Analysis of Urban Expansion and Human–Land Coordination of Oasis Town Groups in the Core Area of Silk Road Economic Belt, China

Abstract

Under economic globalization, synergy among cities has been actively promoted. Establishing inter–city networks and joint regional development could catalyze economic growth. The mode and pace of urban growth could be gauged by construction land expansion and human–land coordination. This study adopted the dynamic change, the center of gravity, and coordination analyses to comprehensively portray spatial patterns and changes amongst 13 oasis town groups in Xinjiang, China, from 2000 to 2018. The results identified that 2010 was the turning point of acceleration in construction land expansion, demonstrating notable spatial differentiations among town groups. Northern Xinjiang experienced faster urban growth than southern Xinjiang. The Urumqi–Changji–Shihezi (UCS) town group on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains constituted the crucial urban core with the fastest construction land expansion. Although the towns in southern Xinjiang were small and beset by inherent limitations in the early period, some town groups acquired new impetus and vitality and became the fastest–developing areas in Xinjiang in recent years. The growth was driven by China’s western development program, economic assistance, and Silk Road Economic Belt. Eastern Xinjiang had convenient transportation, but its small urban entities needed population supplementation to invigorate urban expansion. In the far north, the Altay and Tacheng–Emin (TE) town groups were situated too far from development cores. They lacked the collateral benefits of nearby strong–growth loci, resulting in sluggish growth. A north–south dual–hub strategy was proposed to spearhead the dissemination of urban growth by fostering core–periphery linkages pump–primed by improved road connections.