Comprehensive partitions and optimisation strategies based on tourism urbanisation and resources environment carrying capacity in the Yellow River Basin, China

A better understanding of the spatial coordination relationship between tourism urbanisation and resources environment carrying capacity (RECC) is vital for the regional selection of key eco-liveable tourist cities in the Yellow River Basin. This study addressed this research issue by evaluating and partitioning tourism urbanisation level and RECC of the Yellow River Basin in 2005, 2011, and 2018 using a geographic information system (GIS) technology, spatial autocorrelation model, and partition method. Empirical results suggest that the tourism urbanisation level of Shaanxi Province maintains its leading position, while Shanxi Province has great development potential. The high-value areas of RECC are concentrated in Gansu, Inner Mongolia, and Shandong provinces. The degree of spatial agglomeration of the tourism urbanisation level and RECC has been improved. The RECC exhibits a greater restrictive effect on the current high-level areas of tourism urbanisation, and the spatial correspondence between them is weak. Based on the findings of this study, a series of optimisation strategies have been proposed to promote the sustainable development of tourism urbanisation in the Yellow River Basin.

Spatial-temporal evolution of coupling relationship between land development intensity and resources environment carrying capacity in China

Land development poses challenges to the sustainable use of resources and environmental health in regions. This study explores the coupling relationship and its spatial-temporal evolution trend between land development intensity and resources environment carrying capacity of 31 provinces in China from 2005 to 2017. The information entropy method, coupling degree model, and coupling coordination degree model are used to calculate the index weight, coupling degree, and coupling coordination degree. The results show that: (1) Three change types of resources environment carrying capacity are presented with land development intensity increasing: first decrease and then increase; first increase and then decrease; and alternating fluctuations. (2) The proportion of construction land, GDP per land, and population density are dominate determinants of land development intensity, while the water resources per capita, energy consumption per unit of GDP, and per capita cultivated land area are that of resources environment carrying capacity. (3) From the perspective of temporal evolution, both coupling and coordination relationship were found to have continuously strengthened. (4) In terms of spatial evolution, the coupling level presented a constantly narrowing inter-regional gap, and the coordination level has changed from initial two-level differentiation to final regional gap narrowing. These findings can provide evidence in support for integrating land development with resources environmental protection to promote regional coordinated development.