Determinants of land use conflicts with the method of cross-wavelet analysis: Role of natural resources and human activities in spatial-temporal evolution

Abstract

The imbalance and mismatch between land use structures and resource elements lead to the intensified competition for land use cover, and the resulting land use conflicts (LUCs) have attracted much attention. However, there are few studies on multi-spatial scale determinants of LUCs, due to relatively discrete scales or single determinant used in previous studies. It is a great challenge to explore the method of prioritizing research multi-scales in view of the determinants of LUCs. This study took the Shenyang Economic Zone, a developed urban agglomeration at high latitudes in China, and used cross-wavelet analysis to clarify the determinants of LUCs between natural resources and human activities in typical years (1980, 1993, 2006, and 2019). The cross-wavelet coefficients were used to extract the determinants of LUCs, and the cross-wavelet phase angles were applied to reveal the acting direction and spatial multi-scale correlation of LUCs with the determinants in the Shenyang Economic Zone. The results showed that: (1) the determinants of LUCs in the study area were distance to industrial and mining storage, intensity, soil types, digital elevation model (DEM), and landforms in 1980, were DEM and distance to industrial and mining storage in 1993, were distance to industrial and mining storage, intensity, and diversity in 2006, and were energy consumption of industrial enterprises, gross domestic product (GDP), and intensity in 2019. From 1980 to 2019, the dominant determinants influencing LUCs in the SEZ shifted from a joint influence of natural resources and human activities to dominance of human activities. (2) The action direction of LUCs with determinants had both positive and negative effects in different spatial positions. (3) The multi-scale correlations between LUCs and their determinants were obvious, and the spatial scale correlations varied significantly. The spatial scale between 94,629 and 118950 m was the most suitable spatial scale to explain the association between LUCs and determinants. The results indicated that the competition between natural resources would aggravate LUCs, however, human activities were the main cause of LUCs. Therefore, we believed that territorial spatial planning should not only consider the land distribution pattern, but also took the determinants as control variables to participate in territorial spatial planning. Our findings could provide a scientific basis for alleviating regional land contradictions and effectively allocating resource elements.