Abstract
Urban land expansion (ULE) has caused negative effects as a result of urbanization and industrialization in China in the past few decades. Strengthening economic linkage and the cooperation among regions has great implications for effectively controlling disorderly ULE and achieving sustainable and intensive land use. Previous research has rarely investigated the relationship between ULE and economic linkage. Therefore, this study analyzes the spatial patterns of ULE and economic linkage in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) of China via social network analysis and a gravity model. Moreover, the spatial relationship and coupling level between ULE and economic linkage are investigated by building a bivariate spatial autocorrelation model and a coupling coordination degree model, respectively. The results indicate that the YREB experienced rapid ULE, and the area increased from 4.24 × 104 km2 in 1990 to 7.89 × 104 km2 in 2015. The cities that experience rapid ULE have gradually transferred from the east to the west of the YREB. In addition, the economic linkage in eastern cities is evidently higher than that of western cities. Our bivariate spatial model further proves that there are strong negative spatial correlation characteristics between ULE and economic linkage. This indicates that the higher the economic linkage, the lower the speed of ULE. Moreover, the coupling coordination between ULE and economic linkage show that the overall coupling stage changed from an antagonistic stage to a running-in stage. However, the coupling coordination in the YREB presented significant spatial heterogeneity, and most cities in urban agglomeration had a relationship between ULE and economic linkage that was barely balanced, slightly unbalanced, or seriously unbalanced. By considering the limitations and obstacles of current initiatives, suggestions and policy implications for sustainable land use at large regional scales are suggested.
Highlights
With the advancement of urbanization and globalization, problems caused by urban population explosions, such as urban expansion, ecological environment destruction, and disordered competition among regions, have become increasingly prominent [1,2,3]
The historical changes of urban land areas in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 1990 to 2015 were calculated through land remote sensing data ( A km2), and the growth rate (GT) of urban land was determined in accordance with the corresponding prefecture-level administrative unit
Rapid urbanization and economic development have resulted in dramatic urban land expansion (ULE) in China, affecting sustainable land use and attracting the attention of the Chinese government
Summary
With the advancement of urbanization and globalization, problems caused by urban population explosions, such as urban expansion, ecological environment destruction, and disordered competition among regions, have become increasingly prominent [1,2,3]. The way to ensure the coordinated and coupled development between urban land expansion and economic growth is of great significance to protect the ecological environment, optimize land space patterns, and conduct coordinated regional development in China. During the 13th five-year plan period, the total amount of new construction land will be controlled at 2.17 × 105 ha, and the construction land area per unit gross domestic product (GDP) will be reduced by 20%. In light of these restrictions, most cities in China are faced with a dilemma regarding the demand for and control of construction land. To promote sustainable land use, studying the coupling relationship between the expansion of urban land and regional economic linkage is conducive to improving efficiency and restricting the expansion of urban land
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