Improving sustainable land use level with the aim of enhancing urban ecosystem service value: a case study of Xi’an in China

The supply capacity of urban ecosystem services is the foundation for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, due to the difficulty in reaching a consensus on the multiple attributes of land ecosystems, the coercion issue between land use change, the enhancement of ecosystem service value (ESV), and urban development is exposed. The objectives of the study are to improve land structure with the goal of enhancing ESV, based on the evaluation of the relationship between land use change and urban ESV. In response to the SDGs, an evaluation index system for sustainable land use (SLU) was constructed by comparing subgoals. Factor analysis was used to evaluate the SLU level. The impact of SLU level changes on ESV was explored by grouping regression. The logarithmic mean Divisia index was used to describe the contributions of various factors to ESV changes. The results indicated that ESV increased by 17.71%, but SLU comprehensive evaluation score decreased from 0.324 to -0.522. The changes in SLU level had varying effects on ESV. The main factors driving changes in ESV were ESV coefficient and total green space area, with average contributions of 198.32% and -98.32%, respectively. The study points out that differences in factors driving ESV changes provide potential opportunities for urban development. Improving SLU level is an important way to promote the realization of SDGs and improve urban ESV.