Urbanization Impact on Regional Sustainable Development: Through the Lens of Urban-Rural Resilience

Abstract

The urban–rural system is an economically, socially, and environmentally interlinked space, which requires the integration of industry, space, and population. To achieve sustainable and coordinated development between urban and rural systems, dynamic land use change within the urban–rural system and the ecological and social consequences need to be clarified. This study uses system resilience to evaluate such an impact and explores the impact of land use change, especially land conversion induced by urbanization on regional development through the lens of urban–rural resilience. The empirical case is based on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration (BTHUA) in China from 2000 to 2020 when there was rapid urbanization in this region. The results show that along with urbanization in the BTHUA, urban–rural resilience is high in urban core areas and low in peripheral areas. From the urban core to the rural outskirts, there is a general trend that comprehensive resilience decreases with decreased social resilience and increased ecological resilience in this region. Specifically, at the city level, comprehensive resilience decreases sharply from the urban center to its 3–5 km buffer zone and then remains relatively stable in the rural regions. A similar trend goes for social resilience at the city level, while ecological resilience increases sharply from the urban center to its 1–3 km buffer zone, and then remains relatively stable in the rural regions in this region, except for cities in the west and south of Hebei. This study contributes to the conceptualization and measurement of urban–rural resilience in the urban–rural system with empirical findings revealing the impact of rapid urbanization on urban–rural resilience over the last twenty years in the BTHUA in China. In addition, the spatial heterogeneity results could be used for policy reference to make targeted resilience strategies in the study region.