Eco-geographic processes in the evolution of human settlements system on the metropolis fringe:a case study of Guangzhou

Eco-geographic Processes ( EGP) is an important area in the inter-disciplinary research involving modern ecology,geography and human settlements sciences.As a special social-economic-natural complex ecosystem; the EGP in the evolution of human settlements system is the key in understanding the mechanism of its evolution and its ecological regulation,and provides a useful perspective for understanding the evolution of social-economic-natural complex ecosystem.On the metropolis fringe,the dynamism and openness of the human settlements system are more prominent,the evolution of EGP is more intense,and therefore studies on it play an important role in making breakthrough in the inter-disciplinary research of this important research area.This paper is an attempt to examine EGP from the above perspective,using Guangzhou as a case study.The paper first expounds the connotation of human settlements evolution,and defines it as structural and functional changes in the human settlements system resulted from the combined effects of various ecological flows in the forms of population,substance, energy,currency,and information.Such changes manifest as dynamic changes in social and economic structures and landscape patterns,or EGP of one kind of human settlement substituted by another one.The paper points out that the evolution of the human settlement system is an irreversible evolution sequence starting from the village human settlements, then changing to the fringe human settlements,and finally becoming core human settlements.On the basis of the above understanding and taking Guangzhou as the case study,the paper applies a comprehensive methodology integrating ecological and geographical analyses to divide the EGP into four categories,namely the processes of invasion,competition,reaction and regulation,according to the relationship among the village,fringe and core human settlements systems.The invasion process involves the impacts of the external systems on the fringe system,which can be further divided into four sub-categories,i.e.the processes of infiltration,jumping,encroachment,and extension.The competition process involves the mutual interaction between the fringe system on the one hand and the village and core system on the other hand,which can be further divided into two sub-categories,i.e.the processes of differentiation and symbiosis.The reaction process is the adaptation and adjustment of fringe system to the village and core systems and external system.The regulation process is the impacts of external system on the fringe one,which can be further divided into two aspects,i.e.the government regulation and the landscape ecological regulation.Finally,the paper proposes a conceptual framework on the evolution of human settlements system on the metropolis fringe.The paper points out that the relationships,spatial patterns,action subjects and action manners of the above four processes may be different,but they are inter-related to each other,and sometimes can reciprocally transformed.The paper concludes that studies on EGP are of great theoretical and practical significance to the understanding and regulating of human settlements in the metropolis fringe.