Spatio-temporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of "production-living-ecological" functions in Henan Province, China

Abstract: A land surface on Earth is an important space carrier for human survival, social and economic activities, as well as ecological civilization. The function pattern of land space has undergone some dramatic changes, with the rapid development of urbanization in recent years. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the orderly, moderate, and sustainable utilization of land space. Taking the county unit of Henan Province in China as an example, this study aims to explore the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and influence factors of "production-living-ecological" functions (PLEFs) using the theoretical analysis. A PLEFs index system was also constructed to identify the land space pattern in 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018 from the perspective of spatial function. A principal component analysis was then made to diagnose the impact factors and mechanism of PLEFs evolution, with an emphasis on the theoretical guidance and scientific basis for the regional sustainable development. The results show that: 1) There were different degrees of growth for the PLEFs in the study area, when the entropy weight and GIS were performed on the spatial pattern characteristics and evolution of PLEFs in 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018. More importantly, the PLEFs presented the regional differentiation in the land space. There was also a significant spatial gradient difference in production function. The living function was gradually weakened from the municipal area to the outside urban, where the ecological function showed a gradient change of "mountain hilly area > plain area > municipal area". 2) The evolution of PLEFs in the study area changed significantly from 2000 to 2018. Specifically, 24.39% of the production function was significantly weakened, 86.99% of the living function level was improved, whereas, the ecological function developed steadily, leading to the fewer weakened areas. 3) The principal component analysis indicated that food security, social stability, and ecological maintenance were the important factors affecting the evolution of PLEFs in the study area. The basic factors also included economic development and ecological bearing. As such, the different factors needed to form a common thrust for the healthy development of PLEFs. The major findings were summarized as follows: 1) The PLEFs in the study area presented significant characteristics of spatial differentiation and evolution. There was a synergistic relationship of the production and life function in space, whereas, there was a fewer overlapping in the spatial distribution of production, living and ecological function. The PLEFs can be widely expected to mutually intersect and coexist from the perspective of time and space. 2) There was a different evolution in the production, living and ecological functions for the various counties. A differentiation strategy also needed to address each county, according to the specific functional development, in order to optimize the spatial resources for the highly comprehensive function level. In sum, it is a high demand for the tradeoff between development and ecology for the decision-making on the development policies of differentiated regional function. Meanwhile, the finding can offer a strong reference to formulate the spatial planning for sustainable utilization in the regions.