Characteristics of state-owned construction land supply in Chinese cities by development stage and industry

Abstract

Land supply and regional economic development are closely related. Differences in regional industrial structure and degree of urbanization result in differences in the characteristics of land supply. In this study, a Python program was used to obtain 2010–2017 land transaction data of 327 cities in China’s Land Market Network. The development stage of each city was identified according to its per capita gross domestic product and industrial structure in 2017. Land supply, at various stages of development, for state-driven construction in cities was characterized with respect to various industries. We found that with the evolution of development stage, the annual average land supply scale of the city increased from 9491.77 hectares in primary industrialization stage (PIS) to 24614.84 hectares in developed stage (DS), and the proportion of newly increased construction land decreased from 87% PIS to 24614.84 hectares in DS. Furthermore, the supply structures of state-owned construction land significantly differed across development stages. With respect to the evolution of development stages, the change of land supply proportion in various industries presents the types of gradual decline, gradual increase, initial increase and subsequent decline, initial decline and subsequent increase, and volatility. The frequency distribution of the proportion of land supply in cities allocated for various industries and across the developmental stages was different. The administrative hierarchy of cities in China has a large influence on land supply. The effects of National New-Type Urbanization Plan (NUP) and marketization on land supply were contrary to expectations. NUP has significantly promoted land supply. The higher the development stage of the city, the positive effect of marketization on land supply has not increased. The findings enrich the theory of regional land use and can guide the formulation of land supply policies in different stages of development.