Integrated approaches of social-ecological resilience assessment and urban resilience management

Resilience thinking, transformations and implications for sustainable city development in Lianyungang, China

by Yi Li
Cumulative thesis
Date of Examination:2016-02-03
Date of issue:2016-02-10
Advisor:Prof. Dr. Martin Kappas
Referee:Prof. Dr. Martin Kappas
Referee:Prof. Dr. Heiko Faust
Referee:Prof. Dr. Christoph Dittrich
Referee:Prof. Dr. Daniela Sauer
Referee:Prof. Dr. Renate Bürger-Arndt
Referee:Prof. Dr. Hans Ruppert
Persistent Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.53846/goediss-5505

 

 

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Abstract

English

The urban system is a multi-interaction system, due to the rapid urbanization and intertwined vulnerability of the ecological system. It will be a challenge to maintain a sustainable development of the urban and urbanizing areas (peri-urban areas). Resilience provides an approach for understanding how urban social-ecological systems adapt to disturbances like water or air pollution. To cope with these disturbances, a resilience-based management can operationalize and promote guiding principles for city development. The purpose of this thesis is to combine different quantitative approaches to calculate and assess resilience in the city of Lianyungang. This research calculates resilience with the social and ecological indicators based on two different theories: catastrophe models and adaptive capacity. Based on the output of these two theories, transformation processes are then illustrated by using early warning and adaptive cycle models. Specifically, resilience transitions between different landscape patterns and water quality variables are illustrated and their trajectories in relation to urban development strategies are detected. The results suggest a positive resilience trend and an adaptive development in Lianyungang during 2000-2010. However, the early warning model suggests a tipping point in 2009, where its signal hits a critical mark, which would imply a “Less Resistant” state. Furthermore, it reveals the decoupling of urban development and water quality. NH3-N, Cadmium and Total Phosphorus experienced the most resilient shifts under rapid urbanization, which points out a direction for future water quality management. National and regional planning practices contribute to manage the ongoing shifts in different resilient transition states. This implication can help to develop and enhance further city plans. Ultimately, this thesis provides the political underpinnings for building and managing resilient urban system in a particular coastal urban setting.
Keywords: catastrophe model; early warning; tipping point / threshold; adaptive capacity; urban resilience; social-ecological resilience; water quality
 
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