Does a scaling exist in urban ecological infrastructure? A case for sustainability trade-off in China.

So far, urban scaling theory has proven that urban area, infrastructure, and economic output have a scaling relation with population. But if we consider ecological space as a part of urban infrastructure, would the same scaling characteristics exist? What is the scaling relationship between ecological spaces and economic social development in different stages of urbanization? This paper is based on this question and explores the trade-off between social economic system and ecosystem in 370 cities of China. The results show that the relationship between population and urban ecological space generally follows the scaling theory in terms of different types of ecological spaces and ecosystem services.