Study on Sustainable Use of Land Based on Ecological Footprint Model: a Case of Shenzhen

Reasonable use of land or not, directly related to the sustainable development of a country or region. This paper introduced the basic concept, calculation formula and method of the ecological footprint. We calculated the ecological footprint of Shenzhen by application of the ecological footprint model. The results showed that the per capita ecological footprint in Shenzhen in 2011 was approximately 2.486 hm2, while the per capita ecological capacity was approximately 0.0597 hm2, the per capita ecological deficit was approximately -2.433 hm2, and the ecological footprint is about 47.33 times greater than the ecological capacity. Finally, we discussed the limitations of applying the ecological footprint model to judge the sustainable use of land in this paper.