Identification of Shrinkage and Growth Patterns of a Shrinking City in China Based on Nighttime Light Data: A Case Study of Yichun

Ying Zhou,Zuopeng Ma,Jing Zhang,Wei Liu,Shuju Hu,Chenggu Li

doi:10.3390/su11246906

Ying Zhou, Zuopeng Ma + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su11246906

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Dec 4, 2019
Citations: 26	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Northeast Normal University

Abstract

Urban shrinkage has become a topic of major concern to scholars of geography and urban science. However, the methods of identifying urban shrinkage and growth have mostly focused on traditional statistical methods, and studies based on nighttime light (NTL) data are rare. Here, we use the NTL data for 56 months from 2012 to 2019 obtained by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on board the Suomi National Polar Orbiting Partnership (NPP) to identify the shrinkage and growth patterns of Yichun in China, by calculating the slope of the NTL radiance value after denoising. At the same time, by combining high-resolution Google satellite images and traditional demographic data, we analyzed the shrinkage characteristics of Yichun. The results of the study confirmed the characteristics of partial shrinkage in China’s shrinking cities. In addition, the use of NPP-VIIRS NTL data was able to more accurately identify the urban shrinkage and growth patterns, and may also be seen to present a more objective picture of reality, thus providing a new perspective for studies of urban shrinkage.

Highlights

The terminology of “urban shrinkage” originates from “Schrumpfende Städte”, referring to the phenomenon of population decline and economic recession caused by deindustrialization in Germany [1]
The methods of identifying urban shrinkage and growth have focused on traditional statistical methods, both in China and internationally
The research scale has been limited by administrative divisions, with few studies having refined the understanding of shrinkage and growth patterns within administrative boundaries

Summary

Introduction

The terminology of “urban shrinkage” originates from “Schrumpfende Städte”, referring to the phenomenon of population decline and economic recession caused by deindustrialization in Germany [1]. It is not a new phenomenon [2] and has been spreading worldwide [3,4,5,6,7,8]. Many scholars hold the view that China’s shrinking cities are mainly characterized by the scattered and fragmented shrinkage of partial areas [16,17], rather than an overall recession. It is necessary to refine the current understanding of the internal shrinkage pattern of China’s shrinking cities

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