Urban sector land use metabolism reveals inequalities across cities and inverse virtual land flows

Abstract

Urban land is the primary scene for manufacturing and services providing, through which the economic activities and trade flows amplify and cascade, interacting the natural and human systems. However, our understanding of the spatial pattern, remote drivers, and coupled interwoven linkages of economic sectoral land use within and among cities remains inadequate. Here, we establish a novel sectoral urban land use inventory and a virtual land flow network for 13 cities in the Jing-Jin-Ji region in China to understand urban land use metabolism. Results show highly mixed distribution patterns of urban sectoral land use. Moreover, spatial heterogeneity exists among industries and across spatial scales. Urban virtual land flow presents inverse directions compared to agricultural land. Results also reveal inequalities in benefit-cost and supply chain networks across cities, and a wide range of control and exploitation relationships in the region. Our results suggest that Beijing and Tianjin, as main beneficiaries in the regional economic network, are responsible for collaborating intensively in Jing-Jin-Ji region and will be key in promoting sustainable development.