Urban ecological security evaluation and spatial correlation researchbased on data analysis of 16 cities in Hubei Province of China

As artificial ecosystems with high population concentrations, the security of urban ecosystems is more fragile than that of natural ecosystems. This paper aims to construct the methodology of an urban ecological security evaluation system. Firstly, based on the "driver-pressure-state-impact-response" (DPSIR) model, an evaluation index system of urban ecological security is established. Then gray clustering method is introduced to build an evaluation model of urban ecological security. A spatial autocorrelation analysis is also adopted to explore the spatial mechanism that affects the changes of urban ecological differences. Results indicate that the average level of ecological security in these 16 cities from 2007 to 2016 was between 0.535 and 0.647, and the southwest region is better than the northeast region. The results of the spatial analysis suggest that the surrounding areas easily affected the city's ecological security, showing a clustering effect. This study provides a theoretical reference for decision making of urban sustainable development.