Urban Land System Research Articles

Evolution of urban land and population system coupling micro–dynamics and macro-stability: Trends and paths

Cities are constantly dynamics, but emerge the stability of urban systems as evidenced by robust urban scaling. Both properties serve as necessary perspectives for understanding the evolution of cities and the complexity of urban systems. However, the evolution trends and mechanisms behind the above relationships, particularly concerning geographic processes, remain to be explored in depth. In this study, the dynamic fluctuations within individual cities and the macro-stability of the evolution of urban systems over the past two decades are systematically demonstrated. Subsequently, associations between urban systems and individual cities are established on the basis of micro- and macro-dynamic mechanisms. The trajectory of individual cities can be divided into scaled–driven growth (SG) and urban excess growth (EG). The former is the result of scaling effects within the system, while the latter is affected by global external effects. Taking as examples urban built-up area and social productions, the evolution pathways that vary from different attributes are analyzed. The results indicate that urban built-up area is more affected by scaling effects whereas social productions is driven more by global external effects. Moreover, we examine the driving forces and mechanism of EG from the aspects of economic development level, technological and economic progress, industrial structure and regional policy through an empirical analysis. This study provides a nuanced understanding of the trends and pathways of urban land–population system from the perspective of complex urban systems and holism to deepen the understanding for general properties of cities and co-evolution for urban population size and land expansion.

Perspectives for smooth bridging of dichotomized urban–rural land development in the peri‐urban areas of Ethiopia: Toward a continuum approach

The current trend of rapid urbanization in the global south is overwhelmed by an ever‐increasing demand for land. This indeed has been exerting an objectionable pressure over peri‐urban land located immediately outside of urban territories. This challenge is more severe in developing countries such as Ethiopia, where the urban and rural land systems are dichotomized and understood in isolation as two distinct entities. The need to broaden and understand perspectives for smooth bridging of urban and rural areas has been gaining more attention in the current discourse of viewing urban challenges and prospects. Hence, this study seeks to broaden perspectives for a smooth transition of urban development into rural areas and across peri‐urban areas in a continuity and guided by a continuum approach to development. A desk review research approach supplemented by key informant interviews was employed as a research method. The findings of this study show that the dichotomized land policy and governance systems, along with the multiplicity of actors or institutions having competing and conflicting interests in peri‐urban land have been hindering urban–rural development interconnectedness and continuity in Ethiopian cities. Moreover, a more nuanced perspective and understanding on the hindering factors for interconnectedness between urban and rural areas relevant for urban land use planning and policy‐making are presented in detail in this study. Concurrently, this study promotes the need for a more inclusive continuum approach to land development policy that responds equally to urban–rural contexts and across peri‐urban areas.

Research on Monitoring Technology and Analysis of Urban Green Space Ecology and Environment

Urban green land plays an active role in the process of improving urban ecological environment and the harmony between human and nature. With the economic development, industrial progress and the improvement of people's living standard, urban greenness as the regulator of urban environment has been generally concerned. The dynamic monitoring of urban green land is conducive to scientific and effective urban management, and provides scientific basis and evaluation criteria for urban green land system planning. In this paper, we use remote sensing as the observation means to systematically carry out the research of urban green land ecological environment monitoring technology and analysis. Firstly, it introduces the pre-processing techniques of remote sensing data for urban monitoring, and selects the area method, grid cell method, buffer zone method and moving window method as the key techniques for spatial measurement of urban greenness spaces, and finally evaluates the ecological effects of urban green land with the greenness environment index model of urban buildings. This paper provides the key techniques and evaluation process of urban green space remote sensing in a more systematic way, which will play an important role in garden city evaluation, ecological city evaluation, garden planning, smart city and ecological city support, urban building planning, and sponge map city construction.

Understanding the linkages between spatio-temporal urban land system changes and land surface temperature in Srinagar City, India, using image archives from Google Earth Engine.

Land-use and land-cover (LULC) is an important component for sustainable natural resource management, and there are considerable impacts of the rapid anthropogenic LULC changes on environment, ecosystem services, and land surface processes. One of the significant adverse implications of the rapidly changing urban LULC is the increase in the Land Surface Temperature (LST) resulting in the urban heat island effect. In this study, we used a time series of Landsat satellite images from 1992 to 2020 in the Srinagar city of the Kashmir valley, North-western Himalaya, India to understand the linkages between LULC dynamics and LST, derived from the archived images using the Google Earth Engine (GEE). Furthermore, the relationship between LST, urban heat island (UHI), and biophysical indices, i.e., Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), was also analysed. LULC change detection analysis from 1992 to 2020 revealed that the built-up area has increased significantly from 12% in 1992 to 40% in 2020, while the extent of water bodies has decreased from 6% in 1992 to 4% in 2020. The area under plantations has decreased from 26% in 1992 to 17% in 2020, and forests have decreased from 4 to 2% during the same period. Urban sprawl of Srinagar city has resulted in the depletion of natural land covers, modification of natural drainage, and loss of green and blue spaces over the past four decades. The study revealed that the maximum LST in the city has increased by 11°C between 1992 and 2020. During the same period of time, the minimum LST in the city has increased by 5°C, indicating the impact of urbanization on the city environment, which is reflected by the observed changes in various environmental indices. UHI impact in the city is quite evident with the maximum LST at the city centre having increased from 13.03°C in 1992 to 22.01°C in 2020. The findings shall serve as a vital source of knowledge for urban planners and decision-makers in developing sustainable urban environmental management strategies for Srinagar city.

Development Process, Quantitative Models, and Future Directions in Driving Analysis of Urban Expansion

Driving analysis of urban expansion (DAUE) is usually implemented to identify the driving factors and their corresponding driving effects/mechanisms for the expansion processes of urban land, aiming to provide scientific guidance for urban planning and management. Based on a thorough analysis and summarization of the development process and quantitative models, four major limitations in existing DAUE studies have been uncovered: (1) the interactions in hierarchical urban systems have not been fully explored; (2) the employed data cannot fully depict urban dynamic through finer social perspectives; (3) the employed models cannot deal with high-level feature correlations; and (4) the simulation and analysis models are still not intrinsically integrated. Four future directions are thus proposed: (1) to pay attention to the hierarchical characteristics of urban systems and conduct multi-scale research on the complex interactions within them to capture dynamic features; (2) to leverage remote sensing data so as to obtain diverse urban expansion data and assimilate multi-source spatiotemporal big data to supplement novel socio-economic driving factors; (3) to integrate with interpretable data-driven machine learning techniques to bolster the performance and reliability of DAUE models; and (4) to construct mechanism-coupled urban simulation to achieve a complementary enhancement and facilitate theory development and testing for urban land systems.

Informing Future Land Systems Using Self-Reported Pathways and Barriers to Connections to Nature: A Case Study in Auckland, New Zealand

Empirical research exploring what increases an individual’s connection to nature is growing, however research seeking respondents to self-report what they feel acts as a barrier or pathway to their connection to nature is scarce. Previous empirical literature suggests a link between connections to nature and pro-nature actions. Therefore, understanding what acts as a barrier or pathway to people’s connection to nature can provide insight as to what may promote, or hinder, pro-nature actions. From a land systems perspective, the research is crucial, given that human disconnection from nature is argued to be the reason behind large scale ecological crises and species extinction which threaten the land systems in which we live. Consequently, a cross-sectional qualitative study was undertaken in 2019 with 976 respondents from Auckland, New Zealand to explore self-reported perceptions of what acts as a barrier or pathway towards their connections to nature. The findings suggest that respondents perceive modern society modalities such as ‘life takes over’, ‘urban life’, etc., as being barriers to their connections to nature. Being exposed to nature, was perceived as a pathway to prompting, and/or sustaining their connections to nature. These learnings highlight the benefit of exploring the perceived influences on connections to nature and the findings can be applied to improve the human–nature connection and therefore potentially increase pro-nature actions. We also use the findings to provide practical actions for environmental managers in the Auckland region by advising as to how the human–nature connection can be supported through future urban planning and better designed urban land systems.

The Logic of Urban Land System Reform in China—A Policy Analysis Framework Based on Punctuated-Equilibrium Theory

Land system reform is inseparable from land policy evolution in the reform process. Understanding land system reform from the perspective of policy evolution is crucial for the further deepening of the reform. Based on a review of policy documents on urban land system reform over the past 70 years (1949–2021), this paper applies a policy analysis framework based on punctuated-equilibrium theory to analyze the process of China’s urban land system reform and its inner mechanism. We conclude that under the framework of punctuated-equilibrium theory, the reform process of the urban land system can be divided into three equilibrium periods and two punctuated periods: Equilibrium Period I (1949–1978), Punctuated Period I (1979–1990), Equilibrium Period II (1991–2000), Punctuated Period II (2001–2007), and Equilibrium Period III (2008–2021). The reform of China’s urban land system shows a non-linear change that alternates between gradual change and punctuated evolution. Further analysis demonstrates that the change of the policy image, the transfer of the policy venue and the shock of focus events are the vital driving factors resulting in the alternation between equilibrium and punctuation.

The environmental consequences of residential land tenure in single family neighborhoods

There is a need for better understanding of urban land systems as cities around the world are confronting environmental change. One urban land system that has large implications for biophysical systems, but is especially difficult to manage are private residential neighborhoods. This perspective essay draws together previously disconnected scholarship on housing and land systems to define residential land tenure: the formal and informal rules, rights, and obligations to access, use, and transfer a land parcel by virtue of those assigned to the dwelling it contains. The environmental consequences of residential land tenure are illustrated using the example of compulsory collective governance, a housing tenure arrangement that has become part and parcel with single family detached residential subdivisions across the Anglosphere. Under this regime, land holders forfeit control in exchange for wealth building potential centered on aesthetics. The consequences for the environment are largest where statutory law is weak and pro-environmental action does not align with aesthetics-driven wealth building goals. Broadly, the example illustrates how urban land institutions operating primarily in the social realm can also be understood as de facto land managers in urban contexts.

Valuing the Role of Time in Urban Ecology

Cities and towns are complex ecosystems with features that can vary dramatically in space and time. Our knowledge of the spatial structure of urban land and ecological systems is expanding. These systems have been investigated across spatial scales, urban to rural gradients, networks of urban macrosystems, and global megalopolises. However, the temporal dimensions of urban ecosystems – such as those related to ecological cycles and historical legacies – are far less understood and investigated. Here, we outline the main dimensions of time that can shape how events in urban ecosystems unfold, which we categorize as: (i) time flows and duration, (ii) synchrony, lags, and delays, (iii) trends and transitions, (iv) cycles and hysteresis, (v) legacies and priming, (vi) temporal hotspots and hot moments, and (vii) stochastic vs. deterministic processes affecting our ability to forecast the future of cities and the species that live in them. First, we demonstrate the roles of these understudied dimensions by discussing exemplary studies. We then propose key future research directions for investigating how processes over time may regulate the structure and functioning of urban land and biodiversity, as well as its effects on and implications for urban ecology. Our analysis and conceptual framework highlights that several temporal dimensions of urban ecosystems – like those related to temporal hotspots/moments and stochastic vs. deterministic processes – are understudied. This offers important research opportunities to further urban ecology and a comprehensive research agenda valuing the “Urban Chronos” – the change of urban ecosystems through time.

Modeling urban development and its exposure to river flood risk in Southeast Asia

Countries in Southeast Asia have been developing quickly from a predominantly rural to predominantly urban society, leading to a rapid increase in urban land. This increase in urban land has mainly occurred in river deltas and floodplains, exposing humans and human assets to flood hazard. Here we present an assessment of current and future flood risk in five countries of mainland Southeast Asia, using a new modeling approach that accounts for differences in urban land systems. To that effect we mapped urban land on a rural-urban gradient and projected urban development until the year 2040 in two contrasting scenarios. The urban expansion scenario mainly projects the development of new urban areas, while the intensification emphasizes an increase in the number of inhabitants in already existing urban areas. Subsequently, we assessed the expected annual damage due to flood risk, using country specific exposure values for different land-system classes along the rural-urban gradient, based on typical construction materials. Results indicate that expected annual flood damage will increase in all countries and in both scenarios, ranging from +8% in Thailand to +211% in Laos. We showed that preferable development pathways are context dependent. In Cambodia and Laos, the increase in flood risk was largest for the intensification scenario, while for Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, the increase in flood risk was largest in the urban expansion scenario.

Agent-based model of land system: Theory, application and modelling framework

Land change science has become an interdisciplinary research direction for understanding human-natural coupling systems. As a process-oriented modelling approach, agent based model (ABM) plays an important role in revealing the driving forces of land change and understanding the process of land change. This paper starts from three aspects: The theory, application and modeling framework of ABM. First, we summarize the theoretical basis of ABM and introduce some related concepts. Then we expound the application and development of ABM in both urban land systems and agricultural land systems, and further introduce the case study of a model on Grain for Green Program in Hengduan Mountainous region, China. On the basis of combing the ABM modeling protocol, we propose the land system ABM modeling framework and process from the perspective of agents. In terms of urban land use, ABM research initially focused on the study of urban expansion based on landscape, then expanded to issues like urban residential separation, planning and zoning, ecological functions, etc. In terms of agricultural land use, ABM application presents more diverse and individualized features. Research topics include farmers’ behavior, farmers’ decision-making, planting systems, agricultural policy, etc. Compared to traditional models, ABM is more complex and difficult to generalize beyond specific context since it relies on local knowledge and data. However, due to its unique bottom-up model structure, ABM has an indispensable role in exploring the driving forces of land change and also the impact of human behavior on the environment.

Environmental Outcomes of Urban Land System Change: Comparing Riparian Design Approaches in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area

In the face of climate change and other environmental challenges, an increasing number of cities are turning to land design to enhance urban sustainability. Land system architecture (LSA)—which examines the role of size, shape, distribution, and connectivity of land units in relation to the system’s social-environmental dynamics—can be a useful perspective for examining how land contributes to the social and environmental aspects of urban sustainability. There are two gaps, however, that prevent LSA from fully contributing to urban sustainability dialogues. First, it is not well understood how urban design goals, as expressed by urban planners and other practitioners, relate to LSA and environmental outcomes. Second, most LSA work focuses on individual environmental outcomes, such as the urban heat island effect, instead of considering the broader suite of outcomes that LSA changes impact. Here, we undertake an integrated assessment of LSA impacts on surface urban heat island (based on land surface temperature), vegetation presence/health (based on NDVI), and bird biota at two riparian sites with different design intentions in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. The Rio Salado in Tempe underwent a city-led, infill redevelopment that mixed economic, recreational, and flood control design goals. The New River in Peoria experienced a more typical developer-driven urbanization. The contexts and design goals of the sites generated differences in their LSA, but only a few of these differences were sufficiently unique to contribute to divergent environmental outcomes. These differences reside in (1) the greater distribution of recreational land-covers and (2) increased surface water at the Rio Salado site compared to the New River site. Both changes are linked to land-cover patches becoming greener and cooler as well as a greater presence of waterbird and warbler species at the Rio Salado site. The distinctions between the sites provide insight for crafting design goals for redeveloping or restoring urban riparian landscapes in the Phoenix metropolitan area that are grounded in LSA. With the incorporation of additional relevant variables, especially socioeconomic ones, the research approach employed in this study provides a foundation for the assessment of other urban land system change.

Analysis of Land Transition Features and Mechanisms in Peripheral Areas of Kyoto (1950–1960)

This article analyzes land transition in the peripheral areas of Kyoto City during a period of fast economic growth in Japan. Disorganized urban growth during periods of urban transition consumed farmland and forestland, with a lasting impact on the city’s environment. The article reports changes in land use and land cover (LULC), population, roads and other transportation infrastructure and the factors behind these changes. The analysis is based on classification of a georeferenced mosaic of black-and-white aerial photos processed with the use of remote sensing technology to reconstruct the city’s LULC change for the years 1950 and 1960. This information is complemented by GIS data, and information derived from the consultation of primary and secondary historical sources. The results show that the urbanization patterns in periods of urban transition and economic growth which vary in different parts of the city determine LULC trajectories. Complex factors and mechanisms at the local level shape these dynamics. The article provides insights into the complex socioenvironmental processes that shape urban land systems and how their unforeseen consequences can impact the transition to sustainable cities.

A cellular automata-based land-use model as an integrated spatial decision support system for urban planning in developing cities: The case of the Bogotá region

Bogotá and the 17 neighboring municipalities make up one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Latin America. However, despite strong functional interactions within the area, there is no official government body at this level in charge of coordinating authorities and providing solutions to the wide variety of issues arising in the regional urban land system. Aiming at providing an insight on future land-use developments linked to new transport infrastructures and at offering a tool to support territorial decision-making, this paper presents a cellular automata-based (CA) model based in Metronamica® software, that allows testing different scenarios based on potential land-use policies, environmental suitability and transport alternatives.There has not been, so far, an urban planning tool that accounts for the complexities of this region. CA-based land-use simulations constitute a useful approach to understanding the impacts of urban planning policies and regulations. This tool can help to improve inter-territorial and inter-institutional coordination, which through planning and management policies seek a spatially integrated development, with a long-term perspective.The CA-based model proposed was calibrated to reproduce land-use changes between 2007 and 2016 using different methods and indicators. The model was used to simulate and analyze eight scenarios with different policy directions of transport infrastructure in the future of the region. The results of the simulations reflect the dynamics of territorial occupation. The calibration indices in the experiment indicate a high degree of suitability for the CA Bogotá model, proving its effectiveness and potential as a useful tool for decision-making. The results show that occupation scenarios with restricted developable zones within the city, tend to have the greater dispersion rate in the study area, compared to scenarios where land development plans are promoted in Bogotá, which representing a more compact development.

Effects of rapid urbanization on ecological functional vulnerability of the land system in Wuhan, China: A flow and stock perspective

Exploring how rapid urbanization affects ecological functional vulnerability is a key issue in regional ecological risk assessment. This paper proposes a complex network approach to explore the response of ecological functional vulnerability to different urbanization scenarios from the perspective of stock and flow for the case study area of the Wuhan City in China. The paper aims to (1) establish a theoretical framework to explain how the urbanization process degrades ecological functions of the land system from a flow and stock perspective, (2) evaluate stock and flow changes of ecosystem service value triggered by land use change, and (3) explore the impact of different urbanization scenarios and different management costs on ecological functional vulnerability by combining two indicators, i.e., ecosystem service value change and ecological load entropy. Our results for Wuhan reveal that (1) non-ecological flows or degraded ecological flows are responsible for the increase in ecological functional vulnerability, (2) the total ecosystem service stock of the land system had slightly increased during 1990–2015, contributing to an enhanced ecological flow, (3) the critical points for maintaining the proper functioning of the land system are 80% or higher for cropland and 40% or higher for lake. These findings can provide critical references for the sustainable management of urban land system in Wuhan and other major cities in China. This study also suggest that the combination of ecosystem service value change and ecological load entropy can be used to comprehensively assess ecological functional vulnerability.

Coupling Coordination Relationships between Urban-industrial Land Use Efficiency and Accessibility of Highway Networks: Evidence from Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration, China

The implementation of the Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei coordinated development strategy has seriously increased the influence of land use and urban traffic. Thus, understanding the coordination between urban land and transportation systems is important for the efficient and sustainable development of cities, especially in this rapidly urbanizing era. Urban–industrial land and highway networks are, respectively, primary types of urban land and transportation systems, and have significant impacts on social and economic development. However, limited studies have been conducted to examine the relationships between urban–industrial land and highway networks. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the coupling coordination relationship between urban–industrial land use efficiency, and the accessibility of the highway networks of cities. Specifically, in the context of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration, the coupling coordination between urban-industrial land use efficiency and accessibility of the highway traffic network was empirically analyzed. The results show that: (i) The differences in urban-industrial land use efficiency in the BTH region are significant. Capital cities in the BTH urban agglomeration have higher economic, social, and comprehensive efficiency, while in industrial cities, the use of urban–industrial land should prioritize ecological and environmental issues. (ii) Because of its good geographical location Beijing has the best accessibility, with an accessibility index of 1.416, while Qinhuangdao had the lowest accessibility index of 0.039. (iii) In most BTH cities, the urban-industrial comprehensive land use level has fallen behind the highway network development level. The results of this study can provide references for the coordinated development of the BTH urban agglomeration.

Urban Land Systems: An Ecosystems Perspective

We live in an urbanizing world. Since 2008, more than half of humanity lives in cities, both large and small, and old and new.[...]

Impact of Rapid Urbanization on Vulnerability of Land System from Complex Networks View: A Methodological Approach

Rapid urbanization is responsible for the increased vulnerability of land systems and the loss of many crucial ecosystem services. Land systems are typical complex systems comprised of different land use types which interact with each other and respond to external environment processes (such as urbanization), resulting in dynamics in land systems. This work develops a methodology approach by integrating complex networks and disruptive scenarios and applies it to a case study area (Wuhan City in China) to explore the effects of urbanization on land system structural vulnerability. The land system network topologies of Wuhan City during five time periods from 1990 to 2015 are extracted. Our results reveal that (1) the urban land expands at a higher speed than the urban population in Wuhan City; (2) the period of 2005–2010 has witnessed more land area conversions from ecological lands to urban land than other periods; (3) the land system is more vulnerable to intentional attacks on nodes with higher integrated node centrality and larger land area, such as paddy, dryland, and lake; and (4) the network efficiency of the land system would decline sharply if the area shrinkage of paddy, dryland, and lake is larger than 30%, 50%, and 20%, respectively. The results provide some insights into building a resilient urban land system, such as increasing the efficiency of existing urban land and controlling the shrinkage rate of important land use types. This study contributes to existing literature on complex networks by expanding its application in land systems, which highlight the potential of complex networks to capture the complexity, dynamics, heterogeneity, and emergent phenomena in land systems.

On the association between land system architecture and land surface temperatures: Evidence from a Desert Metropolis—Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A

The relationship between the characteristics of the urban land system and land surface temperature (LST) has received increasing attention in urban heat island and sustainability research, especially for desert cities. This research generally employs medium or coarser spatial resolution data and primarily focuses on the effects of a few classes of land-cover composition and pattern at the neighborhood or larger level using regression models. This study explores the effects of land system architecture—composition and configuration, both pattern and shape, of fine-grain land-cover classes—on LST of single family residential parcels in the Phoenix, Arizona (southwestern USA) metropolitan area. A 1m resolution land-cover map is used to calculate land architecture metrics at the parcel level, and 6.8m resolution MODIS/ASTER data are employed to retrieve LST. Linear mixed-effects models quantify the impacts of land configuration on LST at the parcel scale, controlling for the effects of land composition and neighborhood characteristics. Results indicate that parcel-level land-cover composition has the strongest association with daytime and nighttime LST, but the configuration of this cover, foremost compactness and concentration, also affects LST, with different associations between land architecture and LST at nighttime and daytime. Given information on land system architecture at the parcel level, additional information based on geographic and socioeconomic variables does not improve the generalization capability of the statistical models. The results point the way towards parcel-level land-cover design that helps to mitigate the urban heat island effect for warm desert cities, although tradeoffs with other sustainability indicators must be considered.

Climate change and urban land systems: bridging the gaps between urbanism and land science

ABSTRACTLand science has generated critical knowledge about how humans modify Earth’s surface and has advanced our understanding of land as a coupled human–environment system. However, to date, most work has been in frontier environments with less attention – both conceptually and empirically – on how urban land systems affect the carbon cycle. Much of what is known about urban areas and the carbon cycle is limited to aggregate levels of activities within urban areas, usually by sector, with little focus on how the spatial configuration of urban land systems affects carbon-emitting activities. Given that urban areas produce about 70% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, it is crucial to understand the relationship between urban environments, the activities they influence, and the resulting carbon emissions. This paper summarizes the current state of knowledge of how urban land systems affect carbon emissions and vulnerability, and identifies research gaps and opportunities for urban land science to contribute to climate change science, particularly through land architecture. We argue that more attention to urban land science conceptualization, measurement, and analysis would contribute to both fundamental knowledge about urban systems, as well as help identify policies and strategies for mitigation and adaptation to climate change at the urban scale.