Climate change disproportionately affects natural resource-dependent communities in the ecologically vulnerable regions of western China. This study used the household livelihood vulnerability index under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (HLV-IPCC) to assess vulnerability. Data were collected from 823 households in Ningxia, Gansu, Guangxi, and Yunnan provinces, these being ecologically vulnerable regions in China. With a composite HLVI-IPCC and multiple regression model, the factors that affect households’ adaptive capability to HLVI-IPCC was estimated. Results indicate that Ningxia is the most vulnerable community, while Guangxi is the least vulnerable community across all indices. Moreover, Gansu has the heaviest sensitivity and exposure to climate change, whereas Ningxia has the highest adaptive capability to climate change. In addition, the age of household head and distance of the home to the town center had significant negative impacts on households’ adaptive capacity to HLVI-IPCC. The results also suggest that the HLVI assessment can provide an effective tool for local authorities to formulate prioritizing strategies with promoting climate-resilient development and increasing long-term adaptive capacity.
The fundamental purpose of future urban development is to meet residents’ yearning for a better city life with the rapid development of urbanization. This study uses a multinomial logit model and cognitive map to evaluate residents’ spatial image perception of urban green space. A field study and data collection were conducted from July to August 2019, using the typical urban green space area in Beijing as the research object. Based on 375 valid questionnaires and 139 cognitive maps, the study analyzed and evaluated the image characteristics and differences of residents to the urban green space under different conditions. The results show the following. First, there is a close relationship between residents’ preference and the characteristics of urban green spaces, especially the working and living environment and characteristics will have a great influence on it. Second, the cognitive map drawn by Beijing residents can be divided into sequential and spatial cognitive maps, and the image perception shows diversified characteristics. However, the perception is relatively superficial overall, and most are simple line maps. Besides, according to the analysis of the elements of the cognitive map, the advantages and disadvantages of each type of urban green space are closely related to their geographical location and internal structure. This study has two key findings. First, the construction of urban green spaces in various cities should be carried out according to local conditions, considering the scientific basis and reasonableness of urban green space in terms of structural setting. Second, the multinomial logit model and cognitive map can effectively quantify the subjective evaluation of respondents’ spatial perceptions in a relatively simple manner, which can be further expanded in the application system design of the method.
Urban parks provide key ecosystem services and support everyday recreation, but their multifunctional use often creates mismatches between planned functions and diverse public demands. Taking Chaoyang Park in Beijing as the study area, this study applied Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGISs) to map landscape values and identify recreation conflicts. Boundary-based and inductive social landscape metrics were used to analyze the spatial patterns of six landscape values: aesthetic value, ecological value, recreational value, cultural value, healing value and economic value. Kernel density analysis was further used to identify recreation conflict hotspots and examine their spatial association with landscape value agglomeration. The results show that the landscape values in Chaoyang Park are characterized by multi-value agglomeration in core areas and functional differentiation in peripheral areas. Aesthetic value, recreational value and ecological value are the dominant value types, and their spatial distribution is highly consistent with the planning orientations of functional areas. Recreation conflicts are mainly manifested as activity disturbances and space contention, and are jointly associated with overlapping spatial functions, divergent activity characteristics and unbalanced facility allocation. This study demonstrates that PPGISs can support refined management and recreation conflict regulation in large urban parks, providing evidence for public participation planning and sustainable management of urban green spaces in high-density cities.
Community-based forest ecotourism is an important livelihood pathway for communities around protected forests, but household agritourism operators often face ecological regulations, seasonal demand and heterogeneous tourist expectations. These conditions increase information asymmetry and make service matching difficult. This study examines how two-way information disclosure affects business performance in community-based forest ecotourism. Drawing on social penetration theory, we test a chained mechanism linking two-way information disclosure to operational performance. Based on 780 valid questionnaires from agritourism operators and core family managers around Giant Panda National Park, China, this study measures information disclosure practices, service responsiveness, operator-side perceptions of tourist responses and self-reported business performance. The results show that seller- and buyer-side information disclosure significantly enhance perceived identification. Seller information disclosure has relatively stable effects on customer orientation, perceived quality and operational performance, whereas buyer information disclosure mainly works through perceived identification. Perceived quality, perceived value and satisfaction act as partial transmission channels. Heterogeneity analysis shows stronger effects among low-income and newly established operators. The findings provide micro-level evidence for reducing expectation mismatch and strengthening sustainable livelihood capacity in forest protected-area communities.