Analysis on the Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of Urban Expansion and the Complex Driving Mechanism: Taking the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration as a Case

Luo Liu,Zhenjie Liu,Xuliang Xu,Jianmei Liu,Binwu Wang

doi:10.1155/2020/8157143

Abstract

Rapid urbanization on a global scale leads to a number of issues such as arable land occupation and ecological degradation. In this context, analyzing the driving mechanism of urban land expansion in complex urban systems facilitates sustainable urban development. Most relevant studies focused on the role of each driving factor and less considered the interaction between different factors spatially and temporally. In order to provide a deep insight into the complex driving mechanism of urban expansion, this study began with an analysis of the spatio-temporal characteristics of urban expansion in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) urban agglomeration in different periods. Then, the driving mechanism of urban expansion intensity (UEI) and urban expansion landscape pattern were analyzed, based on the interaction of different driving factors over space and time. The result showed as follows. (1) During the period of 2000–2008, the overall UEI in the PRD was higher than that of the period of 2008–2015. From 2000 to 2015, the most important source of urban land expansion was farmland, followed by forest land. Meanwhile, the decline in the proportion of outlying expansion type indicated that the urban land has gradually become more compact. (2) From 2000 to 2015, the socio-economic factors had a greater effect on UEI than natural factors. And the interaction between the pairs of factors on UEI during 2000–2008 was significantly stronger than that during 2008–2015. (3) The driving factors of the urban landscape expansion index during the period from 2008 to 2015 were far more powerful than 2000–2008. And the interaction between the pairs of factors on urban landscape expansion index during 2000–2008 was significantly stronger than that during 2008–2015.

Highlights

Since the 21st century, global urbanization has been advancing at a high speed [1]
A series of problems have arisen, such as the Complexity occupation of scarce farmland resources, traffic congestion, and ecological degradation, which seriously affect the effective functioning of urban systems [10,11,12,13]. erefore, it is of practical significance for predicting the development trend of urban land use and guiding the sustainable development of cities to find out the existing problems and evolution rules in the urban complex system
Wei examined the impacts of development policies and economic restructuring on China’s urban expansion, and the results showed that urban expansion was the main response to the government’s top-down policy change and economic transition [23]

Summary

Introduction

Since the 21st century, global urbanization has been advancing at a high speed [1]. Urbanization has become an important feature of global changes and the main way for human activities to transform the natural environment and climate [2,3,4,5,6]. Erefore, the spatio-temporal evolution of urbanization has been one of the focuses of global change research. E rapid economic development and increasing industrialization of these areas have brought a growing number of urban residents. In this context, a series of problems have arisen, such as the Complexity occupation of scarce farmland resources, traffic congestion, and ecological degradation, which seriously affect the effective functioning of urban systems [10,11,12,13]. Erefore, it is of practical significance for predicting the development trend of urban land use and guiding the sustainable development of cities to find out the existing problems and evolution rules in the urban complex system A series of problems have arisen, such as the Complexity occupation of scarce farmland resources, traffic congestion, and ecological degradation, which seriously affect the effective functioning of urban systems [10,11,12,13]. erefore, it is of practical significance for predicting the development trend of urban land use and guiding the sustainable development of cities to find out the existing problems and evolution rules in the urban complex system

Objectives

Results

Conclusion