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Urban Land Use Form in China

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2019) | Viewed by 23893

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Prof. Dr. Yan Song

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Guest Editor

Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Interests: land use and transportation integration; smart cities; low-carbon cities; sustainable urban form and policies; plan evaluation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

China is the largest developing country and its urbanization has undergone an unprecedented process in terms of scope and speed. The area of China's urban construction land has increased tremendously in recent decades. Along with the rapid urbanization process, the spatial form of Chinese cities has experienced drastic changes both in terms of the rapid growth of conversion of urban land and the emergence of new spatial forms or spatial structures of Chinese cities. These changes are clearly demonstrated in the urban spatial growth pattern of China in recent years.

The objective of this Special Issue is to compile the cutting-edge studies on the link between urban land uses, urban spatial forms and urban land use policies. Specifically, this Special Issue invites theoretical and empirical studies in Chinese cities on the following themes, although other relevant topics will also be considered:

Measures of urban land form
Evaluation of urban spatial structure
Driving forces of urban land form
Policies used to shape urban land patterns in cities
Coordinated urban and rural land development
New urban land mega projects
Economic development and urban land conversion

Dr. Yan SongGuest Editor

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Keywords

Urban land use
Spatial structure
Urban form
Urban Expansion
Spatial growth pattern
Chinese cities

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 10482 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Spatial Heterogeneity in the Determinants of Urban Form: An Analysis of Chinese Cities with a GWR Approach

by Shijie Li, Chunshan Zhou, Shaojian Wang, Shuang Gao and Zhitao Liu

Sustainability 2019, 11(2), 479; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11020479 - 17 Jan 2019

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 5467

Abstract

It is of great significance to investigate the determinants of urban form for shaping sustainable urban form. Previous studies generally assumed the determinants of urban form did not vary across spatial units, without taking spatial heterogeneity into account. In order to advance the theoretical understanding of the determinants of urban form, this study attempted to examine the spatial heterogeneity in the determinants of urban form for 289 Chinese prefecture-level cities using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) method. The results revealed the spatially varying relationship between urban form and its underlying factors. Population growth was found to promote urban expansion in most Chinese cities, and decrease urban compactness in part of the Chinese cities. Cities with larger administrative areas were more likely to have dispersed urban form. Industrialization was demonstrated to have no impact on urban expansion in cities located in the eastern coastal region of China, which constitutes the country’s most developed regions. Local financial revenue was found to accelerate urban expansion and increase urban shape irregularity in many Chines cities. It was found that fixed investment exerted a bidirectional impact on urban expansion. In addition, urban road networks and public transit were also identified as the determinants of urban form for some cities, which supported the complex urban systems (CUS) theory. The policy implications emerging from this study lies in shaping sustainable urban form for China’s decision makers and urban planners. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Land Use Form in China)

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15 pages, 2072 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Land Spatial Development Based on Carrying Capacity, Land Development Potential, and Efficiency of Urban Agglomerations in China

by Zhenbo Wang

Sustainability 2018, 10(12), 4701; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124701 - 10 Dec 2018

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3193

Abstract

The Chinese government is undergoing a major reform. The current core task of new Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is to establish a national territorial spatial planning system (NTSPS). Urban agglomeration has become a main body in NTSPS. China’s new urbanization strategy identified 19 key development areas of urban agglomerations (UA), but the land development path is not clear. Due to the lack of research on the land development intensity evaluation (LDIE) of urban agglomerations, this study applied a GIS-based, multi-criteria method for LDIE to the Shandong Peninsular urban agglomeration (SPUA). Evaluation indices were determined for three factors (development intensity, supporting capacity, and utilization efficiency) that comprise the discriminant model of the three-dimensional matrix method, which was used to establish the method for this topic and demonstrate the accuracy of the land spatial development intensity. This empirical study on the SPUA indicated that, overall, the average indices for development intensity, supporting capacity, and utilization efficiency in the study area are 0.40, 0.34, and 0.55, respectively. Using the three-dimensional matrix discrimination model, three zones of development intensity were identified: key, stable, and restricted development zones. The threshold values for construction land growth in the eight cities of the SPUA were obtained. The findings provide a theoretical reference and guide for the practical application of LDIE as well as a scientific basis for sustainable land development and utilization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Land Use Form in China)

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14 pages, 1873 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Does Polycentric Urban Form Affect Urban Commuting? Quantitative Measurement Using Geographical Big Data of 100 Cities in China

by Xiaoyan Li, Yanchuan Mou, Huiying Wang, Chaohui Yin and Qingsong He

Sustainability 2018, 10(12), 4566; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124566 - 3 Dec 2018

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 4349

Abstract

The relationship between polycentric urban form and urban commuting has been widely debated in Western academic circles. However, qualitative and quantitative studies have not reached a unified conclusion. The evolution of urban form in China is remarkably different from that of developed Western countries. Many Chinese cities have begun using polycentric structures as their future development strategies. This study quantitatively measures whether polycentric urban form can improve commuting efficiency in China by using traditional statistics and emerging geographic big data. We use the polycentric index (PI) as the dependent variable and the congestion delay index (CDI) and mean traffic speed (MTS) as the main independent variables. Control variables include urban morphological space compactness (CT), number of private cars per thousand people (PC), number of buses per thousand (PB), urban road area per capita (PUA) and urban population density (PD). Regression models are employed to detect the relationships among the variables. The main research conclusions are as follows: (1) A high degree of PI results in low CDI and fast MTS; (2) a compact spatial form increases the impact of polycentricity on commuting efficiency; (3) maturity road infrastructure is an important measure to promote urban commuting under a polycentric urban form; and (4) the order of effect magnitude of polycentricity on MTS is PD > PC > CT > PUA > PB; on CDI, PD > PC > PB > CT > PUA. The results can be used in examining whether the current polycentric urban pattern planning in China’s cities can effectively improve commuting efficiency. They also provide a reference for the healthy development of China’s urban space and policy formulation of subsequent urban planning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Land Use Form in China)

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17 pages, 4000 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impacts of Urbanization and Associated Factors on Ecosystem Services in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration, China: Implications for Land Use Policy

by Yushuo Zhang, Xiao Lu, Boyu Liu and Dianting Wu

Sustainability 2018, 10(11), 4334; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114334 - 21 Nov 2018

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4495

Abstract

Conflicts between ecological conservation and socio-economic development persisted over many decades in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration (BTH). Ecosystem services were affected drastically by rapid urbanization and ecological restoration programs in the BTH since 2000. This study aims to identify the spatial patterns of the four types of ecosystem services (net primary productivity (NPP), crop production, water retention, and soil conservation) in 2000 and 2010, and to make clear the impacts of urbanization and associated factors on the spatial patterns of ecosystem services. Based on the quantification of ecosystem services, we assessed the spatial patterns and changes, and identified the relationships between the type diversity of ecosystem services and land-use change. We also analyzed the effect of the spatial differentiation of influencing factors on ecosystem services, using the geographical detector model. The results showed that the average value of crop production increased substantially between 2000 and 2010, whereas the net primary productivity decreased significantly, and the water retention and soil conservation decreased slightly. The ecosystem services exhibited a spatial similar to that of influencing factors, and the combination of any two factors strengthened the spatial effect more than a single factor. The geomorphic factors (elevation and slope) were found to control the distribution of NPP, water retention, and soil conservation. The population density was responsible for crop production. We also found that the urbanization rate plays a major indirect role in crop production and water retention when interacting with population density and slope, respectively. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) indirectly influences the spatial distribution of NPP when interacting with geomorphic factors. These findings highlight the need to promote new strategies of land-use management in the BTH. On the one hand, it is necessary to carefully select where new urban land should be located in order to relieve the pressure on ecosystem services in dense urban areas. On the other hand, the maintenance of ecological restoration programs is needed for improving vegetation coverage in the ecological functional zones in the medium and long term. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Land Use Form in China)

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16 pages, 2623 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Differences in Urban Built-Up Land Expansion in Zhengzhou and Changsha, China: An Approach Based on Different Geographical Features

by Zhanqi Wang, Hongwei Zhang and Ji Chai

Sustainability 2018, 10(11), 4258; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114258 - 18 Nov 2018

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3076

Abstract

The disorderly expansion of urban built-up land is a global issue. It is of great significance to guide urban land use scientifically through the analysis of geographical features to identify the mechanisms that underlie differences in urban built-up land expansion. We selected Changsha and Zhengzhou in China, whose built-up areas during the initial period of study had different natural geographical features, but similar human geographical features, and systematically explored the development and evolution characteristics of the natural and human geographical features from 1990 to 2010 using a landscape metrics analysis and an urban built-up land intensive use analysis. We found that (1) although human beings have a strong ability to transform nature, they have to rely on the natural endowment of the land to develop the cities and, thus, have formed different landscape patterns and levels of urban built-up land intensive use; (2) in places where the natural geographical features are more restrictive, land-use policy-makers are more cautious in their decision-making, which more closely links the land-use policies and human geographical features, thereby simultaneously increasing the degree of intensive built-up land use and reducing the number of problems that arise from urban built-up land expansion. This research can provide a reference for the development of policies for urban built-up land use in Changsha and Zhengzhou. It also can provide ideas for how to implement different built-up land management policies for other cities with different natural and human geographical features. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Land Use Form in China)

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14 pages, 2497 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring Determinants of Urban Form in China through an Empirical Study among 115 Cities

by Man Yuan, Yan Song and Liang Guo

Sustainability 2018, 10(10), 3648; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103648 - 11 Oct 2018

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2672

Abstract

This study aims to analyze and explain the factors that influence the urban form of Chinese cities through an empirical analysis of a cross-sectional dataset of 115 cities in 2000 and 2010. Four spatial metrics, including population density, a contiguity index, a fractal dimension index, and a shape index, are used to quantify urban form. The paper compares urban form across four economic zones and across cities of different sizes. Ordinary least square and first-difference regression models are used to analyze the determinants of urban form. The results show that urban sprawl in China is characterized by decreased population density and greater irregularity and complexity of urban built-up areas. Metrics, such as Gross Domestic Product, population, transportation costs, and economical structure are associated with urban form in different ways, and urban expansion based on large-scale industrialization and real estate development is unsustainable in the new era. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Land Use Form in China)

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