Rebuilding the “intermediate transmission layer” of ecosystem services in a high-density city: ESV–RAI coupling and hierarchical urban–landscape coexisting corridors in Longgang (Shenzhen), 2010–2023

In high-density built-up areas, a key sustainability challenge is the spatial mismatch between ecosystem service (ES) supply and residents’ daily activity demand. Focusing on Longgang District (Shenzhen, China), we develop a reproducible workflow to track the structural evolution of ecosystem service value (ESV) and diagnose ES supply–demand mismatch from 2010 to 2023. We estimate ESV for five benchmark years (2010/2013/2016/2019/2023) and derive a residents’ activity intensity (RAI) index from multi-source digital proxies, including POI density, road-network node density, public-transport accessibility, and night-time light brightness. All indicators are standardised and integrated using a weighted overlay approach.

To characterise mismatch patterns, we apply an ESV–RAI two-dimensional coupling framework that uses district-wide means as thresholds and classifies spatial units into four coupled types (high/low ESV × high/low RAI). Results indicate a pronounced structural transition characterised by “low-value expansion and mid-value collapse”: the share of low-ESV areas increases from ~52% (2010) to nearly 59% (2023), while the mid-value layer—functioning as an intermediate transmission layer for ES delivery—contracts sharply, with an inflection around 2019. Low-ESV–high-RAI areas become the dominant coupled type, suggesting persistent structural barriers to translating ecological value into residents’ everyday living spaces.

Finally, we interpret corridor-based mechanisms through a hierarchical “urban–landscape coexistence” corridor system comprising three levels: regional ecological skeleton corridors, built-up transition corridors, and fine-grained embedded corridors supporting daily mobility and recreation. We argue that coordinated optimisation across this corridor hierarchy is critical to rebuild the intermediate transmission layer and mitigate ES–activity spatial mismatch in complex high-density cities.