The construction of ecological security patterns has become a crucial approach to assessing ecosystem health and integrity and is essential for achieving sustainable and high-quality development in both urban and rural areas. Using Lanzhou City as an example, our study employed the InVEST model, ecological service importance evaluation, and hotspot analysis to classify ecological sources. Additionally, ecological corridors were identified and optimized using the least resistance model and circuit theory. The identified corridor pattern was further analyzed using space syntax and neural networks to determine the influences of various factors. This framework can be applied to the circular construction of corridors. Our findings revealed a three-stage differentiation trend in the importance of ecosystem services. Ecological source areas and corridors were densely distributed in the northwest of Lanzhou. The optimized ecological source area increased from 2914.1 km² to 4542.5 km², raising its proportion in the study area from 22.2% to 34.7%. The total number of corridors after optimization was 217, spanning a 2657.3 km length. The Gaolan Mountain area had the highest current density, whereas the ecological barrier area was mainly distributed in the northwest of Yongdeng County and the north of Yuzhong County. The spatial syntax index indicated significant potential reachability between the Honggu area and the northwest area. Finally, using neural network perceptrons to simulate ecosystem service functions, our findings revealed that habitat quality showed the best fit under single-dependent-variable prediction, followed by water yield, with soil conservation showing a poor fit. Under three-dependent-variable prediction conditions, population factors had the greatest impact on ecosystem services, while slope had the least impact. Therefore, it is important to promote the construction of green infrastructure in the northwest and southeast, improve the connectivity of ecological corridors in Honggu District, and adopt corresponding spatial corridor optimization strategies according to different ecological needs. Collectively, our findings provide a theoretical and practical basis for the construction and optimization of urban and rural ecological security patterns in the semi-arid region of Lanzhou.

Oasis regions in arid northwestern China represent critical interfaces for watershed ecological security and rural sustainable development. However, under escalating resource constraints and intensifying human–land conflicts, the disorderly expansion of rural settlements has increasingly constrained high-quality territorial development. Liangzhou District, located in the transitional zone of the upper Heihe River Basin at the eastern end of the Hexi Corridor, provides a representative case for examining the spatial evolution of rural settlements in oasis environments. Using multi-temporal land-use data from 2000 to 2023, this study integrates landscape pattern metrics, kernel density estimation, and nearest-neighbor analysis to characterize the spatiotemporal evolution of rural settlements. The Markov–CLUE-S model is further applied to simulate land-use changes under three scenarios for 2035: natural development, new urbanization, and ecological protection. Results indicate that the number of rural settlement patches increased from 1598 to 3009, while their total area expanded from 10,321.83 hm² to 20,828.34 hm², demonstrating a sustained expansion trend and a transition from scattered distribution to increasingly clustered patterns along urban centers and major transportation corridors. Scenario simulations suggest that rural settlement areas will decline by 5.27 km², 12.13 km², and 11.68 km² under the three respective scenarios, predominantly converting to cropland, grassland, and urban construction land. Model validation yields a Kappa coefficient of 0.88, confirming high simulation accuracy. This study develops an integrated “pattern evolution–driving mechanism–scenario response” analytical framework for rural settlement dynamics in arid oasis regions, highlighting the combined influences of environmental constraints and socio-economic drivers. The findings provide a scientific basis for rural spatial optimization and watershed-scale territorial governance in arid regions.

Urban green spaces (UGS) are critical regulators of carbon sequestration in industrial cities; however, the configuration mechanisms underlying their carbon dynamics remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates how landscape configuration influences carbon sequestration capacity in Lanzhou and Baotou using multi-temporal datasets from 2000, 2011, and 2022. Net primary productivity (NPP) derived from the CASA model was employed to represent carbon sequestration capacity. An integrated XGBoost-SHAP framework was applied to identify dominant configuration metrics, nonlinear responses, and structural thresholds. The XGBoost model showed stable predictive performance across the three periods, with test-set R² values ranging from 0.470 to 0.510 in Lanzhou and from 0.325 to 0.379 in Baotou. The results reveal systematic and persistent differences in configuration-driven controls between the two cities. In Lanzhou, aggregation-related metrics, particularly COHESION, consistently exert the strongest influence across all three periods, indicating that spatial cohesion and connectivity function as primary stabilizing mechanisms in a mountainous, valley-constrained urban system. Carbon sequestration performance increases once sufficient structural integration is achieved, with aggregation thresholds remaining relatively stable, for example AI values of approximately 0.31–0.34 across 2000–2022, reflecting the importance of maintaining ecological continuity under semi-arid climatic stress. In contrast, Baotou is more strongly regulated by fragmentation-related metrics, especially edge density (ED) and division index (DIVISION), suggesting that its relatively open terrain and industrial spatial structure render carbon sequestration more sensitive to patch separation and edge proliferation. Here, fragmentation acts as a dominant structural constraint, limiting vegetation productivity once spatial disintegration intensifies; for example, ED thresholds shifted from approximately −0.23 in 2000 to −0.56 in 2022. Landscape–carbon relationships exhibit pronounced nonlinear and threshold-dependent behavior in both cities. Rather than responding gradually to structural modification, NPP shifts across identifiable transition points that remain broadly stable over time; for instance, Lanzhou’s AI threshold remains within 0.31–0.34, whereas Baotou’s ED threshold changes from −0.23 to −0.56 across 2000–2022, indicating that these thresholds represent intrinsic structural characteristics of the respective urban ecological systems. However, the magnitude and configuration logic of these thresholds differ between Lanzhou and Baotou, confirming the existence of city-specific nonlinear regimes. These findings demonstrate that urban carbon sequestration operates through context-dependent configuration pathways shaped by terrain, climatic constraints, and long-term spatial organization. The study advances understanding of how structural heterogeneity governs carbon dynamics in arid and semi-arid industrial cities and provides a quantitative basis for configuration-sensitive land planning.

Urban green walking systems have emerged as a pivotal strategy to alleviate urban challenges, enhance public health, and promote sustainable urban development, garnering increasing attention across multiple disciplines. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric review of literature published in the Web of Science Core Collection between 1998 and 2023, employing the R-based tool Bibliometrix (version 4.5.0) to analyze research output, scholarly contributions, and thematic evolution. Findings reveal an overall growth in publications, with the field progressing through nascent (1998–2016), rapid growth (2017–2020), and stable maturity (2021–2023) phases. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening recorded the highest number of publications, while Landscape and Urban Planning exhibited strong academic influence. China and the United States are leading contributors, though international collaboration rates suggest opportunities for broader global engagement. Core research themes center on health promotion, spatial planning, and social equity, reflecting interdisciplinary integration across environmental science, urban planning, and public health. Despite the formation of an emerging theoretical framework, gaps persist regarding research trajectory clarity, interdisciplinary depth, thematic synthesis, and methodological diversity. Future research should expand multilingual and multi-source datasets, integrate field-based investigations with quantitative modeling, and advance understanding of the mechanisms underpinning urban green walking systems, thereby informing evidence-based urban planning and the development of livable cities.

The spatiotemporal evolution of ecosystem services and the elucidation of their driving mechanisms constitute a central scientific issue in territorial spatial optimization and regional sustainable development. Taking Gansu Province, a core area of the ecological security barrier in northwestern China, as the study area, this study integrates land-use, natural geographic, and socioeconomic data from 2000 to 2020. Using a land-use transfer matrix, the InVEST model, the Geographical Detector, and the PLUS model, we constructed a comprehensive analytical framework that combines historical evolution analysis, spatial differentiation identification, and multi-scenario simulation and prediction. The framework was used to systematically reveal the spatiotemporal dynamics of four core ecosystem services, namely carbon storage (CS), water yield (WY), habitat quality (HQ), and soil retention service (SDR), and to analyze their natural and socioeconomic driving mechanisms, while also simulating land-use change and ecosystem-service responses under the natural development, ecological protection, and urban expansion scenarios in 2030. The results show that, from 2000 to 2020, land use in Gansu Province was dominated by grassland (average proportion: 33.34%) and unused land (average proportion: 41.35%). Urban land expanded from 660.52 km² to 2227.36 km², with its share increasing from 0.15% to 0.50%, mainly through the conversion of cropland and grassland. Ecosystem services exhibited marked spatial differentiation: CS increased from east to west; WY showed an increasing pattern from northwest to southeast; HQ was lower in the central and southeastern regions and higher in the western and southern regions; and SDR was dominated by low-value areas in the northwest (average proportion: 84.81%). Driving-mechanism analysis indicated that slope was the core natural factor affecting CS, HQ, and SDR (q = 0.18–0.45), while mean annual precipitation dominated the variation in WY (q = 0.31–0.35). The influence of socioeconomic factors such as GDP increased gradually over time, showing an evolutionary trend from natural dominance to coordinated natural–socioeconomic regulation. Multi-scenario simulation further showed that, under the ecological protection scenario, grassland area increased significantly (+0.60%), the proportions of medium-value CS zones and high-value WY zones increased, and ecosystem services were optimized overall; under the urban expansion scenario, cropland and urban land expanded (+0.87% and +0.23%, respectively), imposing potential pressure on part of the ecosystem-service functions. These findings provide a scientific basis for optimizing territorial spatial planning, strengthening the ecological security barrier, and promoting regional sustainable development in Gansu Province. The methodological framework also offers a broadly applicable reference for ecologically sensitive arid and semi-arid regions in northwestern China.