The effect of counter-urbanization on the ecosystems

Natural ecosystems are under threat from human activities, including land cover changes caused by
changes in population, economic activities, socio-political factors, culture and technology. During the
past few centuries of urbanization, rural people have abandoned their farmland to move to urban areas
for better paying nonfarm jobs, while cities have rapidly expanded to accommodate these rural-urban
immigrations. Human activities resulting from migration have contributed to the transformation of land
use, which has a very significant impact on the ecological environment. During the 1990s, a new
migration phenomenon was first noticed in the United States - counter-urbanization. City dwellers choose
to move out of the unpleasant urban environment and live in the countryside in pursuit of natural
amenities and better quality of life. This urban-rural migration is accompanied by changes in human
activities, which will cause land-use transformations. However, these impacts need to be demonstrated
quantitatively across much of the globe. In this project, I plan to understand the current status of
counter-urbanization using global population datasets and migration modelling, find the appropriate
variables and methods to measure ecosystem environment in areas of counter-urbanization and explore
the relationship between counter-urbanization and ecosystems using panel model and spatial
autocorrelation models. A major output of this work will be to provide the first global analyses of the
distribution of counter-urbanization and provide new information about protecting the natural
ecosystems, which would provide a scientific basis for regulating policies to develop a sustainable world.