Search Results (1,593)

Tourism destinations consume vast quantities of energy, water, food, and materials, yet these resource flows remain largely invisible in destination planning practice. The aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that reconceptualises tourism destinations as industrial ecosystems and makes their material and energy flows visible, quantifiable, and amenable to destination-scale planning. Existing frameworks prioritise governance and demand management, leaving the material dimension of sustainability unaddressed. To this end, the paper proposes a multi-scale resource-flow framework grounded in industrial ecology. This is a conceptual framework paper: it develops analytical architecture for destination-scale resource accounting rather than reporting empirical measurements. The framework organises four analytical components—actors, flows, structural configurations, and feedback mechanisms—across macro, meso, and micro scales. Three planning capabilities are advanced: supply-chain-complete environmental accounting, resource hotspot detection, and policy design along the full causal chain from structural arrangement to environmental outcome. Material flow analysis, life cycle assessment, and industrial symbiosis mapping are presented as operational tools, illustrated through reference to high-intensity coastal tourism systems. Industrial symbiosis is positioned as a structural mechanism through which by-product valorisation reduces destination-level resource throughput. The study contributes a bridging framework between governance-oriented tourism planning and the material accounting rigour of industrial ecology, distinguishing it from circular economy models that supply a design principle but no material accounting, from urban metabolism approaches that assume temporally stable flows, and from regenerative development that is values-based rather than quantitative. The framework offers a foundation for more integrated and resource-efficient destination sustainability planning. Full article

As the development and utilization of underground spaces in coastal cities receive growing emphasis and continue to expand, the secondary disasters of underground flooding triggered by storm surges have become increasingly frequent in recent years. Consequently, the need for emergency evacuation in these spaces has grown more urgent, making the challenge of safe evacuation increasingly critical. However, the classical social force model shows notable limitations in simulating such scenarios, particularly in its lack of characterization of hydrodynamic resistance, heterogeneous pedestrian mobility, and organized guidance mechanisms. Therefore, this paper proposes an improved social force model for more realistically simulating the microscopic dynamics of pedestrians in underground floodwater environments. By extending the classical model, a flood resistance force term is introduced. Furthermore, the model comprehensively considers the varying speeds of pedestrians with heterogeneous attributes—such as age, height, and gender—under different water depths, quantifying the impact of the flood environment on pedestrian mobility. Simultaneously, a leader–follower guidance mechanism is integrated to simulate the influence of organized command behavior on group movement. Simulation experiments in typical underground flood scenarios were conducted to validate the proposed model. Simulation results indicate that flood resistance significantly reduces evacuation efficiency, and heterogeneous pedestrian factors such as age distribution also have a considerable impact. The quantitative findings are as follows: flood resistance increased total evacuation time by 9.3% (from 37.5 to 41.0 s) and decreased the average evacuation rate by 8.6%; similarly, raising the proportion of elderly pedestrians from 20% to 30% prolonged total evacuation time by 9.4% and reduced the average evacuation rate by 8.6%. These outcomes verify the effectiveness of the improved model in characterizing heterogeneous pedestrian behavior in underground flooding scenarios. This study provides a more refined theoretical model and simulation tool to support the development of emergency evacuation plans for underground spaces during floods. Full article

Continuous dynamic monitoring of coastline changes is essential for revealing the evolutionary laws and spatiotemporal characteristics of coastal systems. In this study, we employed AlphaEarth Foundations (AEF) data and Sentinel-2 imagery to investigate coastline and land use changes in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) region over the period 2017–2023. The Random Forest (RF) algorithm was adopted to extract coastlines and classify coastal land-use types, after which their spatiotemporal evolution was quantitatively analyzed. The results demonstrate that the classification performance of AEF data is significantly better than that of Sentinel-2 imagery, with the average overall accuracy and Kappa coefficient exceeding 92% and 89%, respectively. The PRE coastline shows an evolutionary pattern of “overall contraction accompanied by regional differentiation”: its total length first increased and then decreased, peaking at 1029.05 km in 2019, representing a cumulative net reduction of 7.54 km over the 2017–2023 period. Meanwhile, land use expansion driven by reclamation resulted in a cumulative net increase of 25.26 km². Aquaculture ponds (AP) constitute the dominant type of newly reclaimed land, accounting for more than 50%, while the expansion of impervious surface (IS) accounts for 24.52%. This study provides novel insights and a scientific basis for the refined management of coastlines, sustainable land use planning, and coastal-marine ecological protection in the Pearl River Estuary and similar regions worldwide. Full article

Land capitalization has become one of the central issues in contemporary China’s economic development and land system reform. Existing scholarship has predominantly approached this topic from the perspectives of effects, governance, and property rights, while a spatial analytical lens remains conspicuously absent. This study draws on the theoretical perspective of the production of space (spatial politics) and selects Xunliao Bay, a coastal tourism destination currently undergoing rapid land capitalization, as a typical case. Based on qualitative methods, including three-phase, five-time interviews and non-participatory observation conducted in Xunliao Bay, it investigates the spatial logic and restructuring processes of land capitalization in coastal tourism areas. The findings reveal that: (1) Land capitalization in coastal tourism destinations is essentially a process of the spatialization of capital, following a logical sequence of “spatial occupation–spatial planning–spatial production.” (2) In Xunliao Bay, land capitalization has generated multifaceted spatial consequences, leading to the reconfiguration of land property rights, land functional attributes, and land morphology. (3) Far from being a purely economic value-adding endeavor, land capitalization in coastal tourism destinations constitutes a spatial political process fraught with power struggles, interest negotiations, and conflicts. In this process, capital forges “growth coalitions” with local governments to complete land consolidation and property rights restructuring, subsequently redefines land attributes through planning mechanisms to safeguard its own interests, and ultimately engages in selective land use to carry out landscape construction and spatial production, thereby profoundly reshaping the local socio-spatial fabric. This study extends the spatial perspective and tourism context within land capitalization research and deepens the theoretical understanding of land capitalization as a socio-spatial and political process. Full article

Sea level rise poses a major threat to dry beach areas, particularly in low-lying and managed coastal environments. Reliable assessments of future beach vulnerability therefore require the combined consideration of sea level rise, tidal regime, meteorological forcing, and wave-driven processes. Here, a physically based methodology is applied to evaluate future inundation and beach response at five representative sandy beaches along the southern coast of Spain. The selected sites span mesotidal Atlantic and microtidal Mediterranean settings. The approach integrates present-day conditions with sea level rise projections under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, astronomical tide, and meteorological residuals. Wave run-up is estimated using the IH2VOF CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) model. Extreme still water levels and maximum inundation levels are derived for mid-century (2026–2045) and end-of-century (2081–2100) periods, and their impacts on available dry beach surface and beach width are quantified using cross-shore profiles. Results indicate a progressive reduction in dry beach surface and width across all sites, with impacts intensifying from mid- to end-century and from moderate to high-emission scenarios. While losses remain comparatively moderate under still-water assumptions, the inclusion of wave effects leads to substantially larger impacts. At the most vulnerable sites, dry beach surface losses reach up to 80% under still-water conditions, and up to complete loss (100%) when wave run-up is included, particularly along the mesotidal Atlantic coast. Overall, the results demonstrate that neglecting wave run-up can lead to a substantial underrepresentation of future beach inundation, and that its explicit inclusion provides a more reliable basis for beach management and adaptation planning under sea level rise. Full article

China has established the world’s largest municipal wastewater treatment system through rapid infrastructure expansion over the past two decades. However, under the transition from infrastructure expansion toward urban renewal and low-carbon development, wastewater systems are increasingly challenged by regional imbalances and structural inefficiencies. Existing studies have primarily focused on individual facilities or specific operational issues, while multidimensional system-level assessments remain limited. To address this gap, this study proposed a multidimensional assessment framework for evaluating wastewater system development in China from three dimensions: infrastructure adequacy, operational performance, and adaptive capacity. Based on national and provincial statistical data, regional disparities and development patterns were systematically analyzed using correlation analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis. Results showed that treatment capacity expansion in several provinces outpaced sewer network development, resulting in low hydraulic loading rates and underutilized facilities. Extraneous water infiltration remained a widespread issue, increasing unnecessary wastewater handling, energy consumption, and treatment burden. Reclaimed water development was influenced more strongly by policy-oriented planning and water resource constraints than by economic level alone. In addition, eastern coastal provinces generally demonstrated stronger infrastructure adequacy and operational performance, whereas several western and northeastern provinces remained constrained by insufficient adaptive capacity and sewer coordination. Overall, China’s wastewater sector is transitioning from treatment-oriented expansion toward system-oriented renewal. Future strategies should prioritize sewer rehabilitation, hydraulic efficiency improvement, reclaimed water integration, and adaptive infrastructure planning. The proposed framework can support future infrastructure monitoring, regional policy evaluation, and low-carbon wastewater system transformation. Full article

New energy vehicle (NEV) charging facilities are not only a key support for new transportation infrastructure, but also an important catalyst for reshaping urban spatial functions and vitality. Exploring the nonlinear correlation between their spatial layout and urban vitality is of great significance for optimizing urban spatial structure. This paper takes 2853 districts and counties across the country from 2013 to 2022 as the research object, constructs a multidimensional urban spatial vitality measurement system, analyzes the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the two using a coupling coordination degree model, and introduces an integrated spatiotemporal nonlinear regression (ISTNR) model to identify the driving mechanism and interactive effects of spatial vitality factors on charging pile distribution. The results show that: (1) the spatial distribution of charging piles and urban spatial vitality in China exhibit significant “high–high” agglomeration and spatiotemporal coordination characteristics; (2) the coupling coordination degree between the two shows a stable trend, but there is significant regional imbalance, with higher coordination levels in eastern coastal urban agglomerations; (3) the ISTNR model is superior to traditional GTWR and random forest models in dealing with spatiotemporal heterogeneity and nonlinear relationships, and can more accurately depict complex geological processes; (4) urban spatial vitality has a significant nonlinear driving mechanism on charging pile distribution, with factors such as the density of catering, commercial, and medical facilities being the most closely related to charging pile distribution, and there is a clear interactive effect, which has a significant impact on the marginal driving effect of charging pile layout. The research results provide a theoretical basis for the precise planning and spatial quality improvement of urban charging infrastructure. Full article

Over the past decade, state-led waterfront projects in the Gulf region have emerged as an intriguing urban phenomenon, repositioning World Heritage Sites (WHSs) located along coastal zones within large-scale urban development. In a region increasingly exposed to urban transformation and a hot-arid climate, these waterfront transformations also intersect with the emerging need for climate-adaptive urban resilience. While such projects are often framed as a means of contemporary extension of heritage assets, their implications for WHSs remain underexamined. This study investigates how state-led waterfront developments in the peripheries of the World Heritage Sites function as socio-spatial mediators that reconnect maritime heritage with these sites while enhancing or undermining urban resilience and climate adaptability. Drawing on comparative case studies from the Historic Jeddah (inscribed in 2014) and the Pearling Testimony of an Island Economy, Muharraq, Bahrain (inscribed in 2012), the data collection comprises literature synthesis, policy and planning documents, state-led waterfront proposals, and site observations, analyzed through the Comprehensive Waterfront Development Index (CWDI) framework. The analysis expands the existing six dimensions of the CWDI framework to eight dimensions and dissects two of the dimensions to a further two more. This expansion and dissection contextualize waterfront developments as socio-spatial mediators re-connecting maritime heritage with the WHSs. Findings reveal that while both cases integrate CWDI dimensions, social integration is limited, whereas climate adaptation remains absent, diminishing the urban resilience of the WHS. By doing so, this study contributes to broader debates on sustainable development and climate-adaptive urban resilience in rapidly transforming peripheries of WHSs. Full article

Marine spatial planning instruments often exhibit a gap between regulatory design and on-the-ground effectiveness. This study examines this gap in Mexico’s marine Ecological Territory Management Programs (POETs) within the Mexican Coastal Zone (MCZ) using a novel operational analysis methodology grounded in the logic of necessary determinants 32. We propose an operability conceptualization defined as the latent functionality of a policy instrument, only realized when specific contextual prerequisites are present, shifting analytical focus from policy design to preconditions for effective functioning. Derived from doctoral research reviewing over 300 sources on Mexican ecological planning and coastal management, we identify 47 necessary determinants organized by level of government (municipal, state, federal), validated through a documentary sample of 22 sources. The MCZ encompasses 264 municipalities (154 with coastline and 110 influenced), 24,945 km of coastline (1:50,000 scale), and 10,570 km² of continental shelf. Marine POETs operate within a complex public management system comprising over 500 legal instruments and approximately 300 public operators safeguarding the environmental rights of 25.6 million coastal inhabitants. Despite this, persistent environmental degradation and unresolved land-use conflicts point to a systemic operability deficit. We provide a transferable analytical framework for diagnosing policy implementation failures in complex coastal governance systems. Full article

As they are home to numerous significant ecosystems, natural resources, and a growing population, coastal regions are among the most vital locations on Earth. This study, pertaining to the east coast of the UAE, integrates nine distinct characteristics to provide a thorough methodology for assessing integrated coastal vulnerability. Land use and land cover (LULC), nearshore bathymetry, coastal geomorphology, coastal slope, shoreline erosion and deposition, population density, wave and tide, and nearshore benthic features are important parameters that are examined. For the first time, coastal benthic features are included to assess coastal vulnerability in this region. By combining the variably weighted rank values of the nine variables, an Integrated Coastal Vulnerability Index was created, which divides the coastline into low-, moderate-, and high-risk categories. The methodology improves the precision of regional risk assessments by combining these factors with data from real-time coastal surveillance. Approximately 26.4% of the UAE’s 178 km east coast (or 47.1 km) is at high risk, followed by 17.3% (or 30.9 km) at moderate risk and 56.3% (or 100.2 km) at low risk. The offshore areas of the east coast of the UAE are prone to shoaling and tunneling effects from incoming high waves at certain areas due to the concave-shaped bathymetry and medium-range canyons present, which exacerbate storm surges or tsunamis due to the shoaling effect. For a 3 m rise in sea level, most significantly, 5.58 km² of plantation and 14.39 km² of residential areas will be damaged in the Kalba and Fujairah regions. Additional commercial spaces totaling 1.07 km² will also have an impact, adding to the existing 2.59 km² of oil bunkers in Fujairah. More than 40,000 people who live within 3.0 m of the UAE’s east coast in six separate districts—Kalba, Fujairah City, Mirbah and Qidfa, Khorfakkan, Dadna and Bidya, and Dibba—will be impacted if a tsunami wave or storm surge of three meters strikes the east coast. Our results are intended to assist government agencies, coastal planners, and policymakers in the Northeast Emirates (Fujairah and Sharjah) in creating sustainable and successful adaptation and mitigation plans for areas most vulnerable to coastal hazards. In addition to enhancing scientific knowledge of coastal vulnerabilities, this integrative method is a useful tool for making well-informed decisions in the face of shifting socio-economic and climatic situations. Full article

Malaysia plans to produce 80% of its rice requirement by 2030. To achieve the plan, new agronomic approaches have to be put in place to enhance the fertility of rice soils in the country. One of the options is to turn the infertile acid sulfate soils endemic in the low-lying coastal plains of Peninsular Malaysia into a new granary area. Using traditional agro-techs, rice yield in the area is below the national average of 4 t/ha/season. The low yield is due to soil acidity stress (pH < 4) together with Al³⁺ and/or Fe²⁺ toxicity. The critical pH for rice is 6, while the respective critical Al³⁺ and Fe²⁺ concentrations are 5.2 µM and 14.6 µM. The adverse conditions contributing to yield reduction can be resolved by applying appropriate soil amendments known to raise water pH, eliminating the toxic cations. The recommended agronomic practice is to apply ground magnesium limestone (GML) or ground basalt, or better still, apply GML or ground basalt in combination with bio-fertilizer, fortified with phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB). The PSB increases water pH as well as helps rice plants secrete organic acids that reduce the toxic effects of Al³⁺ and Fe²⁺ via chelation. When pH rises >5, the toxic metals are precipitated, forming inert hydroxides. Ultimately, rice yield can be increased from 3 to 5 t/ha/season, which can last more than three consecutive cropping seasons. If this agro-tech is adopted throughout ASEAN, food security in the region will be sustained. Full article

Small Mediterranean islands relying on the sun–sea–sand (3S) tourism model face growing climate risks that threaten their tourism-dependent economies. This study evaluates climate suitability for 3S tourism on the Island of Vis by integrating the Climate Index for Tourism (CIT) with land- use and land-cover (LU/LC) spatial analysis. The integration is operationalized by overlaying CIT-derived seasonal suitability windows with LU/LC-based spatial vulnerability maps, enabling identification of micro-zones where natural buffers (forest cover and elevation) can offset thermal discomfort during peak heat stress periods. Observed data reveals declining ideal 3S conditions from July to October, with the island already exceeding 50 days per year of Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) above 35.1 °C, increasing by 0.7 days per year. Regional climate models tend to exhibit a cold bias over small Adriatic islands, largely related to their limited spatial horizontal resolution (12.5 km grid spacing). However, they robustly reproduce the direction of recent and projected warming trends. Future projections indicate that the annual number of strong heat stress days with PET above 35.1 °C increase from approximately one per year in the reference period to six under RCP4.5 and nine under RCP8.5, with both scenarios reducing ideal peak-summer conditions while extending favorable periods into transitional seasons. Spatial analysis shows that coastal zones have higher sealed surfaces and less forest cover, reducing natural shade and cooling capacity, while the island interior offers higher elevations, forest buffers, hiking trails, and a UNESCO Global Geopark. Drawing on social–ecological resilience theory, we conceptualize the island’s tourism system as an adaptive unit whose long-term viability depends on spatially diversified resource use and temporally extended seasonality. The integrated analytical framework identifies not only when conditions deteriorate but where alternative tourism resources exist, enabling more targeted adaptation planning and supporting diversification toward outdoor tourism forms. The novelty of this study lies in the systematic spatial integration of bioclimatic suitability assessments (CIT and PET) with LU/LC analysis at the micro-island scale. Such an approach moves beyond temporally focused climate–tourism indices to produce actionable, location-specific adaptation strategies. Full article

As coastal communities face escalating climate risks driven by climate change and biodiversity loss, integrating mangrove ecosystems into sustainability-oriented governance frameworks spanning ecological conservation, climate adaptation, and natural capital accounting has become a global priority. However, quantifying their protection values based on spatiotemporal shoreline dynamics under extreme disturbance remains challenging. Focusing on Dongzhai Harbor (China), this study integrates multi-temporal remote sensing (2010–2021), shoreline evolution analysis, and the Replacement Cost Method to assess ecosystem resilience against Super Typhoon Rammasun in 2014. Results show mangroves exhibited substantial post-disturbance resilience, with only 6.10% area loss following Typhoon Rammasun and 46% natural recovery within six years. Bootstrap confidence intervals for the mangrove-shoreline association overlapped zero across all three temporal periods, indicating that the observational data do not support a statistically confirmed causal protection effect at the landscape scale. This finding underscores that spatially co-occurring ecosystem services do not automatically imply causation, reinforcing the need for empirically grounded valuation in sustainable land-use planning. Because mangroves naturally establish in sheltered environments, the observed spatial overlap between mangroves and the shoreline cannot be interpreted as direct evidence of causal shoreline stabilization. Based on this framework, the potential protection value reached 907.65 × 10⁴ CNY yr⁻¹ across 32.57 km of weighted coastline aligned with mangroves. Notably, erosional segments contributed 50.5% of this value despite comprising only 27.3% of the length, indicating that the replacement-cost estimate is concentrated in erosional segments under the assumed parameters. While acknowledging the need for local biophysical validation and uncertainty analysis in scaling, these findings support integrating dynamic nature-based solutions into territorial planning and Gross Ecosystem Product accounting. The resulting valuation framework offers a replicable pathway for advancing multi-dimensional sustainability encompassing climate-adaptive coastal governance, natural capital integration, and evidence-based coastal spatial planning. Full article

Traditional villages in the Chaoshan region serve as living repositories of local cultural heritage. Their concentrated and coordinated conservation and utilization can transcend administrative boundaries, enabling the integrated allocation of regional resources and the enhancement of cultural synergy. Currently, conservation practices for traditional villages are largely limited to piecemeal rescue efforts focused on individual villages. There is a lack of systematic understanding from a regional perspective and an explanation of the mechanisms underlying the formation of local landscapes, which hinders the realization of economies of scale in conservation and the development of cultural synergy. To explore effective approaches for the cluster-based conservation of traditional villages in China’s Lingnan coastal region, as well as the characteristics of human–land relationships and their adaptive mechanisms, this study focuses on 115 national and provincial-level traditional villages in the Chaoshan region. By introducing methods of single-factor and multi-factor cluster identification, the study innovatively constructs a four-dimensional cluster identification framework comprising “spatial proximity, geomorphological similarity, cultural convergence, and residential isomorphism,” and, utilizing the ArcGIS platform for coupled analysis, kernel density analysis, cluster identification, and field surveys, systematically analyzed the diverse typologies and landscape-specific characteristics of traditional village clusters in the Chaoshan region. The results indicate the following: (1) The identification of Chaozhou–Shantou traditional village clusters reveals three diverse types—comprehensive, distinctive, and potential—reflecting the richness and diversity of these clusters in the region. (2) Spatially proximate clusters exhibit a single-core, multi-point distribution, topographically similar clusters show differentiated distributions across plains and river valleys, culturally convergent clusters are significantly correlated with cultural carriers such as postal routes, water transport, and trade, and residential distributions are significantly correlated with topography and landforms, collectively constituting the unique character of Chaozhou–Shantou traditional village clusters. (3) Traditional villages in Chaoshan exhibit significant coupling with the natural environment, forming diverse spatial siting patterns in relation to mountains, water, forests, fields, and the sea, reflecting differentiated adaptation to and ingenious utilization of the natural environment. (4) The adaptive mechanism of the landscape of traditional Chaozhou–Shantou villages can be distilled into a three-tiered structure, natural adaptation as the foundation, social adaptation as the framework, and cultural adaptation as the soul, revealing the spatial planning wisdom of the Chaozhou–Shantou people in complex mountain and coastal environments. This study not only deepens our understanding of the human–land relationship in traditional villages of the Chaoshan region but also provides scientific evidence and theoretical support for the holistic preservation of cultural heritage and regional coordinated development. It holds significant practical value for promoting the protection and sustainable development of rural cultural heritage in the Lingnan coastal region. Full article

Aquaculture ponds and salt pans represent the dominant forms of coastal production spaces along the Jiangsu coast, China; however, their long-term co-evolution and mutual transitions remain poorly understood. To bridge this gap, this study developed a 40-year (1985–2025) spatiotemporal dataset of these land covers leveraging Landsat imagery via the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. We established an integrated classification workflow encompassing single-scene water mask extraction, annual Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI)-based water frequency statistics, Otsu automatic thresholding, connected-component labeling, and the masking of natural water bodies. The resulting dataset demonstrated high reliability, achieving overall accuracies (OA) ranging from 92.32% to 94.15% and an average Kappa coefficient of 0.89. Based on multi-metric analyses of area dynamics, annual change rates, and transition patterns, we identified three distinct co-evolutionary stages: simultaneous expansion (1985–1995), internal reorganization (1995–2015), and overall contraction (2015–2025). Notably, transitions between the two production spaces were highly asymmetric over the 40-year period; the area converted from salt pans to aquaculture ponds was approximately 15.23 times greater than the reverse conversion. Furthermore, their distribution exhibited strong spatial heterogeneity at the county level, underscoring the critical role of localized coastal planning in balancing economic production and wetland conservation. Ultimately, this work provides foundational data and methodological insights for long-term coastal ecological monitoring and sustainable production space management. Full article