Spatial-temporal response of the regional ecological quality to urban settlement development

Based on the objective evaluation of the regional ecological quality (Urban Cluster in Mid-inner Zhejiang) by Remote Sensing based Ecological Index (RSEI), it was proposed to study the spatial-temporal response of the regional ecological quality to the urban built-up areas, impervious surface, land use and “production-living-ecological” space under urban settlement change to quantitatively describe the mechanism of human activities’ influence on the regional ecology. The results showed that: (1) From 1985 to 2020, the RSEI of the Urban Cluster in Mid-inner Zhejiang was above 0.50 as a whole, showing a trend of first decreasing and then increasing with a slight decrease in some parts. (2) From the perspective of the urban built-up areas, it was dominated by ecological level 2–3, gradually changing from ecological level 3 to ecological level 2. (3) From the perspective of the impervious surface, it was dominated by ecological level 2–3, accounting for more than 75.00% of the total study area. (4) From the perspective of land use, the cropland, forestland, water and construction land were mainly ecological level 2–4, 3–4, 3–4 and 2–3. (5) From the perspective of “production-living-ecological” space, production space, ecological space and living space were dominated by ecological level 3, 3–4 and 2–3. The results can deepen the understanding of the impact of urban settlement development on the regional ecological quality, avoid the unbalanced situation of blindly pursuing socio-economic development while ignoring the ecological environment, which scientifically helps the sustainable construction and high-quality development of the Urban Cluster in Mid-inner Zhejiang.