Abstract
In the process of sustainable development, most of China's resource-based cities, especially those in northeast China, are still unable to get rid of the resource exhaustion dilemma. Resilience is an effective way to deepen urban sustainable development (Meerow, S. 2016; Sharifi, A. 2016), Resilience in terms of cities generally refers to the ability to absorb, adapt and respond to changes in an urban system(Kevin C. 2013). However, there is no commonly applied quantitative approaches for measuring and assessing resilience (W.C. Chuang, 2018), and fewer of them take resource-based cities as research object. Therefore, this paper aims to construct an urban resilience assessment model based on the adaptive cycle framework for resource-based cities in Northeast China, which is beneficial for scientific measurement and classified guidance, through which planners could explore a more specific path of resilience transformation. China's resource-based cities have begun to transform from the initial dual structure of resource consumption to urban sustainable development (Sustainable Development Plan for Resources-Based Cities in China 2013–2020). However, in the process of transformation, some resource-based cities in Northeast China have fallen into a bottleneck period. While the problems left over from history have not been solved, new contradictions have emerged gradually, forming complex problems interwoven with ecology, society, economy and urban infrastructure, such as simple industrial structure, huge economic downward pressure, prominent livelihood issues, population loss, high unemployment, fragile ecological environment, inadequate urban infrastructure, and so on. Although some researchers have used quantitative methods to measure the sustainability of resource-based cities(Lu, C.2016; Xia Wu,2020), less attention has been paid to urban resilience. Resilience has emerged as an attractive perspective with respect to cities, often theorized as highly complex, adaptive systems (Batty, 2008; Godschalk, 2003), and the adaptive cycle is a key heuristic model within resilience theory (Fanghan Luo,2018). This theory believes that a dynamic system would undergo four phases (Allen and Holling, 2010), i.e., exploitation (r), conservation (K), release (Ω) and reorganization (α). Some researchers have used this theory to divide the resilience phases of social-ecological systems (Yi Li 2017; Ling Zhang,2021). In terms of research methods, firstly, statistical data of 19 resource-based cities in Northeast China is collected and analyzed. Secondly, the framework of resilience assessment for resource-based cities is constructed, which includes two indicator systems of urban resilience and risk. In the urban resilience indicator system, according to the current problems and transformation goals of resource-based cities in China, combined with resilience characteristics (such as vulnerability, flexibility, robustness and redundancy), the indicators are screened from four aspects of ecology, society, economy and infrastructure. The principal component analysis (PCA) is used to quantify the indicators. Then, the early warning index of China's resource-based cities (released by the National Research Center for Resource Economics of Peking University) is applied as risk indicator. Finally, after the Min-max standardization, the urban resilience and risk indicators are divided into four resilience phases by cluster analysis according to the adaptive cycle theory. The resilience assessment results of 19 resource-based cities in Northeast China is obtained, and the spatial distribution analysis would also be conducted through Geographic Information System(GIS). Then the resilience phases of these cities could be specifically divided, and provide guidance for urban transformation strategies and deepen the sustainable development of resource-based cities in Northeast China. Provide theoretical reference and related data for the same type of research.
