The demand structure of resources for new economy is different from the traditional one in that its development may significantly change China’s economic location map and spatial pattern. Based on 343 administrative units of prefecture-level cities in China, this research constructs the measurement index system of terrestrial surface natural resources under the orientation of the new economic demands; this research mainly analyses the spatial distribution characteristics and geographical mechanism of natural resources by means of the spatial autocorrelation and spatial similarity calculation methods. The results show that: (1) The structure and endowment of natural resources under the orientation of the new economic demands need to be reexamined. The significance of a good environment and ecological resources has been highlighted. The coupling of resource elements better reveals the availability of natural resources. (2) The natural resources decrease from southeast to northwest, showing a pattern of “abundant in the south and east and scarce in the north and west”. Natural resources have a significant positive correlation in spatial distribution with two types of agglomeration: high-high agglomeration and low-low agglomeration, showing the local agglomeration feature of “high in the south and low in the north”. (3) Natural factors such as temperature, precipitation and altitude affect the spatial distribution of natural resources, with the temperature being the most significant. This indicates that the original natural environment and its role are the geographical mechanism for the formation and distribution of natural resources. The results could provide a reference for the development and the optimization of China’s new economy.

The formation and development of cities are inseparable from a certain scale of water resources. The information contained in the morphological structures of cities and water systems is often overlooked. Exploring the spatiotemporal evolution of water system structures (WSS) and urban system structures (USS) can reveal the “urban–water” relationship from a new perspective. The Huaihe River Basin (HRB) was selected as the case area, based on the theory of fractal dimensions, grid dimension and multifractal spectrum methods were used to depict the structural evolutionary characteristics of water systems and urban systems from different dimensions. Then, through a comparative analysis of fractal parameters and spectral lines, the characteristics and changing patterns of the “urban-water” relationship in the HRB from 1980 to 2019 were revealed. The results indicate the following: (1) The water system structure in the HRB is complex and exhibits distinct scale characteristics, showing improvement overall and at larger scales while continuously degrading at smaller scales. (2) Both the water system and urban system exhibit increasingly complex spatial development characteristics; however, the USS continues to optimize over time, while the WSS experiences degradation. (3) The development patterns of the water system and urban system are significant differences in the HRB. Urban development mainly relies on outward expansion, whereas the water system is primarily characterized by intensive enhancement. (4) Because of the rapid development of urban areas, water scarcity may occur in densely populated urban areas or larger cities in the future. The research results can serve as a scientific reference for urban planning and water resource management in the HRB.

1. The pattern of drainage systems is one of the key factors which control the spatial pattern of the human–environment system (Yu et al. 2025a), and it plays an important role in many applied stud...