Change of human settlement resilience and its obstacle degree in resource-based cities in the Yellow River Basin

Abstract

[Objective] The construction of the human settlement environment holds great significance for the high-quality development of cities in the Yellow River Basin. The human settlements of different types of resource-based cities are heterogeneous. Exploring the change of the human settlement resilience level and obstacle degree of these cities is conducive to providing targeted policies for the construction of human settlements in different types of cities. [Methods] This study developed a comprehensive evaluation indicator system of human settlement resilience of resource-based cities in the Yellow River Basin based on the human-natural-living space-social-support subsystems, and used HP filter analysis, three-dimensional kernel density estimation, hotspot analysis, and the obstacle degree model to examine the spatiotemporal change characteristics of the human settlements from 2007 to 2021. A scientific diagnosis was conducted to identify the obstructive factors that influenced the resilience of human settlements. [Results] (1) From the perspective of temporal evolution characteristics, the human settlement resilience of resource-based cities in the Yellow River Basin showed a fluctuating and increasing trend, and had gone through three stages of low-level stagnation, gradual improvement, and sudden increase with fluctuation. The rising resilience of human settlements in different types of resource-based cities was obvious, among which the resilience of mature-type and regen‐eration-type cities was significantly higher than that of growth-type and decline-type cities. The growth-type, mature-type, and regeneration-type cities all showed an agglomeration of high resilience cities, while the decline-type cities with high resilience level tended to be dispersed. (2) From the perspective of spatial evolution, the resilience level of urban human settlements presents a spatial pattern of “periphery is higher than center, downstream is higher than upstream. The spatial agglomeration changes are relatively stable, forming the characteristics of spatial agglomeration of hot spots in the periphery of the Yellow River Basin. (3) From the criterion level, the variation of obstacle degree of each subsystem was relatively stable, and the total size was as follows: supporting system resilience > natural system resilience > social system resilience > human system resilience > living space resilience. The key impediments at the factor level were water resources per unit area, the amount of R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP, and the comprehensive pollutant index. The primary obstacles to human settlement resilience in various types of resource-based cities were spatially heterogeneous. [Conclusion] The resilience of human settlements in resource-based cities within the Yellow River Basin was increasing, with significant spatial and regional variations. In the future, it is urgent to optimize the resilience of human settlements from the aspects of water resources, regional innovation, and environmental pollution.

Keywords

• human settlements|resilience|spatiotemporal evolution|resource-based city|obstacle degree model|yellow river basin