Connotation of urban ecological quality and the construction of its core index system

Urban ecological quality is a necessary attribute for a healthy urban ecological state. In the period of urban development from large-scale incremental construction to stock improvement and quality transformation and incremental structural adjustment, there are many gaps between urban ecological quality construction and the requirements of the new stage. There is an urgent need to understand and integrate multiple needs, and construct an indicator system to promote the balance between supply and demand of ecological resources and efficient use to enhance urban ecological quality. We used the analysis methods of CiteSpace literature analysis, relevant policy collation and questionnaire survey to systematically sort out the key points of concern and differences in understanding among the three perspectives of science, government, and the public. The results showed that all the three perspectives, i.e., science, government, and public, were more concerned with indicators related to urban green space, gray infrastructure, and policy control. The concerns of science and public addressed indicators related to urban green space the most, while government being most concerned with indicators related to gray infrastructure. Based on those findings, we developed a core urban ecological quality index system with a total of 25 indicators, covering 10 major types of urban green space, environmental quality, gray infrastructure, and so on.