Subjects: Geosciences >> Geography submitted time 2023-02-27 Cooperative journals: 《干旱区地理》
Abstract: As an essential hub of the Silk Road Economic Belt, the coordinated development of landscapedemographic urbanization in Central Asia not only affects the sustainable socio-economic development of Central Asia but also promotes the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. We explored the spatiotemporal coupling characteristics of five Central Asian capitals from 2000 to 2019 using the urban expansion mode index, population concentration index, equal fan analysis method, and spatial coupling coordination model. The results are as follows: (1) From the spatial evolutionary characteristics, the expansion type of urban land in five Central Asian capitals is mainly sprawl type, and overall, the expansion mode index tends to increase and then decrease. Regarding population concentration characteristics, the population concentration index in Ashkhabad exhibits an upward trend, whereas that in Dushanbe and Nur Sultan exhibit a downward trend, and those of Tashkent and Bishkek fluctuate between 0.6 and 0.7. (2) In terms of spatial growth trends, the expansion directions of landscape urbanization and demographic urbanization are identical in Bishkek, Ashkhabad, and Nur Sultan, with a slight deviation in Tashkent and a significant difference in Dushanbe. (3) From the coupling coordination characteristics, the landscape-demographic urbanization coupling situation is poorly coordinated in Tashkent, and the coordinated urbanization development is at the initial stage. The coupling coordination situations are better in Dushanbe and Bishkek, but their coordination levels vary widely and are at the fluctuating stage. Ashkhabad and Nur Sultan exhibit high coordination levels and are at the stable stage