**5. Environmental change and sustainable development of regional function division**

## **5.1 The impact of resource and environment changes on regional comprehensive carrying capacity**

Many resource-based cities are facing the problem of resource exhaustion. According to the National Sustainable Development Plan for Resource-based Cities

**257**

important reasons.

mental problems.

*Spatial Carrying Capacity and Sustainability: Cities, Basins, Regional Transformation*

(2013–2020), there are 262 resource-based cities in China. Among them, there are 126 prefecture-level administrative regions, 62 county-level cities, 58 counties and 16 municipal districts. In Northeast China, the industry started earlier and concentrated about one-sixth of the country's resource-based cities (21 prefecture-level cities in the three northeastern provinces). Many of these resource-based cities are facing the risk of resource depletion. Economic development in these regions is lagging behind, people's livelihood problems are prominent, and the ecological environment is under great pressure. Take Heilongjiang Province as an example. With the depletion of natural resources in Heilongjiang Province, 16 of the 33 major mines in the province have been depleted. The available resources of the forest industry system are only 19 million cubic meters, down 97.3% compared with the early days of the People's Republic of China. There are 40 forestry bureaus in the province, 2/3 of which have no forest to harvest. The Daqing oilfield has only 30 per

Resource-exhausted cities bring about the reduction of population and industrial carrying capacity. For cities in northeast China, from 2014 to 2018, the urban population of some cities has decreased significantly, such as Anshan city by 19,700, Fushun city by 104,700, Daqing city by 91,400 and Benxi city by 89,000. Among the 19 resource-based cities available (the data of Greater Khingan Mountains and Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture are not available among the 21 prefecture-level cities mentioned above), the urban population of 13 cities is decreasing, with a total decrease of 662,400 people [16]. On the whole, the population of resource-based cities in Northeast China is decreasing. Among the 19 prefecture level cities, only Daqing City (5.21%), Heihe City (0.38%) and Yichun City (0.16%) increased the proportion of mining industry employees in the whole city. The proportion of mining industry employees in other cities decreased, especially Qitaihe City (down 20.11%), Fuxin City (down 18.15%), Jixi City (down 13.31%). The employment proportion of

**5.2 The unsustainable problems in the current regional function division**

The industry is relatively simple and the economic transformation is difficult. The economic decline of northeast China in recent years is closely related to the "single structure" of northeast China's industries. The proportion of energy and raw materials industries is too large, and modern manufacturing and modern service industries are underdeveloped. Due to the oversupply of bulk products in the international market, the domestic production of bulk product industry has been affected. Therefore, although there are many reasons for the economic downturn in northeast China, the "single structure" of the industry is undoubtedly one of the

Excessive exploitation of resources results in serious environmental damage. Large-scale and extensive exploitation of natural resources is bound to cause serious damage to the ecological environment. In pursuit of wealth accumulation and economic growth, mining enterprises in areas with good resource endowments have risen to prominence, forming a large-scale, high-intensity and group-oriented resource development situation. Many resource-based cities thrive on mining, with cities built on top of mines and mining under cities. In recent years, the externalities of resource-based industries, such as environmental pollution, ecological decline and resource depletion, have become prominent. In particular, the process of resource utilization will cause environmental deterioration of atmosphere, water and soil, and at the same time, it will also give rise to a series of ecological environ-

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94130*

cent of recoverable reserves.

mining industry in the city decreased the most.

#### *Spatial Carrying Capacity and Sustainability: Cities, Basins, Regional Transformation DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94130*

(2013–2020), there are 262 resource-based cities in China. Among them, there are 126 prefecture-level administrative regions, 62 county-level cities, 58 counties and 16 municipal districts. In Northeast China, the industry started earlier and concentrated about one-sixth of the country's resource-based cities (21 prefecture-level cities in the three northeastern provinces). Many of these resource-based cities are facing the risk of resource depletion. Economic development in these regions is lagging behind, people's livelihood problems are prominent, and the ecological environment is under great pressure. Take Heilongjiang Province as an example. With the depletion of natural resources in Heilongjiang Province, 16 of the 33 major mines in the province have been depleted. The available resources of the forest industry system are only 19 million cubic meters, down 97.3% compared with the early days of the People's Republic of China. There are 40 forestry bureaus in the province, 2/3 of which have no forest to harvest. The Daqing oilfield has only 30 per cent of recoverable reserves.

Resource-exhausted cities bring about the reduction of population and industrial carrying capacity. For cities in northeast China, from 2014 to 2018, the urban population of some cities has decreased significantly, such as Anshan city by 19,700, Fushun city by 104,700, Daqing city by 91,400 and Benxi city by 89,000. Among the 19 resource-based cities available (the data of Greater Khingan Mountains and Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture are not available among the 21 prefecture-level cities mentioned above), the urban population of 13 cities is decreasing, with a total decrease of 662,400 people [16]. On the whole, the population of resource-based cities in Northeast China is decreasing. Among the 19 prefecture level cities, only Daqing City (5.21%), Heihe City (0.38%) and Yichun City (0.16%) increased the proportion of mining industry employees in the whole city. The proportion of mining industry employees in other cities decreased, especially Qitaihe City (down 20.11%), Fuxin City (down 18.15%), Jixi City (down 13.31%). The employment proportion of mining industry in the city decreased the most.
