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Spatio-Temporal Evolution of EIWB and Influencing Factors: An Empirical Study from the Yangtze River Delta

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Abstract

The fundamental goal of sustainable urban development is to maximize the human well-being with minimum ecological consumption. Based on the comprehensive urban well-being and ecological consumption in the Yangtze River Delta from 2000 to 2017, this paper analyzed the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of the ecological intensity of urban well-being (EIWB). The results show that the regional EIWB exhibited a declining annual trend, where less natural capital was consumed per-unit output of well-being. This suggested a gradual decoupling between urban well-being and natural capital consumption. The EIWB in most cities decreased at different rates and gradually evolved into low and lower type cities. In terms of coupling mode between comprehensive urban well-being and EIWB, the mode of low-EIWB with low-well-being and low-EIWB with high-well-being became increasingly dominant. The results also show the significant spatial association between comprehensive urban well-being and EIWB. The increase in urbanization level, the optimization of industrial structure, and the strengthening of environmental regulations had significantly negative effects on the EIWB. In contrast, population density and energy intensity had a positive and significant impact on EIWB, while the increase of consumption level had no significant influence on the EIWB.

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Acknowledgements

This work is founded by Humanities and Social Science Foundation of Ministry of Education of China [20YJCZH080] and the Jiangsu Provincial Social Science Foundation [20SHD009].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Tourism and Culinary Science, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225127, China

    Meijuan Hu

  2. School of Public Finance and Taxation, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Yumeng Pang

  3. Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China

    Tao Jin

  4. Research Institute of Central Jiangsu Development, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China

    Zaijun Li

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  1. Meijuan Hu
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Meijuan Hu, Zaijun Li; Methodology: Tao Jin, Zaijun Li; Formal analysis: Meijuan Hu, Zaijun Li; Writing-original draft: Meijuan Hu, Zaijun Li; Writing-review and editing: Meijuan Hu, Yumeng Pang.

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Correspondence to Zaijun Li.

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Hu, M., Pang, Y., Jin, T. et al. Spatio-Temporal Evolution of EIWB and Influencing Factors: An Empirical Study from the Yangtze River Delta. Appl. Spatial Analysis 14, 999–1024 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12061-021-09389-0

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