{"title":"Temporal and Spatial Analysis of Production Demand-Driven Water use in China's Urban Agricultural Sector","authors":"Xinye Yu, Xi Chen, Chenyang Shuai, Bu Zhao","doi":"10.1007/s12061-025-09657-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Water scarcity poses a significant challenge to China's sustainable economic and social progress. Despite its critical importance, the impact of the agricultural sector’s production demand on water consumption across regions and sectors through supply chains (known as water footprint) has been largely overlooked, particularly at the city level. This study provides a detailed analysis of the agricultural water footprint at the urban scale, using data from 2012, 2015, and 2017 for 313 Chinese cities. Our findings reveal that agricultural water footprints in Chinese cities exhibit clear spatial heterogeneity, with higher footprints in the central and eastern regions compared to the northwest and southwest. Over time, cities with high water footprints have gradually shifted from north to south. We also identified that hotspot cities are mainly located in the central, eastern, and southern regions of China, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan, and Nanjing. Based on these insights, we provide policy recommendations aimed at promoting sustainable water resource management at both the sectoral and city levels. These recommendations are intended to mitigate water scarcity and ensure water security in China. To achieve sustainable water resource management, agricultural water footprints must be integrated into urban water management systems. Key policies include optimizing water footprint management in eastern regions through precision irrigation and IoT systems, improving water use efficiency in water-scarce agricultural areas, and enhancing agricultural trade between regions with different water resources. Urban agricultural development should focus on balanced water usage and collaborative governance through cross-city water rights platforms. Industry structure optimization is essential, with a focus on promoting water-efficient technologies and practices. Additionally, encouraging water-saving behaviors through education, subsidies, and policy incentives will help reduce agricultural water footprints and support sustainable water use.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46392,"journal":{"name":"Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy","volume":"18 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12061-025-09657-3","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Water scarcity poses a significant challenge to China's sustainable economic and social progress. Despite its critical importance, the impact of the agricultural sector’s production demand on water consumption across regions and sectors through supply chains (known as water footprint) has been largely overlooked, particularly at the city level. This study provides a detailed analysis of the agricultural water footprint at the urban scale, using data from 2012, 2015, and 2017 for 313 Chinese cities. Our findings reveal that agricultural water footprints in Chinese cities exhibit clear spatial heterogeneity, with higher footprints in the central and eastern regions compared to the northwest and southwest. Over time, cities with high water footprints have gradually shifted from north to south. We also identified that hotspot cities are mainly located in the central, eastern, and southern regions of China, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan, and Nanjing. Based on these insights, we provide policy recommendations aimed at promoting sustainable water resource management at both the sectoral and city levels. These recommendations are intended to mitigate water scarcity and ensure water security in China. To achieve sustainable water resource management, agricultural water footprints must be integrated into urban water management systems. Key policies include optimizing water footprint management in eastern regions through precision irrigation and IoT systems, improving water use efficiency in water-scarce agricultural areas, and enhancing agricultural trade between regions with different water resources. Urban agricultural development should focus on balanced water usage and collaborative governance through cross-city water rights platforms. Industry structure optimization is essential, with a focus on promoting water-efficient technologies and practices. Additionally, encouraging water-saving behaviors through education, subsidies, and policy incentives will help reduce agricultural water footprints and support sustainable water use.
期刊介绍：
Description
The journal has an applied focus: it actively promotes the importance of geographical research in real world settings
It is policy-relevant: it seeks both a readership and contributions from practitioners as well as academics
The substantive foundation is spatial analysis: the use of quantitative techniques to identify patterns and processes within geographic environments
The combination of these points, which are fully reflected in the naming of the journal, establishes a unique position in the marketplace.
RationaleA geographical perspective has always been crucial to the understanding of the social and physical organisation of the world around us. The techniques of spatial analysis provide a powerful means for the assembly and interpretation of evidence, and thus to address critical questions about issues such as crime and deprivation, immigration and demographic restructuring, retailing activity and employment change, resource management and environmental improvement. Many of these issues are equally important to academic research as they are to policy makers and Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy aims to close the gap between these two perspectives by providing a forum for discussion of applied research in a range of different contexts
Topical and interdisciplinaryIncreasingly government organisations, administrative agencies and private businesses are requiring research to support their ‘evidence-based’ strategies or policies. Geographical location is critical in much of this work which extends across a wide range of disciplines including demography, actuarial sciences, statistics, public sector planning, business planning, economics, epidemiology, sociology, social policy, health research, environmental management.
FocusApplied Spatial Analysis and Policy will draw on applied research from diverse problem domains, such as transport, policing, education, health, environment and leisure, in different international contexts. The journal will therefore provide insights into the variations in phenomena that exist across space, it will provide evidence for comparative policy analysis between domains and between locations, and stimulate ideas about the translation of spatial analysis methods and techniques across varied policy contexts. It is essential to know how to measure, monitor and understand spatial distributions, many of which have implications for those with responsibility to plan and enhance the society and the environment in which we all exist.
Readership and Editorial BoardAs a journal focused on applications of methods of spatial analysis, Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy will be of interest to scholars and students in a wide range of academic fields, to practitioners in government and administrative agencies and to consultants in private sector organisations. The Editorial Board reflects the international and multidisciplinary nature of the journal.
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