Table 1.

Evolution of the RECC concept.

Background	Concept	Connotation
Human ecology	Carrying capacity	The limit on the number of individual organisms under a specific environmental condition (mainly referring to the combination of living space, nutrients, sunlight, and other ecological factors) [26].
Grassland degradation	Grassland carrying capacity	The maximum number of animals that can be carried within a pasture [27].
Ecological security	Biomass carrying capacity	The capacity of an ecosystem to carry the maximum amount of a particular biomass at a time [28].
Deal with disaster like hunger, war, poverty	Human carrying capacity	The maximum population that a city or urban agglomeration can carry under certain resource and environmental constraints on the premise of meeting human’s ever-increasing needs for a better life [30].
Population soaring and land resource scarcity	Land resources carrying capacity	The productive capacity and the maximum population that can be carried by regional land resources [32,48].
Sustainable development of resources	Resources carrying capacity	The capacity of resources to carry the basic survival and development of the population in a region [49].
Water shortage induced by drought or pollution	Water resources carrying capacity	The maximum population and the intensity of industrial and agricultural production activities that can be carried by regional water resources [50].
Mineral resource shortage	Mineral resources carrying capacity	The maximum population and aggregate economy that can be carried by the stock of mineral resources in the foreseeable period, under the conditions of science and technology [39].
Serious environmental pollution	Environmental carrying capacity	The self-purification capacity of water, atmosphere, and soil environments to carry the pollutant discharge capacity of human life and economic development [35,36,51].
Serious ecological damage	Ecological carrying capacity	The capacity of an ecosystem to carry the maximum human socioeconomic activities [40].
Post-disaster reconstruction planning Territorial spatial planning	Resources and environmental carrying capacity	The capacity of resources and environment (including water, soil, and ecology) to carry the maximum human socioeconomic activities [41,42].
Coordinated development of product–living–ecological spaces	Product–living–ecological carrying capacity	A capacity complex composed of land resources and ecological environment to carry the economic activities for a certain standard of living [44].
Rural revitalization	Resources and environmental carrying capacity of rural and township development	The supporting capacity of the rural and township carrier (including the resources and environment of water, soil, ecological) [22,45].
Cultural protection	Culture carrying capacity	The maximum scale, intensity, and speed of human social activities that the cultural system can carry under the premise of maintaining coordinated and sustainable development of people and nature within a certain period and region [43].
Regional and urban sustainable development	Economic carrying capacity	The economic activity capacity that a city or urban agglomeration can carry under certain resource and environmental constraints on the premise of ensuring high-quality economic development [24].
	Traffic carrying capacity	The supporting urban road car carrying capacity; overload is congestion [46].
Tourism sustainable development	Tourism carrying capacity	The maximum number of tourists that a tourist destination system can carry in a certain period of time without harmful changes [47].