimension as a weighting factor, incorporating a digital elevation model (DEM) for the purpose of conducting a hydrological analysis in ArcGIS. Based on the findings of the study, several conclusions can be derived. The following conclusions can be drawn from the study: (1) The fractal dimension of Nanning varied over the study period, with values of 1.32, 1.41, and 1.58 in 2013, 2017, and 2020, respectively. The distribution of impervious surfaces showed a decreasing trend from the city center to the periphery. Urban planning and construction activities have significantly influenced the distribution of impervious surfaces, resulting in a progressively more complex and unstable structure. (2) From 2013 to 2020, the urban expansion fractal dimension increased from 1.32 to 1.58, indicating a decrease in the stability of impervious surfaces. The areas with higher concentrations of impervious surfaces coincided with frequent waterlogging-prone areas. Furthermore, the distribution of waterlogging-prone points transformed from a concentrated pattern to a scattered one. (3) In terms of waterlogging prevention and control strategies, the old urban areas are recommended to be transformed into sponge city projects, and the new development areas are planned, designed and implemented with the concept of “resilience”. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use Change, Air Quality and Environmental Pollution Government)

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22 pages, 29248 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Urban Resilience of Important Node Cities in Population Migration under the Influence of COVID-19 Based on Mamdani Fuzzy Inference System

by Huilong Wang, Meimei Wang, Rong Yang and Huijuan Yang

Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14401; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914401 - 30 Sep 2023

Viewed by 736

Abstract

COVID-19 has resulted in a great inconvenience and has had a severe impact on the economy and residents’ daily life in China and even the world. Urban resilience, as the key representation of social and economic stability, can directly reflect the development and stability of cities. In addition, the Mamdani fuzzy inference system (MFIS), as one of the commonly used fuzzy inference systems, has been successfully applied in various application problems involving imprecise or vague information since it was proposed. In this paper, we mainly consider the urban resilience of 50 important node cities for population migration (50INCPM) in China in 2020 under the influence of COVID-19. We apply MFIS for approximating the urban resilience index (URI) based on multiple inputs, which includes the population density resilience index (PRI), gross domestic product per capita resilience index (GRI), in-degree centrality resilience index (IRI), out-degree centrality resilience index (ORI), confirmed cases number (CCN), recovery rate (RR) and mortality rate (MR). Meanwhile, based on the big data of population migration and COVID-19 data in China from 15 January to 15 March in 2020, we calculate the URI of 50INCPM in China in 2020 under the influence of COVID-19. Moreover, we show the spatial difference of URI and its changes in different stages. The results show that (1) the URI of 50INCPM decreases from the eastern coastal area to the western inland, and the cities with URI more than 0.5 are gathered in the eastern coastal area of China. As COVID-19 is controlled, the URI is gradually rising, and the growth rate of URI in southeast coastal cities exceeds that of inland cities. (2) The second-tier and third-tier cities have stronger resilience in the case of large-scale emergencies. (3) There exists a positive correlation in URI and RR. The expectation of the research finding gives a basis for judging the economic and social situation under the impact of COVID-19, which can help local governments accurately judge city resilience, and provide a reference for the decision on resuming production and work, so it is of positive significance for national economic resilience and social stability. Finally, on the basis of universal vaccine coverage, we hold that the GOC should promote the cities’ resilience in China, especially in the first-tier city in inland China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen). On the other hand, on the premise of implementing epidemic prevention and control measures, local governments should stimulate the resilience of each city in terms of population and economy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use Change, Air Quality and Environmental Pollution Government)

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19 pages, 4122 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Construction of Rural Multifunctional Landscape Corridor Based on MSPA and MCR Model—Taking Liukeng Cultural and Ecological Tourism Area as an Example

by Jiaqi Hu, Sheng Jiao, Huiwen Xia and Qiaoyun Qian

Sustainability 2023, 15(16), 12262; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151612262 - 11 Aug 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1158

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has caused serious negative impacts on the ecological and human landscapes of rural areas in China. By constructing a network of multifunctional landscape corridors, we can effectively connect landscape patches, reduce the danger of landscape fragmentation, and effectively protect rural areas′ ecological and human landscape resources. With the help of the Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) research method, the source sites for constructing landscape corridors were selected from the core areas that play an essential role in the performance of regional ecological functions, using the Liukeng Cultural and Ecological Tourism Area as the study area. The results of MSPA analysis are incorporated into the construction of the landscape resistance surface, the landscape corridor network is constructed using the minimum resistance model (MCR) and gravity model, and the landscape corridor network is improved by adding ecological steppingstones and humanistic landscape nodes. The results showed that ten important corridors and 13 secondary corridors were constructed based on 12 source patches in the study area; 5 ecological steppingstones and ten humanistic landscape nodes were added to the optimized network, 21 corridors were added, and 48 ecological breakpoints were proposed to be restored. The optimized network closure (0.65), line point rate (2.15), network connectivity (0.73), and other indicators indicate that the optimized study area has good connectivity of landscape corridors. The study provides a comparative analysis of landscape granularity suitable for mesoscale. Integrating historical and humanistic landscapes into the construction of landscape corridors is an optimization of previous studies that focused only on natural ecology and neglected historical and humanistic landscapes. The study can be a reference for future research on multi-functional landscape corridors and ecological networks in mesoscale and rural areas. At the same time, the construction of multifunctional landscape corridors can promote the conservation of natural and historical human landscapes and the future development of tourism in rural areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use Change, Air Quality and Environmental Pollution Government)

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18 pages, 4609 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Unmanaged Urban Growth in Dar es Salaam: The Spatiotemporal Pattern and Influencing Factors

by Yuke Yuan, Sophia Shuang Chen and Yi Miao

Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10575; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310575 - 5 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2002

Abstract

Uncontrolled urban expansion with rapid population growth causes great pressure on the urban environment. The index of impervious surface area (ISA) has recently been used for the dynamic monitoring of urban expansion. This paper takes Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania, as an example, combined with multi-source data to obtain urban impervious surface component data on an annual scale, based on which the spatial–temporal characteristics of the city’s expansion are concluded: first, urban expansion showed an evidently phased pattern, with a steady annual growth rate of 2.9% during 2000–2005, and a low rate of 1.4% during 2006–2010, then a relatively high rate of 3.3% in the period of 2011–2019. Secondly, urban expansion hotspots emerged in areas along the main roads extending from the center to the south and north, but coastal expansion and infilling development became evident after 2015, with the impervious surface significantly increasing in areas with poor traffic. Third, urban land expansion, which lags significantly behind population growth, has eased, as the ratio of population growth rate to land expansion is declining, from 2.9 in the period 2002–2012 to 2.0 in the period 2012–2019. Finally, the influence of population, economy, traffic and nature on the evolution of impervious surfaces are analyzed. This paper puts forward corresponding strategic suggestions for land-use policies and analyzes the trend of urban growth spatiotemporal patterns in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use Change, Air Quality and Environmental Pollution Government)

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14 pages, 3765 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Non-Grain Production of Cultivated Land in China

by Yingbin Feng, Mengxue Ke and Ting Zhou

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14286; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114286 - 1 Nov 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1269

Abstract

Non-Grain Production is verycommon to see in many areas in China, which threatens food security. To understand the spatio-temporal characteristics of NGP is helpful in mitigating it. This study has applied a new approach to measure the NGP rate. Results show that, the NGP rate reached the peak of 1.49 in 2003 across the 20 selected years. Moreover, the NGP rate was revealed to be higher in the north and the east compared to the south and the west. Additionally, the NGP rate is shown to move from north to south with a total of 68.78 km whenapplying the centroid migration model. The patterns of NGP are shown usingspatial heterogeneity: the high-high agglomeration pattern was revealed mainly in the north, while there are less provinces of this pattern as time goes by. In addition, the Theil index of the NGP rate indicates that the equity of NGP remains at a low level in the first ten years and getslarger and larger in the later ten years. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use Change, Air Quality and Environmental Pollution Government)

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16 pages, 10169 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Soil Salinization Risk by Remote Sensing-Based Ecological Index (RSEI) in the Bosten Lake Watershed, Xinjiang in Northwest China

by Jiawen Hou and Yusufujiang Rusuli

Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7118; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127118 - 10 Jun 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1733

Abstract

Accurate real-time information about the spatial and temporal dynamics of soil salinization is crucial for preventing the aggravation of salinization and achieving sustainable development of the ecological environment. With the Bosten Lake watershed as the study area, in this study, the regional risk factors of soil salinization were identified, the salinization information was extracted, and the remote sensing-based ecological index (RSEI) of soil salinization was assessed through the combined use of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques and measurements of soils samples collected from various field sites. The results revealed that (1) a four period (1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020) RS dataset on soil salinization allowed for the accurate classification of the land use/land cover types, with an overall classification accuracy of greater than 90% and kappa values of >0.90, and the salt index (SI), an RS-derived risk factor of soil salinization, was significantly correlated with the actual measured salt content of the surface soils. (2) The RS-derived elevation and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were significantly correlated with the SI-T. (3) An integrated risk assessment model was constructed for the soil salinization risk in the Bosten Lake watershed, which calculated the integrated risk index values and classified them into four risk levels: low risk, medium risk, high risk, and extremely high risk. (4) Due to the combined effect of the surface water area and terrain, the soil salinization risk gradually decreased from the lake to the surrounding areas, while the corresponding spatial range increased in order of decreasing risk. The areas with different levels of soil salinization risk in the study area during the last 30 years were ranked in decreasing order of medium risk > high risk > extremely high risk > low risk. These findings provide theoretical support for preventing and controlling soil salinization and promoting agricultural production in the study area. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use Change, Air Quality and Environmental Pollution Government)

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36 pages, 6771 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatio-Temporal Evolution Dynamic, Effect and Governance Policy of Construction Land Use in Urban Agglomeration: Case Study of Yangtze River Delta, China

by Biao Zhang, Dian Shao and Zhonghu Zhang

Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 6204; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106204 - 19 May 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2209

Abstract

The urban construction land change is the most obvious and complex spatial phenomenon in urban agglomerations which has attracted extensive attention of scholars in different fields. Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration is the most mature urban agglomeration in China, a typical representative in both China and the world. This paper analyzes the evolution dynamic, effect and governance policy of urban construction land in Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration 2011–2020 using a combination of BCG model, decoupling model and GIS tools. The findings are as follows. (1) There are large intercity differences in urban construction land in urban agglomerations, but the spatial heterogeneity is gradually decreasing. (2) The change trends and evolution patterns of urban construction land in urban agglomerations are increasingly diversified, with emergence of a variety of types such as rapid growth, slow growth, inverted U-shape, stars, cows, question and dogs. (3) The population growth, economic development and income improvement corresponding to the change of urban construction land in urban agglomerations have no desirable effect, with most cities in the expansive negative decoupling state. (4) The decoupling types show increasingly complex changes, in evolution, degeneration and unchanged states. Affected by economic transformation and the outbreak of COVID-19, an increasing number of cities are in strong negative decoupling and degeneration states, threatening the sustainable development of urban agglomerations. (5) Based on the division of urban agglomerations into three policy areas of Transformation Leading, Land Dependent, and Land Reduction, the response strategies for each are proposed, and a differentiated land use zoning management system is established. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use Change, Air Quality and Environmental Pollution Government)

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14 pages, 4952 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Interprovincial Differences in Air Pollution in the Background of China’s Carbon Neutrality Target

by Qi Zou, Jinhui Zhao, Yingying Sun, Chao He and Zhouxiang Zhang

Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 6200; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106200 - 19 May 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1502

Abstract

Increasing air pollution, particularly in terms of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and ozone (O₃), caused by large-scale fossil fuel combustion, affects human health and economic activities in China. In this study, we analyzed the spatiotemporal trends of carbon emissions, carbon emission intensity, and concentrations of PM_2.5 and O₃ in 30 provincial-level administrative regions of China during 2010–2019. Overall, an increasing trend was observed in carbon emissions, with high emissions occurring in Shandong, Hebei, and Jiangsu in particular. The highest growth rates of carbon emissions were 169% and 117% in Xinjiang and Ningxia, respectively. Conversely, the carbon emission intensities and concentrations of PM_2.5 and O₃ decreased across the study regions at different rates. The western and central regions experienced the greatest decrease in carbon emissions in 2019 compared with that of 2010, followed by those in the northeastern and eastern regions. Spatiotemporal variations suggest that pollution control is essential for improving air quality and offsetting the negative impact of increased energy consumption. Overall, this study shows that pollution control policies lead to short-term improvements in air quality, and hence that the implementation of stringent environmental protection policies is essential. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use Change, Air Quality and Environmental Pollution Government)

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