Investigation into Relationship between Intensive Land Use and Urban Heat Island Effect in Shijiazhuang City Based on the Tapio Decoupling Theory

Abstract

In this study, heat island intensity is evaluated based on an image processing algorithm, and the degree of intensive land use is determined with the entropy-weight TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) model. In addition, the Tapio decoupling theory is further introduced for analysis of the relationship between the urban land-intensive use and heat island effect in Shijiazhuang city, China, from 1995 to 2016. According to the results, the continuously growing coverage area of the urban heat island extends from urban areas to suburban areas, and the gradually increasing heat island intensity is mainly localized along the southwest–northeast direction. The level of land-intensive use has increased from poor to good, and the rate of improvement has gradually accelerated. According to the Tapio decoupling analysis, there is a negative decoupling between intensive land use and heat island effect from 1995 to 2004, which changes to a weak decoupling from 2004 to 2016, indicating the gradual transition to a coordinative relationship. This study innovatively introduces the decoupling theory, analyzes the relationship between urban land-intensive use and heat island effect, and complements urban sustainable development from content and method. However, in terms of micro levels, this relationship requires further study.