Xia Yang

Ecological zoning is a critical instrument for coordinating economic development with environmental conservation, ensuring regional ecological security, and fostering sustainable development. Using the Western Sichuan Plateau (WSP) as a case study and taking 2000, 2010, and 2020 as the time nodes, this research employed an optimized landscape ecological risk assessment model to comprehensively evaluate the spatiotemporal evolution of regional landscape ecological risk (LER) and ecosystem services (ESs). By analyzing the spatial correlation between LER and ESs, we constructed an ecological zoning framework, identified key driving factors, and proposed differentiated management strategies. The results showed the following: (1) The LER generally declined from 2000 to 2020, with the high-risk areas mainly distributed in the high-elevation meadow belt in the west and north, and the low and lowest-risk areas concentrated in the eastern part of the plateau continued to expand in area. (2) The overall level of ESs showed a downward and then upward trend, with a spatial pattern of “high in the east and low in the west”. (3) LER was significantly negatively correlated with most ESs (except WY), and localized agglomeration was clearly characterized. (4) Based on the four-quadrant model, the study area was categorized into four types of ecological zones, high LER–high ES, low LER–high ES, low LER–low ES and high LER–low ES, whose spatial patterns were mainly significantly influenced by factors such as elevation, per capita GDP and precipitation (PRE). The “risk-service” synergistic zoning framework proposed in this study provides a spatially explicit decision-making basis for ecological protection and restoration on the WSP, and is useful for the sustainable management of similar ecologically fragile areas.

The system subject, resilience capacity, and factor endowment are the core elements of resilient city construction. A rational assessment of urban resilience is crucial for transforming the urban governance paradigm. This study develops an analytical framework for resilient city system (RCS) grounded in the conceptual connotation and constituent elements of urban resilience. Using the strategically significant Chengdu–Chongqing Economic Circle (CCEC) as a case study, an urban resilience (UR) index system was proposed, encompassing economics, society, ecology, infrastructure, and organizational management. A panel dataset of urban resilience indicators was compiled using official data from national and local urban statistical yearbooks spanning 2012 to 2022. By analyzing the spatiotemporal evolution patterns of the CCEC, this study revealed the dominant factors influencing these patterns and dynamically simulated the urban resilience of the CCEC over the next 16 years. The findings indicate the following: (1) During 2012–2022, the urban resilience of the CCEC transitioned from a “single-core” model centered on Chongqing to a “dual-core” model featuring both Chongqing and Chengdu. The overall level of urban resilience in the study area exhibited an upward trend, characterized by a spatially divergent pattern with two prominent wings and a concave center. (2) Economic factors, social factors, and facility factors were identified as the dominant factors affecting urban resilience in the CCEC. (3) Projections for 2025–2035 suggest that the urban resilience level of the CCEC will continue to increase steadily at a moderate pace. These results provide valuable theoretical references for advancing the high-quality development of the CCEC and fostering a development pattern characterized by “two-wing drive and whole-area synergy”.

Ecotourism comfort is an important way to promote the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, and it is the concrete implementation of the concept of harmonious coexistence and the theory of “Two Mountains”. Based on the urban comfort theory, the ecotourism comfort level of Chengdu city from 2010 to 2020 was measured. The MCR model and the gravity model were used to extract the potential corridor of ecotourism comfort to identify the core area of ecotourism comfort, and its configuration path was analyzed through a qualitative comparison of fsQCA fuzzy sets. The findings are as follows: (1) The overall level of ecotourism comfort in Chengdu has been improved, and the spatial distribution has a “core-edge” structure, which has obvious characteristics of “polarization leading and common development”. Among them, Wuhou District, Qingyang District, and Longquanyi District are the core areas, and the driving effect on marginal areas is particularly significant. (2) The potential ecological corridors in Chengdu are more densely distributed in the east than in the west, with significant north–south variations within both regions. (3) The core corridors of ecotourism comfort originate from Xinjin District and Longquanyi District, characterized by a banded distribution and primarily concentrated along the southwest–northeast axis. (4) The high level of ecotourism comfort in Chengdu is primarily manifested in five distinct types: “comprehensive drive, resource–transportation synergy, technology–transportation integration, government–led investment, and tourism market–technology linkage”. The research results offer a theoretical basis and scientific reference for enhancing the comfort level of urban ecotourism and comprehensively promoting the sustainable development of ecotourism.

Although some methods have identified the physical urban area to a certain extent, the driving factors for the identification threshold have not been studied deeply. In this paper, vector building data and road intersection data are used for comparative validation based on the urban expansion curve method to identify the physical urban area using the meso-city scale. The geographical detector technique is used to detect how and to what extent the urban spatial structure factors, geographical environment factors and social economic factors affect the optimal distance threshold of 22 administrative districts in the Chongqing municipality. The results based on the vector buildings are more precise and show the characteristics of the physical urban area of core-periphery distribution and the distribution along the water corridor. From the results of quantitative attribution, it was found that the road network density, building density, urbanization rate and urban population density, and their interaction with regional GDP, play a critical role in the optimal distance threshold, with the index value of influence degree ≥0.79. Under the influence of different factors, the optimal distance thresholds of 22 administrative districts show adaptive characteristics. Looking forward to the future, this study provides ideas for further research on the morphological characteristics and distribution laws of multi-spatial scale cities.