Abstract
Shanxi, one of China’s provinces, has been approved by the State Council as the only state-level comprehensive reform zone for resource-based economic transformation in 2010. Consequently, the implementation of National Resource-based Cities Sustainable Development Planning (2013–2020) and The State Council on Central and Western Regions Undertaking of Industrial Transformation Guide were also introduced. As a result, many agricultural lands were urbanized. The question is whether the transformed land was used efficiently. Existing research is limited regarding the impact of the government-backed transformation of the resource-based economy, industrial restructuring, and urbanization on land use efficiency. This research investigates urban land use efficiency under the government-backed resource-based economy transformation using the Bootstrap-DEA and Bootstrap-Malmquist methods. The land use efficiency and land productivity indexes were produced. Based on the empirical study of 11 prefectural cities, the results suggest that the level of economic development and industrial upgrading are the main determinants of land use efficiency. The total land productivity index declined after the economic reform was initiated. The findings imply that the government must enhance monitoring and auditing during policy implementation and evaluate the policy effects after for further improvement. With the scarcity of land resources and urban expansion in many cities worldwide, this research also provides an approach to determining the main determinants of land use efficiency that could guide our understanding of the impact of the future built environment.
Highlights
Rapid urbanization and industrialization, supported by an extensive land use pattern, have resulted in land urbanization occurring significantly faster than population urbanization in China
This paper studies the impact of urban land use efficiency on the resource-based economy under the transformation period
This study has provided a checkpoint for the policy assessment and guidance for government policy-makers to further enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of the province
Summary
Rapid urbanization and industrialization, supported by an extensive land use pattern, have resulted in land urbanization occurring significantly faster than population urbanization in China. From 2005 to 2015, the area of urban built-up areas in China increased from 32,221 km to 52,102.31 km, with an annual growth rate of 5.47%. The urban resident population increased from 562.1 million to 7711.6 million, with an annual growth rate of 3.38% [1]. Before the economic reform in China, resource-based cities played a significant role in their contribution to the nation’s wealth and local employment. Resource-based cities are cities dominated by extractive industries and heavy industry under a low-tech and extensive economic development model. They depend primarily on the exploiting and processing of natural resources, such as minerals, energy, or virgin forests [8]. There are 262 resource-based cities in China according to the Plan of Sustainable Development for Resource-based Cities (2013–2020) [9], where 25 percent of the resource-based cities’ developments are derived from coal mining
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