Expansion and Evolution of a Typical Resource-Based Mining City in Transition Using the Google Earth Engine: A Case Study of Datong, China

Minghui Xue,Yanfei Yang,Xuan Sun,Tao Sun,Xiaoxiang Zhang

doi:10.3390/rs13204045

Abstract

China’s resource-based cities have made tremendous contributions to national and local economic growth and urban development over the last seven decades. Recently, such cities have been in transition from resource-centered development towards human-oriented urbanization to meet the requirements of long-term sustainability for the natural environment and human society. A good understanding of urban expansion and evolution as a consequence of urbanization has important implications for future urban and regional planning. Using a series of remote sensing (RS) images and geographical information system (GIS)-based spatial analyses, this research explores how a typical resource-based mining city, Datong, has expanded and evolved over the last two decades (2000–2018), with a reflection on the role of urban planning and development policies in driving the spatial transformation of Datong. The RS images were provided and processed by the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Spatial cluster analysis approaches were employed to examine the spatial patterns of urban expansion. The results indicate that the area of urban construction land increased by 132.6% during the study period, mainly along with the Chengqu District, the Mining Area, and in the southeast of the Nanjiao District, where most new towns are located. Reflection on the factors that influence urban expansion shows that terrain, urban planning policies, and social economy are driving Datong’s urban development.

Highlights

Since its reform and opening-up policy in 1978, China has experienced rapid urbanization leading to a remarkable urban population growth and urban land expansion
Most scholars focus their research on metropolises, which leads to a lack of research on the development law of small and medium-sized cities, especially coal resource-based cities in a transition period
The research shows that, construction land was concentrated in Chengqu and the Mining Area in 2000 and, on this basis, it continued to expand to the southeast of Nanjiao

Summary

Introduction

Since its reform and opening-up policy in 1978, China has experienced rapid urbanization leading to a remarkable urban population growth and urban land expansion. By the end of 2019, 60.6% of Chinese people lived in urban areas—tripling the proportion in 1979—. Many Chinese cities have transformed from socialist planned industrial production bases to global cities through decentralization, marketization, and globalization [3,4,5]. Sustainable urban planning is central to addressing the dilemma between urban growth and environmental protection, where land use is critical [6]. An understanding of how urbanization is transforming urban spatial structure, urban land layout in Chinese cities, is the key to efficient urban management and planning towards sustainable urban development

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Discussion

Conclusion