Rural-urban Land Conversion Research Articles

How will innovation-driven development policy affect sustainable urban land use: Evidence from 230 Chinese cities

Government policy has a significant effect on rural–urban land conversion, ultimately affecting sustainable urban land use. Unlike most studies that have centred on the effects of local land-use policies, such as regulations and taxes, the present study investigates the effect of the innovation-driven development policy initialised recently by China on urban land growth at the national level. Although the geography of innovation, high-tech agglomeration and sectoral restructuring are place-based activities, existing evidence shows several links between urban innovation and urban land growth. However, only a few empirical studies have examined their relationships to date. Thus, we aim to determine the effect of urban innovation on the size and the spatial distribution of urban land using a statistical dataset from 2007 to 2015 and a spatial data source at two-time points for 230 Chinese cities. We employ three fixed effects models to control for the possible correlation between independent variables and unobservable city-level effects. Our results indicate that urban innovation has indeed driven urban land growth but does not make the urban landscape more scattered than before. Further examinations suggest that the urban innovation effect varies across the whole country, and the innovation-urban land growth connection relies on the geographic location rather than the economy size.

Land value creation and benefit distribution in the process of rural-urban land conversion: A case study in Wuhan City, China

With the rapid development of urbanization, industrialization and decentralized fiscal reform in China, large areas of farmlands are being converted from rural land to urban construction (residential, commercial and industrial) land. Taking Wuhan City in Hubei Province, China as a case study, we analyze land value creation by value creators including farmers (collectives), the government and developers at the level of the individual parcel, community, township and district in the process of rural-urban land conversion from farmland to residential, commercial and industrial use. The results show that (1) at the individual analysis level, land prices increase significantly during the process of land acquisition, land leasing and real estate development and sales. Land prices and incremental values differ greatly across the three land types, with higher prices for residential and commercial land, and lower prices for industrial land. In addition, farmers (collectives) receive the lowest share of the land value revenue, while the highest share is obtained by developers, followed by the government. (2) At the community, township and district levels of analysis, the spatial distribution of land values shows similar characteristics at different scales. Moreover, scale effects are found in land value creation and benefit distribution. Average land prices and incremental values decrease from the scale of the community, to the township, to the district. Furthermore, the difference in land values decreases gradually when moving from the community scale to the district scale. This study contributes to a better understanding of land value increments and benefit distribution at multiple levels of analysis, for multiple stakeholders, and for multiple land use types.

Quantifying Ecological Well-Being Loss under Rural–Urban Land Conversion: A Study from Choice Experiments in China

Rural–urban land conversion has led to the degradation of agricultural system ecological services, and therefore human ecological well-being. There is a need to transform the non-marketed value of ecosystem services provision into a monetary loss of ecological well-being in rural–urban land conversion, which could serve as a basis for ecological compensation. In this paper, a choice experiment method is adopted to investigate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) of rural and urban residents in six cities of three provinces selected from different regions in China. The results reveal that the attributes reflecting the ecological well-being of rural and urban residents are experiencing different degrees of decline. Two attributes, health and security, show the most obvious decline among all ecological well-being attributes for urban residents. In view of stakeholders, rural residents are facing a greater decline in ecological well-being than urban residents, which is mainly driven by their different linkages and interactions with the agro-ecosystem. In terms of regional comparisons, residents in the central region (Hubei Province) of China are subject to the sharpest decline in ecological well-being, followed by those living in the western region (Guizhou Province) and the eastern region (Guangdong Province). These differences are basically determined by their land resource conditions and socioeconomic circumstances. This paper argues that it is pressing to establish an ecological compensation mechanism to regulate rural–urban land conversion and maintain human ecological well-being.

Land Politics under Market Socialism: The State, Land Policies, and Rural–Urban Land Conversion in China and Vietnam

This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of rural–urban land conversion policies in China and Vietnam, and examines the ideology of the state in land policymaking under a market socialism environment. It argues that land policies in both countries include ambiguous boundaries, which allow the socialist state to legitimize its politico-administrative power in land management and retain strong intervention capacity in the land market. In addition to similarities, land policies in China and Vietnam show significant differences in terms of the ownership of rural land and related legislation on land expropriation and transactions. Together, these distinctions cause divergent impacts on the interests and motivations of multiple stakeholders in rural land conversion. It is further observed that the state in both countries is characterized by dynamic, complex, and self-coordinated institutional systems, in which multiple levels of government have different driving forces and strategies in land development. The internal structure of authority in rural–urban land conversion between the multiple levels of government is readjusted by the regulatory land control of the central government.

How does the Ecological Well-Being of Urban and Rural Residents Change with Rural-Urban Land Conversion? The Case of Hubei, China

Human well-being can be affected by the loss of ecosystem services from conversion of agricultural lands. Uncovering negative ecological consequences of rural-urban conversion is important for regulating rural-urban land conversion. This paper evaluates the impacts of rural-urban land conversion on the ecological well-being of different interest groups in China and makes policy recommendations for mitigating them. This research empirically quantifies and compares changes in the ecological well-being of rural and urban residents due to rural-urban land conversion and examines how transformation factors affect such changes in Hubei, China using the Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Model. Results show that compared with urban residents, rural resident ecological well-being level declines more obviously with rural-urban land conversion. Two socio-demographic characteristics, age and education level, as well as zoning characteristics, influence both rural and urban resident well-being changes. It is argued that there is a need for quantitative measurement of agricultural ecosystem services changes and that the construction of ecological compensation policies in areas undergoing rural-urban land conversion is essential for regulating rural-urban land conversion and for maintaining resident ecological well-being.

Measuring external costs of rural–urban land conversion: An empirical study in Wuhan, China

Externalities of rural–urban land conversion are major factors in the inefficiency of land resource allocation. Although many studies have proposed policy solutions of externalities, measuring externalities is still a challenge. According to definition of externalities, externalities of rural–urban land conversion are the sum of nonmarket externalities and market externalities during land conversion process excluding owner of converted land. Therefore, to measure external costs accurately, the identification of internal parcels (converted parcels) and external parcels (influenced parcels) is necessary, and both nonmarket and market external costs should be considered. This paper proposed an improved approach to measure external costs by division of parcels. Firstly, the approach distinguishes internal parts and external parts by GIS technique and field surveys, and uses the boundary where WTP just decrease to zero to define extent of external part basing on Loomis' linear equation. Secondly, the model enumerates and analyzes effects of externalities in rural–urban land conversion. Finally, to integrate these effects, the approach uses questionnaire survey and the method combining contingent valuation method (CVM) with analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to solve “whole-part bias” and to acquire results. In the empirical study, Dongxihu district, Huangpi district, Caidian district and Jiangxia district are chosen as study area according to extend direction of Wuhan, China. Our result shows that in Wuhan, the external cost of rural–urban land conversion is 1.2 × 104–32.6 × 104 yuan/hm2/a. Among these effects, market external costs such as irrigation facility destruction, water pollution and local government restriction cause large damages. However, non-market external costs including deterioration of air quality, noise pollution, landscape broken and accumulation of refuse are common phenomenon in land conversion. The measurement process of external costs highlights that internal and external part division are essential in externality measurement. The result of externalities measurement could provide a standard for compensation and tax policy in rural–urban land conversion. Besides, space extent of externalities could provide reference for zoning and green belts policies.

Urban–rural integration drives regional economic growth in Chongqing, Western China

ABSTRACTThe recent experience of rapid economic growth in Chongqing Municipality in Southwest China shows that rural–urban integration can drive regional growth. In Chongqing rural–urban migration, rural–urban land conversion, infrastructure investment, agricultural restructuring, rural development and employment generation drive growth. These generic processes are profoundly shaped by the policy-driven investment dynamics and the specificity of the Chinese social model. Chinese specificity is reflected in Hukou reform, urban and rural rights, the Annual Land Use Quota system, the di piao, public assets and the local government finance vehicles.

Welfare effects of rural-urban land conversion on different aged land-lost farmers: exemplified in Wuhan city

Rural-urban land conversion is a universal phenomenon in the rapid process of economic development and urban growth. The welfare of farmers who lost their farmland attracted a widespread concern within the society and academia. However, further research about differentiated policies according to the characteristics of different farmer groups is still need to be conducted. This article divides the land-lost farmers into three age groups: younger than 45, 45–65, and more than 65. It proposes a welfare index system including eight functional areas based on different age groups of affected farmers, taking four districts of Wuhan City as case study area. Fuzzy mathematics method is used to derive the aggregated welfare effect index. Our analysis show that the overall welfare levels of land-lost farmers of all age groups declined, but with a varying degree, with the level of welfare in those farmers who are 45–65 years old, younger than 45 years old, and older than 65 years old decreased by 18.7%, 16.6%, and 12...

Deriving urban dynamic evolution rules from self-adaptive cellular automata with multi-temporal remote sensing images

Cellular automata (CA) have proven to be very effective for simulating and predicting the spatio-temporal evolution of complex geographical phenomena. Traditional methods generally pose problems in determining the structure and parameters of CA for a large, complex region or a long-term simulation. This study presents a self-adaptive CA model integrated with an artificial immune system to discover dynamic transition rules automatically. The model’s parameters are allowed to be self-modified with the application of multi-temporal remote sensing images: that is, the CA can adapt itself to the changed and complex environment. Therefore, urban dynamic evolution rules over time can be efficiently retrieved by using this integrated model. The proposed AIS-based CA model was then used to simulate the rural-urban land conversion of Guangzhou city, located in the core of China’s Pearl River Delta. The initial urban land was directly classified from TM satellite image in the year 1990. Urban land in the years 1995, 2000, 2005, 2009 and 2012 was correspondingly used as the observed data to calibrate the model’s parameters. With the quantitative index figure of merit (FoM) and pattern similarity, the comparison was further performed between the AIS-based model and a Logistic CA model. The results indicate that the AIS-based CA model can perform better and with higher precision in simulating urban evolution, and the simulated spatial pattern is closer to the actual development situation.

Government intervention in land market and its impacts on land supply and new housing supply: Evidence from major Chinese markets

Government intervention in the land market can have profound impacts on real estate market outcomes. On the supply side, government intervention in the land market can lead to a decline in the amount of land available for housing development, which in turn will put downward pressure on new housing supply. Although there are a growing number of studies examining the impact that government intervention in the land market has on new housing supply in developed countries, scant attention has been devoted to emerging market economies which are undergoing both rapid economic growth and significant institutional change. The Chinese government has acquired complete control over urban residential land supply and imposed more stringent regulatory constraints on rural-urban land conversion since 2004. Thus, China's real estate market provides a good opportunity to examine the impacts that government intervention in land market has on land supply and new housing supply in fast-growing developing countries. This research investigates the process leading to stronger government intervention in the land market in China and examines the impacts that government intervention in the land market has on residential land supply and new housing supply in 16 major Chinese cities. It is found that there was a decline in residential land supply after the Chinese government strengthened the intervention in the land market. The rates of the decline in land supply varied across cities. It was highest in the largest cities, and lowest in some medium-sized cities with a relatively large amount of agricultural land. By estimating the models of new housing supply, it is found that land supply is positively related to new housing supply, and thus the decline in land supply after the Chinese government strengthened the intervention in land market has put downward pressure on new housing supply. It is also found that there was a significant decline in housing supply elasticity after the Chinese government strengthened the intervention in the land market.

Calibrating a cellular automata model for understanding rural–urban land conversion: a Pareto front-based multi-objective optimization approach

Cellular automata (CA) modeling is useful to assist in understanding rural–urban land conversion processes. Although CA calibration is essential to ensuring an accurate modeling outcome, it remains a significant challenge. This study aims to address that challenge by developing and evaluating a multi-objective optimization model that considers the objectives of minimizing minus maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) value and minimizing number of errors (NOE) when calibrating CA transition rules. A Pareto front-based heuristic search algorithm, the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II), is used to obtain optimal or near-optimal solutions. The proposed calibration approach is validated using a case study from New Castle County, Delaware, United States. A comparison of the NSGA-II-based calibration model, the generic Logit regression calibration approach (MLE-based Generic Genetic Algorithm (GGA) calibration approach), and the NOE-based GGA calibration approach demonstrates that the proposed calibration model can produce stable solutions with better simulation accuracy. Furthermore, it can generate a set of solutions with different preferences regarding the two objectives which can provide CA simulation with robust parameters options.

Spatiotemporal analysis of rural–urban land conversion

Understanding the complexity of urban expansion requires an analysis of the factors influencing the spatial and temporal processes of rural–urban land conversion. This study aims at building a statistical land conversion model to assist in understanding land use change patterns. Specifically, GIS coupled with a logistic regression model and exponential smoothing techniques is used for exploring the effects of various factors on land use change. These factors include population density, slope, proximity to roads, and surrounding land use, and their influence on land use change is studied for generating a predictive model. Methods to reduce spatial autocorrelation in a logistic regression framework are also discussed. Primarily, an optimal sampling scheme that can eliminate spatial autocorrelation while maintaining adequate samples to allow the model to achieve the comparable accuracy as the spatial autoregressive model is developed. Since many of the previous studies on modeling the spatial complexity of urban growth ignored temporal complexity, a modified exponential smoothing technique is employed to produce a smoothed model from a series of bi‐temporal models obtained from different time periods. The proposed model is validated using the multi‐temporal land use data in New Castle County, DE, USA. It is demonstrated that our approach provides an effective option for multi‐temporal land use change modeling and the modeling results help interpret the land use change patterns. Corresponding software downloadable at http://www.grm.cuhk.edu.hk/∼huang/ChangeAnalyst_setup.exe

Welfare Balance of Different Interest Groups During Rural-urban Land Conversion

Abstract Rural-urban land conversion is currently a common social economic phenomenon during the process of economic development and rural urbanization in China. Rural-urban land conversion is positively effective as far as social and economic benefits are concerned (Yang, 2002), but its negative effect is also evident, resulting in such problems as low efficiency of rural land configuration and loss of social welfare. Consequently, farmers should also have an equal chance to enjoy the social welfare enhanced by land conversion. Based on the theories of welfare economy, this paper puts forward policy suggestions by discussing the welfare changes of various interest groups, builds the model of welfare distribution, and analyzes the conditions of maximizing social welfare. The absolute and opposite value of social welfare is closely related with the speed of rural-urban land conversion, and governments should give farmers and collectives fair compensation to make up for the utility loss caused by land expro...

Non-agricultural Population, Employment and Land: An Econometric Study in an Integrated Framework

Abstract This paper explored the relationships among nonagricultural population, employment and land in an integrated framework, taking account of rural-urban land conversion into Carlino–Mills’s model on the regional growth. Two-stage-leastsquares and ordinary-least-squares were employed. Recent data for district (grade) cities in China (from 1999 to 2005) were used. Our results showed that: first, urban population influenced non-agricultural employment, and vice versa, but the evidence that non-agricultural employment influenced urban population was stronger than the evidence that urban population influenced non-agricultural employment; second, urban population and non-agricultural employment both influenced ruralurban land conversion, but the evidence that urban population influenced rural urban land conversion was more stronger than the evidence that non-agricultural employment did. We also found that: first, the employment from the secondary industry influenced urban population in a positive way, and vice versa, but the employment from the tertiary industry influenced urban population in a negative way, and vice versa; second, the employment from the secondary industry influenced rural-urban land conversion in a positive way, but the employment from the tertiary industry influenced rural-urban land conversion in a negative way. We can conclude that the key of urbanization is to speed up the process of non-agricultural employment, especially the employment from the tertiary industry, which might promote non-agricultural population, employment and land harmoniously.

Multi-objective Programming and Social Welfare Analysis of Rural–urban Land Conversion Decision-making

Abstract Rural–urban land conversion is an inevitable phenomenon in urbanization and industrialization. And the decision-making issue about this conversion is multi-objective because the social decision maker (the whole of central government and local authority) has to integrate the requirements of different interest groups (rural collective economic organizations, peasants, urban land users and the ones affected indirectly) and harmonize the sub-objects (economic, social and ecological outcomes) of this land allocation process. This paper established a multi-objective programming model for rural–urban land conversion decision-making and made some social welfare analysis correspondingly. Result shows that the general object of rural–urban land conversion decision-making is to reach the optimal level of social welfare in a certain state of resources allocation, while the preference of social decision makers and the value judgment of interest groups are two crucial factors which determine the realization of...

A linguistic cellular automata simulation approach for sustainable land development in a fast growing region

Rapid rural-urban land conversion as a consequence of economic growth has raised serious concerns over sustainable development. There is an urgent need to understand what possible urban scenarios can result from different policies towards land conversions. In many ways, the question resembles the exploration of a self-organising phenomenon which generates macroscopic patterns upon microscopic and local decision-making processes. In this paper a linguistic simulation approach has been developed. As a prototype, the study integrates cellular automata (CA) with heuristically-defined transition rules to simulate land use conversions in the rural-urban fringe of a fast growing metropolis. Fuzzy set theory has been applied to capture uncoordinated land development process. An innovative feature of the integrated approach lies in its definition of transition rules through a “natural language interface”, thus being more realistic and transparent. The model can simulate development scenarios in a gaming style. By providing a series of scenarios, it reveals risks inherent in certain development strategies which may jeopardize sustainable development of the city.

Large lot zoning, property taxes, and metropolitan area

The paper is a study in positive economics. Two- and three-sector models are used to determine the effects on urban land and housing markets of land use controls such as minimum lot size, maximum density, and maximum bulk requirements. The effects of these controls on rural-urban land conversion and on the effects of property taxes on urban land markets are also investigated. The land use requirements are found to accelerate rural-urban land conversion in some cases and affect the impact of property taxes on urban land and housing markets.