title: Changing and Differentiated Urban Landscape in China: Spatiotemporal Patterns and Driving Forces.
abstract: Urban landscape spatiotemporal change patterns and their driving mechanisms in China are poorly understood at the national level. Here we used remote sensing data, landscape metrics, and a spatial econometric model to characterize the spatiotemporal patterns of urban landscape change and investigate its driving forces in China between 1990 and 2005. The results showed that the urban landscape pattern has experienced drastic changes over the past 15 years. Total urban area has expanded approximately 1.61 times, with a 2.98% annual urban-growth rate. Compared to previous single-city studies, although urban areas are expanding rapidly, the overall fragmentation of the urban landscape is decreasing and is more irregular and complex at the national level. We also found a stair-stepping, urban-landscape changing pattern among eastern, central, and western counties. In addition, administrative level, urban size, and hierarchy have effects on the urban landscape pattern. We also found that a combination of landscape metrics can be used to supplement our understanding of the pattern of urbanization. The changes in these metrics are correlated with geographical indicators, socioeconomic factors, infrastructure variables, administrative level factors, policy factors, and historical factors. Our results indicate that the top priority should be strengthening the management of urban planning. A compact and congregate urban landscape may be a good choice of pattern for urban development in China.
authors: Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) , 11A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.
authors: Chuanglin
authors: C
authors: Fang
authors: Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) , 11A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.
authors: Guangdong
authors: G
authors: Li
authors: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Urbanization and Geo-simulation, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou 510275, China.
authors: Shaojian
authors: S
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D002947:Cities; D002958:City Planning; D017059:Models, Econometric; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D014506:Urban Renewal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014507:Urbanization / Q000639:trends*