Abstract: With the large-scale exploitation of coal resources, the development of coal resource-based cities is facing serious ecological environment problems. The study of ecological vulnerability provides new ideas for sustainable urban development, ecological civilization construction and regional coordinated development. At present, the ecological vulnerability of coal resource-based cities is resulted from the combined effects of urban historical problems, natural conditions, social activities, and economic development. Based on the review of the ecological vulnerability connotation, evaluation methods, and avoid measures of coal resource-based cities, the development status, evaluation methods, and differences of avoid measures were analyzed from different perspectives on the ecological vulnerability of coal resource-based cities. Some issues, e. g., the uncertainty of vulnerability connotations, the complexity of evaluation indicators, and the applicability of research methods, were discussed. In general, the ecological vulnerability of coal-resource-based cities is an inherent property of the city's own structure and it is a comparative concept; evaluation indicators and methods should be selected with more emphasis on the related indicators of urban development and the measurement of ecological vulnerability. Future research should be focused on the definition of the ecological vulnerability, the improvement of evaluation indicators and methods, and the expansion of spatiotemporal scope of coal resource-based cities.

Key words: coal resource-based city, ecological vulnerability, ecological environment, assessment