Approach to urbanization issues on the base of ecological footprint

To approach the role of urbanization as a driving force for ecological footprint balance variation and provide theoretical principles for urbanization planning and ecological environment development in Xi'an,the impacts of urbanization on ecological footprint balance was analyzed after extracting the ecological footprint data for urban and non-urban residents in Xi'an from 1997 to 2006.The urban population of Xi'an grew from 40.4% in 1997 up to 45.7% in 2006,while the ecological footprint per capita grew from 1.31hm2 in 1997 up to 1.64hm2 in 2006 with a total increase of 25%。A significant correlation between ecological footprint per capita and urbanization could be found according to calculations,and the ecological footprint per capita tended to go up with urbanization.However,the ecological footprint per ten-thousand-Yuan GDP showed a tendency to drop significantly with urbanization.Polynomial fitting was performed to find out the relationship between ecological footprint per capita and urbanization rate.The result showed that ecological footprint per capita will reach a maximum 1.79hm2 when urbanization rate hits 50.66%.Polynomial fitting was also performed to analyze the relationship between ecological footprint per capita and GDP per capita,and the result showed that ecological footprint per capita will reach a maximum 1.79 hm2 when GDP per capita hits 26,700 Yuan.We suggested that:(1) Scientific urbanization and urban planning should be carried out.(2)New energy and high-tech agricultural practices be introduced.(3)Crop yield and eco-economy be promoted with great effort.