An Integrated Approach to Modelling the Economy-Society-Ecology System in Urbanization Process

Urbanization has become a key part of social and economic progress in the 21st Century, but achieving healthy and safe urban development has a long way to go for many developed and developing countries. Urbanization has been recognized as a complex ecosystem which is affected by economic, social, and ecological factors. With this in mind, this paper looks at many factors to first evaluate based on the matter-element (ME) method and then model an Economy-Society-Ecology (ESE) subsystem using a hybrid method by a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), and then by using the entropy method (EM) to determine the relevant index weights. To avoid subjectivity when defining the model’s boundaries, the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) is introduced. Then, a coupling coordination degree model focusing on the degree of coordination in the ESE subsystem is established. Panel data collected from 2003 to 2012 for Chengdu, China, is then simulated to analyze the development process. The results show that: (1) The quality of urbanization continues to improve and the phasic features are presented; (2) The sensitivity analysis of subsystem weight shown that it had less effect on the coupling coordinated system; (3) The coordination in the ESE subsystem has also improved. However, the development rate of the economic subsystem is greater than that of the societal and ecological subsystem. The approach used here therefore, is shown to provide a promising basis for policy-making to support healthy urban development.