Evaluation and optimization of urban ecological resilience in rapidly urbanizing areas of China: A case study of Taiyuan metropolitan area

Urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas are pivotal to China's rapid urbanization. In this context, conducting the evaluation of metropolitan ecosystem resilience is essential for ensuring the ecological security of these regions. Grounded in evolutionary resilience concepts, this study develops a framework for assessing urban ecological landscape resilience, which across three dimensions: defense, adaptability, and recovery, and was selected the Taiyuan metropolitan area as a case study. The findings indicate that from 2000 to 2022, the urban ecological resilience (UER) of the Taiyuan metropolitan area declined by 21.7 %. Specifically, ecological defense and adaptability demonstrated a downward trend, while ecological recovery exhibited a slight increase. The urban ecological resilience presents a distribution pattern of increasing circles from the center to the periphery, but there are islands or strip high resilience areas within urban areas, and improving their connectivity in the future will help enhance ecological resilience. Moreover, from 2000 to 2022, the low-low clusters of ecological resilience in the Taiyuan metropolitan area were predominantly located in the urban center, whereas high-high clusters expanded into the eastern and western mountainous regions. The study applied the Ordered Weighted Averaging method to construct scenario-based optimization maps by integrating ecological elements and functions. Three distinct scenarios were developed: “unsustainable-oriented”, “status-oriented”, and “sustainable-oriented” by assigning varying weights to defense and adaptability indicators. These scenario-based maps offer valuable decision-making support for planning and designing strategies to enhance ecological resilience in the Taiyuan metropolitan area. • The ecological resilience evaluation pays attention to the concept of connecting with nature in a larger space. • The ecological resilience of Taiyuan metropolitan area shows a circled spatial pattern. • Connectivity of island or belt shaped high resilience areas helps to enhance ecological resilience. • Nature based solutions can enhance the ecological resilience of rapidly urbanizing areas.