Study on comprehensive evaluation of human settlements quality in Qinghai Province, China

• Published in: Ecological indicators 2023-10, Vol.154, p.110520, Article 110520
• Main Authors: Guo, Yanlong, Chen, Pengyu, Zhu, Yelin, Zhang, Han
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: China; Composite well-being index; Entropy-TOPSIS; environmental health; environmental protection; Gray-scale correlation; habitats; humans; Qinghai; sewage treatment; Social well-being; socioeconomic status; traffic
• ISSN: 1470-160X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110520

•Sewage treatment, water resources and traffic accidents are important considerations.•The correlation between urban road area and living environment is the highest.•Income has the lowest correlation with living environment.•The human settlements index increases with time. The rapid development of modern industrial Civilization has put remote areas of China, especially Qinghai, in an increasingly unfavorable development position, and the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development in the Qinghai region has become increasingly serious, with environmental problems becoming increasingly prominent. Hence, this study is dedicated to assessing the quality of habitat in Qinghai, China. The effects of the evaluation of the Habitat Index will, to a sure extent, grant a reference for the current improvement purpose of harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature. Using the 2010–2020 Provincial data of Qinghai, China, and based on the existing literature and data, we constructed the evaluation index system of Qinghai's habitat environment quality in four dimensions, namely, health and safety, social development, economic status and environmental health, respectively. Combined with the entropy-weight-TOPSIS evaluation model, the Habitat Index of Qinghai residents was measured. The changes of habitat environment in different years were determined. Finally, the distribution of the correlation of each index is analyzed through grayscale correlation and box line diagram. The study concludes that, first, in terms of the time dimension, the overall Habitat Quality Index of Qinghai shows a steady increase from 2010 to 2020. 2020 has the highest Habitat Index, followed by 2019 and 2018. The relative proximity values of Cifor these three years are 0.597, 0.547, and 0.509, respectively. Second, statistically, the per capita urban road area has the most significant impact on Qinghai's Habitat Environment Index. It indicates that we need to improve and plan the traffic environment in Qinghai to create a safe and efficient traffic order. In addition, we need to focus on environmental protection, improve the level of sewage treatment, focus on the protection of water resources, etc. Thirdly, among the dimensional indicators, the gray correlation coefficient of each secondary indicator is >0.7. The correlation between each dimensional indicator and the quality of Qinghai's habitat environment is high. The highest correlation is found for the secondary social develop