Search Results (70)

Corporate environmental claims often neglect the substantial ecological impact of land-use changes. This case study examines the spatial dimension of retail-driven land-use transformation by analyzing supermarket expansion in the Veneto region (northern Italy), with a focus on a large grocery retailer. We evaluated its corporate environmental claims by assessing land consumption patterns from 1983 to 2024 using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The GIS-based methodology involved geocoding 113 Points of Sale (POS—individual retail outlets), performing photo-interpretation of historical aerial imagery, and classifying land-cover types prior to construction. We applied spatial metrics such as total converted surface area, land-cover class frequency across eight categories (e.g., agricultural, herbaceous, arboreal), and the average linear distance between afforestation sites and POS developed on previously rural land. Our findings reveal that 65.97% of the total land converted for Points of Sale development occurred in rural areas, primarily agricultural and herbaceous lands. These landscapes play a critical role in supporting urban biodiversity and providing essential ecosystem services, which are increasingly threatened by unchecked land conversion. While the corporate sustainability reports and marketing strategies emphasize afforestation efforts under their “We Love Nature” initiative, our spatial analysis uncovers no evidence of actual land-use conversion. Additionally, reforestation activities are located an average of 40.75 km from converted sites, undermining their role as effective compensatory measures. These findings raise concerns about selective disclosure and greenwashing, driving the need for more comprehensive and transparent corporate sustainability reporting. The study argues for stronger policy frameworks to incentivize urban regeneration over greenfield development and calls for the integration of land-use data into corporate sustainability disclosures. By combining geospatial methods with content analysis, the research offers new insights into the intersection of land use, business practices, and environmental sustainability in climate-vulnerable regions. Full article

Cropland is a critical resource for safeguarding food security. Ensuring both the quantity and quality of cropland is essential for achieving zero hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture. However, whether urbanization-induced cropland loss poses a substantial threat to regional food security remains a key concern. This study examines the central region of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in China, integrating CLCD (China Land Cover Dataset) land use/cover data (2001–2023), MOD17A2H net primary productivity (NPP) data, and statistical records to evaluate the impacts of urban expansion on grain yield. The analysis focuses on three components: (1) grain yield loss due to cropland conversion, (2) compensatory yield from newly added cropland under the requisition–compensation policy, (3) yield increases from stable cropland driven by agricultural enhancement strategies. Using Sen’s slope analysis, the Mann–Kendall trend test, and hot/coldspot analysis, we revealed that urban expansion converted approximately 14,598 km² of cropland, leading to a grain production loss of around 3.49 million tons, primarily in the economically developed cities of Yancheng, Nantong, Suzhou, and Shanghai. Meanwhile, 8278 km² of new cropland was added through land reclamation, contributing only 1.43 million tons of grain—offsetting just 41% of the loss. In contrast, stable cropland (102,188 km²) contributed an increase of approximately 9.84 million tons, largely attributed to policy-driven productivity gains in areas such as Chuzhou, Hefei, and Ma’anshan. These findings suggest that while compensatory cropland alone is insufficient to mitigate the food security risks from urbanization, the combined strategy of “Safeguarding Grain in the Land and in Technology” can more than compensate for production losses. This study underscores the importance of optimizing land use policy, strengthening technological interventions, and promoting high-efficiency land management. It provides both theoretical insight and policy guidance for balancing urban development with regional food security and sustainable land use governance. Full article

Lifestyle blocks (LBs) are small rural holdings primarily used for residential and recreational purposes rather than commercial farming. Despite the rapid expansion of LBs over the last 25 years, which has been driven by lifestyle amenity preference and land subdivision incentives, their environmental performance remains understudied. This is the case even though their proliferation is leading to an irreversible loss of highly productive soils and accelerating land fragmentation in peri-urban areas. Through undertaking a systematic literature review of relevant studies on LBs in New Zealand and comparable international contexts, this paper aims to quantify existing knowledge and suggest future research needs and management strategies. It focuses on the environmental implications of LB activities in relation to water consumption, food production, energy use, and biodiversity protection. The results indicate that variation in land use practices and environmental awareness among LB owners leads to differing environmental outcomes. LBs offer opportunities for biodiversity conservation and small-scale food production through sustainable practices, while also presenting environmental challenges related to resource consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and loss of productive land for commercial agriculture. Targeted landscape design could help mitigate the environmental pressures associated with these properties while enhancing their potential to deliver ecological and sustainability benefits. The review highlights the need for further evaluation of the environmental sustainability of LBs and emphasises the importance of property design and adaptable planning policies and strategies that balance environmental sustainability, land productivity, and lifestyle owners’ aspirations. It underscores the potential for LBs to contribute positively to environmental management while addressing associated challenges, providing valuable insights for ecological conservation and sustainable land use planning. Full article

The construction of transition rules is the core and difficulty faced by the cellular automata (CA) model. Dynamic mining of transition rules can more accurately simulate urban land use change. By introducing a graph attention network (GAT) to mine CA model transition rules, the temporal and spatial dynamics of the model are increased based on the construction of a real-time dynamic graph structure. At the same time, by adding an agent-based model (ABM) to the CA model, the simulation evolution of different human decision-making behaviors can be achieved. Based on this, an urban expansion scenario prediction (UESP) model has been proposed: (1) the UESP model employs a multi-head attention mechanism to dynamically capture high-order spatial dependencies, supporting the efficient processing of large-scale datasets with over 50,000 points of interest (POIs); (2) it incorporates the behaviors of agents such as residents, governments, and transportation systems to more realistically reflect human micro-level decision-making; and (3) by integrating macro-structural learning with micro-behavioral modeling, it effectively addresses the existing limitations in representing high-order spatial relationships and human decision-making processes in urban expansion simulations. Based on the policy context of the Outline of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) Coordinated Development Plan, four development scenarios were designed to simulate construction land change by 2030. The results show that (1) the UESP model achieved an overall accuracy of 0.925, a Kappa coefficient of 0.878, and a FoM index of 0.048, outperforming traditional models, with the FoM being 3.5% higher; (2) through multi-scenario simulation prediction, it is found that under the scenario of ecological conservation and farmland protection, forest and grassland increase by 3142 km², and cultivated land increases by 896 km², with construction land showing a concentrated growth trend; and (3) the expansion of construction land will mainly occur at the expense of farmland, concentrated around Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan, Shijiazhuang, and southern core cities in Hebei, forming a “core-driven, axis-extended, and cluster-expanded” spatial pattern. Full article

As the global population continues to rise, the impact of urbanization on land utilization and ecosystems are growing more pronounced, particularly within the expanding area of Asia. The land use/land change (LULC) brought by urban expansion directly impacts plant growth and ecological productivity, altering the carbon cycle and climate regulation functions of the region. This research focuses on Harbin City as a case study, employing an enhanced version of the Carnegie–Ames–Stanford Approach (CASA) model to analyze the spatial–temporal variations in vegetation Net Primary Productivity (NPP) across the area from 2000 to 2020. The findings indicate that Net Primary Productivity (NPP) in Harbin exhibited notable interannual variability and spatial heterogeneity. From 2000 to 2005, a decline in NPP was observed across 60.75% of the area. This reduction was predominantly concentrated in the central and eastern areas of the city, where forested landscapes are the dominant feature. In contrast, from 2010 to 2015, 92.12% of the region saw an increase in NPP, closely related to the overall improvement in NPP across all land-use types. Land-use change significantly influenced NPP dynamics. Between 2000 and 2005, 54.26% of NPP increases stemmed from the transition of farmland into forest, highlighting the effectiveness of the “conversion of farmland back to forests” policy. From 2005 to 2010, 98.6% of the area experienced NPP decline, mainly due to forest and cropland degradation, especially the unstable carbon sink function of forest ecosystems. Between 2010 and 2015, NPP improved across 96.86% of the area, driven by forest productivity recovery and better agricultural management. These results demonstrate the profound and lasting impact of land-use transitions on the spatiotemporal dynamics of NPP. Full article

International industrial transfer has driven rapid construction land expansion in emerging metropolitan areas, posing challenges for sustainable land management. However, existing research has largely overlooked the spatiotemporal patterns and driving mechanisms of this expansion, particularly in Southeast Asian metropolitan regions. To address this gap, we focused on the Ho Chi Minh City metropolitan area, utilizing construction land data from GLC_FCS30D to analyze the dynamics of construction land expansion during this period. Findings indicated that: (1) Continuous expansion of construction land, with the expansion rate during 2010–2020 being five times that of 2000–2010; (2) The spatial pattern evolved from initial infilling development in urban cores to subsequent leapfrogging and edge expansion toward peripheral counties and transportation corridors; (3) The expansion of construction land occurred alongside substantial losses of wetland and cultivated land. Between 2000 and 2020, the conversion of cultivated land to construction land increased significantly, particularly during 2010–2020 when cultivated land conversion accounted for 93.76% of newly developed construction land. Wetland conversion also showed notable growth during this period, comprising 3.86% of total newly added construction land; (4) Foreign direct investment (FDI) served as the primary catalyst, while industrial park development and transport infrastructure projects functioned as secondary accelerants. This study constructed a framework to systematically analyze the global and local driving mechanisms of metropolitan land expansion. The findings deepen the understanding of land-use transitions in emerging countries and provide both theoretical support and policy references for sustainable land management. Full article

Land use and land cover changes driven by urbanization and agricultural expansion have increasingly degraded the ecological health of stream ecosystems across watersheds. In Republic of Korea, the Ministry of Environment has designated riparian zones to protect water quality and preserve aquatic ecosystems and continues to implement policies for their management. Given the long-term nature of riparian zone management, providing robust scientific evidence to justify and refine these policies is imperative. In this study, we quantitatively evaluated the role of riparian vegetation on water quality and aquatic ecosystems by using Bayesian Networks. Scenarios were designed to compare the individual effects of riparian vegetation and combined effects of urban and agricultural land use changes. The results indicated that riparian vegetation positively influenced water quality and the benthic macroinvertebrate index at the sub-watershed scale. When riparian vegetation and land use factors were jointly adjusted, scenarios with high riparian vegetation coverage showed improved probabilities of good BMI scores—24.3% under highly agricultural conditions and 27.4% under highly urbanized conditions—highlighting a substantial vegetation effect, particularly in urban areas. This study provides a scientific basis for guiding future riparian restoration and management efforts. Full article

The Valencia region exemplifies the intricate interplay of climate, urbanization, and human interventions in managing hydrological systems amidst increasing environmental challenges. This study explores the escalating risks posed by flood events, emphasizing how anthropogenic factors—such as urban expansion, sediment exploitation, and inadequate land use—amplify the vulnerabilities to extreme weather patterns driven by abnormal Greenhouse Gas (GHG) concentration. Nature-based solutions (NBS) like floodplain restoration and dam removal are analyzed for their benefits in enhancing ecosystem resilience and biodiversity but are critiqued for unintended consequences, including accelerated river flow and sedimentation issues. This study further examines the impacts of forest fires, exacerbated by land abandonment and insufficient management practices, on soil erosion and runoff. A critical evaluation of global policies like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reveals the tension between aspirational targets and practical, locally-driven implementations. By advocating historical insights, ecological restoration practices, and community engagement, the findings highlight the importance of adaptive strategies to harmonize global frameworks with local realities through modeling and scaling simulations, offering a replicable model for sustainable flood mitigation and resilience building in Mediterranean contexts and beyond. Full article

Driven by global carbon neutrality goals, biochar has gained significant attention due to its stable carbon sequestration capabilities and environmental benefits. This research employs bibliometric tools such as VOSviewer 1.6.16, Citespace 6.2 R6, and Scimago Graphica to systematically analyze 2076 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection between 2007 and 2024, aiming to clarify the evolutionary trajectory, research hotspots, and international collaboration patterns of biochar carbon sequestration research while identifying future knowledge gaps for innovation. Research results reveal a three-stage developmental characteristic: 2007–2014 was a slow accumulation period for fundamental mechanism exploration, 2015–2020 was an accelerated expansion period driven by policies like the Paris Agreement, and 2021 to the present marks an exponential growth phase of interdisciplinary integration due to global carbon market consolidation. China and the United States are core producing countries, though inter-institutional deep collaboration remains insufficient. Research hotspots have progressively shifted from early biochar preparation and carbon stability to multiple waste materials (such as rice straw and urban carbon sequestration waste) and co-pyrolysis technologies (significantly emerging since 2022), with machine learning applications in process optimization becoming a nascent direction. The study recommends increasing cross-disciplinary research funding, establishing biochar raw material pollution standards, and promoting coordinated policies that combine biochar carbon sequestration with agricultural efficiency to support global carbon reduction objectives. Notably, the research’s reliance on the Web of Science Core Collection may limit coverage of non-English literature and regional studies. By quantitatively analyzing technological evolution and collaboration networks, this study provides a data-driven framework for optimizing biochar carbon sequestration strategies, helping bridge the gap between laboratory potential and actual climate emission reduction, and offering focused action pathways for policymakers and researchers. Full article

Sustainable land-use planning in peri-urban areas relies on informed decision-making guided by the examination of various development strategies. This study demonstrates a policy-based multi-scenario simulation which can serve as an aid to decision-making. Using the transformation of production–living–ecological (PLE) spaces in the Yubei District, a peri-urban district in Chongqing (2005 to 2020), as the baseline, the projections, simulated for 2035 under four scenarios, highlight the impacts of varying land-use policies: the reference scenario (RS), allowing unrestricted transformations, risks agricultural productivity and ecological integrity; the economic development scenario (S1) reveals the ecological costs associated with an economics-driven urban expansion; in contrast, the green development (S2) and agricultural land protection (S3) scenarios prioritize balanced growth and agricultural-land preservation so that ecological resilience and food security can be effectively maintained. Overall, significant land-use changes may occur, characterized by a substantial increase in living space, a decrease in production space, and stable ecological areas. This scenario-based analysis provides a comprehensive overview as to potential policy-driven planning outcomes. This aids in the identification of policy options that would best harmonize ecological, economic, and social objectives, offering essential insights for sustainable urbanization and land management in developing areas such as the Yubei District. Full article

Understanding land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes is essential for sustainable land management, particularly in regions experiencing rapid urbanization and agricultural expansion. This study analyzes the LULC dynamics in the Upper Kafue River Basin, Zambia, from 1989 to 2019, using remote-sensing data, Geographic Information Systems (GISs), and advanced analytical techniques such as intensity analysis and directional gradient analysis. The findings indicate a notable decline in forest cover, primarily driven by agricultural expansion, while built-up areas increased, reflecting urban growth. Forest-to-agriculture conversion emerged as the dominant driver of change, with significant transitions also occurring across multiple land categories. The results highlight a dynamic and complex landscape shaped by overlapping socio-economic and environmental pressures, emphasizing the need for targeted policy interventions to mitigate environmental degradation. These insights provide valuable guidance for policymakers and land managers seeking to balance development with conservation in Zambia and similar regions. Full article

As China’s third national-level new area, Xiong’an New Area plays a pivotal strategic role in relocating non-capital functions from Beijing while serving as a model for sustainable urban development. This study investigates the spatiotemporal evolution of ecosystem service value (ESV) and landscape patterns in Xiong’an before (2014–2016) and after (2017–2022) its establishment, assessing the policy-driven impacts of green development initiatives. Using remote sensing data, random forest classification, and landscape pattern analysis, we quantified land use dynamics, landscape index, and ESV variations. Key findings reveal significant land use transformations, with cultivated land declining by 7.51% and coniferous forest expanding by 189.84%, driven by urbanization and afforestation efforts. The comprehensive land use dynamic degree reached 4.96% (2014–2022), while the land use intensity index decreased by 20.95%. Concurrently, the fragmentation index increased significantly (Diversity Index (SHDI) +45%; Edge Density (ED) +66.23%). Despite these changes, ESV surged by 57.51% (CNY 334.63 billion), primarily due to wetland and forest expansion. Statistical analysis revealed positive correlations between ESV and the fragmentation index (ED, NP, and SHDI), whereas the aggregated index (CONTAG and AI) exhibited negative correlations. The findings substantiate the policy effectiveness of Xiong’an’s ecological initiatives, revealing how strategic landscape planning can balance urban development with ecosystem protection, offering valuable guidance for sustainable urbanization in Xiong’an and comparable regions. Full article

This study investigates the institutional innovation pathways for integrating comprehensive transportation networks into China’s territorial spatial planning system, with a focus on resolving the conflicts between ecological conservation and infrastructure development. By proposing a ‘constraint-coupling-innovation’ framework, this research addresses the gaps in existing spatial governance mechanisms, particularly the insufficient alignment between transportation planning and the ‘three zones and three lines’ (ecological conservation, agricultural production, and urban development zones with binding redline) system. The study employs mixed-method approaches, including geospatial conflict analysis (GIS), AI-driven policy coordination tools, and case studies from the Yangtze River Economic Belt. It demonstrates that rigid ecological constraints (e.g., ecological sensitivity veto power) can reduce planning conflicts effectively, while adaptive governance models enhance land use efficiency and stakeholder collaboration. Key findings reveal a significant negative correlation (R² = 0.75) between ecological protection redline (EPR) coverage and transportation network density, underscoring the necessity for differentiated governance strategies in high-conflict regions. A comparative analysis with the EU’s Natura 2000 sites and TEN-T networks further highlights China’s unique hierarchical governance model, which integrates top-down ecological mandates with localized technological innovations, such as digital twins and polycentric decision making. This study contributes to global debates on sustainable spatial planning by offering actionable pathways for balancing infrastructure expansion with ecological resilience, while also proposing institutional reforms, such as a National Transportation Spatial Governance Index (NTSGI), to standardize ecological compliance. These insights provide both theoretical advancements in spatial institutionalism and practical tools for policymakers navigating the dual challenges of urbanization and climate resilience. Full article

Amid rapid urbanization, this study investigates public safety risks in Shanghai’s urban construction projects through a stakeholder-centric framework, aiming to advance sustainable urban development. By classifying stakeholders into core, potential, and peripheral groups, the analysis employs mixed methods—qualitative case studies and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP)—to identify systemic risks spanning policy cognition gaps, compensation inequities, and environmental adaptation challenges. The findings reveal critical tensions between infrastructure-driven imperatives and community welfare, highlighting governance blind spots that threaten urban sustainability. This study proposes adaptive strategies to harmonize technical efficiency with social equity, including transparent policymaking, equitable compensation models, and cross-sector collaboration. These pathways prioritize long-term ecological and social resilience, offering a scalable governance framework to mitigate risks while fostering inclusive urban transitions. By bridging stakeholder interests with sustainable development goals, this study advances a replicable framework for megacities like Shanghai, balancing infrastructural expansion with equitable urban transitions while safeguarding social stability and ecological resilience. Full article

China’s industrialization and urbanization processes have recently accelerated, leading to the rapid expansion of urban built-up areas. Fossil fuels, such as natural gas, oil, and coal, are consumed in large quantities, resulting in the accumulation of atmospheric pollutants. Severe PM2.5 and O₃ pollution poses significant human health risks, including respiratory diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and lung cancer. This study utilized data from various observation stations in Jiangsu Province, the annual statistical yearbook data, and statistical data, such as baseline mortality and socioeconomic indicators, to quantitatively analyze the concentration characteristics of PM2.5 and O₃, premature deaths related to pollutant exposure, and negative health effects in Jiangsu Province from 2018 to 2023. The study examined the spatiotemporal evolution patterns of pollutant concentrations, related premature deaths, and negative health effects in various cities within Jiangsu Province under policy-driven conditions. The results show that (1) the annual average concentration of PM2.5 in Jiangsu Province decreased from 105.88 μg/m³ in 2018 to 55.04 μg/m³ in 2023, marking a reduction of 48.01%. (2) The total number of premature deaths due to long-term exposure to PM2.5 decreased by approximately 87%, whereas the total number of premature deaths due to long-term exposure to O₃ increased by approximately 216%. (3) City level (2.377**) and population structure (1.068**) play an important role in the health effects of air pollution. (4) Short-term exposure to high concentrations of pollutants has a significant negative impact on the health of individuals with underlying diseases. Full article