Land Spatial Development Based on Carrying Capacity, Land Development Potential, and Efficiency of Urban Agglomerations in China

Zhenbo Wang

doi:10.3390/su10124701

Abstract

The Chinese government is undergoing a major reform. The current core task of new Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is to establish a national territorial spatial planning system (NTSPS). Urban agglomeration has become a main body in NTSPS. China’s new urbanization strategy identified 19 key development areas of urban agglomerations (UA), but the land development path is not clear. Due to the lack of research on the land development intensity evaluation (LDIE) of urban agglomerations, this study applied a GIS-based, multi-criteria method for LDIE to the Shandong Peninsular urban agglomeration (SPUA). Evaluation indices were determined for three factors (development intensity, supporting capacity, and utilization efficiency) that comprise the discriminant model of the three-dimensional matrix method, which was used to establish the method for this topic and demonstrate the accuracy of the land spatial development intensity. This empirical study on the SPUA indicated that, overall, the average indices for development intensity, supporting capacity, and utilization efficiency in the study area are 0.40, 0.34, and 0.55, respectively. Using the three-dimensional matrix discrimination model, three zones of development intensity were identified: key, stable, and restricted development zones. The threshold values for construction land growth in the eight cities of the SPUA were obtained. The findings provide a theoretical reference and guide for the practical application of LDIE as well as a scientific basis for sustainable land development and utilization.

Highlights

As more and more rural people choose to enter the city, many cities around the world are expanding rapidly. 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects of United Nations [1] shows that the urban area has gathered more than half of the world’s population and is the core area for future population growth
Faced with typical problems related to land development intensity evaluation (LDIE), including relatively high intensity and low efficiency, the Shandong Peninsular urban agglomeration (SPUA) is a representative study area for urban agglomerations in China
In February 2017, the State Council issued the “National Land Planning Outline (2016–2030)”, stating that many serious problems exist in the process of urbanization, including inconsistence between economy; population and resource distributions; structural contradictions in urban, agricultural, and ecological spaces; mismatch between land development intensities and resource and environmental carrying capacity; and low-quality urbanization

Summary

Introduction

As more and more rural people choose to enter the city, many cities around the world are expanding rapidly. 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects of United Nations [1] shows that the urban area has gathered more than half of the world’s population and is the core area for future population growth. 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects of United Nations [1] shows that the urban area has gathered more than half of the world’s population and is the core area for future population growth. The urban agglomeration is the product of the industrialization and urbanization transformation to the advanced stage [3]. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the UA has become a new regional unit for countries around the world to participate in global competition and international division of labor, and the main body of China’s new urbanization process. China’s rapid urbanization and industrialization have led to severe pressures on resources and ecological environment, resulting in urban agglomeration diseases such as environmental pollution, traffic congestion, and degraded energy shortages in ecosystems

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion