Study on Ecosystem Service Values of Urban Green Space Systems in Suzhou City Based on the Extreme Gradient Boosting Geographically Weighted Regression Method: Spatiotemporal Changes, Driving Factors, and Influencing Mechanisms

Urban green space systems (UGSS) play a crucial role in enhancing citizens’ well-being and promoting sustainable urban development through their ecosystem service values (ESV). However, understanding the spatiotemporal changes, driving factors, and influencing mechanisms of ESV remains a critical ch...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tailong Shi, Hao Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-03-01
Series:Land
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/3/564
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850090249500229632
author Tailong Shi
Hao Xu
author_facet Tailong Shi
Hao Xu
author_sort Tailong Shi
collection DOAJ
description Urban green space systems (UGSS) play a crucial role in enhancing citizens’ well-being and promoting sustainable urban development through their ecosystem service values (ESV). However, understanding the spatiotemporal changes, driving factors, and influencing mechanisms of ESV remains a critical challenge for advancing urban green theories and formulating effective policies. This study focuses on Suzhou, China’s third-largest prefecture-level city by economic volume and ecological core city of the Taihu watershed, to evaluate the ESV of its UGSS from 2010 to 2020, identify key driving factors, and analyze their influencing mechanisms. Using the InVEST model combined with the entropy weight method (EWM), we assessed the ESV changes over the study period. To examine the influencing mechanisms, we employed an innovative XGBoost-GWR approach, where XGBoost was used to screen globally significant factors from 37 potential drivers, and geographically weighted regression (GWR) was applied to model local spatial heterogeneity, providing a research perspective that balances global nonlinear relationships with local spatial heterogeneity. The results revealed three key findings: First, while Suzhou’s UGSS ESV increased by 9.92% from 2010 to 2020, the Global Moran’s I index rose from 0.325 to 0.489, indicating that its spatial distribution became more uneven, highlighting the increased ecological risks. Second, climate, topography, landscape pattern, and vegetation emerged as the most significant driving factors, with topographic factors showing the greatest variation (the negatively impacted area increased by 455.60 km<sup>2</sup>) and climate having the largest overall impact but least variation. Third, the influencing mechanisms were primarily driven by land use changes resulting from urbanization and industrialization, leading to increased ecological risks such as soil erosion, pollution, landscape fragmentation, and habitat degradation, particularly in the Kunshan, Wujiang, and Zhangjiagang Districts, where agricultural land has been extensively converted to constructed land. This study not only elucidates the mechanisms influencing UGSS’s ESV driving factors but also expands the theoretical understanding of urbanization’s ecological impacts, providing valuable insights for optimizing UGSS layout and informing sustainable urban planning policies.
format Article
id doaj-art-d8d86ca8fd174d34bc0fc69a0eca9f4b
institution DOAJ
issn 2073-445X
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Land
spelling doaj-art-d8d86ca8fd174d34bc0fc69a0eca9f4b2025-08-20T02:42:35ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2025-03-0114356410.3390/land14030564Study on Ecosystem Service Values of Urban Green Space Systems in Suzhou City Based on the Extreme Gradient Boosting Geographically Weighted Regression Method: Spatiotemporal Changes, Driving Factors, and Influencing MechanismsTailong Shi0Hao Xu1Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Landscape Architecture, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, ChinaDepartment of Landscape Architecture, School of Landscape Architecture, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, ChinaUrban green space systems (UGSS) play a crucial role in enhancing citizens’ well-being and promoting sustainable urban development through their ecosystem service values (ESV). However, understanding the spatiotemporal changes, driving factors, and influencing mechanisms of ESV remains a critical challenge for advancing urban green theories and formulating effective policies. This study focuses on Suzhou, China’s third-largest prefecture-level city by economic volume and ecological core city of the Taihu watershed, to evaluate the ESV of its UGSS from 2010 to 2020, identify key driving factors, and analyze their influencing mechanisms. Using the InVEST model combined with the entropy weight method (EWM), we assessed the ESV changes over the study period. To examine the influencing mechanisms, we employed an innovative XGBoost-GWR approach, where XGBoost was used to screen globally significant factors from 37 potential drivers, and geographically weighted regression (GWR) was applied to model local spatial heterogeneity, providing a research perspective that balances global nonlinear relationships with local spatial heterogeneity. The results revealed three key findings: First, while Suzhou’s UGSS ESV increased by 9.92% from 2010 to 2020, the Global Moran’s I index rose from 0.325 to 0.489, indicating that its spatial distribution became more uneven, highlighting the increased ecological risks. Second, climate, topography, landscape pattern, and vegetation emerged as the most significant driving factors, with topographic factors showing the greatest variation (the negatively impacted area increased by 455.60 km<sup>2</sup>) and climate having the largest overall impact but least variation. Third, the influencing mechanisms were primarily driven by land use changes resulting from urbanization and industrialization, leading to increased ecological risks such as soil erosion, pollution, landscape fragmentation, and habitat degradation, particularly in the Kunshan, Wujiang, and Zhangjiagang Districts, where agricultural land has been extensively converted to constructed land. This study not only elucidates the mechanisms influencing UGSS’s ESV driving factors but also expands the theoretical understanding of urbanization’s ecological impacts, providing valuable insights for optimizing UGSS layout and informing sustainable urban planning policies.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/3/564urban green space systemecosystem services valueinVEST modelXGBoost-GWR
spellingShingle Tailong Shi
Hao Xu
Study on Ecosystem Service Values of Urban Green Space Systems in Suzhou City Based on the Extreme Gradient Boosting Geographically Weighted Regression Method: Spatiotemporal Changes, Driving Factors, and Influencing Mechanisms
Land
urban green space system
ecosystem services value
inVEST model
XGBoost-GWR
title Study on Ecosystem Service Values of Urban Green Space Systems in Suzhou City Based on the Extreme Gradient Boosting Geographically Weighted Regression Method: Spatiotemporal Changes, Driving Factors, and Influencing Mechanisms
title_full Study on Ecosystem Service Values of Urban Green Space Systems in Suzhou City Based on the Extreme Gradient Boosting Geographically Weighted Regression Method: Spatiotemporal Changes, Driving Factors, and Influencing Mechanisms
title_fullStr Study on Ecosystem Service Values of Urban Green Space Systems in Suzhou City Based on the Extreme Gradient Boosting Geographically Weighted Regression Method: Spatiotemporal Changes, Driving Factors, and Influencing Mechanisms
title_full_unstemmed Study on Ecosystem Service Values of Urban Green Space Systems in Suzhou City Based on the Extreme Gradient Boosting Geographically Weighted Regression Method: Spatiotemporal Changes, Driving Factors, and Influencing Mechanisms
title_short Study on Ecosystem Service Values of Urban Green Space Systems in Suzhou City Based on the Extreme Gradient Boosting Geographically Weighted Regression Method: Spatiotemporal Changes, Driving Factors, and Influencing Mechanisms
title_sort study on ecosystem service values of urban green space systems in suzhou city based on the extreme gradient boosting geographically weighted regression method spatiotemporal changes driving factors and influencing mechanisms
topic urban green space system
ecosystem services value
inVEST model
XGBoost-GWR
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/3/564
work_keys_str_mv AT tailongshi studyonecosystemservicevaluesofurbangreenspacesystemsinsuzhoucitybasedontheextremegradientboostinggeographicallyweightedregressionmethodspatiotemporalchangesdrivingfactorsandinfluencingmechanisms
AT haoxu studyonecosystemservicevaluesofurbangreenspacesystemsinsuzhoucitybasedontheextremegradientboostinggeographicallyweightedregressionmethodspatiotemporalchangesdrivingfactorsandinfluencingmechanisms