Abstract
Territorial Space Development and Protection (TSDP) is a critical factor influencing carbon emissions, particularly in resource-based cities (RBCs), whose development is closely linked to and strongly affected by TSDP. These cities are also major contributors to China’s carbon emissions. Investigating the Territorial Space Development and Protection Level (TSDPL) of cities is a necessary prerequisite for formulating carbon reduction strategies. Current research on TSDP in RBCs remains insufficient, with a lack of theoretical and measurement studies on TSDP. To address this, this study: (a) reviews domestic and international research on TSDP in RBCs, analyzing their life cycles, development patterns, and socio-economic, land-use, and energy consumption characteristics; (b) interprets the conceptual framework of TSDP and establishes a measurement indicator system consisting of 22 metrics across seven dimensions: land resource development, population agglomeration, economic development, resource extraction, ecosystem protection, pollutant management, and resource conservation; (c) constructs a comprehensive measurement model based on the min-max normalization, entropy, and linear weighting methods to quantify the TSDPL of 110 RBCs from 2005 to 2020; and (d) finds that during this period, the TSDPL increased steadily, with an average annual growth rate of 2.791%. However, disparities among cities widened, leading to increased polarization. Spatial disparities were pronounced, exhibiting an “east-high, west-low; south-high, north-low” pattern. Cities with relatively high and high TSDPL were primarily located in Hebei and Shandong provinces, while those with low and relatively low levels were concentrated in Gansu, Heilongjiang, and Shanxi provinces. This quantitative analysis of TSDPL in RBCs clarifies their TSDP characteristics, providing a theoretical and practical foundation for low-carbon spatial planning and carbon emission reduction strategies.