Implication of Ecosystem Health Assessment for Urban Management

In order to implementing theoretical urban ecosystem health assessment into practical urban management more effectively, it is necessary to find out the relationship between the urban ecosystem health status based on the internal metabolism characteristics and the external performance of the urban ecosystem. Eleven indicators are selected to describe the performance of the urban ecosystem from aspects of resources condition, social civilization, economic development and environmental load. The correlation analysis between the emergy-based urban ecosystem health status in view of energy and material flows and the ecosystem status based on the eleven indicators is conducted to reveal the relationship between the internal biophysical foundation and the external performance of the urban ecosystem. It is indicated that the resources basis and the economic development level correlate with the emergy-based urban ecosystem health status, which implies the measurement of effectively and reasonably utilizing and exploiting resources, adjusting the economic development pattern and industrial structure should be paid much attention to improve the urban ecosystem health level and optimize the urban ecosystem management. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.