•There is spatial non-stationarity and heterogeneity between landscape configuration and ecosystem service provision.•Spatial heterogeneity in landscape configuration and ecosystem service provision ...is decreasing.•Multiscale geographically weighted regression is effective for assessing the spatial relationship between landscape patterns and ecosystem services.•The results can provide a basis for the practical implementation of landscape planning and management.
Human activities have significantly impacted our landscapes and the functioning of our ecosystems. Landscape planning can be optimized by understanding the spatial relationships between landscape patterns and ecosystem services. However, existing research on these relationships is scarce. We sought to fill this gap with a case study of the Xiamen–Zhangzhou–Quanzhou area in China. Changes in landscape configuration were estimated in terms of the number of patches, edge density, Shannon's diversity index, and aggregation index. We applied the spatial analysis tools in GIS and InVEST to examine the following five ecosystem services: grain production, water retention, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and habitat quality. We performed multiscale geographically-weighted regression to investigate the spatial relationships between landscape configuration and the provision of ecosystem services between 2000 and 2020. The results showed that the landscape was fragmented and diversified with a decline in various ecosystem services. The spatial relationships were characterized by non-stationarity and heterogeneity. The effect of landscape configuration on ecosystem services generally weakened, and landscape aggregation had the strongest influence on service provision. Our findings serve as a reference for the formulation of policy on landscape planning and management.
Although exploring the homestead withdrawal (HW) mechanism can optimize the allocation of land resource elements, the livelihood sources of farmers will change and face different sources of risk. ...Many studies have explored various factors affecting the HW. However, studies simultaneously exploring the relationship among farmers’ internal livelihood capital and external risk prevention capabilities and HW including differences among various HW models are still limited. The present study constructed a simple theoretical framework and used the probit model to analyze the decision-making behavior of 367 farmers in the Jinjiang Pilot in Fujian Province of China. Specifically, this study explored the impact of farmers’ livelihoods including natural, financial, and human capitals and risk expectations. Such risk expectations involve living conditions, social security, residential environment, and psychological conditions on HW in asset replacement, index replacement, and monetary compensation model. The empirical findings indicated that the farmers’ livelihoods and risk expectations have inconsistent effects on farmers’ HW decision-making in all the models, except for risk expectations. In other words, social security and residential environment have a significant inhibitory effect. These results implied that differentiated policies for HW should be considered to enhance the farmer’s sustainable livelihood capacity and controllability of risk.
Urbanization and aging populations are threatening the sustainability of rural development around the world. Improving the happiness of rural residents is closely related not only to rural ...development but also to the harmony and stability of a country. Sustainable development has become an important strategy for China’s rural areas. Although withdrawal from rural homesteads is an important issue in rural land policy, few researchers have examined the determinants of the subjective well-being of farmers following withdrawal. The current paper investigated 315 rural residents under three models of the “withdrawal from homestead” policy in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province, China. The application of the orderly probit model revealed how satisfaction with economic, social, environment, cultural, and policy factors impacted their subjective well-being. The pooled results showed that satisfaction with cultural and policy factors had no significant impact; however, the other aspects significantly promoted their subjective well-being. The empirical model with interaction terms indicated the significant positive impact of economic, environmental, and social factors on subjective well-being under the index replacement model, while only environment and social factors exerted a significant positive impact under the asset replacement and monetary compensation models. Corresponding policy implications are discussed.
Unlike most studies on urban innovation, which focus on the effects of land-use policies, this study investigates the effect of urban innovation (UI) on land finance dependence (LFD). In China, ...innovation-related policies are intended to create a shared business environment where new entrepreneurs can contribute to achieving sustainable economic growth. This study analyzes the spatiotemporal dynamics of LFD and UI from 2005 to 2019 using the spatial autocorrelation model and dynamic spatial Durbin model. It finds a positive spatial association between LFD and UI throughout the studied regions during the study period. It also reveals a significant inhibitory effect of UI on LFD and a negative impact on the LFD of neighbouring cities. Moreover, the inhibitory effects will increase over time. Lastly, this study shows varied impacts of UI on LFD in different regions, especially in eastern China. Important policy recommendations for high-quality development in China are provided.
Ecological security patterns are an effective tool by which to balance economic development with ecological protection. This study used the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs ...(InVEST) model in conjunction with circuit theory to evaluate ecosystem quality from four dimensions: background conditions, topography, landscape structure, and ecological resistance. Our objective was to identify ecological “pinch points” in order to create an ecological security pattern that would be sustainable under a range of land use functions. We selected as the research target the Xia-Zhang-Quan metropolitan area in China due to the extensive soil erosion and general degradation of ecosystems caused by its rapid socio-economic development. Our analysis identified 17 ecological source sites covering 11,512 km2, which accounts for 45.36% of the total area. The inter-source corridor includes 31 key corridors and 10 potential corridors covering 3305 km. The average ecosystem quality of this area was estimated at 0.65 at an optimal granularity of 400 m. The distribution of resistance values in the study area was relatively concentrated with the land divided into an ecological buffer zone (34.6%), an environmentally sensitive zone (10.9%), and a blocking zone (9.2%). Our analysis also revealed various corridors based on the regional and functional characteristics of ecological elements and improvement strategies at the pinch points to help restore the function of ecological sources. Protection of these corridors will help to maintain regional ecological security patterns and optimize the structure of ecological spaces with the aim of achieving sustainable development.
Sustainable urban renewal has received tremendous academic attention and has been put into wide practice around the world. In order to avoid unsustainable renewal projects, the evaluation of the ...sustainability of urban renewal has become a critical procedure. However, there is an insufficient number of relevant studies on ex-ante evaluation compared to a large amount of literature focusing on ex-post evaluation. Most literature does not fully consider the interdependency between the dimensions/criteria of evaluation. How to utilize this to evaluate real cases is shortage. Hence, this study presents an ex-ante decision-making model for evaluating the sustainability of urban renewal projects based on hybrid multiple-attribute decision-making (MADM) from a government perspective, and includes three classical dimensions: economic (D1), social and cultural (D2), and environment (D3), as well as 13 relevant criteria. A case in Taiwan is used to evaluate the potential performance of sustainability and explore improvement strategies. Empirical results from the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) reveal that the social and cultural (D2) dimension impact the environment (D3) and economic (D1) dimensions, with the economic (D1) dimension being the most impacted by other dimensions. Enhancing transportation (C5), strengthening the accessibility of various public facilities (C4), preserving local culture (C9), increasing greening and open space (C10), and improving land-use efficiency (C3) are the criteria in the “cause” position, among which strengthening the accessibility of various public facilities (C4) and improving land-use efficiency (C3) are considered to be the core of urban renewal project sustainability based on DEMATEL and the DEMATEL-based analytic network process (DANP). The modified VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method indicated that the social and cultural (D2) and the environment (D3) dimensions have poor performance. Thereafter relevant improvement strategies and paths are suggested based on an influence network relation map (INRM). The results imply that recent urban renewal policy reform in Taiwan represents a step toward sustainable development.
•Exploring the interdependency between the dimension/criteria for ex-ante sustainable evaluation of urban renewal projects.•A new model of hybrid multiple-attribute decision-making is utilized.•A case in Taiwan is used to evaluate the potential of sustainability and explore improvement strategies.•Results indicate that social and cultural (D2) dimension impact the environment (D3) and economic (D1) dimensions.
The realization of sustainable social rental housing is regarded as an important policy to solve the housing burden, but social rental housing is often unsustainable. This study assesses the ...sustainability of social rental housing. However, the decision-making models, such as the classical decision-making hierarchy (AHP) used in the current study, conflict with the resolution of the complex influence of the relationship between evaluation dimensions/criteria. Based on this, we construct a new hybrid multi-attribute decision-making model (MADM) combining the Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), Fuzzy DEMATEL-based analytic network process (DANP) and the modified VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method for the sustainability assessment of government-led social rental housing (SRH) using Taiwanese experts as the subject of the investigation. The Fuzzy DEMATEL found that economic sustainability (D1), as the core dimension, affects environmental (D3) and social sustainability (D2). Furthermore, criteria with the “cause” position, including the reasonable development model (C2), the provision of living facilities and services needed (C5), the adoption of environmentally friendly technology and equipment (C10), guaranteed rent and lease (C1), the acquisition of working skill and employment opportunities (C6) and space planning and design (C3), should receive more attention from decision makers because improving these can further enhance the sustainability of the overall scheme. Combined with the DANP weight and modified VIKOR, we also indicate that these criteria should be optimized to make the evaluation more sustainable for a selected social housing case in Taiwan. The research also further proposes management strategy implications.
•The food waste composting facilities model was based on a new hybrid modified MADM.•The key driving aspect was based on the INRM and the proposed hybrid modified VIKOR.•The model rank and improve ...the three pre-selected locations in Miaoli County,Taiwan.•Not the environmental pollution, but the soical resistance has to be considered.
With the growth of population and the development of urbanization, waste management has always been a critical global issue. Recently, more and more countries have found that food waste constitutes the majority of municipal waste, if they are disposed of properly, will bring more benefits in sustainable development. Regarding the issue of selecting and improving the location to make the disposal facility towards achieving the aspiration level for sustainable development, since it involves multiple and complicated interaction factors about environment, society, and economy which have to be considered properly in the decision-making process of mutual influence relationship. It is basically a multiple attribute decision making (MADM) issue, a difficult problem which has been obsessing the governments of many countries is widely studied and discussed. This study uses the new hybrid modified MADM model, as follows, first to build an influential network relation map (INRM) via DEMATEL technique, next to confirm the influential weightings via DANP (DEMATEL-based ANP), and then to construct a decision-making model via a hybrid modified VIKOR method to improve and select the location for remaining the best disposal facilities. Finally, an empirical case study is illustrated to demonstrate that the proposed model can be effective and useful. In finding the process of decision making, environmental pollution is the main concern of many people in the area, but actually it is the resistance by the general public that has to be considered with first priority.
Abstract
Achieving sustainable rural development is essential for countries worldwide to balance development between urban and rural areas; especially, sustainable social development is crucial. In ...the face of rapid urbanization in China, the withdrawal of rural homesteads (WRH) has become the core policy for attaining sustainable rural development. Compared with the literature that focuses on the economic or environmental impacts of the policy, few studies have evaluated how social sustainability is accomplished through such land-reform policies. Given the consensus that exploring sustainability emphasizes complex causal relationships between multiple dimensions, assessment models must further consider interdependencies. Based on Chinese expertise and perspective, this study proposes a hybrid multi-attribute decision analysis model to evaluate the contribution of WRH policies toward social sustainability. First, the Delphi method was used to build evaluation criteria covering four dimensions—the socio-ecological environment, social welfare, social equity, and social inclusion—and 20 criteria were based on the existing literature. Second, influential network relations maps (INRMs) were constructed based on the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), considering complex causal relationships between dimensions and criteria to further identify the key evaluation criteria for the social sustainability of the homestead exit policy. The results show that the five subdimensions are key to achieving sustainable social development through WRH. Based on our results, we propose certain policy recommendations.
Identifying relevant location determinants is a good starting point for shop operators, help to increase profitability and, thus, avoiding business failure. Traditional Analytic Hierarchy Process ...(AHP) or the Analytic Network Process (ANP) have shortages that require improvement. Herein, Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), ANP based on DEMATEL (DANP), and modified Vlse Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (modified VIKOR) are used to construct a hybrid multiple-attribute decision making (MADM) model, encompassing three dimensions and thirteen criteria in exploring the location determinants of Asia’s unique Bubble Tea Shops (BTSs) and to evaluate three preselected alternatives in Nanjing, China. The empirical findings of the DEMATEL method reveal that traffic traits (D1) and site traits (D2) are critical to BTSs, and that once these are enhanced, shop traits (D3) are also improved. Criteria deemed as important, based on the DEMATEL and DANP methodology, are (in descending order): proximity to a street corner (C2), proximity to public transportation systems (C1), road width (C3), proximity to communities (C5), proximity to commercial areas (C6), types of shop (C9), and proximity to schools (C7). Different decision-making rankings among alternatives are indicated based upon the modified VIKOR method and corresponding strategies for improvement are presented.
PDF
