Interactions between Water-land Resources and Oasis Urban Development at the Northern Slopes of the Tianshan Mountains

Water and land are basic and strategic resources in regional eco-environmental systems, which contain sensitive factors that set a limit to urban development. Scholars worldwide have carried out a series of studies to promote the efficient use of urban water and land resources.

Oasis development and its benefit is one of the major research topics in urban geography in China. Growing populations and rapid urbanization have exacerbated water shortage challenges in arid and semi-arid regions. The effects of oasis urban development on water and land resources are very complex. Existing studies are incapable of fully explaining related interactive mechanisms. Many researchers hold that water resources are a restrictive factor in urban development in arid regions. However, this does not explain the general regularity of arid urbanization.

Based on the previous studies, LEI Jun et al. analyses the coupling characteristics and spatio-temporal variations for oasis urban development and water-land resources at the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains by principal component analysis and a coupling degree model. The result shows that the degree and change in regional use of water and land resources are different among the studied cities/counties during their development. The built-up areas of these cities/counties have changed little with increasing populations and urbanization levels, which well reflects that the urban development in arid and semi-arid regions is limited by oasis areas. Per capita amount of water supplied, however, presented a trend of slowed growth with increasing levels of urbanization. Water consumption gradually increased with urban development and the improvement of people’s living standards, accompanied by enhanced water use efficiency. The level of urbanization can be assessed through the coupling degree between oasis urban development and the use of water and land resources. A high coupling degree represents a high level of comprehensive urban development and use of water-land resources. Alternatively, a low coupling degree denotes a low level of urban development and water-land resource use.

The result has been published on Journal of Arid Land, 2012, 4(2): 221-229. The paper can be downloaded from http://jal.xjegi.com/EN/abstract/abstract142.shtml.