Abstract
Coastal settlements in urban areas show certain degrees of spatial complexity. Understanding the evolution law of fractal settlements is practically important for marine engineering and urban planning. In this paper, we investigate the fractal evolution of coastal settlement land use based on fractal theory. The fractal dimensions of the land uses for three typically coastal settlements in Xiamen city, China, are obtained to quantify their spatial complexity. The results reveal the fractal characteristics and regional differences of the coastal settlements. Furthermore, nonlinear modeling is applied to describe the fractal dimension evolution of the coastal settlement land uses from 2000 to 2018. Three settlements in rapid urbanization show different nonlinear evolution equations of the fractal dimension due to their different land uses. This study might provide a theoretical basis for understanding the fractal characteristic evolution of coastal settlements in urban areas and show its potential application in urban geography.
Highlights
With the rapid development of ocean exploration, the land-use complexity of coastal cities has changed significantly [1,2]
The spatial complexity of a coastal settlement is related to its location and geometry
We investigated the fractal evolution of coastal settlements based on the fractal theory
Summary
With the rapid development of ocean exploration, the land-use complexity of coastal cities has changed significantly [1,2]. Chen calculated the fractal dimensions of urban forms and boundaries, found scaling laws of self-organized criticality in urban systems, and suggested the application of fractal city planning [6,7]. Yu et al analyzed the fractal characteristic of Xiamen island based on satellite remote sensing data and found that the fractal dimension evolution of the island was related to land reclamation from the sea [13]. These studies suggest that the fractal analysis of urban spaces might reveal the evolution law of its complexity
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