Urban Land Expansion and Structural Change in the Yangtze River Delta, China

Jinlong Gao,Wen Chen,Komali Yenneti,Yehua Wei

doi:10.3390/su70810281

Abstract

Urban development in China has attracted considerable scholarly attention. However, more work is still needed to examine and understand the mechanisms of urban land expansion, especially within the context of globalization/marketization, decentralization and urbanization. This paper analyzes urban land expansion and structural changes in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). We find that cities in the YRD are experiencing urban land expansion mainly characterized by the growth of residential and industrial land. The dominant characteristics of urban land expansion in cities have also varied within different development and administrative levels. Based on our conceptual framework, we have used multi-models to investigate the driving forces of urban land expansion and structural changes in the YRD. The results reveal that six influencing factors—foreign direct investment (FDI), labor, government competition, institution, population, and job-housing relations—facilitate land use change in the economic transition process. However, their impacts differ in cities in different geographical locations, as well as with different administrative levels. Finally, this paper discusses policies to promote sustainable urban land use in the YRD.

Highlights

Over the past few decades, unprecedented urbanization, mainly driven by globalization, centralization, and marketization, has taken place in China
This paper has studied the urban expansion and structural change in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and examined the driving forces based on the developed conceptual framework
Drawing on the accounts of central findings of this research, we find that there is a strong case for claims of regional inequality in this urban land expansion picture

Summary

Introduction

Over the past few decades, unprecedented urbanization, mainly driven by globalization, centralization, and marketization, has taken place in China. Between 1978 and 2013, the nation’s urbanization rate has increased from 17.9% to 53.7%. The rapid pace of urbanization has resulted in dramatic urban land expansion, and issues such as environmental resources depletion, food deficits, and land degradation [1,2,3]. The socioeconomic and environmental problems, characterized by rapid urban land expansion, have become major challenges for achieving sustainable urban development (SUD) in China. In a step towards addressing the challenges and achieving SUD, the government of. The concept covers a wide ranging issues, including rural–urban integration, efficient use of land, and coordination between the drivers of regional development [4]

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Conclusion