Resource consumption and city size: a case study of Xiamen and implications for sustainable urbanisation

Abstract

Nowadays, urbanisation has become an inevitable worldwide trend, especially in China, which is experiencing rapid urbanisation. Understanding the relationship between city size and resource consumption is necessary to achieve a transition to sustainable development. This paper took a typical rapidly urbanising city, Xiamen, as a case study to analyse relationships between resource consumption and city size in the course of rapid urbanisation. The best-fit curve estimation models were chosen for analysis. The average, derivative and elasticity functions were then solved and plotted. The results revealed different modes for resource use with city-scale growth. An availability, accessibility and scale framework was proposed for analysis, and the implications for sustainable urbanisation are discussed.

Keywords:

• resource consumption
• city size
• sustainability

Acknowledgements

This study was sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-450) and the Bureau of Science and Technology of Xiamen (3502Z20072002).