Coordinating urban development with the protection of water resources is a serious global challenge faced by countries worldwide. This study constructed the coupled Water Ecological Security Pattern-Future Land Use Simulation (WESP-FLUS) model by integrating methods for identifying water–ecological sensitive areas and simulating land use type changes. Taking the Lanzhou-Baiyin metropolitan area in arid region of northwestern China as a case study, this research simulated land use patterns in 2030 under four development scenarios (natural development, and urban economic optimization, ecological conservation priority, urban-water coordinated development scenarios). The results identified 109.81 km 2 of water–ecological source areas and 43 water–ecological corridors with a total length of 1255.4 km. Predicted land use patterns for 2030 displayed diverse trends, constrained by water–ecological sensitive areas across different scenarios, with urban built-up land mainly expanding radially around the central urban axis. The urban-water coordinated development scenario was the optimal solution that meets both urban development needs and water–ecological protection objectives. The urban built-up land could reach 546.68 km 2 in 2030, representing a 91.39 km 2 increase compared to 2020. This study aims to improve spatial planning methods under the “determining cities by water” concept, scientifically supporting territorial spatial planning and providing theoretical support for the coupling of urban development and natural environment in water-scarce arid regions.
LI et al. (Sun,) studied this question.
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