Construction Land Expansion Research Articles

Integrating ecosystem service value into the evaluation of sustainable land use in fast-growing cities: A case study of Qingdao, China

Integrating ecosystem service value (ESV) into the evaluation system for sustainable land use (SLU) in fast-growing cities is an effective way to implement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 15 and 11 of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Taking ESV as the intermediate parameter, six sustainability indicators were developed to evaluate SLU from two dimensions: sustainable land ecosystem services and economic development. These indicators are the total supply and demand index (RT) of ecosystem services, the potential supply and demand index (RP) of ecosystem services, the ecological cost index per unit of GDP (RC), the eco-economic coordination index (RD), the eco-economic equilibrium index (RE), and the ESV-based sustainable land use index (RS). Empirical research was conducted in Qingdao, a fast-growing city in eastern China, to verify the validity of the indicators. Five sets of Landsat TM/ETM/OLI remote sensing images from 1996, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2017 were used to analyze the land use and ESV changes in Qingdao. The results indicate that land use changes in fast-growing cities significantly affect the ESV. The decrease in the area of ecological land and the expansion of construction land caused by rapid urbanization reduced ESV. The RC and RD of Qingdao were sustainable, while the RT and RP were unsustainable, and the RE showed volatility, which reduced the evaluation level of SLU in Qingdao from extremely strongly sustainable (L1) to moderately sustainable (L3). Thus, it is necessary to improve the ESV of Qingdao. Optimization strategies for promoting SLU in Qingdao are proposed based on the results, confirming that the evaluation provides guidance for land use management.

Change of urban and rural construction land and driving factors of arable land occupation.

Under the background of global urbanization, the continuous expansion and extensive utilization of urban and rural construction land has caused a large amount of arable land to be occupied, which seriously threatens national food security. This paper describes the spatio-temporal patterns of urban and rural construction land expansion and its occupation of arable land by using the urban and rural construction land expansion intensity, the urban and rural construction land expansion intensity difference index, and geo-detector model. It also explores the mechanisms through which the arable land was occupied. Results showed that construction land in both urban and rural areas expanded over the period 2009-2018 despite a large number of rural and urban migrants, and the major contributor to the rapid urbanization in China. This dual expansion could mainly be attributed to the tendency of these migrants to keep or even enlarge their rural construction land, which also resulted in a severer arable land loss than that caused by the expansion of urban construction land. Second, the rate of arable land occupied by urban and rural construction land in Henan province has been gradually slowing down, whereas the expansion of rural construction land is most dependent on arable land occupation. Third, according to the geo-detector model, the relationship between urbanization level and arable land occupied by urban and rural construction was the strongest, followed by the growth rate of fixed asset investment and the proportion of secondary and tertiary industries in GDP.

Forecast of policy-driven land use change and its impact on ecosystem services in China: A case study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Land use change is an important factor affecting the performance of ecosystem services (ESs). Therefore, understanding the impact of land use change on ESs is of great significance for promoting the coordination of regional human-land relationships. In this study, random forest and cellular automata were used to simulate and predict the characteristics of land use change in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and diversified land use evolution patterns were formed in combination with China's strategic development needs. The effects of habitat suitability on ESs were analyzed by using a multiscenario land use change model. The results demonstrated that the driving factors selected in this article had a good induction effect on the law of land use evolution, and the simulated land use change had high credibility. Under the mode of ecological protection and cultivated land protection, the expansion of construction land was greatly affected and was not conducive to social and economic development. Under the natural evolution mode, farmland was greatly encroached upon, and food security was greatly threatened. The regional coordination model had relative advantages, and all kinds of land use needs were met to a certain extent. The water production function of ESs was strong, but the carbon storage function was weak. The relationship between the habitat suitability index and ES changes under land use change revealed that there were significant differences in ES changes caused by ecological quality changes in mountainous and plain areas. This study provides a reference for promoting social and economic development and ecosystem integrity. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:1473-1484. © 2023 SETAC.

Spatiotemporal characteristics and prediction of carbon emissions/absorption from land use change in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains

Changes in land use significantly contribute to carbon emissions and other environmental problems. Regional carbon emissions changes from land use have been affected by rapid urbanization. To dynamically assess land use change and the spatiotemporal characteristics of carbon emissions from 1990 to 2020, this study used the PLUS, grey back-propagation neural network, and related carbon emission accounting models as well as four distinct 2030 scenario simulations. According to the findings, the urbanization of the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains (UANSTM) developed rapidly from 1990 to 2020 with a noticeable transfer of diverse types of land. In particular, the quantity of construction land and cropland belonging to carbon source land increased by 153.271% and 55.072% respectively. Simultaneously, carbon emissions showed a trend of continuous increase and demonstrated an S-shaped curve growth, with relatively rapid growth from 2000 to 2015, that has tended to be stable in recent years. If this carbon emission trend continues, an inflection point will appear around 2028. Land use simulations for 2030 reveal that the ecological security (ES) scenario, which slows the expansion of construction land and cropland while increasing ecological land, is most likely to reduce the negative environmental consequences of urbanization. This is because higher potential peak carbon emissions per unit area that may be obtained with carbon sink land. Consequently, the ES scenario of the study region is comparable to the future urban agglomeration development model. The results provide a reference for territorial space planning and dual carbon target recommendations in the UANSTM.

Study on Spatiotemporal Evolution and Influencing Factors in Cultivated Land and Construction Land in Yunnan Province in the Past 20 Years Based on Remote Sensing Interpretation

With the continuous development of China’s economy and the acceleration of urbanization, the phenomenon of high-quality cultivated land being converted to construction land is becoming increasingly prominent. In mountainous provinces such as Yunnan, the contradiction between cultivated land protection and blind expansion of construction land is becoming increasingly obvious. Based on the characteristic region of the mountainous province of Yunnan, this paper integrates remote sensing image interpretation of land use/land cover data in three phases (i.e., 2000, 2010, and 2020) with GIS technology and econometric methods. Through the interpretation of remote sensing images from 3 phases of Yunnan Province, a detailed calculation was conducted on the per capita cultivated land area (CULA) and per capita construction land area (COLA) and their changes in 129 counties in the province over the past 20 years (2000~2020). The spatiotemporal evolution laws and spatial pattern characteristics of CULA and COLA were analyzed, and then, the influencing factors in the quantitative characteristics of cultivated land and construction land in the province were studied further by using spatial econometric models. This study finds that the total and per capita CULA in Yunnan Province have significantly decreased over the past 20 years, which poses a threat to the national food security to a certain extent. At the same time, the total amounts of COLA and the per capita COLA have significantly increased, leading to the phenomenon of blind expansion and rough utilization of construction land. Compared with international research results, Yunnan can learn many lessons about controlling the reduction in CULA and the rapid expansion of COLA, among which the most important thing is to choose suitable urban and industrial development paths and adopt effective intensive land utilization methods. The research results of this study can provide a basic reference for mountainous provinces to formulate reasonable measures for cultivated land protection, prevent the disorderly expansion of construction land, and promote the coordinated development of urban and rural areas.

Predicting Urban Expansion to Assess the Change of Landscape Character Types and Its Driving Factors in the Mountain City

The urban landscape is being affected by rapid urbanization, leading to a complexity of land features and a fragmentation of patches. However, many studies have focused on the prediction of land-use change with a lack of research on the landscape character types which have more integrated descriptions of land features. Hence, this study predicts and identifies landscape character types (LCTs) in different periods based on the PLUS model and the K-Medoids algorithm, taking the central city of Chongqing as an example, to reveal the differences in the influence of driving factors on LCTs. The results show that (1) the urban landscape characteristic types present a gradient change from the built-up area to the outward expansion. (2) The SHDI and LPI of landscape character types decreased significantly with the expansion of construction land. (3) Nighttime light, distance from water bodies, and distance from the motorways are the main factors affecting the change of landscape character types. This study predicts and identifies urban landscape character types and quantifies the impact of urban expansion on landscape character. It can be used to guide urban planning and help governments to make more informed decisions on sustainable urban development and ecological conservation.

Land Use/Cover Change, Fragmentation, and Driving Factors in Nepal in the Last 25 Years

Because of the influence of climate change and human activities, an in-depth analysis of land use/cover change (LUCC) and its drivers in Nepal is important for local community forestry management and sustainable development. This paper analyzed the direction, magnitude, and rate of LUCCs and their spatial aggregation, as well as landscape fragmentation in Nepal, from 1995 to 2020 using the ESA/CCI (European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative) dataset. A total of 10 factors including population, socioeconomic development, climate factors, and forest management factors were selected to determine the dominant driving factors affecting LUCC in Nepal by Principal component analysis (PCA) and linear regression analysis. Our study showed that climate change, human activities, and forest management (e.g., community forestry) all influenced LUCC. In Nepal, land use/cover shifted among forest, shrub, grassland, and cropland from 1995 to 2020, mainly from forest to cropland. The most significant LUCC in recent decades has been caused by the expansion of cropland and urbanization. The area of coniferous and broadleaf forests decreased from 1995 to 2001 due to deforestation and forest degradation, and recovered gradually after 2001, which was attributed to the successful practice of community forestry in Nepal. Accelerated urbanization was also found in Nepal, and the significant expansion of construction land came mainly came from cropland. Land fragmentation in Nepal was severe and exhibited spatial aggregation characteristics. Human activities played a greater role in LUCC in Nepal than climate factors. The community forestry, GDP growth, and precipitation were positive driving factors for increases in forest area, while the development of the services sector and rising temperature were negative driving factors.

Assessing urban flooding risk in response to climate change and urbanization based on shared socio-economic pathways

Global climate change and rapid urbanization, mainly driven by anthropogenic activities, lead to urban flood vulnerability and uncertainty in sustainable stormwater management. This study projected the temporal and spatial variation in urban flood susceptibility during the period 2020–2050 on the basis of shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). A case study in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) was conducted for verifying the feasibility and applicability of this approach. GBA is predicted to encounter the increase in extreme precipitation with high intensity and frequency, along with rapid expansion of constructed areas, resulting in exacerbating of urban flood susceptibility. The areas with medium and high flood susceptibility will be expected to increase continuously from 2020 to 2050, by 9.5 %, 12.0 %, and 14.4 % under SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, respectively. In terms of the assessment of spatial-temporal flooding pattern, the areas with high flood susceptibility are overlapped with that in the populated urban center in GBA, surrounding the existing risk areas, which is consistent with the tendency of construction land expansion. The approach in the present study will provide comprehensive insights into the reliable and accurate assessment of urban flooding susceptibility in response to climate change and urbanization.

Assessment and Prediction of Landscape Ecological Risk from Land Use Change in Xinjiang, China

Land use change has significant impacts on the regional and global environment; thus, in-depth research on the associated ecological risks is necessary for promoting ecological restoration and sustainable development. Xinjiang, China, is characterized by a fragile ecological environment, and this study aimed to predict the land use change in the region in 2030 under different scenarios, including natural development, ecological conservation, and urban development, by using the PLUS model based on land use data from 2000, 2010, and 2020. Based on the landscape structure of regional ecosystems, we developed a comprehensive ecological risk assessment framework by utilizing a combination of landscape disturbance index, vulnerability index, and loss index. This framework allowed us to evaluate the spatiotemporal patterns and variations of landscape ecological risks under different scenarios in 2030. The study results indicate the following: (1) During the period from 2000 to 2020, the primary landscape type in Xinjiang was unused land. However, significant changes were observed in the area of cultivated land, mainly due to the conversion of grassland and construction land. The expansion of construction land during the urbanization process resulted in a decline in ecological landscapes, such as grassland, thereby weakening the ecosystem’s stability. (2) Under different simulation scenarios, the urban development scenario primarily led to the conversion of unused land into construction land, which is beneficial for economic development. On the other hand, the ecological conservation scenario resulted in a modest increase in construction land and a transformation of unused land into forest and grassland, which aligns with the principles of sustainable development. (3) Different scenarios in 2030 result in varying degrees of changes in each landscape type in Xinjiang, with the spatial distribution characteristics of landscape ecological risks remaining similar to those observed in 2020. Notably, under the urban development scenario, the area of lowest and medium risk areas decreases significantly while the area of higher and highest risk areas increases substantially. Conversely, under the ecological conservation scenario, the area of the lowest risk areas experiences a more significant increase. (4) Overall, the spatial differences in the ecological risk of Xinjiang’s landscape are significant, with HH and LL clustering types predominating and presenting a polarization pattern. The distribution pattern is low in the north and high in the central and southern parts of the study area.

Assessing the effects of agricultural management practices and land-use changes on soil organic carbon stocks

Soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks have profound effects on climate change, sustainable agricultural development, and environmental management. Our objectives were to propose a conceptual framework and quantify the impact of land use change (LUC) and agricultural management practices (AMPs) on SOC stocks. By comparison, we choose the Kriging-based spatial prediction model to estimate SOC stocks based on the field sampled soil data (depth of 0–30 cm) in 2005 and 2019. Film mulching, drip irrigation, and fertilizer application were selected to represent the regional AMPs. Our results indicate that SOC stocks increased by 12.7% in the Sangong river basin from 2005 to 2019. From the proposed conceptual framework, we notice that the transition between different land-use types may cause both losses (e.g., −9.49 Gg C caused by expansion of construction land) and gains (e.g., +3 Gg C caused by the conversion of cultivated land to grassland) of SOC storage. Benefiting from improved AMPs (e.g., film mulching, drip irrigation, and fertilizer application), the “stable cultivated land” category contributes the most (+36.0 Gg C) to the growth of SOC stocks.

Construction and optimization of ecological security network in the Shule River Basin, China.

Construction and optimization of ecological security network is an efficient way to ensure regional ecological security and achieve sustainable development. Based on the morphological spatial pattern analysis method, circuit theory and other methods, we constructed the ecological security network of the Shule River Basin. The PLUS model was used to predict the land use change in 2030, with the aim to explore the current ecological protection direction and propose reasonable optimization strategies. The results showed that there were 20 ecological sources in the Shule River Basin, with a total area of 15774.08 km2, accounting for 12.3% of the total area of study area. The ecological sources were mainly distributed in the south part of the study area. A total of 37 potential ecological corridors were extracted, including 22 important ecological corridors, which showed the overall spatial characteristics of vertical distribution. Meanwhile, 19 ecological pinch points and 17 ecological obstacle points were identified. We predicted that the expansion of construction land would continue to squeeze the ecological space by 2030, and identified 6 warning areas of ecological protection space to effectively avoid conflicts between ecological protection and economic development. After optimization, 14 new ecological sources and 17 stepping stones were added, and the circuitry, ratio of line to node and connectivity index of the ecological security network increased by 18.3%, 15.5%, and 8.2% respectively compared with those before optimization, forming a structurally stable ecological security network. The results could provide scientific basis for ecological security network optimization and ecological restoration.

Research on the Slope Gradient Effect and Driving Factors of Construction Land in Urban Agglomerations in the Upper Yellow River: A Case Study of the Lanzhou–Xining Urban Agglomerations

Analyses of the scale and structural characteristics of construction land serve as the basis for optimizing the spatial pattern of territorial planning. Existing studies have focused mainly on the horizontal expansion of urban construction land. Therefore, based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, in this paper, we use high-precision land-use cover data, DEM data and socioeconomic data to construct the standard dominant comparative advantage index (NRCA) using the geological mapping analysis method and we systematically analyze the horizontal scale, slope spectrum characteristics, gradient effects and driving factors of construction land in the Lanzhou–Xining urban agglomeration (LXUA) from 1990 to 2020 at four scales: the urban agglomeration, provincial area, typical city and county (district) scales. The results of the study show that urban construction land, rural settlement land and other construction land in the LXUA show “linear”, inverted-“U” and “J” growth patterns, respectively. Three types of construction land show different spatial transfer characteristics. The scale and extent of climbing of urban construction land in the LXUA is gradually decreasing over time, and the number of climbing rural settlement lands in 2000–2010 was as high as 34 counties (districts), while the number of counties (districts) with strong climbing degrees of other construction land rose to 12 from 2010 to 2020. The relative hotspots of the slope-climbing phenomenon of the three types of construction land have gradually expanded spatially, with Lanzhou city and Xining city as the center, and the overall spatial characteristics are “more in the east and less in the west”. The population and GDP are the main factors influencing the slope-climbing phenomenon of urban construction land, while rural settlements are influenced mainly by natural conditions, and accessibility is the key factor affecting other construction land.

Multiscenario Simulation of Land-Use Change in Hubei Province, China Based on the Markov-FLUS Model

A goal of land change modelers should be to communicate scenarios of future change that show the variety of possible future landscapes based on the consequences of management decisions. This study employs the Markov-FLUS model to simulate land-use changes in Hubei Province in multiple scenarios that consider social, economic, and ecological policies using 18 driving factors, including point-of-interest data. First, the Markov-FLUS model was developed and validated with historical data from 2000 to 2020. The model was then used to simulate land-use changes from 2020 to 2035 in four scenarios: natural development, economic priority, ecological protection, and cultivated land protection. The results show that the Markov-FLUS model effectively simulates the land-use change pattern in Hubei Province, with an overall accuracy of 0.93 for land use simulation in 2020. The Kappa coefficient and FOM index also achieved 0.86 and 0.139, respectively. In all four scenarios, cultivated land remained the primary land use type in Hubei Province from 2020 to 2035, while construction land showed an increasing trend. However, there were large differences in the simulated land use patterns in different scenarios. Construction land expanded most rapidly in the economic priority scenario, while it expanded more slowly in the cultivated land protection scenario. We designed the protection scenario to restrict the rapid expansion of construction land. In the natural development and economic priority scenarios, construction land expanded and encroached on cultivated land and forests. In contrast, in the ecological protection scenario, forests and water areas were well-preserved, and the decrease in cultivated land and the increase in construction land were effectively suppressed, resulting in a large improvement in land use sustainability. Finally, in the cultivated land protection scenario, the cultivated land showed an increasing trend. The spread and expansion of construction land were effectively curbed. In conclusion, the Markov-FLUS model applied in this study to simulate land use in multiple scenarios has substantial implications for the effective utilization of land resources and the protection of the ecological environment in Hubei Province.

Regional planning for ecological protection of rivers in highly urbanized areas

The ecological risks associated with rapid urbanization have seriously undermined the river’s ecological security. Especially for developing countries, the weak ecological foundation and enormous population pressure have increased the difficulty of river ecological protection. It is urgent to propose a bottom-line planning and management approach for river ecological protection in highly urbanized areas of developing countries. We quantified the minimum cumulative resistance of the river protection and construction land expansion processes. Then, based on the difference between these two minimum cumulative resistances, we assessed the river ecological risk in the Beijing plain area and presented a complete method to regional-level planning and management for river ecological protection. The results show that: 1) The spatial distribution of river ecological risks follows a three-tier ring structure, decreasing from the city center to the suburbs and then to the outer suburbs. The number of river segments with ecological risk levels 1, 2, and 3 are 44, 42, and 23, respectively, accounting for 39.2% of the total length of all river sections, which indicates that a larger number of rivers are facing high ecological risk. 2) The study area was divided into three zones according to the suitability of river ecological protection, with 2476.89, 765.51, and 3832.09 km2, respectively. Zone I and Zone II can be developed as protection nodes and riparian protection zones to develop the river ecological network in the central city. 3) We extracted 133 large ecological patches and 219 potential ecological corridors, which should be connected with the river network to enhance the connectivity of the local ecological landscape. The complete method proposed in this study is more focused and implementable to assist administrators in protecting and restoring the ecological security of urban rivers.

Long-time series ecological environment quality monitoring and cause analysis in the Dianchi Lake Basin, China

As the core area in the transformation of Kunming into an international center city, studying the changes in ecological environment quality and causes of the Dianchi Lake Basin is of great significance for its future optimization of the landscape pattern. This study is based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to calculate the Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) of the Dianchi Lake Basin from 1990 to 2020. Then we used Mann-Kendall mutation detection to obtain the time points when significant changes in RSEI occurred. Finally, the Geodetector and MGWR models were combined to analyse the driving factors of ecological quality changes in the Dianchi Lake Basin. The results show that: (1) The ecological environment quality of the Dianchi Lake Basin showed an increasing trend from 1990 to 2020, with the mean value of RSEI increasing from 0.49 to 0.52. (2) According to the results of the mutation test, the years 1990, 1993, 2006, 2015, and 2020 were used as the time points for monitoring the ecological environment quality of the Dianchi Lake Basin over a long time series. The ecological environment quality of the study area in the past 30 years was mainly in an improved state, accounting for 49.43%. The ecological deterioration areas are mainly located in the northeastern part of Xishan District (north of Caohai Lake), the southwestern part of Guandu District, Kunyang Town in Jining District, and the northern areas of Jincheng and Shangsuan Town. (3) The single factor detection results show that elevation and slope have the strongest influence on RSEI. The q-value of average annual temperature has changed the most, from the 6th to the 3rd place. This indicates that the urban heat island effect and the expansion of construction land have had a greater impact on the quality of the local ecological environment in recent years. The multi-factor interaction test shows that the influence of each factor on RSEI is enhanced after the interaction. (4) The MGWR regression results show that the actual scales of action of the factors are inconsistent, with the most significant spatial heterogeneity in the Percentage of cropland area. Based on the above findings, it can provide data to support the future urban planning of the Dianchi Lake Basin. It also provides a new means of integrating Geodetector and MGWR into the study of ecological quality analysis.

Research on Ecological Land Expansion: A Case Study of Haixing County of China

As China’s natural resource governance has turned to high-quality management, establishing reasonable and ecological land-use patterns is an effective means of promoting natural resource utilization and improving the quality of the ecological environment. Therefore, this study used ecological land as the expansion source to construct an ecological land-use pattern with the minimum cumulative resistance model in Haixing County, China, based on regional food security, ecological security, and construction land expansion patterns. This work also involved designing ecological corridors, radiation channels, strategic nodes, and other ecological components. The results demonstrate that (1) the ecological land source is 7976.93 hm2, accounting for 9.19% of the total area. It is mainly distributed in the southeast of the county, mainly in the river system and woodland; (2) the food security situation of Haixing County can be divided into four zones, most of which are agricultural adjustment areas, indicating that the ecological security of cultivated land in this area needs to be improved; (3) the ecological security level of Haixing County is divided into four areas, and the ideal safety zone accounts for the smallest area, indicating that the regional ecological situation is very unstable; (4) construction land expansion zone is divided into four parts. A suitable construction zone occupies the largest area and is mainly distributed around the current construction land; (5) the expansion of the ecological land-use pattern of Haixing County includes four zones, 15 ecological corridors, 12 radiation channels, and 35 strategic nodes, which is conducive to optimal land allocation from an ecological security perspective. This paper puts forward some suggestions for ecological protection and intensive urban development.

Urban Ecological Environment Quality Evaluation and Territorial Spatial Planning Response: Application to Changsha, Central China.

Scientific territorial spatial planning is of great significance in the realization of the sustainable development goals in China, especially in the context of China's ecological civilization construction and territorial spatial planning. However, limited research has been carried out to understand the spatio-temporal change in EEQ and territorial spatial planning. In this study, Changsha County and six districts of Changsha City were selected as the research objects. Based on the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) model, the spatio-temporal changes in the EEQ and spatial planning response in the study area during 2003-2018 were analyzed. The results reveal that (1) the EEQ of Changsha declined and then rose between 2003 and 2018, showing an overall decreasing trend. The average RSEI declined from 0.532 in 2003 to 0.500 in 2014 and then increased to 0.523 in 2018, with an overall decrease of 1.7%. (2) In terms of spatial pattern changes, the Xingma Group, the Airport Group and the Huangli Group in the east of the Xiangjiang River had the most serious EEQ degradation. The EEQ degradation of Changsha showed an expanding and polycentric decentralized grouping pattern. (3) Massive construction land expansion during rapid urbanization caused significant EEQ degradation in Changsha. Particularly, the areas with low EEQ were concentrated in the areas with concentrated industrial land. Scientific territorial spatial planning and strict control were conducive to regional EEQ improvement. (4) The prediction using the urban ecological model demonstrates that every 0.549 unit increase in NDVI or 0.2 unit decrease in NDBSI can improve the RSEI of the study area by 0.1 unit, thus improving EEQ. In the future territorial spatial planning and construction of Changsha, it is necessary to promote the transformation and upgrading of low-end industries into high-end manufacturing industries and control the scale of inefficient industrial land. The EEQ degradation caused by industrial land expansion needs to be noted. All of these findings can provide valuable information for relevant decision-makers to formulate ecological environment protection strategies and conduct future territorial spatial planning.

The Evolution Characteristics and Driving Mechanism of Urban Construction Land in Hong Kong since 1972

As an important spatial carrier of Hong Kong’s economic development, construction land provides a critical site for Hong Kong’s economic and social activities. The development of construction land directly affects the sustainable development of the city. Therefore, analysing the spatial and temporal evolution and driving mechanism of construction land in Hong Kong is of great significance in promoting sustainable urban development. This study aimed to evaluate the evolutionary characteristics and driving mechanism of construction land of Hong Kong in the period 1972–2020. Here, we extract construction land data from 1972 based on the historical map of Hong Kong. Then, we apply ArcGIS Pro and Fragstats software to calculate the rate of land expansion, land intensity, change in the centre of gravity, and landscape pattern index of construction land in Hong Kong from 1972–2020. Analysis shows the following: (1) The expansion of construction land in Hong Kong generally showed the characteristics of “rapid at first and then slowing down”, with 2010 as the peak of the 1970–2020 timeframe. (2) The sources of construction land transfer mainly came from cultivated land, sea areas, and forest land, which were mainly distributed in the New Territories. (3) The centre of gravity of construction land in Hong Kong showed the spatial characteristics of “slowly shifting to the northwest” during the study period, indicating that Hong Kong’s polycentric urban structure has been continuously strengthened. (4) The Spiltting index showed a tortuous upward trend, and the index of Mean Euclidean nearest neighbour distance showed a steady downward trend, which indicated that the landscape connectivity of city construction land steadily increased while the degree of fragmentation gradually increased. (5) The driving factors behind the expansion of Hong Kong construction land comes from population, economic, and traffic factors; the support factors come from location and policy factors; the elasticity factors mainly come from reclamation projects; the resistance factors mainly come from the restrictions of environmental protection departments, NGOs, and relevant laws on land reclamation.

The Response of Rocky Desertification to the Development of Road Networks in Karst Ecologically Fragile Areas.

Frequent cross-regional communication makes road networks increasingly dense and has generated prominent human interference, thus resulting in the destruction of the landscape's integrity and leading to changes in the functional processes of the habitat. In order to discuss the impacts of intense human activity brought by the road networks on the rocky desertification landscape and habitat quality in karst ecologically fragile areas, taking the road networks as the humans activity intensity factor, a quantitative analysis was conducted to analyze the impacts of road networks on the spatial evolution of the rocky desertification landscape and changes in regional habitat quality characteristics under different development modes in the study area based on a landscape pattern gradient method, spatial analysis, and INVEST model. The results showed that: (1) in the study area, due to the destruction of landscape integrity caused by the development of the road networks over the past 17 years, the landscape pattern of rocky desertification tended to be fragmented and complex, first showing an inclination for rapid fragmentation and then gradual recovery later. (2) The land-use intensity and degree of rocky desertification in the industrial areas and in the tourist areas of the study area have increased to varying degrees over the past 17 years, as is seen mainly via the expansion of construction land, cultivated land enclaves in the urban expansion areas, and new development areas. (3) Unders different regional models, the fragmentation of the rocky desertification landscape in the industrial areas was higher than that in the tourist areas, resulting in a significantly lower habitat quality and obvious degrees of degradation. The research findings provide the basis for further deepening our understanding how human activity intensity affects the evolution of the regional landscape, including the development of rocky desertification, the supply of services, and supporting habitat conservation in karst ecologically fragile areas.

Continuous Long Time Series Monitoring of Urban Construction Land in Supporting the SDG 11.3.1—A Case Study of Nanning, Guangxi, China

Enhancing the spatio-temporal dynamic monitoring of the construction land of emerging major cities provides the basis for understanding the effects of human activities on the earth’s ecological environment changes, which is regarded as an important way to improve human wellbeing and to achieve the UN SDGs. This paper, which uses Nanning as an example, adopts 30 m annual remote sensing land cover datasets from 1990–2021 to elaborately analyze the temporal evolution and spatial expansion of construction land and to evaluate the sustainable development level based on SDG 11.3.1. The conclusions of this paper are as follows: (1) For Nanning City, during 1990–2021, construction land area increased from 54.77 km2 to 326.33 km2—a nearly five-fold increase. Spreading expansion and finger-like expansion along roads played a leading role during the development of the construction land in Nanning. Liangqing and Yongning are the future directions of urban development. The LCRPGR of Nanning declined with one peak period around 1995, and the LCRPGR was relatively stable with a high intensity of land use. (2) For the other emerging major cities, continuous long duration data are more suitable for urban construction land monitoring compared with traditional sparse time-series monitoring. The rich information derived from continuous long duration data can help decision makers to formulate and implement more comprehensive measures. The research paradigm adopted in this study can be applied in other cities. The newly developed urban districts will have foreseeable high sustainable development risks, and urban development strategies at the international, national, and urban levels could reduce those risks and promote the realization of UN SDGs from different angles and with different intensities.