Analysis of Urban Ecological Space Accessibility in Coastal Cities of China During Rapid Urbanization

Abstract

Fair access to urban ecological spaces (UES) is essential for social justice and can be quantified by urban ecological space accessibility (UESA). However, the spatiotemporal patterns and dynamic inequity in UESA, and its relationship with urban spatial expansion during rapid urbanization remain unclear, especially lacking evidence from a land-sea perspective. Therefore, this study calculated UESA (containing marine ecological spaces accessibility (MESA), terrestrial ecological spaces accessibility (TESA), and marine-terrestrial ecological spaces accessibility (MTESA)) in China’s coastal cities during 1990-2015 under three transportation modes by the Gaussian-based two-step floating catchment area method, explored the dynamic inequity of UESA among cities with different economic development levels, and applied spatial econometric models to reveal the effect of urban spatial expansion on UESA. We found that the UESA in China’s coastal cities experienced significant declines ranging from 42.5% to 74.75% during 1990-2015, and their spatiotemporal patterns showed heterogeneity. The UESA in underdeveloped cities was consistently higher, and the equity of UESA exhibited slight changes in the study period, while the advantage of underdeveloped cities in accessing UES decreased in 2015 compared to 1990. The urban spatial expansion caused UESA’s decline. MESA exhibited negative spatial spillover effects, while TESA and MTESA showed positive spatial spillover effects.

Keywords: Urban ecological space accessibility, Dynamic inequity, Rapid urbanization, Gaussian-based 2SFCA, Spatial econometric models, China's coastal cities