The direct and lag effects of administrative division adjustment on urban expansion patterns in Chinese mega-urban agglomerations

Rundong Feng and Kaiyong Wang

Land Use Policy, 2022, vol. 112, issue C

Abstract: Administrative division adjustment (ADA) is the highest-level design policy for China’s spatial management. Nevertheless, its impacts on urban land use change are still ambiguous, especially in mega-urban agglomerations. This study aims to quantitatively evaluate the mechanism and effects of ADA on the urban expansion patterns of three mega-urban agglomerations in China, i.e., the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, by using geographic detector in conjunction with landscape pattern index. The results showed that ADA has a 10-year “significant impact” for urban expansion: a 0–5 year lag promoted outlying and edge-expansion and a 6–10 year lag accelerated infilling expansion. The ADA determined an average of 12.79%, 7.76%, and 5.04% of outlying, edge-, and infilling expansion during 2000–2018 by stimulating industrial and infrastructure development, guiding population movement and government investment, and accelerating urban renewal and public services equalization, respectively. Moreover, the promotional impacts of ADA gradually shifted from peripheral sprawl during 2000–2012 to infilling expansion during 2012–2018. Due to differences in industrial structure, urbanization, and development degree, ADA’s urbanization effects were heterogeneous in three mega-urban agglomerations. This study helps decision-makers evaluate and formulate differentiated urban planning and land use policy to improve regional urban-rural integration and achieve sustainable development.

Keywords: Administrative division adjustment; Urban expansion patterns; Mega-urban agglomerations; Lag effect; Geographical detector; Driving mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837721005287
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:112:y:2022:i:c:s0264837721005287

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105805

Access Statistics for this article

Land Use Policy is currently edited by Jaap Zevenbergen

More articles in Land Use Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joice Jiang ().