Spatial–Temporal Pattern and Influence Factors of Land Used for Transportation at the County Level since the Implementation of the Reform and Opening-Up Policy in China

Dan Liu,Shishu Ouyang,Xiaoshu Cao,Jianbin Xu,Wulin Wang,Baochao Li

doi:10.3390/land10080833

Dan Liu, Shishu Ouyang + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/land10080833

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Abstract

In this paper, we study the characteristics of the spatial–temporal pattern of land used for transportation at the county level since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy in China and discuss the factors that influence the spatial differences between lands used for transportation in order to provide a reference for the formulation of traffic policies. The authors used ArcGIS spatial analysis, an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model, and a geographic detector model based on the data of the transportation network at the county level in China from 1978 to 2018. We obtained the following results: (1) The land used for transportation at the county level in China is divided by the Hu Huanyong Line, which is characterized by spatial variation, where the southeastern region is higher than the northwestern region. (2) Counties with a high proportion of land used for transportation show obvious changes, characterized by the transformation from the “corridor” zonal distribution of arteries to the “diamond” group distribution of major city clusters, reducing the gap in land used for transportation at the county level in China. (3) The level of industrialization, per capita gross regional product (PGRP), and ratio of the non-agricultural working population all have an incentivizing impact on the increase in land used for transportation at the county level in China. We conclude that the land used for transportation at the county level in China is jointly decided by the economy, industry, and population. Therefore, we believe that it is necessary to promote fast economic growth, the upgrading of industrial structures, and population density to achieve the balanced development of land used for transportation at the county level in China.

Highlights

Land is the key foundation of transportation infrastructure construction, and transportation infrastructure serves as the basis of transportation development
The significance of the five influence factors is far below 0.01, indicating that these factors have extremely prominent impacts on the land used for transportation at the county level and positive correlations with the difference in the proportion of land used for transportation at the county level
A further analysis was carried out on the five significant influence factors in the regression model through a geographic detector model to study the difference in the intensity of impact on the land used for transportation at the county level in China

Summary

Introduction

Land is the key foundation of transportation infrastructure construction, and transportation infrastructure serves as the basis of transportation development. As land resources are becoming more and more precious, research on the use of land for transportation has been carried out by various government ministries around the country [2]. Research focusing on both transportation and land together started in 1959. The American scholar Hansen preliminarily discussed the relationship between the two elements in “How Accessibility Shapes Land Use” [3]. The research on the relationship between transportation and land has gradually become the focus of both domestic and foreign experts [4,5,6,7,8,9]

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