As global efforts to achieve carbon neutrality accelerate, understanding how digital economy development contributes to urban carbon reduction is crucial for achieving sustainable development. This study examines the impact of digital economy expansion on carbon emission intensity in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, a key economic hub in China. Using panel data from 41 cities (2011-2021) and a moderated mediation model, we analyze how industrial upgrading and Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) mediate this relationship. Our findings confirm that the digital economy significantly reduces carbon intensity both directly and indirectly through these two pathways. In addition, government investment in science and technology positively moderates this effect by strengthening the carbon reduction impact via industrial transformation. Spatial heterogeneity analysis reveals that these effects are more pronounced in cities within the “one core, five circles, and four belts” framework and in non-resource-based cities, highlighting regional disparities. These results underscore the need for targeted policy measures, including enhanced digital infrastructure, green finance mechanisms, and regional collaboration to maximize the decarbonization benefits of digitalization. By integrating digital and low-carbon strategies, policymakers can drive high-quality, green urban transformation.
This study uses Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to address the two main issues facing the Taihang Mountains region: the absence of systematic development and the dispersion of its rich cultural resources. Geographical correlations were investigated using 538 cultural resource places in the Eastern Taihang Mountains, and the Southern Taihang Mountains was used as a case study to apply a multifaceted collaboration methodology involving spatial overlay analysis, kernel density analysis, and regional potential value analysis. The results revealed some planning frameworks by using the spatial connectivity benefits and complementary nature of the cultural resources in the Eastern and Southern Taihang regions. This study proposes a cultural belt at the municipal level, which would link Jincheng, the central region of Southern Taihang, with Zhangjiakou, Baoding, Shijiazhuang, and Xingtai. Furthermore, county-level tourism routes would be expanded from the core clusters of Southern Taihang (Gaoping City and Zezhou County) to the main nodes of eastern Taihang (Yuxian, Pingshan, Jingxing, Xindu, Shahe, and Wu’an). Through this program, Taihang’s eastern and southern cultural resources can be developed in a methodical, integrated manner. This effort can create a viable path for multi-stakeholder participation in the Taihang cultural economy by integrating cultural resource nodes with various stakeholders, such as the public, businesses, government agencies, and universities. The promotion of economic development in the Taihang Mountains region will require an increase in the Taihang Mountains’ cultural influence, to eventually inform cultural regeneration and use across the country, and this study offers a theoretical reference and practical foundations for achieving those goals.
With the rapid development of information technology, drone oblique photography technology is an emerging means of spatial data acquisition that shows great potential in the field of cultural heritage protection. This study focuses on the use of drone oblique photography technology for the digital construction and protection of Liao Pagoda models, with the aim of developing an efficient and accurate 3D model construction method, and applying it to the field of ancient architectural heritage protection. As an important historical and cultural heritage in northern China, the protection and revitalization of the Liao Pagoda are of great significance for inheriting historical and cultural heritage and promoting regional tourism development. However, traditional surveying methods have problems such as low efficiency and insufficient accuracy in collecting the information and constructing the models of ancient buildings such as Liao Pagoda. The drone oblique photography technique provides a new technological pathway for solving these problems with its ability to quickly obtain high-resolution 3D spatial data. Based on this advantage, by analyzing the characteristics of drone oblique photography technology, this study explores its specific application mode in the digital protection construction of Liao Pagoda, which provides theoretical support and a technical foundation for the field of cultural heritage protection.
Linxia brick carving is an artistic carrier of multi-ethnic cultural intermingling, but its symbolic abstraction and diversity make digital conservation challenging. Currently, the traditional qualitative recording methods are unable to realize dynamic analysis and innovative applications. This study builds a framework for the integration of vector representation and multimodal semantic mapping, and uses that framework to quantify the historical semantics, artistic fusion, and technological features of Linxia brick carving cultural heritage by constructing a 26-dimensional vector space. This approach allowed us to solve the semantic heterogeneity of the textual-image data through the help of structured descriptive templates. The results show that this framework can support the systematic analysis and innovation of Linxia brick carving cultural symbols with high classification accuracy and reveal the structured semantic association of patterns. This study realizes the transformation of abstract symbols to computable values through the generalized 26-dimensional vectors, and can use standardized templates to regulate their digital expressions, depending on multimodal data sets that establish the multidimensional innovation of artificial intelligence-driven protection mechanisms. The results can provide methodological support for the shift in cultural heritage from static records to living inheritance, and demonstrate potential transferability to analogous heritage contexts through dimensional remapping and template localization strategies. These advances can promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence and traditional art symbols, and thus support research on the protection strategies for traditional cultural heritage in the era of digitalization.
In urban construction, the “Urban Optimal Map (UOM)” serves as a key tool for integrating social resources and natural elements, and it plays a significant role in promoting sustainable urban development. With the advent of the digital era, various data collection devices deployed in cities have accumulated massive amounts of data, forming multi-source, high-dimensional urban databases. While visualizing these data helps uncover patterns of urban operations, the overlay of large volumes of data also complicates the visualization, making it difficult to interpret. From an animal behavior perspective, this study integrates natural geographical data of London, distribution data of different animal species, urban social information data, and comparative data on animal habits. Through GIS analysis, data visualization, and weight overlay to generate adaptability maps, a digital model is constructed and an animal behavior simulation program is developed. On this basis, multi-criteria analysis (MCA) is employed to comprehensively evaluate the simulation results and optimize decision-making, and planning solutions that balance ecological and social needs are derived. The findings demonstrate that by mining and integrating multi-source data, along with future scenario simulations, the complex relationships among urban environment, society, and sustainable development can be effectively explored. This provides scientific and objective data support for promoting harmonious coexistence between urban development and nature, and can assist decision-makers in formulating more rational urban planning strategies. As urban data continues to be updated, the “UOM” will evolve into a dynamic map system. By incorporating machine learning methods to mine temporal dimension information, it can further achieve predictions of future urban development trends, and offer scientific support for urban resource allocation and planning strategies.
With the development of socio-economic conditions, comprehensive improvements in residential environments, and evolving family values among the elderly, mobility issues for senior citizens have become a prominent social concern in China. Aging urban districts characterized by concentrated elderly populations exhibit significant environmental challenges and urgently need age-friendly infrastructure updates. This study conducted a comprehensive review of domestic and international literature related to the age-friendly renovation of the non-motorized traffic environment and systematically analyzed research trends and existing gaps. Furthermore, it investigated the pedestrian spaces in Tianjin’s aging urban districts and delineated multifaceted spatial challenges. Simultaneously, in-depth demographic analysis of the aging population in Tianjin’s four central urban districts informed the strategic selection of nine sub-districts—comprising the two sub-districts with the highest aging population rates in each district, along with Wanxing sub-district, which hosts the city’s largest elderly population. Through random interviews with 40 senior residents in those sub-districts, the multi-level environmental needs of elderly individuals in these aging urban neighborhoods were comprehensively explored and categorized. Ultimately, by comparing the environmental needs of the elderly population with the current urban landscape, this study accurately identified the key elements for the age-appropriate renewal of the non-motorized traffic environment. Furthermore, targeted strategic intervention plans that address the issue of infrastructure adaptation in aging urban areas are proposed.
This study constructs a multidisciplinary assessment system adapted to the characteristics of rural landscape heritage in Xingtai City and uses that system to comprehensively evaluate its historical-cultural value, ecological environmental value, social identity, and development potential, thereby providing a scientific basis for the protection and sustainable utilization of rural landscape heritage. The assessment framework was constructed through methods such as literature review, expert interviews, and field research, combined with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This framework integrates qualitative and quantitative analysis and assigns reasonable weights to each assessment dimension. The results indicate that the core value of Xingtai City’s rural landscape heritage lies in the dual advantages of historical-cultural and ecological environmental resources, with the weights for historical-cultural value and ecological environmental value being 30% and 25%, respectively, Significantly higher than social recognition (20%), and together with development potential (25%), constitutes the core value dimensions in the evaluation system. Ultimately, the assessment system reflects the local characteristics and development needs of Xingtai City’s rural landscape heritage, especially in terms of historical-cultural protection and ecological tourism development. This study provides a theoretical reference and practical guidance for the assessment of rural landscape heritage in other regions.
The geographical environment of the Zhaozhou Basin provides diverse possibilities for the formation and evolution of vernacular settlements and architectural spaces within multi-ethnic communities. Taking the vernacular settlements and architecture of the Zhaozhou Basin as a case study, this research adopts the anthropological concept of the “Bazi Society” as an analytical framework, and integrates the methodology of “social memory” to explore the social mechanisms that shape regional architectural space. By utilizing the “social memory” research approach, this study integrates GIS image analysis, social memory indicator surveys, oral interviews, and local historical materials from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, including local chronicles, historical maps, and illustrations, along with data from the Republican era, to conduct an in-depth investigation of typical settlements in the Zhaozhou Basin. This study proposes a “rule of in-depth memory depiction”, which is structured around three elements: the research objects (settlement spaces, public temples, and vernacular dwellings), the analytical dimensions (spatial patterns, cultural practices, and collective memory), and the narrative methods(oral testimony, schematic mapping, and quantitative indicators), thereby providing a clear framework for its application. It analyzes the feasibility of the research pathway for the “Bazi Society of basins”. The results can be summarized in three points. (1) Based on field investigation and GIS-historical triangulation, 151 valid questionnaires yielded five principal memory factors (communalities > 0.8; cumulative variance contribution rate 85.66%), thus verifying the operational feasibility and quantitative validity of the “Thick Description of Memory” framework. (2) Settlements in the Zhaozhou Basin exhibit a significant “landform-function-memory coupling pattern”, which reveals the continuous reconstruction of power structures and spatial forms within the processes of social memory. (3) Despite their functional transformations, public temples continue to serve as the spiritual cores of communities and as explicit carriers of collective memory, so they reflect the material continuity of productive and everyday life memories. Overall, this study demonstrates that “social memory functions as a key mediating mechanism” linking geographical environment, social practice, and vernacular architectural space, which provides new theoretical and methodological support for understanding the evolutionary logic of basin settlements and for guiding cultural heritage renewal.
In 2022, the Chinese government proposed the goal of “building livable, industry-suitable, and harmonious villages”. Rural human settlement governance is shifting from “hardware renovation” to “systematic governance”, yet issues such as insufficient collaboration among multiple subjects and poor interest coordination still restrict governance efficiency. Existing studies have gaps in analyzing the logical connections and micro-mechanisms of “co-construction, co-governance, and sharing” in rural contexts, highlighting the urgent need to explore replicable transformation paths.This study took Xizhuang Village, Hebei Province as a case, adopted a progressive data collection strategy of “pre-survey, field survey, and literature verification”. Through semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, participatory observation, and policy text analysis, it spanned multiple subjects including governments, villagers, enterprises, and social organizations in analyzing the practical path for transforming the co-construction, co-governance, and sharing concept into rural human settlement governance.This study proposes the concept of “heterogeneous collaboration”, verifying that subjects with interest differences can cooperate through selective incentives. The analysis revealed generational differences in participation: young people prefer digital channels, while the elderly rely on acquaintance mobilization. A “cultural sharing” dimension was added, with villagers’ life satisfaction increasing to 92% and rural tourism driving an average annual increase of 12000 yuan in the villagers’ income.The conclusion is that the Xizhuang Village case verifies the practical feasibility of the co-construction, co-governance, and sharing concept. Its logic of “interest coordination + cultural adaptation” provides a replicable experience for other villages in the North China Plain. Future efforts should optimize benefit distribution through institutional innovation, expand the sample scope for cross-regional comparative studies, and improve the governance sustainability mechanisms.
The ancient villages in Suzhou, Jiangsu with a unique water town pattern and landscape style are important regional cultural carriers formed by the interaction of nature and humanity. Currently, the rural digital governance of Suzhou has achieved phased results in infrastructure coverage and governance digitization, but some realistic problems still remain, such as insufficient local culture mining, limited quality improvement, and fragmented application of digital technology. This study focuses on the problem of cultural heritage and industrial integration in the process of traditional village renewal from the perspective of digital empowerment. Taking the residential environmental governance of traditional villages in Xishan Island of Suzhou as an example, and through the introduction of artificial intelligence technology methods, this study systematically analysis the spatial characteristics and cultural value of ancient villages, and constructs a path for the identification and activation of local cultural resources. This research aims to achieve industrial linkage and cluster development in the villages, promote the deep integration of art and technology, and promote the harmonious and sustainable development of the rural residential environment with a new quality of creativity. This study constructs a collaborative village renewal framework of culture-space-technology, and explores the integrated application mode of artificial intelligence in the mining of local culture and the promotion of characteristic industries.
The Zhengtai Railway is an important logistics channel connecting Shanxi with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta, and it has a profound impact on regional industrial development. Based on the theory of heritage corridors and using GIS spatial analysis technology, this study conducted a multi-dimensional analysis on the industrial heritage along the Shijiazhuang section. (1) The temporal characteristics indicate that the heritage, which was established in 1896, is mainly composed of the three major industries of pharmaceuticals, textiles, and steel. (2) The spatial pattern shows an axial distribution of “dense in the west and sparse in the east”, with Xinhua District, Chang’an District and Luquan District as the agglomeration cores. (3) By constructing an evaluation system that includes four types of factors: natural environment, transportation conditions, heritage value and service facilities, the suitable areas of the corridor with “three cores and one surface” were identified. Finally, the strategy of “dynamic width control + themed cluster protection” was proposed, which provides a new idea for the protection of linear industrial heritage.
The Li ethnic group's traditional settlements in Hainan Island exemplify the integration of environmental adaptation and vernacular innovation in tropical rainforest landscapes. Their spatial configurations and resilience strategies embody a dynamic interplay between ecological systems and cultural logic. Employing a multidisciplinary approach—including ethnographic fieldwork, geospatial analysis, and comparative ethnological investigation—this study examines eight representative Li ethnic group settlements in central and southern Hainan. The findings reveal a distinctive pattern of “striped dispersion and clustered agglomeration” that forms a spatial linkage of “rainforest-watershed-settlement.” Vertical zonation is evident as lowland areas (<500 m) focus on paddy agriculture and fishing, while mid-to-high elevations (500-1000 m) rely on swidden cultivation, foraging, and forest-based subsistence. Settlement morphologies include clustered, dispersed, and grouped layouts that have been shaped by topography and social organization. Boat-shaped dwellings reflect a low-impact construction model that combines material-form-climate synergies to respond to the hot-humid monsoon environment. Ecological resilience emerges from the dynamic coupling of terrain structures, vernacular architecture, and indigenous technical knowledge. The “mountain-forest-field-water” framework regulates spatial hierarchy, while terrace farming, material optimization, and rainfall-adaptive construction enhance land-use efficiency and environmental stability. In contrast to the tiered spatial defense system of the Dong (drum tower-stilt house) and the flood-adaptive floating agriculture of the Dai, Li ethnic group settlements articulate a unique paradigm of vertical ecological symbiosis and cultural embeddedness. Their logic of “moderate use and adaptive balance” offers a transferable model for contemporary resilience planning and ecological governance, especially in tropical regions experiencing rapid socio-environmental transformation.
This study employs field surveys of plant diversity and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to assess plant diversity and evaluate landscape quality in the Hutuo River Urban Forest Park. A total of 257 plant species belonging to 64 families and 184 genera were recorded, and they show a multi-layered tree-shrub-herb structure that is characteristic of warm temperate urban forests. An evaluation framework for the plant landscape was established that integrates ecological community structure, plant diversity, landscape aesthetics, recreational space planning, and cultural attributes. The results show that ecological structure and species diversity contribute the most to overall evaluation scores, underscoring the central role of ecological attributes in landscape assessment. While the current plant landscape demonstrates integrity in vertical layering and richness in species composition, deficiencies remain in seasonal continuity, cultural expression, and winter ornamental value. These findings highlight both the ecological strengths and developmental gaps of the park. This study provides a scientific foundation for the conservation of plant resources, the improvement of landscape quality, and the promotion of ecological sustainability in urban forest parks.
The “Healthy China 2030” initiative has increasingly highlighted the role of university campuses in health promotion. However, many Chinese universities lack awareness of health-supportive environments, resulting in spatial systems that fail to meet the diverse physical and mental health needs of their communities. Among campus environments, outdoor public spaces are pivotal due to their openness and accessibility, making them ideal for fostering the autonomous health behaviors of students. This study investigates the optimization of these spaces to create environments that actively support well-being. Grounded in catalyst and affordance theories, we first identified the spatial preferences of students through questionnaire surveys. Subsequently, we employed the Delphi method and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to construct an evaluation index system for healthy outdoor public spaces. This analysis revealed four core components: functional organization, perceptual environment, health-supportive facilities, and walking trails. For each component, we propose specific design principles and strategies, culminating in a spatial optimization framework aimed at promoting healthy behaviors. This study provides a theoretical foundation and practical guidance for designing health-oriented campus spaces and offers a replicable model for developing supportive university environments.
This study takes the children’s animation IP “Brave Brother Ah Niu” as a case study, where the animation IP refers not merely to a single work, but rather to a core content asset capable of multi-dimensional development and possessing long-term commercial value, such as a well-known character, story, or worldview. This case is used to explore the path for children’s animation IP to empower the deep integration of cultural tourism based on Bourdieu’s field theory. In response to the current challenges of fragmentation, superficial symbolization, and capital feedback disruption in development, a three-field transformation framework of “cultural production-media practice- industrial consumption” is constructed, and an integration mechanism of “empowerment-translation-feedback” is proposed. This study provides a replicable theoretical model and practical path for the Ah Niu IP and similar regional children’s animation IPs to overcome the bottleneck of cultural tourism integration, achieve cultural inheritance, and enhance the industrial value.
The digitalization of industry has a significant impact on the low-carbon transformation and development in China, although the impact varies in different economic regions. Exploring the impact mechanism and path is beneficial for promoting the progress of China’s low-carbon economy. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2021, an indicator system was constructed to measure the comprehensive index of industrial digitalization and carbon emission intensity. A threshold regression model was used to explore the impact of industrial digitalization on regional carbon emission intensity from the perspectives of government intervention and regional economic development level. The results show that the digitalization of industries, which has been unequal in various regions of China, can significantly suppress the regional carbon emission intensity and promote the development of the low-carbon economy. Furthermore, the threshold model shows that the promoting effect of industrial digitalization on low-carbon economy development will be enhanced as the degree of government intervention increases; and the lower the level of regional economic development, the more obvious the promotional effect of industrial digitalization on the low-carbon economy. The findings of this study indicate that the uneven development level of digital industrialization hinders the low-carbon economy. In regions with different levels of economic development, the low-carbon effects of industrial digitalization vary significantly. Therefore, governments should strengthen the policy guidance of industry digitalization based on regional economic development status to enhance the promotional effect of industrial digitalization on the low-carbon economy.
With the large-scale population flow between regions and the gradual disappearance of the “demographic dividend,” promoting the accumulation of higher education human capital and leveraging the “talent dividend” have become the important driving forces for the development of new-type urbanization. Therefore, understanding the relationship between higher education human capital and new-type urbanization is a scientific issue that needs to be addressed. The results of this study demonstrate three features of that relationship: (1) From 2010 to 2020, the level of higher education human capital in Guizhou Province showed a continuous increase and a spatial distribution pattern of gradual decline in a stepwise “central-northwest-southeast” manner. (2) From 2010 to 2020, the level of new-type urbanization in Guizhou Province gradually increased, forming a dual-core development pattern with the “Qianzhong Urban Cluster” and the “Zunyi Metropolitan Area”. Overall, it exhibited a spatial distribution pattern of gradual decline from northwest to southeast. (3) Threshold effect model results indicate that higher education human capital promotes new-type urbanization when below a single threshold or above a double threshold, but hinders it when between these thresholds. This results in an “N”-shaped developmental relationship.
Applying environmentally friendly technologies can reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable agricultural development. Production risks are a key factor affecting farmers’ organic fertilizer application (FOFA). This paper evaluates the impact and mechanisms of multidimensional risk perceptions (MRP) on FOFA in rural China. The results show that the risk perceptions of unstable land use rights, natural disasters, and price fluctuations have an inhibitory effect on FOFA. This result holds after a series of robustness checks. High concerns about land policies can reduce the inhibitory effect of risk perceptions of unstable land use rights on FOFA. Conversely, high concerns about climate change and a high proportion of agricultural income in total income enhance the inhibitory effect of risk perceptions of natural disasters and price fluctuations on FOFA. Farmers who differ in farmland size, in the distance from their homes to agricultural retail markets, and in whether they use the internet as an information source exhibit different risk perceptions of organic fertilizer use. China should further reduce the risk perception of unstable land use rights. It should strengthen the dessemination of scientific knowledge on climate change, and enhance farmers’ environmental awareness of organic-fertilizer use. It should improve the pricing-reform policies for high-quality agricultural products and increase farmers enthusiasm to apply organic fertilizers.
Improving the rural living environment is a crucial element of rural ecological revitalization. Taking 473 rural households in Sichuan Province as a research subject, this study integrates the theory of planned behavior and the theory of normative activation from the perspectives of egoism and altruism, using the path analysis model to investigate the mechanisms involved in the regulation of behavior that affects the quality of rural human settlements. The results show that when egoistic motivation is considered, the behavioral attitudes and subjective norms of farmers are found to have significant positive effects on behavioral intention. When altruistic motivation is examined, individual’s awareness and personal norms are found to positively influence behavioral intentions. Subjective norms, personal norms, and behavioral intentions significantly positively influence behavioral intention, which partially mediates the relationship between subjective norms, individual norms, and behavioral levels. Increasing publicity on rural human settlement environment remediation policies, establishing reward and punishment mechanisms for the remediation of rural settlement environment, and establishing and improving policies regarding cleaners and supervisors in administrative villages are likely to increase enthusiasm for rural settlement environment remediation among residents.
Grasslands are the most critical ecosystem on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Their effective protection and restoration are vital for maintaining regional environmental stability and ensuring national ecological security. However, intensified global climate change and increasing human activity have significantly impacted the fragile grassland ecosystems of the headwater region of the Yangtze River, leading to severe degradation. This study integrates data from literature reviews, field surveys in representative areas, and stakeholder questionnaires. It aims to identify grassland degradation patterns, evaluate the characteristics and effectiveness of current ecological restoration technologies, and assess regional demand for ecological solutions. Key findings include: (1) Four distinct types of grassland degradation were identified, primarily driven by natural factors (e.g., climate change, rodent infestation) and human activities (e.g., overgrazing, livestock overloading). (2) Ecological technologies applied across the four degraded areas were assessed across five dimensions: application difficulty, promotion potential, maturity, suitability, and benefits. A deviation degree score quantified technology performance and restoration effectiveness. Fencing and enclosure, ecological compensation, and species selection emerged as the most effective technologies. Ecological migration and artificial rodent control faced significant implementation challenges. (3) Based on implementation outcomes, the study identifies current challenges and future requirements for ecological technologies tailored to specific degraded areas. This research provides valuable case studies for addressing grassland degradation in fragile ecosystems and offers a scientific basis for advancing sustainable grassland use and enhancing regional ecological carrying capacity.
The “Yarlung Zangbo River, Lhasa River and Nyangqu River” (YLN) region is the main grain producing area on which the Tibetan people depend for survival. The densities of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) in farmlands are closely related to grain production. Scientific management and regulation of these nutrient densities are of great significance for ensuring food security. However, accurate simulations of spatial variations in the densities of SOC (SOCD), TN (TND) and TP (TPD) and the spatial distributions of SOCD, TND and TPD are still unclear. In this study, 388 samples of cultivated soils at 0-10 and 10-20 cm in the YLN region were collected to determine the SOC, TN, and TP contents, as well as pH and bulk density (BD). Random forest models of SOCD, TND and TPD were constructed using longitude, latitude, elevation, mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, mean annual radiation and vegetation index, which were then used to obtain the spatial distribution maps of SOCD, TND and TPD, and the storages of SOC (SOCS), TN (TNS) and TP (TPS). Mean annual radiation can partially explain the spatial variations of SOCD and TND, in addition to temperature and precipitation. The relative biases between modelled and observed SOCD, TND, TPD, SOCS, TNS and TPS ranged from -9.43% to 7.57%. The SOCD and TND increased from west to east, but they were both low in the middle and high in the north and south. The SOCD and TND decreased with increasing pH and BD. SOCD, TND and TPD were low at mid-elevations but high at low and high elevations. The SOCD, TND, TPD, SOCS, TNS and TPS were 2.72 kg m-2, 0.30 kg m-2, 0.18 kg m-2, 4.88 Tg, 0.54 Tg and 0.32 Tg, respectively, at 0-20 cm over the cultivated lands of the YLN region. Based on these results, the random forest models constructed in this study can be used for subsequent related studies. Besides warming and precipitation changes, radiation changes can also affect SOCD and TND. In terms of the production of food crops such as highland barley, the farmland soils in the YLN region currently can have relative deficiencies of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients. In the future, measures such as increasing the application of organic fertilizers should be taken to improve the carbon sequestration capacity and nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition of the soil. These findings have important guiding significance for the fertilization management of cultivated lands in the YLN region and other alpine regions similar to the YLN region.
Few studies have categorically analyzed the factors governing soil erosion spatial layout formation and changes within it from a static or dynamic perspective. In this study, we explored the factors influencing soil erosion changes in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation model was used to calculate and grade the soil erosion modulus in the study area from 1990 to 2023 and analyze its spatiotemporal variations. Geographical detectors were introduced to determine the factors influencing erosion layout, inception, and development. From 1990 to 2023, soil erosion in Liangshan Prefecture was moderately low. Areas with high soil erosion grades were mainly distributed in the Niri, Meigu, and Zhaojue river basins, characterized by low vegetation coverage and high topographic fluctuation, and along the Jinsha River, which is greatly affected by industrial development. Land use type was the most critical factor affecting the spatial layout of the soil erosion intensity. Precipitation (55.28%) was the dominant factor governing the change in soil erosion intensity distribution. This study revealed the dynamic changes and driving factors of soil erosion in the past 30 years in Liangshan and suggests erosion prevention measures that can be used for regional soil erosion control.
This study takes 30 provinces in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Xizang) as the research object and comprehensively applies the entropy value method, comprehensive evaluation method, coupling coordination degree model, and obstacle degree model to investigate the high-quality development of tourism and common prosperity comprehensive development level, the evolution of the coupling coordinated development of these two systems as well as the obstacle factors of the 30 provinces from 2013 to 2022. The results reveal that: (1) the level of high-quality development of tourism and common prosperity development show fluctuating upward and continuous upward trends, respectively. Moreover, marked differences between regions exist, with a spatial pattern of decreasing distribution in the order of ‘east-centre-west’. (2) The degree of coupling coordination between the high-quality development of tourism and common prosperity was increasing, with the overall coupling coordination level shifting from mildly dysfunctional to verging on dysfunctional, with some provinces reaching the primary coordination stage. Additionally, a spatially differentiated distribution pattern of ‘high in the east and low in the west’ exists between regions. (3) The obstacle factors of the two systems of high-quality development of tourism and common prosperity similar but with slight differences based on region. Specifically, the obstacle factors in the system of high-quality development of tourism primarily involve innovative development and opening up to the outside world, whereas those in the system of common prosperity primarily involve spiritual life affluence. Based on the results, targeted improvement suggestions are proposed for enhancing the coordinated, high-quality development of tourism and common prosperity.
Ecotourism is an important field focusing on balancing ecological conservation and community development within national parks. By promoting the small-scale utilization of natural resources, it facilitates conservation on a broader scale. However, balancing the relationship among nature conservation, economic development, and local community development remains to be addressed. To understand the relationships among ecological conservation, community development, and tourism growth in national parks, this study proposed an ecotourism sustainability assessment framework based on the sustainable development theory. The framework encompassed the following dimensions: Nature Environment, Social Culture, Community Economy, Recreation Technology, and Public Management, which can be further divided into 18 indicators. Performance assessment results showed that the overall ecotourism development performance (3.5526) of the Wuyishan National Park was at an upper level but fell short of the ideal. From the perspective of strategy optimization, at the dimensional level, Recreation Technology should be prioritized, followed by Public Management, Community Economy, Social Culture, and Nature Environment. At the indicator level, efforts should focus on enhancing biodiversity, strengthening local cultural identity, implementing ecological compensation, advancing the application of smart technologies, and improving supervision frameworks. This study proposed solutions to balance the relationship among nature conservation, economic development, and local community development.
Mountain tourism serves as a crucial vehicle for the sustainable development of national parks, and there is an urgent need for scientific assessment tools to coordinate ecological protection with socio-economic benefits. This study established the National Park Sustainable Mountain Tourism Performance Index (NPSMTPI) to evaluate the sustainable development of mountain tourism in the Giant Panda National Park (GPNP). Using the entropy weight-TOPSIS method, exploratory spatial data analysis, and the barrier degree model, an empirical analysis was conducted on the spatio-temporal evolution and influencing factors of the GPNP’s mountain tourism performance during 2014-2022. Results showed that the NPSMTPI exhibits a fluctuating upward trend, with ecological performance being relatively high, whereas social and economic performance being comparatively low. Significant regional disparities were noted, with the central and southern regions showing higher performance, whereas the northeastern region showing lower performance. Although the spatial correlation analysis did not reveal a global agglomeration effect, local clustering patterns of low-high, high-high, and high-low were observed in the central and northern regions. Regarding the influencing factors, tourism scale, social security, tourism benefits, and economic foundation were identified as the main barriers, which are specifically manifested in the insufficiency of tourism specialization level and labor productivity. This study provides important theoretical foundations and empirical insights for the sustainable development of mountain tourism in national parks.
The study tourism regional system constitutes a spatial complex that enhances the value of study tourism. However, research concerning the system’s conceptual foundations and empirical quantitative analyses remains relatively limited. Grounded in the theory of place identity, this study investigates the connotations and influencing factors of the research-oriented regional system and constructs an evaluation index system accordingly. Based on a survey of 553 study travel bases (camps) and related business sites in Zhejiang Province, the entropy weight method is employed to empirically assess the development level of study travel across the province’s 11 municipalities. The results reveal that among the primary subsystems of the evaluation index, the weights rank in descending order as follows: study activities, study resources, service facilities, and transportation networks. Significant disparities are observed in the weights of secondary and tertiary indicators. Empirical findings indicate that Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Huzhou rank highest in terms of system development. Drawing on the Zhejiang experience, the study proposes development pathways for other regions from three dimensions—study travel enterprises, bases (camps), and regional study travel administrators—including dual emphasis on curriculum quality and service standards, co-development of resources and service infrastructure, and coordinated top-level design and resource allocation.
The involvement of community residents in ecotourism plays a crucial role in the conservation-driven development and utilization of natural world heritage sites. Enhancing the level of their participation is a key driver for the sustainable development of ecotourism within these sites. This study constructs a theoretical framework for evaluating the participation of community residents in tourism, grounded in expectation theory and feasibility theory. Using a micro-survey of herders in the Kalajun heritage site, this study employs Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to assess the participation levels and tests demographic differences using the non-parametric independent samples test. Furthermore, a multiple linear regression model is developed to quantitatively analyze the impact of individual demographic characteristics on the level of tourism participation among community residents. The results indicate that: (1) The perceived value of participation is lower than the expected value, with a low level of actual participation, reflecting a gap between the residents’ actual experiences and their expectations; (2) Education level, number of laborers in the household, and family disposable income significantly positively influence the tourism participation level, with middle and old age negatively affecting participation. Gender and the role of village representatives, however, do not significantly impact participation levels.
