ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF HIGH-

DENSITY URBAN DESIGN ON REGIONAL

ECOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT AND

EVALUATION IN EASTERN CHINA

Guangxia Luo, Chunli Wang, Miao Cao, Xiaopeng Zhao, Gang Wu,

Hui Yu, Ming Li, Ming Liu

Public Basic Education Ofﬁce, Shanghai Technical Institute of Electronics &

Information, Shanghai, 201411, China.

Yang Liu*

Department of Physical Education and Health, Shanghai Lixin University of

Accounting and Finance, Shanghai, 201209, China.

liuyang19792019@163.com

Reception: 04/03/2023 Acceptance: 23/04/2023 Publication: 28/06/2023

Suggested citation:

Luo, G., Wang, C., Cao, M., Zhao, X., Wu, G., Yu, H., Li, M., Liu, M. and Liu, Y.

(2023). Analysis of the impact of high-density urban design on regional

ecological environment and evaluation in eastern China. 3C Empresa.

Investigación y pensamiento crítico, 12(2), 180-199. https://doi.org/

10.17993/3cemp.2023.120252.180-199

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ABSTRACT

As the world's largest developing country, China's rapid economic development has

caused more serious damage to the environment, and environmental pollution has

become the number one problem in China's development. How to correctly deal with

the coexistence of economy and environment is very important for the construction of

our country. This paper analyzes the impact of urban design on regional ecology and

how these influences can be evaluated, using a high-density city in eastern China as

an example. This study takes the layout structure, spatial structure, facility support,

flow organization and environmental ecology of the urban space as the direct carrier,

and the cultural integration and technical response as the indirect carrier, and carries

out the corresponding urban design in the above-mentioned space through the

corresponding principles, strategies and methods. The impact of these elements on

the urban ecological environment was also analyzed. The results of the study show

that the ranking of ecological environment quality score in Anhui Province has been

rising, and the number of the top five regions has increased from 20% to 80%.

KEYWORDS

High-density cities; urban design; regional ecological environment; evaluation system;

influencing factors

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INDEX

ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. RELEVANT THEORIES AND MATHEMATICAL MODELS

2.1. Basic Theory

2.1.1. Ecological restoration theory

2.1.2. System science theory

2.1.3. Sustainable development theory

2.1.4. Theory of collective action

2.1.5. Theory of external effects

2.2. Ecological environment quality evaluation

2.2.1. Greenness index

2.2.2. Humidity index

2.2.3. Dryness index

2.2.4. Heat index

2.3. Determination of index weights

2.4. Urban Design and Evaluation

2.4.1. Urban Design

2.4.2. Urban design implementation assessment

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1. Evaluation index system

3.2. Overall evaluation of the level

3.3. Analysis of spatial and temporal characteristics of levels

3.3.1. Analysis of spatial imbalance

3.3.2. Hotspot Analysis

4. CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

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1. INTRODUCTION

The Earth is the home we depend on for our survival, and its enduring beauty is the

cornerstone of the continuous development of human society. However, since 1960,

with the global expansion of the industrialist development model, the uncoordinated

development of the world's population, resources and environment has led to serious

ecological and environmental problems [1-3]. The destruction of the ecological

environment has seriously affected human health and life. With the accelerated

development of China's economy and society, the construction of ecological

civilization is gaining more and more attention from the state, society and people, and

China is vigorously promoting the protection and construction of ecosystems [4-6].

And to the current development trend of China's economy, ecological problems have

become a constraint for the continued development of China's economy to a certain

extent, so the future construction of China must focus on environmental protection

[7,8].

Currently, from the perspective of dynamic evolution, the cluster development of

cities has become an important trend in urban development. From the objective

results, the urban clusters formed by cluster development have become new

economic growth poles, and this has led to the accelerated introduction of a series of

urban cluster development plans [9-11]. At the same time, years of ultra-high speed

and rough development have brought enormous pressure on resources and the

environment, making China's green development increasingly important under the

new normal [12,13]. In recent years, scholars have explored the issue of urban cluster

construction and its green development. Zhang et al [14] predicted the future urban

spatial state by using a linear model fitting method in Jinan, China, as an example. A

comprehensive analysis of the urbanization development trend of Jinan and its impact

on the vegetation cover within the city was also conducted based on the data on

urban development trends in recent years. The results showed that the ground

conditions and changes in Jinan were accurately reflected by linear model parameter

clustering: high-density, stable urban types were found in the city center, while stable

dense vegetation types were found in the southern mountainous areas. This approach

demonstrates the prospect of urban growth in terms of environmental protection and

conservative urban development. Ye et al [15] analyzed the changes in urban green

spaces in Macau from 2010 to 2015, and they found that urban green spaces have a

significant impact on the lives of urban residents, especially in high-density cities.

Based on the prediction results of the two-step floating catchment area model, they

concluded that the distribution of urban green space in Macau is extremely uneven,

but it will gradually become more uniform over time, which is caused by the upgrading

of related facilities and relevant policies. Zhang et al [16] proposed a new three-

dimensional spatial design network analysis method for the built environment. They

used the high-density urban area of Central, Hong Kong as an example to analyze the

spatial configuration and its relationship with human activities in a three-dimensional

spatial network. The results indicate that it is unrealistic to consider only outdoor

pedestrian networks to study multilevel pedestrian networks in high-density built

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environments, and indoor and outdoor pedestrians should be considered

comprehensively. Wang et al [17] studied the effects of greenways on microclimate in

high-density cities using Shenzhen, China as an example. They analyzed the

microclimate characteristics such as temperature, relative humidity, light intensity, and

wind speed of five green roads in Shenzhen during daytime in summer, and

compared the effects of green road microclimate on human comfort under different

greening conditions using temperature and humidity index and wind efficiency index

as evaluation indexes. The results show that when the summer temperature is high,

green roads can significantly reduce the temperature as well as the light intensity and

improve human comfort. The presence of green roads can significantly improve the

microclimate characteristics of cities and increase the comfort of the population. Shi et

al [18] used surface urban heat islands to describe the deteriorating thermal

environment in high-density cities. They studied the urban design factors affecting

surface urban heat islands in humid subtropical regions of China, using Guangzhou

city as a representative city. Based on a series of satellite data as well as GIS

databases, they found that surface temperature, vegetation cover, volume ratio,

ground emission rate, and building density all have an impact on urban design. Hua et

al [19] studied street greenery in Hong Kong using street-view images and deep-

learning techniques. They found some spatial variation in street greenery, with less

greenery generally occurring in private residences in high-density areas as well as in

commercial centers. They also found that integrating street greening with urban

morphology in an integrated analysis is very beneficial for urban and greening

planning in sustainable and healthy cities.

Due to the misalignment between humans and nature, the relationship between

economic development and environmental protection is seriously imbalanced,

resulting in major environmental pollution events such as air pollution, river pollution,

marine pollution, soil pollution, etc., and due to the inherent characteristics of the

atmosphere and water flow, environmental problems also all present a regional

character [20-23]. It is not only the focus of attention and ardent hope of the national

people to develop the economy while paying more attention to protecting the

environment, but also the necessary and proper way to realize the Chinese dream at

an early date [24]. Regional eco-environmental co-construction is a new research

development trend in the field of ecological compensation, which is a new

development model for economic and social development to ensure the healthy

operation of the ecosystem and achieve environment-friendly, ecological harmony and

efficient use of material and energy [25-27]. Hu et al [28] analyzed the land utilization

rate in the rapidly urbanizing region and the ecological effects of the region based on

land use data from 2000 and 2015 in the PRD region. The results showed that the

ecological quality of the PRD region was relatively stable during these 15 years, but

there was a slight overall decline. Land use changes were mainly manifested in the

gradual decrease of arable land, forest land, and unused land, indicating that the

spatial expansion brought about by urbanization has largely affected the ecological

quality of the PRD region. Zhang et al [29] used the entropy value method and the

coupled coordination method to address the inconsistency in development between

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the economy and the ecological environment by examining the economic

development, logistics development, and ecological environment development of 30

Chinese provinces and cities from 2008-2017, logistics development and ecological

environment development levels were analyzed. The results show that the coupled

and coordinated development of the economy and ecological environment varies

greatly in space. Most cities in China have reached a medium level of coupled and

coordinated development of economy and ecological environment, and only a few

regions in the Middle East, such as Shanghai, have reached a high-quality level, while

the coupled and coordinated level in the western region has been at a low level.

Therefore, in future development, it is still necessary to take into account the economy

and ecological environment to make the two develop in a coordinated and stable way.

Li et al [30] analyzed the factors limiting the sustainable development of the region

using the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration in China as an example. They

established a coupled coordination degree model and an ecological security

evaluation system. The results showed that the developing regions performed better

in terms of the degree of coordination between ecological security and development in

terms of sustainable development. Meanwhile, factors such as urban vegetation, per

capita GDP and population density can limit the sustainable development level of the

urban agglomeration in the Pearl River Delta to a certain extent. In addition, cities with

more native environments are more vulnerable to external factors, and cities with

developed industries are more lacking in ecological restoration ability. When deploying

development planning for urban agglomerations, coordinated development among

different cities should be considered. Tian et al [31] analyzed the factors affecting the

ecological environment of land reclamation areas from the perspective of land

reclamation. Fang et al. [32] established a regional ecosystem management system

model based on a two-layer plan to manage the ecosystem and sustainable

development in Xiamen, China. The results showed that the main ecological service

values of ecosystems are carbon sequestration, oxygen release, and water retention.

Compared with the single-level model, this model reduced the system benefits by

15.3% and increased the value of ecological services by 17.6%.

In summary, high-density cities are a state of urban development with a

concentrated regional economy, an advanced regional spatial organization brought

about by highly developed industrialization and urbanization. The formation of high-

density cities often implies a highly developed economy and modernization level of a

region, and their economies of scale can bring huge benefits and have far-reaching

effects on the regional ecological environment. This paper analyzes the impact of

urban design on the regional ecological environment of cities based on high-density

cities in eastern China and establishes an ecological index evaluation system to

evaluate the regional ecological environment of high-density cities. At the same time,

this study also introduces the urban clustering degree and urban eco-efficiency

measurement method as a way to examine the time-series evolution of cluster

development and eco-efficiency in high-density cities in eastern China.

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2. RELEVANT THEORIES AND MATHEMATICAL

MODELS

The protection of ecology and environment needs to fully consider the

interrelationship between the natural environment and human society, on the one

hand, to deal with the relationship between humans and nature; on the other hand, to

coordinate the internal relationship of human society, and to protect the integrity and

development of ecological environment with benign development as the driving force.

Theoretical disciplines tend to be more complex, and with the help of theories and

methods from basic disciplines, combined with the characteristics of ecological

environmental protection, several disciplines have been formed, such as ecological

environmental science and environmental engineering. Based on the existing

theoretical knowledge, the laws of the ecological environment are understood, the

relationship between humans and the ecological environment is regulated by using

economic and technical means, and the relationship between the ecological

environment and social development is revealed by sociological methods.

2.1. BASIC THEORY

2.1.1. ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION THEORY

Ecological restoration refers to the reduction or interruption of human intervention in

the ecosystem, and the development of the ecosystem in an orderly and good

direction through its self-regulation and organization, or the use of the ecosystem's

self-repair and regulation ability to reduce the environmental load pressure, so that the

damaged ecosystem gradually restored to its original state. In other words, ecological

restoration refers to the work of restoring and rebuilding ecosystems when the

environment suddenly changes or suffers damage caused by human activities, either

by self-restoration or artificial reconstruction, or both.

2.1.2. SYSTEM SCIENCE THEORY

Systems science is the science of complex systems in different fields, and its main

content is to study the laws of structure, function and evolution of the system under

study. From a holistic system perspective, systems science is mainly concerned with

analyzing the laws of the nature of relatively complex systems, to clarify the

correlations between different systems and the laws to be followed in the process of

evolution. Ecological and environmental assessment is carried out based on the

environment, and in the study, it is necessary to have a comprehensive and specific

consideration instead of starting from a single influencing factor. At the same time, it is

also necessary to adhere to the dynamic principle in the research process and to

evaluate the ecological environment change status comprehensively.

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2.1.3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THEORY

Sustainable development, meaning that development is not a one-time event, is

based on the sustainable use of renewable resources, but the concept of sustainable

development became popular worldwide in 1987 with the publication of "Our Common

Future" by the WCEA. Sustainable development refers to the emphasis on economic,

social and ecological coherence and integration to achieve the goal of integrated

development. The principle of equity requires that development should focus on the

equity of all generations, both horizontally and vertically, and that it should not chase

its side of development at the expense of others and squander resources, which is

also an international common opinion. Sustainability requires the continuity of

development without disturbance, the resources can be developed and renewable,

and there will be no vulnerability of resources. Commonality requires all human beings

to act together, the world is the whole, one party to destroy sustainable development,

the global will be affected.

2.1.4. THEORY OF COLLECTIVE ACTION

The theory of collective action can explain the behavior of each of the subjects in

collaborative ecological governance. It is as if each subject is an economic person in

the economic society, and they all want to maximize their interests rather than bear

the cost of governance, which will only further deteriorate the environment of the

region.

2.1.5. THEORY OF EXTERNAL EFFECTS

When there is a conflict between the marginal costs and benefits of the two, private

and social, it is difficult to solve the problem by compensating for it, and there should

be external forces that exclude both to solve the problem so that the interests of both

society and people can be optimized. Because of this, the theory of externalities is

widely used in ecological environmental protection.

2.2. ECOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT QUALITY EVALUATION

Eco-environmental quality is proposed after a series of eco-environmental

problems arise from natural factors or human production and living activities, and is a

comprehensive concept used to measure the scope, degree, and merit of the impact

of human activities on the eco-environment.

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2.2.1. GREENNESS INDEX

Normalized vegetation index (

) is one of the most widely used indices

among various vegetation indices and is widely used to analyze crop growth,

vegetation cover and spatial distribution.

(1)

Where and represent the reflectance in the near-infrared and visible red

bands, respectively. the

value represents the vegetation status of the

watershed, and the larger the

value after normalization, the higher the

vegetation cover.

2.2.2. HUMIDITY INDEX

Moisture components are widely used in ecological monitoring, not only to

represent the water resources status of regional rivers and reservoirs but also to

calculate the moisture content of arable land, forest land and other land use types.

(2)

Where is the reflectance of each waveband of TM. Wet after the normalization

process, higher values represent higher humidity.

2.2.3. DRYNESS INDEX

The dryness index is used to study the status of land desertification and land

degradation in arid zones.

(3)

Where is the bare earth index and is the building index. The higher

value indicates the more serious land degradation and desertification in the study area

and the worse ecological environment quality.

2.2.4. HEAT INDEX

The heat index is expressed in terms of surface temperature, and global and

regional thermal environmental problems, which are receiving increasingly

widespread attention, and how to mitigate the regional ecological and environmental

impacts caused by abnormal changes in surface temperature have become urgent

and realistic problems.

(4)

NDVI

DVI =

(ρ4−ρ3)

(ρ4+ρ3)

ρ4

ρ3

NDVI

Wet = 0.0315ρ1 + 0.2021ρ2 + 0.3102ρ3 + 0.1594ρ4−0.6806ρ5−0.6109ρ7

ρi

NDSI = (SI +IBI )/2

IBI

NDSI

Ts = [a(1 −C−D)+(b(1 −C−D)+C+D)T6−DTa]/C

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(5)

(6)

Where is the surface temperature, is the atmospheric temperature, and

is the brightness temperature in the thermal infrared band. and are constants. is

the surface-specific emissivity, and is the atmospheric transmittance.

2.3. DETERMINATION OF INDEX WEIGHTS

Principal component analysis (PCA) is a multivariate statistical method and is one

of the basic mathematical analysis methods. Its mathematical meaning is to select a

small number of important variables from the original numerous indicators with

correlation and recombine them into a new set of comprehensive indicators, which

helps to analyze the indicator attributes more objectively. In this paper, with the help of

ER Mapper software, the normalized 4 indicators are imported into the software for

principal component analysis and synthesize the RSEI index. The coefficients of each

index after the principal component analysis are large or small, positive or negative,

and each index is given different weights and practical meanings, with positive values

indicating a positive correlation between the index and the composite index and

negative values indicating a negative correlation. The larger the eigenvalue in the

principal component analysis, the higher the variance contribution of the "component",

and the better it represents the attribute characteristics of each index.

(7)

(8)

Using a mathematical method to describe principal component analysis, for a data

set X with n samples, , variables. PCA is to synthesize the original

observation variables to form new variables (comprehensive

variables).

2.4. URBAN DESIGN AND EVALUATION

2.4.1. URBAN DESIGN

The development trajectory of urban design can be roughly divided into three

important historical stages. "The second generation of urban design emerged in the

1950s, and its design followed the rational guidelines of "economy and technology",

focusing on efficiency and function, and meeting the general needs of modern cities.

In the 1970s, the third generation of urban design, "green urban design", began to

C=ετ

D= (1 −τ)[1 + (1 −ε)τ]

…x

x21 x22 …x2p

… … … …

xn1xn2…xnp

=[x1,x2, …, xp

]

Fi=w1ix1+w2ix2+…+wpi xp,i= 1,2,…, p

X1,X2, …, XP

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emerge, with the design guidelines of "holistic priority" and "ecological priority", trying

to create a harmonious development of the natural and man-made environment and

shape a sustainable urban environment. The third generation of urban design, i.e.

green urban design, covers different directions of urban design such as environment,

economy and society, and needs to be completed from a social-economic-

environmental multidisciplinary. The green urban design studied in this paper is the

core component of the third-generation green urban design from the perspective of

architecture: the green urban design based on bioclimatic conditions.

2.4.2. URBAN DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION

ASSESSMENT

Urban design implementation evaluation is an important part of the urban design

workflow, which provides feedback and corrections to the urban design

implementation and guides the urban design to implement the planning and design

content more realistically in the field. In general, the evaluation process is one

iteration, and the results and updated design of each iteration will be used as the

initial values for the next iteration. The purpose of this evaluation is to improve the

urban design, which is an important part of the urban design process from planning to

implementation and will become the basis and starting point for the next round of

urban design.

The city master plan has a regular assessment and medical examination system.

The Beijing Master Plan proposes to establish a scientific and effective planning

implementation control system, an urban physical examination and assessment

mechanism, a planning implementation supervision and assessment accountability

system, and a planning implementation coordination and decision-making mechanism

and proposes an evaluation index system for a livable city. To ensure that the target

indicators are well implemented, a regular mechanism of periodic assessment will be

adopted to evaluate the implementation of planning and design. Therefore, the

normalization of urban design implementation evaluation will be a further extension of

this work. The main work of urban design in the implementation stage is to form

planning and design conditions together with the detailed control plan, and its role is

to guide the subsequent architectural design and landscape design by transforming

them into legal control elements.

This section introduces the relevant theories involved in the construction of regional

ecological environments, such as ecological restoration theory, system science theory,

collective action theory, and sustainable development theory. Then we introduce the

methods of ecological quality evaluation and their evaluation indexes. Finally, the

high-density urban design method and evaluation guidelines are introduced. The

theoretical foundation is laid for the later analysis.

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3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The Yangtze River Delta region is a typical high-density urban area in eastern

China, and this section uses the Yangtze River Delta region as a case study to

evaluate its ecological environment from 2010 to 2019. This is used to determine the

impact of high-density urban design on the regional ecological environment.

3.1. EVALUATION INDEX SYSTEM

From the perspective of ecological economics, the ecological environment quality

system includes not only the quantity and quality of natural resources and energy but

also the construction of municipal systems, the state of infrastructure construction and

the level of basic public services, which reflect and measure the quality of human life,

so the index system must be a comprehensive system. Therefore, this paper uses the

PSR model established by OECD and UNEP to construct a basic index system

reflecting the pressure-state-response of the ecological environment under the

principles of scientificity, representativeness, accessibility and comparability, and the

index system is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Ecological environment quality index system

Tier 1 Indicators Secondary

indicators Tertiary indicators Marking Direction

Eco-

environmental

quality evaluation

index

Pressure

Indicators

Growth rate of construction

land —

Per capita residential

electricity consumption +

Total industrial wastewater

discharge —

Sulfur dioxide emissions —

Solid waste generation —

Status

Indicators

Water resources per capita +

Urban park area per capita +

Road occupancy per capita +

Greening coverage of built-up

areas +

Response

Metrics

Urban domestic sewage

treatment rate +

Comprehensive utilization rate

of industrial solid waste +

Harmless disposal rate of

domestic waste +

Industrial fume removal +

Y10

Y11

Y12

Y13

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3.2. OVERALL EVALUATION OF THE LEVEL

Based on the above evaluation index system, the comprehensive scores of

ecological environment quality of 26 cities in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster can

be measured from 2010 to 2019, as shown in Table 2. As can be seen from Table 2,

the scores and rankings of Shanghai and Jiangsu Province show a decreasing trend,

those of Anhui Province keep rising, while those of Zhejiang Province remain almost

unchanged. In 2010, the top five regions were Shaoxing, Nanjing, Suzhou, Ningbo,

and Huzhou, and the provinces involved were Zhejiang and Jiangsu; in 2010, the

bottom five regions were Chuzhou, Anqing, Nantong, Zhoushan, and Xuancheng,

accounting for 60% of the total in Anhui. The top three cities with the fastest

improvement are Chuzhou, Xuancheng and Anqing, all of which are from Anhui

Province, which shows that the province's ecological and environmental quality level

has improved significantly within the city group, which is due to the following reasons:

in the process of regional integrated development, Anhui Province has accelerated its

ecological and environmental quality ranking by In 2019, the bottom five regions are

Shanghai, Changzhou, Yangzhou, Yancheng, and Suzhou, with Jiangsu Province

accounting for 80% of the total, and the province's eco-environmental quality score

ranking shows a decreasing trend, which shows that the province's eco-environmental

quality level has decreased to a certain extent within the city group, which is related to

the high pollution and high energy consumption enterprises in Jiangsu Province. This

is closely related to the profit-oriented development model of Jiangsu Province and

the heavy industrial density caused by the spread of this model in the provincial area.

In addition, the ranking of Zhejiang Province is relatively stable within the city cluster

over the 10 years. In the case of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, the

ecological quality scores and rankings of each region show certain changes in

different years, and the characteristics of such changes need to be analyzed in detail

at the spatial and temporal levels.

Table 2. Comprehensive ecological and environmental quality scores of 26 cities in the

Yangtze River Delta city cluster, 2010-2019

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Shanghai 0.4551 0.3582 0.3415 0.3912 0.3141 0.2584 0.2313 0.2179 0.2366 0.2250

Wuxi 0.4474 0.5165 0.5120 0.5026 0.4752 0.5218 0.3850 0.4340 0.4294 0.4404

Suzhou 0.5015 0.5051 0.5454 0.4734 0.4182 0.4288 0.3458 0.3698 0.4040 0.3494

Yangzhou 0.3844 0.3989 0.3630 0.3915 0.3036 0.3985 0.3385 0.3281 0.3426 0.3169

Taizhou 0.3717 0.3819 0.3134 0.3242 0.3210 0.4028 0.3600 0.3331 0.3234 0.3598

Nanjing 0.5355 0.5182 0.4836 0.4744 0.4653 0.6242 0.4736 0.5241 0.5532 0.4542

Changzhou 0.3666 0.3717 0.3229 0.3771 0.3348 0.3917 0.3489 0.3817 0.3639 0.3095

Nantong 0.3235 0.3463 0.3228 0.3385 0.3110 0.3736 0.3448 0.2937 0.3688 0.3690

Zhenjiang 0.4348 0.4526 0.4114 0.4329 0.3904 0.4801 0.3853 0.3891 0.4019 0.3560

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3.3. ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL

CHARACTERISTICS OF LEVELS

3.3.1. ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL IMBALANCE

By measuring the spatial imbalance of ecological environment quality level in the

Yangtze River Delta city cluster, as shown in Figure 1 below. Theoretically, a Gini

coefficient within 0.2 indicates a highly balanced state of the spatial distribution of a

factor characteristic; above 0.5 indicates a very unbalanced state of the spatial

distribution of the factor characteristic. Among them, 0.4 is the critical point of spatial

equilibrium and imbalance. Thus, the Gini coefficient provides a clear measure of the

spatial unevenness of the comprehensive ecological environmental quality score in

each year, but the spatial clustering characteristics of the ecological environmental

quality scores of cities in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster in each node year still

need to be given a more intuitive analysis and be explored in depth.

Yancheng 0.3573 0.3715 0.2745 0.3423 0.2800 0.3687 0.2843 0.3039 0.3377 0.3454

Ningbo 0.4716 0.4494 0.4820 0.5255 0.4778 0.3689 0.3710 0.4414 0.3832 0.3745

Huzhou 0.4604 0.5067 0.5330 0.5177 0.5263 0.6530 0.6262 0.6220 0.6142 0.6381

Zhoushan 0.3254 0.3718 0.3275 0.3635 0.3163 0.3976 0.3758 0.4071 0.3689 0.3767

Hangzhou 0.4398 0.4177 0.4255 0.4109 0.3886 0.4378 0.3915 0.4407 0.3825 0.3521

Jiaxing 0.3545 0.3763 0.3708 0.4003 0.3751 0.4247 0.3895 0.3871 0.3876 0.3688

Introduction 0.6004 0.5970 0.5468 0.5351 0.4404 0.4960 0.4691 0.4602 0.4510 0.4128

Taizhou 0.4240 0.4494 0.4576 0.4714 0.4537 0.3943 0.4052 0.4329 0.4526 0.4072

Jinhua 0.4411 0.4384 0.3997 0.4361 0.4142 0.4220 0.4280 0.4201 0.4263 0.4114

Hefei 0.4243 0.4679 0.3881 0.3788 0.4641 0.5207 0.4132 0.4935 0.5414 0.3997

Ma'anshan 0.4065 0.3978 0.3587 0.3669 0.3691 0.3378 0.3944 0.3982 0.4722 0.3840

Anqing 0.3206 0.3558 0.3339 0.3688 0.3825 0.4280 0.4067 0.4575 0.4383 0.4469

Chizhou 0.4044 0.5044 0.4897 0.5101 0.5448 0.4978 498 0.5768 0.5493 574

Wuhu 0.3686 0.4022 0.3960 0.4164 0.4099 0.5395 0.5482 0.5800 0.5266 0.4573

Tongling 0.4122 0.3834 0.3664 0.4642 0.3570 0.5150 0.5784 0.4927 0.5737 0.4001

Chuzhou 0.3149 0.3083 0.2723 0.2538 0.2990 0.4282 0.4094 0.4475 0.4084 0.5064

Xuancheng 0.3518 0.4238 0.4070 0.4154 0.4339 0.4213 0.3993 0.5004 0.4250 0.4916

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Figure 1. Gini coefficient of ecological and environmental quality in the Yangtze River Delta

city cluster, 2010-2019

3.3.2. HOTSPOT ANALYSIS

To further analyze the spatial characteristics of the ecological environment quality

of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, four times sections were selected for

2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019 at a time interval of three years, and the corresponding

Gi* values were obtained by Arcgis technology and using Equation (4). Concerning

the classification of cold hotspot areas in previous studies, the Gi* values of ecological

environment quality in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration were classified

into five categories from high to low. This classification refined the previous 3

classifications by Gi* values, making the analysis more detailed and the conclusions

more clear, as shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Gi* value range and description

Year Cold spot area

Secondary cold

spot area

Temperature

point area

Sub-hotspot area Hot spot area

2010 [-1.34，-0.68] [-0.68，-0.05] [-0.05，0.48] [0.48，1.37] [1.37，2.26]

2013 [-1.87，-1.40] [-1.40，-0.36] [-0.36，0.44] [0.44，1.10] [1.10，1.76]

2016 [-1.89，-1.72] [-1.73，-0.34] [-0.34．064] [0.64，1.36] [1.36，2.36]

2019 [-1.98，-1.40] [-1.41，-0.70] [-0.70，0.14] [0.13，1.04] [1.04，2.06]

Description

Eco-environmental

quality score low

value agglomeration

area

Sub-low ecological

quality score

agglomeration area

Median Eco-

environmental

Quality Score

Clustering Area

Eco-environmental

quality score sub-

engagement value

agglomeration area

Eco-

environmental

quality score high

value

agglomeration

area

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Taking 2019 as a representative, we list the Gi* values of these 26 cities in Table 4.

Table 4. Gi* value of 26 cities,2019

At the temporal level, the ecological environment quality level of each region in the

Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration showed a large fluctuation during

2010-2019, with the level ranking of Anhui Province on the rise, Jiangsu Province and

Cold spot area Secondary cold

spot area

Temperature

point area

Sub-hotspot area Hot spot

area

Shanghai -1.452 -721 81 391 1.3141

Wuxi -1.622 -881 -522 502 1.475

Suzhou -1.588 -864 115 434 1.418

Yangzhou -1.574 -876 -228 0.3915 1.303

Taizhou -1.658 -819 -663 342 1.321

Nanjing -1.524 -931 16 474 1.465

Changzhou -1.482 -922 27 377 1.334

Nantong -1.782 -877 -421 385 1.311

Zhenjiang -1.533 -821 -31 439 1.390

Yancheng -1.881 -816 121 423 1.280

Ningbo -1.529 -1.121 -132 525 1.477

Huzhou -1.886 -1.036 -325 517 1.526

Zhoushan -1.922 -935 -365 635 1.316

Hangzhou -1.478 -756 -517 849 1.388

Jiaxing -1.568 -964 -378 743 1.375

Zhenjiang -1.635 -1.322 54 535 1.440

Taizhou -1.616 -1.224 72 474 1.453

Jinhua -1.469 -1.066 -457 436 1.414

Hefei -1.769 -891 -699 788 1.464

Ma'anshan -1.555 -996 -328 669 1.369

Anqing -1.878 -972 39 688 1.382

Chizhou -1.855 -1.325 122 951 1.544

Wuhu -1.699 -1.258 -368 647 1.409

Tongling -1.522 -1.355 -149 658 1.357

Chuzhou -1.485 -1.189 136 853 1.299

Xuancheng -1.621 -1.056 -187 923 1.433

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Shanghai Municipality on the decline, and Zhejiang Province at a more stable level. At

the spatial level, the Gini coefficient of ecological and environmental quality in the

region is within 0.2 during 2010-2019, which is in a highly balanced state in space.

The hotspot and sub-hotspot areas of ecological environmental quality in the Yangtze

River Delta urban agglomeration are mainly in the south of the region, but there are

small changes in the hotspot and sub-hotspot areas in different time sections, with the

former moving gradually from east to west in the whole area of the urban

agglomeration and the latter changing less spatially in the whole area of the urban

agglomeration. The cold point and subcool point regions are mainly concentrated in

the north, but there are small changes in the cold point and subcool point regions in

different time sections, the former is stable in a small part of the whole urban area,

while the latter shows the spatial change characteristics of moving from west to east.

4. CONCLUSION

High-density cities are the state of urban development in which the regional

economy is concentrated and are the advanced regional spatial organization brought

about by highly developed industrialization and urbanization. The formation of high-

density cities often implies a highly developed economy and modernization level of a

region, and their economies of scale can bring enormous benefits and have far-

reaching impacts on the regional ecological environment. This paper evaluates the

ecological and environmental performance indicators of the Yangtze River Delta, a

typical high-density urban area in eastern China, from 2010 to 2019. This is used to

analyze the impact of high-density urban design on the regional ecological

environment. The specific findings of the study are as follows.

1. Between the decade of 2010 and 2019. The ecological environment quality

scores and rankings of Shanghai and Jiangsu Province show a decreasing

trend, while Anhui Province keeps rising and Zhejiang Province remains almost

unchanged. 60% of the areas ranked in the bottom five in 2010 and 80% of the

areas ranked in the top five in 2019 are occupied by Anhui Province.

2. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the ecological environment quality

level of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration show the following

pattern, the maximum value of the Gini coefficient is only 0.1184 during

2010-2019, which is much smaller than 0.2. Therefore, the ecological

environment quality of the region is in a highly balanced spatial state, and the

difference between the ecological environment quality levels of each year is

small.

3. The hotspot and sub-hotspot areas of ecological environmental quality in the

Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration are mainly in the south of the region,

but there are small changes in the hotspot and sub-hotspot areas at different

time cross-sections, with the former moving gradually from east to west in the

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whole area of the urban agglomeration and the latter having smaller spatial

changes in the whole area of the urban agglomeration.

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