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Arid Land Geography ›› 2026, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (5): 998-1012.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2025.385

• Ecology and Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Land space development and functional zoning of Aksu from the perspective of ecological priority

HE Yuqing1,2(), WANG Cheng1(), HUANG Wei1, SONG Jiaqi1, LIU Siyuan3, ZONG Shimin4   

  1. 1 College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, Xinjiang, China
    2 School of Land Engineering, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, Shaanxi, China
    3 College of Resources and Environment, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, Henan, China
    4 Agricultural Development Service Center of the 14th Division, Kunyu 848116, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2025-07-07 Revised:2025-09-24 Online:2026-05-25 Published:2026-05-25
  • Contact: WANG Cheng E-mail:H18803603562@outlook.com;chengw8973@163.com

Abstract:

Guided by ecological priority, the coordination of the development and protection patterns of territorial space in arid regions is greatly important for promoting regional sustainable development. Taking Aksu Prefecture in Xinjiang of China as the study area, we assessed spatiotemporal evolution by analyzing the transformation matrix of production-living-ecological spaces from 2013 to 2023. The minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model was used to extract ecological and development sources, construct a comprehensive resistance surface, and calculate the difference in MCR. Catastrophe detection was introduced to determine zoning thresholds, delineating territorial spatial functional zones and accordingly proposing differentiated optimization strategies. The results show that (1) From 2013 to 2023, production space in Aksu Prefecture increased by a net area of 788.80 km2, living space increased by 189.28 km2, and ecological space decreased by 978.08 km2. This spatial pattern is characterized by ecological dominance, production expansion, and the slow growth of living space. (2) Taking the difference in MCR of 0 as the threshold, territorial spatial development suitability was divided. The most suitable area for construction and development covered 1.63×104 km2, appearing in terms of three clusters (east, west, and south) across the central part of Aksu Prefecture. The most suitable area for ecological protection makes up 1.15×105 km2, which is distributed peripherally in an enclosing pattern around the suitable area for construction and development. (3) Based on the critical points (-36040, -8820, 0, and 9630) of the relationship curve in the difference in MCR and the number of raster cells, the territorial spatial development functional zones of Aksu Prefecture were divided into ecological protection, agricultural production, construction and development, protection and production, and production and development zones, with areas of 54456.73 km2, 18763.61 km2, 2305.15 km2, 41924.40 km2, and 13990.09 km2, respectively, establishing three strong-attribute functional zones and two composite functional ones. (4) According to the functional zones, at the city-county level, Aksu Prefecture is clustered into three differentiated development clusters: an urban development space, a smart-industry integration space, and a green-agriculture optimization space, and the dominant functions of these are construction and development, production and development, and protection and production, respectively. Thus, differentiated optimization strategies for territorial spatial development are proposed for Aksu Prefecture.

Key words: land territorial space development, suitability evaluation, functional zone, minimum cumulative resistance model, Aksu Prefecture